Fiji and UN appeal for emergency aid to relieve ‘loss of catastrophic proportions’ after Cyclone Winston

4 March 2016 (UN) – The Government of Fiji and the United Nations today launched an appeal for $38.6 million in critical emergency relief to 350,000 people in need after Cyclone Winston’s fury left the island nation “a loss of catastrophic proportions.” “In light of the enormous and long process to recovery and rehabilitation ahead […]

EU set to emit 2 gigatons more CO2 than Paris climate pledge – ‘The current proposals are not consistent with what was agreed in Paris’

By Arthur Neslen29 February 2016 BRUSSELS (Guardian) – The EU is set to emit 2bn tonnes more CO2 than it promised at the Paris climate talks, threatening an agreement to cap global warming at 2C, a note from the European commission has revealed. Carbon prices will rise too slowly to cut industrial emissions as much […]

Northern Hemisphere temperature just reached a terrifying milestone – ‘The old normal is gone’

By Eric Holthaus 1 March 2016 (Slate) – Update, 3 March 2016: Since this post was originally published, the heat wave has continued. As of Thursday morning, it appears that average temperatures across the Northern Hemisphere have breached the 2 degrees Celsius above “normal” mark for the first time in recorded history, and likely the […]

El Niño leaves much of drought-stricken California in dust

By John Antczak, with additional reporting by Amanda Lee Myers 3 March 2016 LOS ANGELES (AP) – Ed Heinlein surveys the steep mountainside that has repeatedly unleashed tons of mud into the backyard of his Southern California home since a 2014 wildfire and still hopes the drought-stricken state gets more rain. “We have to have […]

Photo gallery: Fiji comes to terms with Winston’s aftermath

3 March 2016 (ABC) – Nearly two weeks after Cyclone Winston smashed into Fiji, killing 43 people and levelling entire communities, aid agencies are struggling to provide relief to tens of thousands of people without food, water or shelter. The ABC’s Philip Williams and Brant Cumming saw the devastation first-hand in villages and towns on […]

Anchorage is so snow-starved it has to haul snow in by train for Iditarod start

By Tegan Hanlon29 February 2016 (ADN) – How weird has Anchorage’s weather been this winter? Weird enough that an Alaska Railroad spokesman said Monday that a train will deliver seven rail cars loaded with snow to the state’s largest city this week in time for the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race ceremonial start on Saturday. […]

Droughts hit cereal crops harder since 1980s

6 January 2016 (McGill University) – Drought and extreme heat events slashed cereal harvests in recent decades by 9% to 10% on average in affected countries – and the impact of these weather disasters was greatest in the developed nations of North America, Europe, and Australasia, according to a new study led by researchers from […]

Leonardo DiCaprio’s Oscars speech was about climate change, which could be worse than we thought

By Chris Mooney 29 February 2016 (Washington Post) – On Sunday night while accepting a long-anticipated Oscar for best actor, for his role in “The Revenant,” Leonardo DiCaprio seized the moment to highlight the plight of the planet. “Making “The Revenant” was about man’s relationship to the natural world,” DiCaprio said. “A world that we […]

As the Arctic roasts, Alaska bakes in one of its warmest winters ever

By Jason Samenow 23 February 2016 (Washington Post) – This winter’s shocking warmth in the Arctic, some seven degrees above average, has oozed into the Alaska which is experiencing one of its mildest recorded winters. So far this winter, Alaska’s temperature has averaged about 10 degrees above normal, ranking third warmest in records that date […]

For normally stoic farmers, the stress of climate change can be too much to bear

By Tyler Hamilton 28 February 2016 (The Star) – The wind was unusually strong, and it swept across Saskatchewan farmland without warning or mercy to canola farmers who had just cut and laid out their crops to dry. Kim Keller, 31, remembers the mid-September day clearly. It was 2012, her first year working back on […]

Social media & sharing icons powered by UltimatelySocial