Postcards from the frontlines of climate change
2 years, 7 months ago

Postcards from the frontlines of climate change

ABC  

Tok Pisin • 中文版 • Indonesian Australia has some 16 Pacific Island neighbours — some with a landmass a millionth our size — who unanimously declare climate change the "single greatest threat" to the region. Climate Action Network project manager Ralph Spring in 2022: "The mentality here is we know it's going to happen sooner or later — we're going to lose this place to climate change." Also available in: Tok Pisin, Chinese & Indonesian Credits Research, Reporting & Production: Steven Viney & Edwina Seselja Steven Viney & Edwina Seselja Graphics, Layout & Design: Jarrod Fankhauser Jarrod Fankhauser Photography: Darren James, AM Kanngieser, Brant Cumming, Maxar Technologies, the University of Queensland, AFP, Reuters, and NASA Darren James, AM Kanngieser, Brant Cumming, Maxar Technologies, the University of Queensland, AFP, Reuters, and NASA Additional Research, Reporting & Editing: Tahlea Aualiitia, Jordan Fennell, Stephen Dziedzic, Prianka Srinivasan & Evan Wasuka Tahlea Aualiitia, Jordan Fennell, Stephen Dziedzic, Prianka Srinivasan & Evan Wasuka Additional Facts & Information: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Pacific Islands Forum, United Nations, National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, Fiji Meteorological Service, Refugees International, the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Program, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Pacific Islands Forum, United Nations, National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, Fiji Meteorological Service, Refugees International, the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Program, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute.

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History of this topic

ICJ weighs legal responsibility for climate change, ‘future of our planet’
1 week, 4 days ago

ICJ weighs legal responsibility for climate change, ‘future of our planet’

Al Jazeera  

The International Court of Justice’s 15 judges will consider arguments made by more than 100 countries in a case led by Vanuatu and other Pacific island nations. “It is with a profound sense of urgency and responsibility that I stand before you today,” Ralph Regenvanu, Vanuatu’s special envoy for climate change and environment, said as he opened the hearings on …

Why do so many people ignore major threats like climate change?
2 weeks, 5 days ago

Why do so many people ignore major threats like climate change?

Salon  

Earlier last month, the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service announced that Earth’s average temperature in 2024 had been on average 1.5 degrees C above pre-industrial levels. “For too long now, scientific and media communications have presented the subject of climate change in ways that have failed to trigger an adequate threat warning among readers and viewers, and have also …

Letters to the Editor: Climate change is a global threat, but it isn’t the worst one. This is
1 month ago

Letters to the Editor: Climate change is a global threat, but it isn’t the worst one. This is

LA Times  

To the editor: Climate change is the biggest threat facing us? Soon, that list may include the leaders of North Korea and Iran — and who knows how many others as the nuclear genie multiplies throughout the world? It is long past time for thought leaders to wake up to the world’s most urgent threat and get a real conversation …

John Kerry warns that Project 2025 would be "absolutely unimaginable and destructive"
6 months, 1 week ago

John Kerry warns that Project 2025 would be "absolutely unimaginable and destructive"

Salon  

During a sweltering rally in Las Vegas on Sunday, June 9, former President Donald Trump complained to his supporters about "sweating like a dog" in the triple-digit heat. Because climate change is breaking temperature records all over the world, one might have assumed that the aspiring leader's next act would have been to express concern for the other people at …

Pacific Island Countries Blindsided in Climate Conference
11 months ago

Pacific Island Countries Blindsided in Climate Conference

The Diplomat  

The gridlock and the meager offerings from COP28, this year’s U.N. climate change conference, left many leaders from the Pacific Island states – some of the countries most at risk from climate change and rising sea levels – frustrated. The need for consensus is often a flashpoint of anger directed toward the annual climate meetings, with many onlookers deriding a …

If we can't fix this "frightening" problem, then we have "no hope" of addressing the climate crisis
1 year, 2 months ago

If we can't fix this "frightening" problem, then we have "no hope" of addressing the climate crisis

Salon  

One of the world's most prominent advocates for taking action to halt human-caused climate change is Dr. Michael E. Mann, a professor of earth and environmental science at the University of Pennsylvania. The climatologist and geophysicist's latest book is "Our Fragile Moment: How Lessons from Earth's Past Can Help Us Survive the Climate Crisis." Mann reviews the history of Earth's …

Biden tells Pacific islands leaders that he hears their warnings about climate change and will act
1 year, 2 months ago

Biden tells Pacific islands leaders that he hears their warnings about climate change and will act

Associated Press  

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Monday told leaders from the 18-member Pacific Islands Forum that he has heard their warnings about the impact of climate change on their region and that his administration is committed to helping them meet the challenge. Biden announced Monday that later this year he would deploy a U.S. Coast Guard vessel to the region …

In the Face of Climate Change, the Pacific Leads Boldly
1 year, 9 months ago

In the Face of Climate Change, the Pacific Leads Boldly

The Diplomat  

Several months after The Diplomat Magazine’s first issue, the looming COP21 climate talks promised a watershed in global action on climate change. In concluding, he wrote, “The future of global climate lies in what development paths this region takes going forward.” In that vein, in Issue 36, Neil Bhatiya took stock of the political climate in the lead-up to COP23, …

Climate Change ‘Doom Loop’: How to reclaim the narrative of urgent climate action
1 year, 10 months ago

Climate Change ‘Doom Loop’: How to reclaim the narrative of urgent climate action

Live Mint  

The fight to battle climate change and global heating has always been one led by narrative. Despite decades of irrefutable scientific work that has shown the extent to which we are skirting with global disaster, the reality of climate change and its reason—our energy dependence on fossil fuels like oil, coal and gas—needed to overcome the denial and obfuscation of …

ROSS CLARK challenges the hysteria that surrounds climate change debates and argues they risk harm
1 year, 11 months ago

ROSS CLARK challenges the hysteria that surrounds climate change debates and argues they risk harm

Daily Mail  

Fear is very easy to spread. Yet if you report on every extreme event and throw in the term ‘climate change’, you will very rapidly plant the idea that the world is in some freakish transformation. In his 2006 climate change film An Inconvenient Truth, former U.S. vice-president Al Gore asserted that the snows on Mount Kilimanjaro would be gone …

Editorial: 2022 brought more heat and pollution. We’re still careening toward climate disaster
1 year, 11 months ago

Editorial: 2022 brought more heat and pollution. We’re still careening toward climate disaster

LA Times  

New climate data show that 2022 was among the hottest years on record but that U.S. greenhouse gas emissions just keep rising. Another study showed the amount of heat being taken up by Earth’s oceans reached another record high last year. And it’s another stark reminder that despite some recent progress on climate policy, such as the passage of the …

People Are Choosing to Ignore Climate Change; It Is a Political Decision: Amitav Ghosh
2 years, 2 months ago

People Are Choosing to Ignore Climate Change; It Is a Political Decision: Amitav Ghosh

News 18  

When it comes to climate change, author and social anthropologist Amitav Ghosh feels a personal responsibility to write about it, to talk about it, and to inform people about it. He feels a personal responsibility to write about climate change because he lived in Sundarbans for a long time and saw the impact there over the years. While Waters asked …

Climate change gets ‘highest priority’ in US, Pacific agreement
2 years, 2 months ago

Climate change gets ‘highest priority’ in US, Pacific agreement

Al Jazeera  

New partnership deal signed by 14 nations follows historic summit at the White House and comes as China extends influence in the region. The United States and Pacific island nations have signed up to a new era of cooperation, making climate change the “highest priority” and promising to work together to ensure a peaceful region where “democracy is allowed to …

‘Clairvoyant’ 2012 climate report warned of extreme weather
2 years, 3 months ago

‘Clairvoyant’ 2012 climate report warned of extreme weather

Associated Press  

Record high temperatures in urban Europe as heat waves bake the planet more often. In a report that changed the way the world thinks about the harms of global warming, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s special report on extreme events, disasters and climate change warned in 2012: “A changing climate leads to changes in the frequency, intensity, spatial extent, …

Pacific leaders to declare 'climate emergency' in PIF statement, praise Australia's move to lift emissions reduction target
2 years, 5 months ago

Pacific leaders to declare 'climate emergency' in PIF statement, praise Australia's move to lift emissions reduction target

ABC  

Australia looks set to sign up to a joint statement from Pacific Islands Forum leaders that is expected to declare a "climate emergency" and calls for rapid and deep reductions in greenhouse gas emissions to limit global warming. Key points: The PIF communique repeatedly calls for accelerated and drastic action to reduce emissions Anthony Albanese says Pacific leaders praised the …

This week's Pacific Islands Forum in Fiji is shaping up as one of the most consequential in years
2 years, 5 months ago

This week's Pacific Islands Forum in Fiji is shaping up as one of the most consequential in years

ABC  

It's been a long time coming. US and China to be excluded from Pacific meeting Photo shows National flags for the Pacific Islands Forum The decision by the Pacific's peak diplomatic body to exclude major international powers from a crucial meeting next month will give leaders the opportunity to discuss regional issues without outside pressure. Despite absence, China to feature …

Pacific islands summit begins amid US-China battle for influence
2 years, 5 months ago

Pacific islands summit begins amid US-China battle for influence

Al Jazeera  

Key summit comes as region grapples with the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change and US-China rivalry. “I don’t hear a well-formulated answer on exactly how the strategy will be implemented, and I don’t think other neighbouring nations are much further along than we are.” Bohn said that while developed countries would prefer to see the region adopt a …

Climate change a greater threat to security than war, says Fiji
2 years, 6 months ago

Climate change a greater threat to security than war, says Fiji

The Independent  

Sign up to the Independent Climate email for the latest advice on saving the planet Get our free Climate email Get our free Climate email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Climate change poses a greater threat to the security of the Asia-Pacific region than conflict, …

‘We are in danger now’: Vanuatu declares climate emergency
2 years, 6 months ago

‘We are in danger now’: Vanuatu declares climate emergency

Al Jazeera  

Prime Minister Bob Loughman says using the term ’emergency’ is a way of signalling the need for ‘responsible nations to match action to the size and urgency of the crisis’. Vanuatu’s parliament has declared a climate emergency with the low-lying island nation’s prime minister flagging a $1.2bn cost to cushion global warming’s impacts on his tiny Pacific country. “The use …

What the latest IPCC climate report has to say
2 years, 8 months ago

What the latest IPCC climate report has to say

Live Mint  

The fossil fuel age is effectively over. This is the message of the third major climate report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the UN’s apex climate science body. The report, Climate Change 2022: Mitigation Of Climate Change, was released on 4 April, hard on the heels of two earlier reports: one in August last year that conclusively proved …

Editorial: Climate catastrophe is already here. What will it take for the world to act?
2 years, 9 months ago

Editorial: Climate catastrophe is already here. What will it take for the world to act?

LA Times  

A new United Nations report blares dire warnings of the escalating effects of climate change: Our planet is no longer on the brink of catastrophe; the catastrophe is well underway. In a sweeping assessment released Monday by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, scientists from across the globe found that climate change is causing “dangerous and widespread disruption” to billions …

Half the world threatened by climate crisis: Latest IPCC report
2 years, 9 months ago

Half the world threatened by climate crisis: Latest IPCC report

Hindustan Times  

At least half the world’s population lives in regions vulnerable to the climate crisis, which has become complex, with several interacting factors likely to increase food prices, reduce household incomes, and lead to malnutrition and climate-related deaths, especially in tropical regions, according to the latest report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that was released Monday. Mass mortality events …

Urgent action needed to address climate change’s catastrophic threats, U.N. report warns
2 years, 9 months ago

Urgent action needed to address climate change’s catastrophic threats, U.N. report warns

LA Times  

A new United Nations report says climate change poses major threats to people and ecosystems around the world, and warns that effects could be catastrophic if humanity fails to quickly curb planet-heating emissions from the burning of fossil fuels. “The world’s biggest polluters are guilty of arson of our only home.” The report, which was released Monday by the Intergovernmental …

Editorial: Go narrow and deep. The three things the U.S. must accomplish in 2022
2 years, 11 months ago

Editorial: Go narrow and deep. The three things the U.S. must accomplish in 2022

LA Times  

Our nation has waffled on climate change or introduced only minor changes. Rising sea levels threaten populations in low-lying coastal areas across the world — it’s already felt in Africa, according to a Nigerian climate report — and large-scale resettlement of those people would almost certainly lead to widespread famine and political destabilization. It contains $555 billion to incentivize renewable …

Climate change will worsen in 2022. But it won't be the end
2 years, 11 months ago

Climate change will worsen in 2022. But it won't be the end

LA Times  

This is the Dec. 30, 2021, edition of Boiling Point, a weekly newsletter about climate change and the environment in California and the American West. “Without the tribes, there’s no deal.” My colleagues Ian James and Jaweed Kaleem wrote about the key role played by Native American nations in the latest Colorado River negotiation, which ended with California, Arizona and …

‘Everything is at stake’ as world gathers for climate talks
3 years, 1 month ago

‘Everything is at stake’ as world gathers for climate talks

Associated Press  

More than one world leader says humanity’s future, even survival, hangs in the balance when international officials meet in Scotland to try to accelerate efforts to curb climate change. We cannot drink oil, and we cannot breathe so-called natural gas.” Her words were echoed by a man tasked with steering one of the world’s richest economic blocs through the climate …

UN, US officials urge action to avert climate disaster
3 years, 1 month ago

UN, US officials urge action to avert climate disaster

Associated Press  

BERLIN — The U.N.'s top human rights official and U.S. President Joe Biden’s climate envoy called Thursday for countries to step up the fight against global warming, describing it as an issue of sheer survival for humankind. In a statement ahead of the U.N. climate summit in Glasgow, the global body’s High Commissioner for Human Rights said “only urgent, priority …

‘No country will be spared’ from effects of climate change, Biden administration reports detail
3 years, 2 months ago

‘No country will be spared’ from effects of climate change, Biden administration reports detail

CNN  

CNN — A series of new reports from the Biden administration will issue a stark warning on Thursday: The effects of climate change will be wide-reaching and will pose problems for every government. “No country will be spared from the challenges directly related to climate change,” a senior administration official told reporters in a call previewing the reports. “The Intelligence …

IPCC Report 2021: Climate change is very real
3 years, 3 months ago

IPCC Report 2021: Climate change is very real

The Hindu  

Several of Bihar’s 38 districts are flood-hit — people have lost lives, homes continue to get damaged, and countless agricultural fields have been inundated. These are numbing data, as numbing as the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ’s Sixth Assessment Report. It adds that these temperature changes are further ‘amplified at the regional scale by regional processes such as …

The Antidote To Climate Dread
3 years, 3 months ago

The Antidote To Climate Dread

Huff Post  

The reality of the climate crisis is dire — and it can be overwhelming. “We are now in an all-hands-on-deck moment,” said Anthony Leiserowitz, director of Yale University’s program on climate change communication. There are small things we can do, but governments and corporations have much more power than single researchers and individual communities.” Rivera-Collazo said she’s “particularly worried” for …

Greta Thunberg responds to IPCC report, saying global warming must be treated as 'crisis'
3 years, 4 months ago

Greta Thunberg responds to IPCC report, saying global warming must be treated as 'crisis'

ABC  

Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg says people can still avoid "the worst consequences" of climate change, but only if we treat it for what it is: "a crisis". Key points: The IPCC says Earth could be a decade away from heating by more than 1.5 degrees Celsius It warns this is likely to result in frequent and more severe fires, …

Opinion: Stop blaming yourself for the climate crisis
3 years, 4 months ago

Opinion: Stop blaming yourself for the climate crisis

CNN  

Editor’s Note: John D. Sutter is a CNN contributor, National Geographic Explorer and MIT science journalism fellow. These numbers sound abstract, but they are the keys to how the world looks and feels for us and for future generations – the keys to whether New York is underwater or whether the Amazon dries up; to whether the West remains habitable …

World running out of time to tackle climate crisis, 2021 must be year of action: UN
3 years, 8 months ago

World running out of time to tackle climate crisis, 2021 must be year of action: UN

Firstpost  

2021 must be the year of action for protecting people against the “disastrous” effects of climate change, the United Nations said on Monday ahead of a crucial US-convened summit. Last year featured “extreme weather and climate disruption, fuelled by anthropogenic climate change, affecting lives, destroying livelihoods and forcing many millions from their homes,” Guterres said. “They need to act now …

Humanity is facing a climate emergency agrees 1.2 million people globally according to UN survey
3 years, 10 months ago

Humanity is facing a climate emergency agrees 1.2 million people globally according to UN survey

Firstpost  

Nearly 75 percent of residents in small island states — facing the prospect of losing their homelands to rising seas — perceived the climate threat as an emergency. Nearly two-thirds of 1.2 million people polled worldwide say humanity faces a climate emergency, according to a UN survey, the largest of its kind ever undertaken. “And the large majority of those …

For US President Joe Biden, the long road of climate action begins now
3 years, 11 months ago

For US President Joe Biden, the long road of climate action begins now

Live Mint  

Ultimately, incoming US President Joe Biden was true to his word. “I warmly welcome Joe Biden’s steps for the USA to re-enter the Paris Agreement, the global roadmap to tackle the climate emergency. “So rejoining the Paris Agreement is really the floor, not the ceiling for the Biden administration on climate, and I think we are very hopeful and it’s …

There's A Lot At Stake For The Climate In The 2020 Election
4 years, 2 months ago

There's A Lot At Stake For The Climate In The 2020 Election

NPR  

There's A Lot At Stake For The Climate In The 2020 Election Enlarge this image toggle caption Scott Olson and Loren Elliott/AFP/Getty Images Scott Olson and Loren Elliott/AFP/Getty Images Despite the cascade of other crises this year, climate change has emerged as a key election issue. Sponsor Message Here are six takeaways from Trump's first term on climate and energy, …

‘I believe we are too late’: Rod Stewart says planet cannot be saved from climate change and lets rip on Trump
4 years, 2 months ago

‘I believe we are too late’: Rod Stewart says planet cannot be saved from climate change and lets rip on Trump

The Independent  

Sign up to the Independent Climate email for the latest advice on saving the planet Get our free Climate email Get our free Climate email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Rod Stewart has dubbed Donald Trump that “p**** in the White House" for pulling out …

‘We made the ocean our home’: The islands fighting climate change
4 years, 3 months ago

‘We made the ocean our home’: The islands fighting climate change

Al Jazeera  

How a culture and history of resilience is inspiring Pacific islanders in their fight against cyclones and rising seas. Pacific rebuilding Meanwhile, a salutary tale comes from the most unlikely of places – a nation in the teeth of the worst effects of climate change, the Cook Islands in the Pacific Ocean, where cyclones and rising seas ravage ever-decreasing habitable …

Greta Thunberg demands ‘crisis’ response to climate change
4 years, 5 months ago

Greta Thunberg demands ‘crisis’ response to climate change

Hindustan Times  

Swedish activist Greta Thunberg urged European leaders on Thursday to take emergency action on climate change, saying people in power had practically “given up” on the possibility of handing over a decent future to coming generations. The letter called for climate policies to be designed to protect workers and the most vulnerable and reduce economic, racial and gender inequalities, as …

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