Visualizing the Warmest August in 136 Years

August 2016 was the warmest August in 136 years of modern record-keeping, according to a monthly analysis of global temperatures by scientists at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS). Although the seasonal temperature cycle typically peaks in July, August...

Ten worst ecocides

From floating plastic islands and orbiting space junk to mountaintop removal and deep-sea mining, the worldwide destruction of ecosystems is worse now than at any other time. The UK environmental lawyer Polly Higgins is advocating a new law at the UN that would...

Amazon rainforest losing ability to regulate climate

The Amazon rainforest has degraded to the point where it is losing its ability to benignly regulate weather systems, according to a stark new warning from one of Brazil’s leading scientists. A draft seen by the Guardian warns that the “vegetation-climate equilibrium...

Colored Plastic Death

Marine Litter: Plunging Deep, Spreading Wide Marine Litter: Plunging Deep, Spreading...

A rare piece of good news about the environment

Ozone layer shows signs of recovery after 1987 ban on damaging gases Continued rises in other greenhouse gases, as well as illicit usage of carbon tetrachloride, still has potential to undo gains

A Concern

Some of the more than 500 million pounds (220 million kg) of pesticides used yearly in the United States are concentrated at levels that pose a concern for fish and water-dwelling insects, the U.S. Geological Survey report on pesticides from 1992 to 2011 said. The...

Defaunation in the Anthropocene

We live amid a global wave of anthropogenically driven biodiversity loss: species and population extirpations and, critically, declines in local species abundance. Particularly, human impacts on animal biodiversity are an under-recognized form of global environmental...

Climate changing more rapidly than at any point on record

“Data show that the climate is changing more rapidly now than it has at any time in the historical record.” “Carbon dioxide levels are now in uncharted territory, the scientists say: Ice core records reveal that until the early 20th century, CO2 concentrations...

Studies estimated that about 800,000 birds died in coastal and offshore waters as a direct result of the Deepwater Horizon oil...

Onward to Oblivion

The NASA-funded HANDY model offers a highly credible wake-up call to governments, corporations and business – and consumers – to recognise that ‘business as usual’ cannot be sustained, and that policy and structural changes are required...

Sumatra’s burning rainforests

http://www.dw.de/sumatras-burning-rainforests/g-17489217 Massive forest fires are raging on the Indonesian Island of Sumatra. Many of the blazes were deliberately lit to make way for lucrative and environmentally controversial palm oil plantations. The destruction of...

Making a Killing – Not a Living

These images show ocean wildlife that were killed at sea by the drift gillnet fishery targeting swordfish and thresher sharks in United States waters off California. Oceana obtained these disturbing images from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration...

Goodbye, Miami

By century’s end, rising sea levels will turn the nation’s urban fantasyland into an American Atlantis. But long before the city is completely underwater, chaos will begin....

The Coming ‘Instant Planetary Emergency’

How will climate change affect the future of the planet? Scientists predict it will be nothing short of a nightmare. “The UN Environment Programme predicts a 3.5C increase by 2100. Such an increase would remove habitat for human beings on this planet, as nearly...