Nearly 3 billion animals were affected by Australia’s worst wildfire season that burned from last July through March, scientists announced Tuesday — a figure almost three times higher than original estimates. The report released Tuesday and commissioned by the World Wide Fund for Nature Australia said more than 46 million acres were scorched. An estimate in January said…
Category: Climate & Environment
Preventing the next pandemic will cost $22.2 billion a year, scientists say
As the world grapples with the toll of the coronavirus pandemic, scientists are warning the funding needed to prevent the next zoonotic disease outbreak is severely lacking — leaving everyone vulnerable. The price tag for protecting and monitoring pristine forests and wildlife trade where diseases emerge is an estimated $22.2 billion to $30.7 billion, according to the report in…
It’s not poachers killing elephants in Botswana. That worries conservationists.
Botswana’s elephants are literally dropping dead. Hundreds of elephant carcasses have been found scattered across a remote, narrow region of the north — and poaching isn’t to blame. The mystery has dragged on for months, and experts say the slow response to the deaths has shed light on deeper issues in the country’s relationship with the prized creatures….
After the coronavirus, China moves to kick its exotic meat habit
Ou Yang is having a hard time finding snake to eat. “A very famous restaurant specialized in cooking snakes in my city already stopped providing such dishes,” Ou told NBC News from Foshan, in southern China, where snake has long been regarded as a delicacy. “They are all banned now.” As the world struggles to…
A plague amid a pandemic: East Africa, West Asia combat locust outbreak
When the skies darkened suddenly over Michael Gatiba’s 10-acre farm in Nakuru County, Kenya, what came pouring down stunned him: millions of desert locusts. “It was like a storm,” Gatiba, 45, said by telephone. “It was like hail. They covered everywhere. Even there was no sun.” That was three months ago. Although Gatiba said he was lucky…
Young female climate activists face hateful abuse online. This is how they cope.
The consequences of rising temperatures for the planet and ecosystems are becoming increasingly apparent, yet less noticed is the vile backlash and abuse being thrown at the young green activists who have successfully pushed the climate agenda into the mainstream. NBC News has spoken to three young climate activists, all female, and their families who now find…
Climate activist group Extinction Rebellion overturns London protest ban
LONDON — The eco-protest group Extinction Rebellion won a bid against London’s Metropolitan Police on Wednesday over the imposition of a city-wide ban against the group’s series of demonstrations last month. The high court ruled that the blanket ban police issued on Oct. 14 to 18 was unlawful, a decision protesters are celebrating. “It is a victory,” Tobias Garnett,…
Extinction Rebellion’s activists leverage disruption, arrests for climate action
LONDON — Wielding a megaphone to rally protesters blocking a major road outside Parliament last month, Dr. Bing Jones was arrested for the fourth time since joining the eco-protest group Extinction Rebellion. The arrests haven’t deterred him, however — in fact, Jones is now keen to adopt an even more disruptive approach. “I will get…
The Women Behind Two Genius Green Energy Solutions
Inna Braverman understands the consequences of polluting energy sources. Born in Ukraine in 1986, she stopped breathing and nearly died when the Chernobyl nuclear plant exploded two weeks after she was born. “I grew up with a feeling I got a second chance at life, so I should do something good with it,” says Braverman,…
The Amazon is still on fire. Conservation groups blame illegal logging and criminal networks.
As the Amazon continues to burn in a record fire season, experts say the problem is rooted in illegal logging and criminal networks exploiting the forests for its natural resources and agricultural potential. “The government doesn’t have any governance over what is going on,” Ane Alencar, science director for the Amazon Environmental Research Institute (IPAM),…
Teen girls strike for global action on climate change
LAUSANNE, Switzerland — It was the floodwaters brushing her jawline that convinced Theresa Sebastian it was time to get serious about climate change. The teen from Ireland was in Kerala, India, for a family wedding last summer when the region experienced 40 percent higher-than-average rainfall. More than 480 people died in the torrential rains that swept away…
How teen Greta Thunberg shifted world’s gaze to climate change
LAUSANNE, Switzerland — Staring through a swarm of photographers and television crews, self-described introvert Greta Thunberg took the stage at a Swiss university last week to pointedly reiterate a message that has captured the attention of leaders and like-minded young women around the globe: The world must take drastic action now to avert ecological and…
Up to 114 degrees in France: Record-breaking heat in Europe forces tourists to adapt
PARIS — Europeans aren’t breathing a sigh of relief just yet following a day of record-breaking heat, with temperatures soaring once again on Saturday. The unusual heat has left many struggling to cope in the French capital where homes and buildings are not designed for steamy conditions or equipped with air conditioning. “We were not expecting…
Workers, seniors face health risks amid extreme heat wave in Europe
PARIS — In clear view of the Eiffel Tower, Chaima Boutouil and her colleagues have no way of keeping cool while hovering over hot plates making crepes in the midst of a heat wave spreading across Europe on Thursday. “In the morning, I drank six or seven bottles of water,” Boutouil, 25, told NBC News while working…
Tidal energy pioneers see vast potential in ocean currents’ ebb and flow
KIRKWALL, Scotland — Huddled inside what looks like a tanker ship anchored about two miles from shore, engineers from the Spanish company Magallanes Renovables monitor two giant rotors below the hull — but instead of driving the vessel, the rotors are capturing energy from the shifting tides. Here in the Orkney Islands, an archipelago north…
Climate change makes England’s vineyards perfect for sparkling wine
DORKING, England — The damp and cool English terrain hasn’t traditionally been known for producing quality wine. But vineyards are sprouting up all over the countryside as climate change makes England increasingly suitable for making sparkling wines to rival those of France’s Champagne region — winning prizes at international competitions. Last year, the combination of…
Mideast farmers who use pesticides often find no buyers abroad
AL-KARAMEH, Jordan — Farmers in the Middle East and North Africa are facing roadblocks exporting their crop to Western countries because of the pesticides they use. This is despite the fact many of these chemicals are manufactured by companies based in Europe and North America. Sameer Mahadin said he had to leave his tomatoes to…
Jordan to drill ‘fossil water’ wells a half-mile underground
AMMAN, Jordan — For the past decade, Khawla Qisi has trapped herself at home on Fridays. It’s the only day of the week her apartment building receives water, and she has to make the most of it. “I can’t do anything else but focus on the water,” she said. Jordan has struggled with its water…
The Dead Sea is dying. A $1.5 billion plan aims to resurrect it.
AMMAN, Jordan — At the southern tip of the Dead Sea, Sameer Mahadin recalls when the shoreline was visible from the shaded veranda of his farmhouse. The once 10-minute walk to the water’s edge now takes an hour trekking over cracked, salt-encrusted soil. The Dead Sea is dying rapidly. The biblical body of water lying…
Water scarcity fuels tensions across the Middle East
NORTH SHUNA, Jordan — A lush tract of land known as the Island of Peace has thrived in a sea of strife for the past quarter-century, its palm fields and date plantations a stark contrast to the Middle East’s arid conditions and tumultuous politics. But now the symbol of coexistence shared by Israel and Jordan…