Laura Pereira, University of the Witwatersrand New research has found that the world has reached the first of many Earth system tipping points. These will cause catastrophic harm unless humanity takes urgent action. A tipping point is a moment in the Earth’s climate system where even small changes can lead to significant, often
Alex Lenferna, University of Fort Hare “Reduce, reuse, recycle.” For more than 50 years, those three Rs have been the world’s go-to environmental mantra. On the face of it, the three Rs sound like an empowering call for each of us to play our part for the planet. However, the individualist approach behind
Piers Forster, University of Leeds and Debbie Rosen, University of Leeds Bad climate news is everywhere. Africa is being hit particularly hard by climate change and extreme weather, impacting lives and livelihoods. We are living in a world that is warming at the fastest rate since records began. Yet, governments have been slow
In an industrial quarter outside Buenos Aires, a hummingbird hovers over a vibrant bed of plants and flowers. Two years ago, the area was a stretch of grey streets and factory units. Today, EU-funded researchers are bringing nature to urban Argentina, in a collaboration between European and Latin American cities. The pavements of
Ph. A loggerhead turtle nesting. Mollie Rickwood, CC BY-NC-ND Mollie Rickwood, University of Exeter; Annette Broderick, University of Exeter, and Robin Snape, University of Exeter Rising global temperatures are a particularly acute threat for the world’s sea turtles. That’s because the temperature of a turtle’s nest controls the sex of their offspring. Coming
Mathieu Ardyna, Université Laval and Juliette Provencher, Université Laval Earlier this year our international team of scientists from the Refuge Arctic consortium departed Iqaluit, Nvt. on a 56-day research expedition in the far north. We were sailing aboard the icebreaker CCGS Amundsen and our main objective was to study the high latitudes of
Paul Hudson, Leiden University From the Czech Republic to Spain, Europe has been plagued by devastating floods this autumn. Climate scientists agree that severe flooding was probably driven by climate change resulting in record-breaking rainfall. Warmer temperatures increase the amount of water vapour in the atmosphere, especially over warmer oceans, which increases the
The era of climate change as a distant concept or a matter for academic discourse has passed. It is now a stark and undeniable truth, evidenced by rising temperatures, intensifying weather extremes, and rapidly diminishing ice caps. These are not abstract phenomena—they are the visible warning signs of a planet in distress. The
When oceanographer Toste Tanhua and his research team set up a trial system to monitor aquaculture conditions near Barcelona in 2023, they were keenly aware of the havoc a powerful storm had wreaked on the region three years earlier. Storm Gloria ravaged southeast Spain in January 2020, killing 13 people and causing millions
Warmer temperatures in northern Canada, the result of human-caused global warming, are making ice roads less and less reliable. (Shutterstock) Homa Kheyrollah Pour, Wilfrid Laurier University and Daniel Gaudet Walking on the ice of the Great Bear Lake in the N.W.T. is a truly unforgettable experience. It is simply one of Canada’s most