Parts of Belgium, France and Netherlands also badly affected as unprecedented rainfall wreaks havoc At least 42 people have died and dozens more are missing in Germany after much of western Europe was inundated by record rainfall that brought devastating floods. “Climate change has arrived in Germany,” the environment minister said, as the country reeled from the sight of destroyed buildings, upended cars and people stranded on rooftops. Weather experts said rain in the region…
The unprecedented episode was made at least 150 times as likely by rising temperatures, according to a rapid analysis By all estimates, last week’s heat wave in the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia was essentially unprecedented. Seattle hit 108 degrees, Portland spiked to 116 and Canada broke its national temperature record three days in a row, hitting 121 degrees on June 29. Hundreds of excess deaths were blamed on the brutal heat, which established records…
There is now so much ocean plastic that it has become a route for invasive species, threatening native animals with extinction Japan’s 2011 tsunami was catastrophic, killing nearly 16,000 people, destroying homes and infrastructure, and sweeping an estimated 5m tons of debris out to sea. That debris did not disappear, however. Some of it drifted all the way across the Pacific, reaching the shores of Hawaii, Alaska and California – and with it came hitchhikers.…
Alarming toxic PFAS levels revealed in new report raise concerns that the chemicals are contaminating vegetables Sewage sludge that wastewater treatment districts across America package and sell as home fertilizer contain alarming levels of toxic PFAS, also known as “forever chemicals”, a new report has revealed. Sludge, which is lightly treated and marketed as “biosolids”, is used by consumers to fertilize home gardens, and the PFAS levels raise concerns that the chemicals are contaminating vegetables…
A new study that checked American women’s breast milk for PFAS contamination detected the toxic chemical in all 50 samples tested, and at levels nearly 2,000 times higher than the level some public health advocates advise is safe for drinking water. The findings “are cause for concern” and highlight a potential threat to newborns’ health, the study’s authors say. “The study shows that PFAS contamination of breast milk is likely universal in the US, and…
