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It is possible to determine which nations and companies are responsible for damaging the climate. It’s only a matter of time before courts decide they must pay for global warming
Recent days have seen Houston, Texas literally sunk under sheer weight of rain, Carribbean islands battered by powerful storms barrelling across the Gulf and now Florida homes blasted by Irma, the largest of three hurricanes churning in the Atlantic basin. It seems almost certain that man-made climate change has a role in such events. Scientists used to be circumspect at attributing any single extreme event to global warming. No longer. Now scientists make the link between climate change and droughts in Kenya, record winter sun in Britain and torrential downpours in south-west China.
The unmistakeable fingerprint of extreme weather at the crime scene of global warming seems intuitively obvious: consider that Houston is reckoned to have been hit by three “500-year floods” in three years. A 500-year flood does not have to happen only twice a millennium. But a run of three indicates that past climate is no longer a reliable guide to the present weather. The explanation is that the climate itself is changing.
Continue reading...Tomorrow, the horticultural industry gathers in Birmingham at the Glee international garden show, with the major high street retailers deciding how and what we will grow in our gardens next year. Yet among the commercial bustle, there remains a deafening silence that shames this £5bn business and our national passion – why is peat still being used in our gardens?
The importance of our remaining peatlands to people and planet is hard to overstate. They are the unrivalled kings of carbon storage. Known peatlands cover about 3% of the world’s land surface yet store twice as much carbon as all of Earth’s standing forest and provide a haven to unique wildlife – from threatened wild flowers through dragonflies to curlews. Yet 2m cubic metres of peat are sold annually for us to plant begonias and tomatoes.
Continue reading...The president’s dismissal of scientific research is doing nothing to protect the livelihoods of ordinary Americans
As the US comes to terms with its second major weather disaster within a month, an important question is whether the devastation caused by hurricanes Harvey and Irma will convince Donald Trump and his administration of the reality of climate change.
After a period of 12 years when none of the strongest storms made American landfall two major hurricanes have hit the US mainland
The president should recognise the consequences of his arrogance in dismissing the scientific research
Average sea surface temperatures have been rising, which is a key reason why both Harvey and Irma became so strong so quickly
Continue reading...In an extract from his book Ends of the World, Peter Brannen examines mass extinction events and the catastrophic outcome of rising temperatures for all the world’s population
Many of us share some dim apprehension that the world is flying out of control, that the centre cannot hold. Raging wildfires, once-in-1,000-years storms and lethal heatwaves have become fixtures of the evening news – and all this after the planet has warmed by less than 1C above preindustrial temperatures. But here’s where it gets really scary.
If humanity burns through all its fossil fuel reserves, there is the potential to warm the planet by as much as 18C and raise sea levels by hundreds of feet. This is a warming spike of an even greater magnitude than that so far measured for the end-Permian mass extinction. If the worst-case scenarios come to pass, today’s modestly menacing ocean-climate system will seem quaint. Even warming to one-fourth of that amount would create a planet that would have nothing to do with the one on which humans evolved or on which civilisation has been built. The last time it was 4C warmer there was no ice at either pole and sea level was 80 metres higher than it is today.
The modern world will be much more of a killing field
Related: Is tropical storm Harvey linked to climate change?
If people don’t have economic hope and they’re displaced, they tend to get mad and blow things up
Related: Earth's sixth mass extinction event under way, scientists warn
Related: From heatwaves to hurricanes, floods to famine: seven climate change hotspots
Related: Climate change to cause humid heatwaves that will kill even healthy people
Continue reading...Rapa Nui protection area, about same size as Chilean mainland, will protect up to 142 species, including 27 threatened with extinction
One of the world’s largest marine protection areas has been created off the coast of Easter Island.
The 740,000 sq km Rapa Nui marine park is roughly the size of the Chilean mainland and will protect at least 142 endemic marine species, including 27 threatened with extinction.
Related: Rare views on Rapa Nui: an Easter Island adventure
Related: Dive into the twilight zone off Easter Island reveals new species
Continue reading...A slew of Trump properties stand in the path of Hurricane Irma, and they could be underwater by the end of the century
Mar-a-Lago. Trump National Doral Miami. Trump Palace. Trump Royale. Trump International Beach Resort Miami. Trump Hollywood.
Related: Florida officials warn Irma will be 'storm wider than the state'
Related: Where is Hurricane Irma heading? Mapping the path of destruction
Continue reading...Hurricane Irma is already blasting its way into the record books, but what causes destructive storms like it to build?
As recovery begins on the islands of the Caribbean and Florida braces itself for an onslaught, Irma has stormed into the record books as the most powerful hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic Ocean.
But such weather systems are far from a rarity. Hurricanes are a type of storm known as a tropical cyclone, which build from warm, moist air over the oceans.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Winner of the BP young artist award at UK’s National Portrait Gallery says donation is a protest against his art being used to promote the oil company
Is it time for the arts to start saying no to oil money?A painter who won a prestigious British portrait award sponsored by BP has donated part of his winnings to Greenpeace in protest at his art being used to promote the image of the multinational oil company.
Henry Christian-Slane, an artist from New Zealand, won the BP young artist award at the National Portrait Gallery for a painting of his partner Gabi. The high profile prize, which was chosen out of 2,580 entries, came with £7,000 prize money, which was presented by BP’s chief executive Bob Dudley.
Related: Is it time for the arts to start saying no to oil money?
Continue reading...Milder floods that refill reservoirs are decreasing as severe floods become more common
It is well known that humans are causing the Earth to warm. We also know that a warmer atmosphere has more water vapor. Just like the air is more humid when it is warm, and less humid when cold. The more humid air leads to more intense precipitation and potentially more flooding. But how much change we will see is an open scientific question.
This question is made complex by the fact that flooding isn’t just about rain. It reflects a dependence on evaporation, rain, the ability of land and water management to handle water surges, and other factors. Fortunately, a very recent study out of Science Advances has helped advance our understanding of the confluence of global warming, intense rain and flooding.
if the catchment or region capturing the precipitation is smaller, but the precipitation event intensity remains the same, the potential for losses is less. In large catchments, the peak streamflow is more likely to be influenced by the catchment wetness conditions preceding the storm event.
What this study does is to show, using just data and no model projections, that flood risk is indeed increasing but at the rare to very-rare flood end. The milder floods that are more of a nuisance than a threat to property and lives, are actually decreasing. This is worse news than before though, as it is these milder floods that make up the bulk of the refill to our water supply reservoirs.
Continue reading...An artist has given away part of his winnings to protest against BP’s role in climate change. The company’s money has helped an unfashionable artform, but what’s at stake is far more important
We can’t stop looking at human faces. Can’t stop being interested in ourselves, our species. The BP Portrait Award, whose annual exhibition of winners and strong contenders can be seen at the National Portrait Gallery until 24 September, is full of humanity. It is, perhaps, the most humanist art prize in the world, an art award that specifically celebrates the painted human image and looks for modern heirs to the profoundly compassionate tradition of portraiture that includes Rembrandt, Velázquez and Lucian Freud.
Yet it may be time to get over ourselves. Has the moment come to put nature before portraiture, and abolish this oil-tainted oil painting prize?
Related: Artist donates part of BP prize money to Greenpeace in oil sponsorship protest
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