One of global warming’s more colorful dangers is the possibility that melting permafrost will revive prehistoric diseases and trigger horrific pandemics. But the more immediate candidates for a disastrous, climate-fueled comeback are newer and man-made. A hotter and more chaotic atmosphere is making it harder to build nuclear weapons and store waste safely in an...
Extreme heat, drought, wildfires, and flooding, as experienced in recent years, will worsen in Europe even under optimistic global warming scenarios and affect living conditions throughout the continent. The EEA has published the first ever European Climate Risk Assessment (EUCRA) to help identify policy priorities for climate change adaptation and for climate-sensitive sectors. According to the assessment,...
If global warming reaches 2°C, similar heatwaves are predicted to happen every five or six years, a new study warns. Human-induced climate change made the recent winter heatwave in South America 100 times more likely, according to a study published on Tuesday. Global warming was the main driver of the extreme weather that scorched much of...
The U.S. West Coast produces over 90% of America’s wine, but the region is also prone to wildfires — a combustible combination that spelled disaster for the industry in 2020 and one that scientists are scrambling to neutralize. Sample a good wine and you might get notes of oak or red fruit. But sip on wine made...
Requests for emergency assistance have gone up by 400 per cent in the last two years. The EU urgently needs more funding to respond to climate change-fuelled crises, the European Commission has warned. Its emergency aid reserve was exhausted in both 2021 and 2022 and natural disasters have increased this year. Europe is emerging from...
Long-term exposure to one of the most prevalent types of air pollution may increase the risk of developing dementia, a debilitating neurological disease associated with memory loss and reduced cognitive function, according to a new study. Researchers at the University of Michigan have concluded that people living with higher levels of fine particulate matter, or...
The floods, droughts, wildfires and extreme heat sweeping the globe are offering a dose of the climate future that scientists have warned about for decades — and all the ways the world is not ready. From a nearly depleted federal disaster fund to state insurance markets that are faltering under the weight of multiple catastrophes, extreme weather is testing the ability of...
It was a smell that invoked a memory. Both for Emily Kuchlbauer in North Carolina and Ryan Bomba in Chicago. It was smoke from wildfires, the odor of an increasingly hot and occasionally on-fire world. Kuchlbauer had flashbacks to the surprise of soot coating her car three years ago when she was a recent college...