News in brief: 24th - 30th August 2020

Storm Francis causes widespread flooding

Strong winds and heavy rain brought by Storm Francis has caused widespread flooding across large parts of the UK and particularly Wales; the Met Office put out extreme weather warnings and evacuated people from some areas as wind speeds reached up to 75mph

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Poor wheat harvest pushes up bread prices

The price of bread may rise after the worst wheat harvest in the UK in 40 years; extreme weather has affected crop growth, with flooding causing problems with sowing last autumn and dry spells in the summer limiting nutrient uptake

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Protest over Mauritius oil spill

Thousands of people have gathered to march in protect about the large oil spill off the coast of Mauritius last month; it is thought that around 1,000 tonnes of oil have been spilt into a precious wildlife area, and that the government has done little to clean up the spill or prevent it from happening in the first place
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A good season for butterflies

All the warm weather over spring and summer this year has made it an excellent season for a number of butterfly species; lots of British native species have been seen in abundance although there are still several that are in decline overall
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Hurricane Laura hits the US

A new storm named Hurricane Laura has made landfall in the south US this week. The storm was labelled a category 4 (the highest being category 5) with wind speeds of around 150 miles per hour.  It was headed towards the states of Texas and Louisiana which is just west of the city of New Orleans which was battered by Hurricane Katrina back in August 2005.  

As Hurricane Laura approached, half a million people were told to leave the area in case of storm surges but the effects of the storm were not as bad as were feared.  There were widespread power cuts to around half a million homes and the strong wind speeds caused damage to buildings and vehicles.  Six people are known to have died, four from falling trees, one from a boat that sank and one from carbon monoxide poisoning.  There was also a chemical fire at an industrial plant.  Overall, the storm was less damaging than was expected as it quickly lost its power over land and began to track east.  It has now been downgraded to a tropical storm and 1,500 people have moved in to help with the clean up operation.

This is probably one of the first of many storms during America's hurricane season. The UK also saw bad weather this week with Storm Francis bringing heavy rain and unseasonably strong winds of up to 80mph.   With climate change continuing to alter weather patterns, it is only looking increasingly likely that we will have more of these storms in the future and will have to look at better ways of mitigating their impacts.  

News in brief: 17th - 23rd August 2020

California wildfires at critical level

Wildfires have been sweeping across the state of California as a result of a heatwave and lower than average rainfall; President Trump has now declared the area as a major disaster zone with nearly 1 million acres of land now burnt

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Record-breaking ice loss in Greenland
Greenland lost an unprecedented amount of ice by melting in 2019; changing weather systems have meant that it has experienced longer periods of high air pressure which increases melt rates and contributes to sea level rise

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Dams limit sea level rise

It is now though that large scale dams have helped to limit sea level rise in some areas over recent decades; despite increased overland flow from melting glaciers and river floods, the amount of water reaching the sea is about 12% lower than it might have been because of the dams

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Drilling for Arctic oil

Many parts of the Arctic have been drilled for oil over recent decades. The rock beneath the ice and snow holds a wealth of natural fossil fuels which various governments and corporations have sought to exploit in order to benefit from the profits and industrial development that such a resource brings.

This week, it has come to light that the US government is now going to allow a new plan to go ahead to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.  This is an area in north-east Alaska which is home to many different animals including reindeer and polar bears and many other mammals and birds. It sits above millions of barrels of oil which can be extracted by drilling deep down into the ground.

The government say that drilling for oil will provide jobs for hundreds of Alaskan people and generate large amounts of income for the area.  However, we have already seen from other projects like this that the environment is usually destroyed to the point of no return and animals have to migrate elsewhere which disrupts the balance of the ecosystem.  

Many people also feel (now more strongly than ever) that there is no room for these kinds of projects with the current impacts of climate change hitting almost every corner of the globe.  They believe money should be being invested into green alternative energies, and not finite fossil fuels whose reserves will quickly be used up. There is no need that is great enough to risk having the oil spills, habitat destruction, noise pollution, and the increased greenhouse gas emissions that would result from another oil refinery.  

Arctic areas are seeing the impacts of global warming more than ever, with ice melting at an increasing rate and more and more risk to polar bears who rely on the ice for fishing and migrating.  It seems, illogical, therefore, to go ahead with such an outdated and dirty fossil fuel extraction project in an area that it trying to cling on to its status as a pristine wilderness. 

To find out more, click here:

BBC News

National Geographic 

Greenpeace

'Highest recorded temperature' in the US

The US's west coast has recently been experiencing a heatwave which is sending temperatures soaring. Some days were so hot that it caused a power plant to malfunction and there were blackouts in certain areas.   A recent reading has shown the thermometer in Death Valley to reach 54.4 degrees C which is thought to be the highest and most credible temperature reading in history (there have been some slightly higher recordings in the past but these are though to be inaccurate).

This recent heatwave is yet another indicator of a rapidly warming climate.  The hot weather is stretching across four or five states from Arizona up to Washington, with extreme weather phenomena such as firenadoes being seen in California.  People are having to cope with a loss of electricity and an increase in pressure on the health systems as people struggle to manage in the extreme heat.

Severe heat waves and droughts can also have impacts on the land and wildlife.  Crops will begin to fail if they go long enough without adequate water.  If forest fires break out, animal habitats and their food stores will be destroyed and it will be difficult for them to find new areas.  Flash floods that often follow heatwaves can also damage land and wash away valuable soils, making it harder for vegetation or crops to regrow.  

To find out more, click here:

🔥 BBC News

🔥 Friends of the Earth

🔥 World Wildlife Foundation 

News in brief: 10 - 16 August 2020

Mauritius oil spill worsens
The Japanese bulk carrier that began spilling oil last week has now broken into two pieces; hundreds of tonnes of oil have spilt into the area since the end of July and large numbers of volunteers have now stepped up to help with the clean up effort

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Plans for renewable heat networks

Two projects have been given extra funding to supply buildings in south Wales with waste heat generated from industrial sites; a system of underground pipes will transfer the heat from the site to the buildings, and this will help to save both carbon emissions and costs of heating

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Arctic ice shelves breaking up

New satellite photos from the Plant-Earth observation company have shown a worrying break in the Milne Ice Shelf in the Arctic; this is one in a series of many break-up events over the last 15-20 years and as such is yet more evidence of the rapidly warming climate

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Fires in the Amazon

The Amazon Rainforest in Brazil is already seeing an alarming increase in the number of fires it usually experiences, and it is only the start of the new fire season. Around 10,000 fires have been spotted within the first 10 days of August which is a rise of 17% on last year.  To many people who know the value of the Amazon and want to protect it, this is not good news.

Rainforests such as the Amazon are huge stores of carbon, and as such are vitally important in the fight against climate change.  Organisations in Brazil are aware of this and are trying to protect the trees from fires that not only destroy the trees and habitat for wildlife, but also release tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere at the same time.  

Unfortunately, it seems that although Brazil's government have made agreements to protect the Amazon, not enough has been done on the ground to prevent these fires from being started.  Many people, both local villages and large scale companies, are keen to burn vegetation to make way for farmland as this is much more profitable.  However, it will take far too long for the trees to grow back into the complex network they were once in, and for the wildlife and ecosystem processes to return.  Many believe that with a changing climate, the rainforest may end up lost forever with only dry or temperate grasslands in its place.

To find out more and how to help, click here:

🌳 BBC news report
🌳 WWF - Things you can do to help the Amazon

🌳 Greenpeace

News in brief: 3 - 9 August 2020

Oil spill in the Indian Ocean
A ship has begun leaking fuel off the coast of Mauritius after running aground on a coral reef; Mauritius has now declared a state of emergency with thousands of sealife at risk which may affect both the animal and human populations in the area

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Beavers in England

A group of beavers have been allowed to remain on the River Otter in east Devon after a five-year reintroduction trial; beavers are a great help to the environment as they build dams which helps to slow flooding and they can also boost local wildlife populations

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Rising risk of extreme droughts 

Climate change is increasing the risk of extreme droughts across central Europe which will have a significant impact on crop production; central Euope suffered the biggest droughts in 2018 and 2019 which caused rivers to dry up, crops to be ruined and more frequent wildfires than normal

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Climate change affecting UK's weather

The UK is seeing an increasing number of warm spells with temperatures now regularly reaching above 30 degrees.  Last week, the UK recorded its third warmest day ever and another wave of high air pressure is set to bring soaring temperatures again next weekend.  This is all part of a pattern of increasing extreme weather that the UK is seeing, with more flooding events and warmer winters than ever before.

Scientists believe that these weather patterns are a direct result of climate change, and if actions are not taken then we will continue to see increasingly unpredictable weather events.  This not only causes problems for people living in flood risk areas, but it also puts farming livelihoods at risk which could make food production a problem.  Ecology and local ecosystems could become unbalanced with wildlife struggling to adapt to the changes.  

We are seeing efforts made towards becoming more carbon neutral.  The UK is now hardly dependent on coal as a fuel source, with most coal power stations now shut down.  However, more needs to be done both at government level and individual level to reduce the amount of carbon emissions we produce. 

Read this government report to find out what the UK is doing to build a green and healthy future.