Climate crisis

You probably have been hearing phrases like “climate crisis,” “climate emergency” or “climate justice” more often lately as people try to get across the urgent risks and consequences of climate change. The danger is real, but is using this language actually persuasive? It turns out that Americans are more familiar with – and more concerned about – climate change and global warming than they are about climate crisis, climate emergency or climate justice, according to a recent survey we conducted with a nationally representative sample of 5,137 Americans. Moreover, we found no evidence that the alternative terms increased people’s sense of urgency, willingness to support climate-friendly policies or willingness to act. The familiar terms – climate change and global warming – did at least as well, and sometimes better, than climate crisis and climate emergency in eliciting concern, perceived urgency and willingness...

When people talk about the “Anthropocene,” they typically picture the vast impact human societies are having on the planet, from rapid declines in biodiversity to increases in Earth’s temperature by burning fossil fuels. Such massive planetary changes did not begin all at once at any single place or time. That’s why it was controversial when, after over a decade of study and debate, an international committee of scientists – the Anthropocene Working Group – proposed to mark the Anthropocene as an epoch in the geologic time scale starting precisely in 1952. The marker was radioactive fallout from hydrogen bomb tests. On March 4, 2024, the commission responsible for recognizing time units within our most recent period of geologic time – the Subcommission on Quarternary Stratigraphy – rejected that proposal, with 12 of 18 members voting no. These are the scientists most expert at reconstructing Earth’s history from the evidence...

The COP28 climate change conference called on all countries to move from fossil fuels in the global fight against climate change. The high-level climate summit was held amid extreme weather events linked to the climate crisis. The world witnessed the hottest summer on record, with the global average temperature reaching 16.77C (62.19F) from June to August. The hottest day in history was recorded on July 6, soaring to 17.23C. Rising temperatures linked to global warming spark deadly extreme weather events, with more than 11,000 lives lost in Libya’s recent flood disaster Israeli attacks on Gaza, causing civilian casualties, also unleashed an environmental and public health crisis with the use of banned munitions like white phosphorus. Anadolu covers key global environmental developments in 2023. El Nino adds to global warming effect The El Nino weather phenomenon took effect in May, leading to record temperatures worldwide. Between June and A...

Governments must start to distinguish between the good subsidies they need to fight the climate crisis and the bad ones that are increasing greenhouse gas emissions, the world’s trade chief has said. Subsidies and other incentives to burn fossil fuels and encourage poor agricultural practices, amounting to about $1.7tn a year, are distorting world trade and hampering the fight against climate breakdown, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the director general of the World Trade Organization, told the Guardian. “Can you imagine if we said, we are going to repurpose those subsidies into other friendly subsidies, like for research and innovation?” she said. “I don’t mind that kind of subsidy.” She gave the example of clean cooking stoves in the developing world. Instead of subsidising fossil fuels, governments could subsidise clean stoves that use solar power or electricity instead of burning wood. “These kinds of sub...

Women engaged in agri-food systems in Africa and Asia, including in India, face the highest climate risks such as droughts, floods or shortened crop-growing season, a new hotspot map developed by an international team of researchers has identified. It ranked 87 countries based on the level of climate change threat faced by women working in agricultural sectors. The study covered nations in Latin America, Asia and Africa. India stood 12th on the risk index developed by researchers from six institutes. These included the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research Gender Platform, International Livestock Research Institute, Kenya, International Rice Research Institute, Alliance of Biodiversity International and International Center for Tropical Agriculture, Ireland, International Rice Research Institute, India, International Food Policy Research Institute, United States, Accelerating Impacts of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa, Kenya and the Worl...