Tag: environment

In a sobering revelation, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) released the Emissions Gap Report 2023, painting a dire picture of our planet's climate trajectory. With global temperatures and greenhouse gas emissions skyrocketing, the Broken Record report underscores the imperative for immediate and intensified climate action.

Natural disasters have taken the lead as the most perceived threat, with 70% of respondents expressing worry—a four-point increase, according to a recent IPSOS poll. This concern surpasses fears of a major health epidemic (63%, +3 pts), a terrorist attack (63%, +2 pts), personal safety/security violations (63%, +2 pts), violent conflicts between ethnic/minority groups (60%, +1 pt), and armed conflicts with other countries (49%, -1 pt). Perceived threats are on the rise across most metrics.

A remarkable discovery by researchers has unearthed colossal "megabeds" from ancient supervolcano eruptions, hidden at the seabed of the Mediterranean. These findings shed light on a cyclic pattern of catastrophic events occurring every 10,000 to 15,000 years, painting a picture of the European region's tumultuous geological history.

Faster warming in the Arctic is projected to trigger a global 2°C temperature increase eight years earlier than anticipated by average global warming rates, according to a recent modeling study led by UCL researchers.

A new report reveals that in 2022, 21 million tonnes of macroplastics leaked into the environment, marking a nearly one-third increase from a decade earlier. Plastics, contributing to 3.8% of global greenhouse gas emissions, pose significant threats to the environment, climate, and health. The interim report explores policy scenarios, emphasizing the urgent need for comprehensive international strategies to eliminate plastic pollution by 2040.

Explore the ongoing El Niño event, its impact on global weather patterns, and its contribution to rising temperatures, as per the World Meteorological Organization’s update

Despite consuming significantly less plastic per capita, low income countries face costs up to 10 times higher than high-income countries, according to a latest report commissioned by WWF.

Physicists have calculated that the impact of human activity on the Earth's system could lead to unpredictable chaos, beyond the point of return. Led by Alex Bernadini of the University of Porto in Portugal, a team of physicists used a theory initially designed for modelling superconductivity to demonstrate that there is a finite threshold beyond which restoring equilibrium to Earth's climate becomes impossible.

Southern Hemisphere has been experiencing a more significant drying trend compared to the Northern Hemisphere over the past two decades. This trend, driven primarily by El Niño events, has far-reaching consequences, said a recent study.

The 2023 Antarctic ozone hole, which expanded to 10 million square miles or 26 million square kilometers on September 21, marked the 12th largest occurrence since 1979, based on data collected by NASA and NOAA through satellite and balloon-based measurements.