A Little Humour May Help With Climate Change Gloom

This year, three studies showed that humour is useful for engaging the public about climate change.

One year ago, the international scientific community could hardly have expected that Greta Thunberg, a teenager from Sweden, would become one of its greatest allies.

For more than 3.5 billion years, living organisms have thrived, multiplied and diversified to occupy every ecosystem on Earth.

The concept of a canary in a coal mine – a sensitive species that provides an alert to danger – originated with British miners, who carried actual canaries underground through the mid-1980s to detect the presence of deadly carbon monoxide gas.

We live in an era — the Anthropocene — where humans and societies are reshaping and changing ecosystems.

The grasslands of the Canadian Prairies are a hidden gem for bird watchers, with millions of migratory birds passing through the area each year. 

A global coalition of 11,000 scientists has come up with a plan for dealing with the climate emergency.

Exactly 40 years ago, a small group of scientists met at the world’s first climate conference in Geneva. They raised the alarm about unnerving climate trends.

The Golden State is on fire, which means that an idea of American utopia is on fire, too.

When faced with a rapidly advancing fire threatening a community, it can be hard to know how best to save lives.

How do we go about designing buildings today for tomorrow’s weather? As the world warms and extreme weather becomes more common, sustainable architecture is likely to mean one major casualty: glass.

There’s little that the left and the right agree on these days. But surely one thing is beyond question: that national governments must protect citizens from the gravest threats and risks they face.

Australians eat a lot of water – the water that is used to produce our food. New findings from our Foodprint Melbourne study estimate that more than 475 litres of water is used to grow each person’s food every day.

It’s no secret that cutting down trees is a main driver of climate change. But a forgotten group of plants is critically important to fixing our climate — and they are being destroyed at an alarming rate.

Climate change may cause a dramatic drop in rice production in major growing regions, a decline that could jeopardize critical food supplies, researchers report.

Like many Americans, I worry about the state of the planet and try to make a positive impact through decisions in my day-to-day life.

In a shocking report the US Army's assessment of its future under the unfolding climate crisis, every American should pause and so should other countries' military.

The Energy Technologies Institute recently reported that without carbon capture and storage (CCS), the cost of reaching the UK’s climate change targets will double from around £30 billion per year in 2050. So how does it work?

At the beginning of October 2019, my kids’ preschool informed me that it might be closed the next day because of rolling blackouts — a radical new effort by our local power utility in Northern California to avoid sparking wildfires.

A new report from the International Energy Agency released Friday claims that wind power could be a $1 trillion business by 2040 and that the power provided by the green technology has the potential to outstrip global energy needs. 

Butterflies are rather like Goldilocks, preferring conditions to be neither too hot nor too cold, but “just right”.

In a speech to the National Press Club, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull declared that the key requirements for Australia’s electricity system are that it should be affordable, reliable, and able to help meet national emissions-reduction targets.

In the past seven years, four major disasters have caused serious disruptions in the Northeast and Midwest United States. 

As a climate scientist of more than 25 years, I’m proud of the work my profession has done in recent decades to alert humanity to the unfolding climate crisis

A recent study showed that North Americans are becoming less tolerant of uncertainty.

A walk into the future, in a British city where housing is sustainable, energy is locally owned, food is abundant, and the work week is just three days long.

One word is rarely spoken or printed in science and that word is “proof”. In fact, science has little to do with “proving” anything.

When January 2019 entered its third week, huge swathes of the US were blanketed with snow, and winter storm warnings were in place across several states.

Shoreline recreational fishing will likely be another casualty of climate change, according to new research.

Materialism may influence us to choose “green buying” rather than not buying anything at all, research finds.

The Catholic Church “hears the cry” of the Amazon and its peoples. That’s the message Pope Francis hopes to send at the Synod of the Amazon, a three-week meeting at the Vatican that ends Oct. 27, 2019..

The relationship between a heating planet and violent clashes is complex — and critical. “This is where I keep my weapon,” said Lolem, a young Karamojong cattle herder.

Standing in the middle of a usually busy central London street during Extinction Rebellion’s protests, the air noticeably cleaner, the area quieter, I was struck by the enormity of the challenge ahead of us.

Deadly fires across California over the past several years have shown how wildfire has become a serious public health and safety issue.

When Hurricane Michael made landfall on Florida’s Panhandle on Oct. 10, 2018, as a Category 5 storm it was only the fourth on record to have ever hit the U.S. mainland. 

Countries across the globe are trying to wind down coal production. While this will help in the battle against climate change, those communities that have specialised in coal mining may see their local job market decline or be eliminated entirely.

A closer look at one of the most familiar responses offered to the climate crisis.

Not all carbon is created equal. Writer Jackson Carpenter argues that the power to stop climate change rests on recognizing different kinds of carbon – a shift in perspective that allows us to change

As I write this, much of inland eastern Australia is enduring what is likely to be the worst drought ever recorded.

Rooftops covered with grass, vegetable gardens and lush foliage are now a common sight in many cities around the world.

Urban flooding represents the most common yet severe environmental threat to cities and towns worldwide. Future changes in rainfall extremes are likely to increase this threat, even in areas that could become drier.

The world’s supply of cheap and clean fresh water will likely plummet as the climate warms and populations boom. Can we find ways to conserve, cut waste, and find new sources before it’s too late?

The idea of a four-day working week is gaining traction. Recently, several high-profile companies have trialled reduced hours. And in the UK, the Labour Party has pledged a 32-hour four day work week within ten years should it come to power.

Just like us, the natural world dances to the rhythms of its seasonal cycles. We all enjoy the first suggestions of spring as trees come into leaf, migrant birds arrive, bees and butterflies emerge, and men in cities start wearing shorts.

Cities are at the forefront fighting against climate change in a range of ways, according to a new article.

Globally, about two billion people suffer from “hidden hunger” – a chronic deficiency of vitamins and minerals.

Climate change is not inherently funny. Typically, the messengers are serious scientists describing how rising greenhouse gas emissions are harming the planet on land and at sea, or assessing what role it played in the latest wildfire or hurricane.

 
The flames consuming the Amazon rainforest this year have alarmed the world, renewing concerns about one of the planet’s most biodiverse regions and the release of large amounts of carbon into the atmosphere

The livability of planets is most likely dependent on an atmosphere of a fine balance of heat trapping greenhouse gasses.

Electric cars, trains, trams and boats already exist. That logically leads to the question: why are we not seeing large electric aircraft? And will we see them any time soon?

Thousands of school students across Australia joined in the global protest calling for action on climate change.

Women leaders who support climate action are being attacked online with increasing regularity.

Eco-anxiety is likely to affect more and more people as the climate destabilises. Already, studies have found that 45% of children suffer lasting depression after surviving extreme weather and natural disasters.

Humanity’s existential crisis can be resolved only when we the people stand united behind a vision of the world we truly want.

Researchers working in the field of climate change communications have, for many years, been confronted with the same puzzle

We are living in a time of extraordinary ecological loss. Not only are human actions destabilising the very conditions that sustain life, but it is also increasingly clear that we are pushing the Earth into an entirely new geological era, often described as the Anthropocene.

Building a new world will require first reexamining—and dismantling—the cultural ethos of productivity that creeps into our lives every day.

Canadians across the country say their allergies are getting worse. 

Seaweed is a lot more than marine debris you find on the beach. It may play a big role in the effort to mitigate climate change, researchers say.

On a special show before a live studio audience, Bill Nye the science guy discusses the climate crisis with Chris Hayes.

Climate change is real, it’s accelerating and it’s terrifying. We are adding carbon to the atmosphere at a rate 100 times faster than any previous natural increases, such as those that occurred at the end of the last ice age.

Behind the scenes during hurricanes and other disasters, scores of public information officers in state and local government agencies are fixed to their screens – often in 24-hour shifts

Sometimes even the largest natural wonders can remain hidden from human view for centuries.

Honey bees are under extreme pressure. The number of honey bee colonies in the US has been declining at an average rate of almost 40% since 2010.

The Intercept invites you to watch a special event in New York City hosted by Intercept senior correspondent Naomi Klein, author of the forthcoming book “On Fire: The (Burning) Case for a Green New Deal,” and headlined by trailblazing climate activist Greta Thunberg, author of “No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference.”

Attempts to maintain the “natural beauty” of Southern California beaches are actually having a massive negative impact on the beach ecosystem overall, a new study warns.

On a sunny day in Sydney, Australia, Tim Flannery, former Australian of the Year, appeared on a panel of international journalists convened to discuss the reporting of climate science.

Bali’s Green School recently celebrated its first decade of educating toddlers through teenagers (and their digital nomad parents) about eco-ethical design and cooperative living.

Is climate change making spiders more aggressive? A recent scientific study suggests so, as the researchers link aggressiveness to tropical cyclones, events that are expected to become more frequent and powerful with climate change

Over the past seven years more than 100 research projects at the Co-operative Research Centre for Low Carbon Living, in collaboration with industry across Australia, have pondered a very big question

The recent spate of heatwaves through eastern Australia has reminded us we’re in an Australian summer.

Fire emissions from wildfires can contribute to cardiovascular disease hundreds of miles from the flames, according to new r

esearch.

Water is essential for human life, but in many parts of the world water supplies are under threat from more extreme, less predictable weather conditions due to climate change. 

The main solution to climate change is well known – stop burning fossil fuels.

As most of the science community knows, the climate emergency is here now. Weather extremes such as droughts and heatwaves are increasing in frequency and intensity and are measurably exacerbated by climate change.

In conservation, charismatic mammals and birds such as the black rhinoceros and the capercaillie get a lot of attention, while others, like invertebrates, are often ignored. 

Up to 800,000 hectares of the unique Chiquitano forest were burned to the ground in Bolivia between August 18 and August 23.

Today, dry areas represent more than 41% of land on the globe and they are home to more than two billion people.

In addition to the ecological impact, the devastation invasive pests wreak on trees reduces carbon storage equivalent to the amount of carbon emitted by 5 million vehicles each year.

Poor on-the-ground monitoring makes it impossible to know which city is the world’s most polluted, according to new research.

The Pliocene, a geological epoch between two and five million years ago with CO2 levels similar to today, is a good analog for future climate predictions, according to a new study.

Every year, without fail, summer brings changes to our surroundings: more sunlight, heat, greenness and flowers, among many others.

About a quarter of all the greenhouse gas emissions that humans generate each year come from how we feed the world.

The planet’s far North is burning. This summer, over 600 wildfires have consumed more than 2.4 million acres of forest across Alaska.

In its latest report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change describes how agriculture, deforestation, and other human activities have altered 70% of the land on Earth’s surface.

Most people want to be sustainable, but have a hard time taking the necessary actions.

The IPCC special report, Climate Change and Land, released last night, has found a third of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions come from the “land”: largely farming, food production, land clearing and deforestation.

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Challenge prizes – which offer a cash incentive to those working to solve a particular problem – are becoming a force for change by allowing entrepreneurs and innovators, often overlooked by existing grant and procurement systems, to develop solutions to the world’s greatest problems.

Imagine “carbon emissions”, and what springs to mind? Most people tend to think of power stations belching out clouds of carbon dioxide or queues of vehicles burning up fossil fuels as they crawl, bumper-to-bumper, along congested urban roads.

The aloe plant’s ability to survive extended periods of drought could contribute to more resilient crops.

In their second round of debates, Democratic presidential candidates called for aggressive measures to slow climate change.

Wicked problems are issues so complex and dependent on so many factors that it is hard to grasp what exactly the problem is, or how to tackle it.

Restoring the world’s forests on an unprecedented scale is “the best climate change solution available”, according to a new study.

Shared dockless electric scooters, or e-scooters, transport riders over short distances in cities. Ride share companies promote them as an environmentally friendly choice that reduces dependence on cars.

Climate change is outpacing the ability of birds and other species to adapt to their changing environment, researchers report.

Governments at all levels invest a lot in greening Australian suburbs. Yet, in a recent report, we show that the greening efforts of most of our metropolitan local governments are actually going backwards.

Bringing nature back into our cities can deliver a truly impressive array of benefits, ranging from health and well-being to climate change adaptation and mitigation.

I am a scientist who researches climate hazards. I have published research on the potential for a catastrophic cyclone-heatwave combo in the global south.

Animal populations have declined on average by 60% since 1970, and it’s predicted that around a million species are at risk of extinction.