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©Ashley Cooper
July 21, 2022 Climate Change / Environment / International / IPCC / News & Updates / Science & Society / Time for Action is Now / Video - Documentary
PBS Video: The Doomsday Glacier Is Collapsing… Who Is Most at Risk?

“These currently elevated rates of ice melting may signal that those vital arteries from the heart of West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) have burst, leading to accelerating flow into the ocean that is potentially disastrous for future global sea level in a warming world.”

Scientists studied both the Thwaites Glacier (nicknamed the “Doomsday Glacier” for the potentially devastating impacts if it melts) and the neighboring Pine Island Glacier on the western side of the continent, which are both vulnerable to melting from warm water flowing underneath them.

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July 21, 2022 Climate Change / Environment / International / News & Updates / Public Health
European Heat Wave: 40°C in Germany, new record in Denmark and over 33°C in Sweden

As the high pressure system headed towards the east brought temperatures close to 40°C on Tuesday and Wednesday also to the Low Countries and Germany. On Wednesday (20/07) many cities of Germany reached 40°C with Hamburg reaching 40.1°C, but locally the temperature was even higher. The temperature is 10-12°C higher than normal making this extreme heat really unusual.

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July 21, 2022 Climate Change / Economy / Environment / Failed Policies / International / Lobby Impact / News & Updates / Social Justice
Revealed: oil sector’s ‘staggering’ $3bn-a-day profits for last 50 years

Emissions from the burning of fossil fuels have driven the climate crisis and contributed to worsening extreme weather, including the current heatwaves hitting the UK and many other Northern hemisphere countries. Oil companies have known for decades that carbon emissions were dangerously heating the planet.

“I was really surprised by such high numbers – they are enormous,” said Verbruggen, an energy and environmental economist at the University of Antwerp, Belgium, and a former lead author of an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report.

“It’s a huge amount of money,” he said. “You can buy every politician, every system with all this money, and I think this happened. It protects [producers] from political interference that may limit their activities.”

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June 3, 2022 Air Pollution / Children's Health / Climate Change / CO2 Emissions / Energy / Environment / Failed Policies / International / News & Updates / Pollution
Satellite imagery shows air pollution rise in tropical ‘megacities’

Air pollution has got far worse in 46 future megacities in tropical Africa, Asia and the Middle East, the study reveals. The deterioration in air quality has led to 180,000 extra deaths due to the combination of city expansion and worsening air pollution between 2005 and 2018.

Agricultural burning from the areas around the cities is one of the main causes. But the deterioration is driven mostly by new sources such as fertiliser use in nearby farms and increased transport and industry. Problems with waste burning, including the burning of plastics, are widespread too. Cities in India are also being affected by new coal power stations that are being built in the country.

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June 2, 2022 Climate Change / CO2 Emissions / Environment / Environmental justice / International / News & Updates / Time for Action is Now
Current policies will bring ‘catastrophic’ climate breakdown, warn former UN leaders

The policies currently in place to tackle the climate crisis around the world will lead to “catastrophic” climate breakdown, as governments have failed to take the actions needed to fulfil their promises, three former UN climate leaders have warned.

There is a stark gap between what governments have promised to do to protect the climate, and the measures and policies needed to achieve the targets. At the Cop26 summit last November, countries agreed to bring forward plans to limit global heating to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels – the limit of safety, according to scientists. They have so far submitted pledges that would limit temperatures to under 2C.

But the policies and measures passed and implemented by governments would lead to far greater temperature rises, of at least 2.7C, well beyond the threshold of relative safety, and potentially as much as 3.6C. That would have “catastrophic” impacts, in the form of extreme weather, sea-level rises and irreversible changes to the global climate.

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