A mourner, dressed in black, stands in the Swiss Alps where the Pizol glacier once existed. The “funeral march” was held on 22 September 2019 to mark the disappearance of the Pizol glacier. Photo: Fabrice Coffrini

Swiss glacier volume reduced by 10 per cent in only five years – More than 500 small glaciers have vanished – Over the past 12 months, two percent of total Swiss glacier volume lost

15 October 2019 (Swiss Academy of Sciences) – During the summer heatwaves of 2019, glacier melt rates reached record levels. This led to another year of major losses of ice volume, as reported by the Cryospheric Commission of the Swiss Academy of Sciences. Switzerland’s glaciers have thus shrunk by 10 per cent over the past […]

Global fisheries subsidy amounts by category and grouped by a) low and high HDI country groups; and b) developed and developing, for 2018 (constant USD). Graphic: Sumaila, et al., 2019 / Marine Policy

The sea is running out of fish, despite nations’ pledges to stop it – Major countries that are promising to curtail funding for fisheries are nevertheless increasing handouts for their seafood industries

By Todd Woody 8 October 2019 (National Geographic) – As global fish stocks that feed hundreds of millions of people dwindle, nations are scrambling to finalize by year’s end an international agreement to ban government subsidies that fuel overfishing. Yet as negotiations at the World Trade Organization resume this week in Geneva, Switzerland, new research shows that governments have […]

The distribution of threatened tree species, Critically Endangered, Endangered, or Vulnerable (CR, EN, and VU), in Europe. Data: European Red List of trees 2019. Graphic: IUCN

More than half of Europe’s endemic trees face extinction – “This report shows how dire the situation is for many overlooked, undervalued species that form the backbone of Europe’s ecosystems”

GLAND, Switzerland, 27 September 2019 (IUCN) – Over half (58 percent) of Europe’s endemic trees are threatened with extinction, according to assessments of the state of the continent’s biodiversity published today by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The introduction of invasive species, unsustainable logging and urban development are key threats causing the […]

Satellite view of the Valdecañas Reservoir in Spain, on 24 July 2013 and 25 July 2019. The record heatwave and extreme drought of 2019 revealed the lost “Spanish Stonehenge”, the Dolmen of Guadalperal. Photo: Lauren Dauphin / NASA Earth Observatory

Record heatwave and extreme drought reveal lost “Spanish Stonehenge”

By Kasha Patel 19 September 2019 (NASA) – In 1963, the Spanish government under Francisco Franco built the Valdecañas Reservoir in order to bring water and electricity to underdeveloped parts of western Spain. However, the creation of the reservoir flooded some inhabited areas as well as large stone (megalithic) monuments. After fifty years underwater, one […]

People wait outside of their stranded vehicles along Interstate 10 westbound at T.C. Jester, Thursday, 19 September 2019. The freeway is closed because of high water eastbound on the freeway from Tropical Storm Imelda. Photo: Mark Mulligan / Houston Chronicle / AP

Munich Re: Climate change and its consequences – 18 of the 20 warmest years are in the period 2001-2018

By Dr. Eberhard Faust and Ernst Rauch 8 August 2019 (Munich Re) – When temperature records are broken or major weather disasters strike, people ask whether climate change has anything to do with it. One thing is clear: individual events themselves cannot be attributed directly to climate change. One needs to look at overall trends. […]

August 2019 Blended Land and Sea Surface Temperature Anomalies in degrees Celsius. Graphic: NOAA

Summer 2019 in the Northern Hemisphere tied for warmest summer on record – Five hottest NH summers have occurred in the past five years

By Andrew Freedman 16 September 2019 (The Washington Post) – The Northern Hemisphere just had its hottest summer on record since 1880, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration data released Monday. NOAA found the average global surface temperature taken by thousands of thermometers, buoys and other sensors on land and sea tied with that of 2016 […]

Screenshot from “Honest Government Ad: We're F**ked” by The Juice Media. Video: The Juice Media

Honest Government Ad: We’re Fucked

2 Sep 2019 (Juice Media) – The Government™ has made an ad about the state of the world as we enter the third decade of the 21st century, and it’s surprisingly honest and informative. Global Climate StrikeWorldwide Rebellion A feedback loop is the scientific term for when a species uses its own ignorance to screw […]

Brazil president Jair Bolsonaro gestures during the Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association's Unica Forum 2018 in São Paulo, 18 June 2018. Photo: Miguel Schincariol / Getty Images

Humans bicker while the rainforest burns: Brazil rejects G-7 aid pledged to fight Amazon fires, but Bolsonaro might accept offer if Macron apologizes

By Guy Davies 27 August 2019 LONDON (ABC News) – A senior government official said Brazil would reject the $22 million G-7 countries promised to help fight the wildfires raging in the Amazon. Brazilian President Bolsonaro’s chief of staff Onyx Lorenzoni told Globo News, a Brazilian publication, that Brazil would reject the $22 million aid package, suggesting that the money […]

Satellite views of the Okjökull glacier in Iceland in 1986 and 2019. Data: Landsat / U.S. Geological Survey. Photo: Joshua Stevens / NASA Earth Observatory

Iceland commemorates first glacier lost to global warming – “The world that we learned how it was, learned by heart as some kind of eternal fact, is not a fact any more”

By Toby Luckhurst 18 August 2019 (BBC News) – Mourners have gathered in Iceland to commemorate the loss of Okjokull, which has died at the age of about 700. The glacier was officially declared dead in 2014 when it was no longer thick enough to move. What once was glacier has been reduced to a […]

Pope Francis arrives for his weekly general audience in Paolo VI hall at the Vatican on 7 Aug 2019. Photo: Maurizio Brambatti / EPA-EFE / REX / Shutterstock

Pope Francis again warns against nationalism, says recent speeches sound like “Hitler in 1934”, fears “devastation of nature that can lead to the death of humanity”

By Siobhán O’Grady 9 August 2019 (The Washington Post) – Pope Francis called for a united Europe in an interview published by Italian daily La Stampa on Friday, saying recent political rhetoric has echoed that of Nazi Germany. “I am concerned because we hear speeches that resemble those of Hitler in 1934,” he said. “ ‘Us […]

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