références en Anglais

The year 2024 wasn’t just another chapter in the unfolding climate saga; it felt like the plot twist no one wanted to believe. For decades, climate scientists warned of ifs — if we pass this tipping…

To date, the ocean has largely been treated as an afterthought in global climate strategies, sidelined in favor of more visible priorities like renewable energy and reducing carbon emissions. But ocean-based solutions are indispensable to the green transition and must be funded accordingly.

Several high-profile research papers have brought renewed attention to the potential collapse of a crucial system of ocean currents known as the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, or AMOC, as we discussed in part one of this two-part post. Huge uncertainties in both the timing and details of potential impacts of such a collapse remain.

Japan has doubled down on the nuclear industry’s routine practice of spreading radioactive pollutants to public air space and to common waterways. In addition to the pumping of tens of thousands of tons of radioactively contaminated cooling water to the Pacific Ocean from the Fukushima-Daiichi reactor complex, the government has announced its intention to spread around the country as much as 14 million cubic meters of radioactively contaminated soil, reportedly for road-building, construction projects, and even agricultural underlayment.

EPFL scientists developed a tool to evaluate climate models, revealing that some predict a much hotter future due to high carbon sensitivity, suggesting current emission reduction efforts may be inadequate.

I mapped out a likely scenario, based on a synthesis of a variety of estimates combined with a dose of interpretation. While I can't predict the future, if we continue business as usual we'll soon witness compounding destruction of our infrastructure, economy and agricultural systems. A reasonable estimate suggests cascading civilizational and social collapses by mid-century - just 25 years from now.

In this article, we’ll see why cascading disruptions of environmental and political systems are entangled and mutually reinforcing. We’ll also try to identify the next stages of global collapse, and explore the options for individuals and communities seeking to survive and to prevent as much harm and suffering as possible.

Sea ice extent for the Arctic overall as of mid-December is at the lowest for this point in the season in the entire satellite era record (since autumn 1978) Whether this is a transient low extent or not, expanded open water now, with the winter solstice upon us, means that there’s less time for ice, once it forms, to thicken up before the spring melt commences in a few months.

Over 2.5 billion people depend on aquifers for fresh water, but rising seas and climate change are pushing saltwater into these crucial reserves.

In this week’s Down To Earth newsletter: The global crackdown against climate activists and groups is clearly part of the fossil fuel industry’s strategy to crush dissent and keep burning the planet

Depleted soil leads to reduced yields, forcing farmers to rely on fertilizers that raise food production costs, consumer prices.

At least 1773 fossil fuel lobbyists have been granted access to the COP29 summit in Baku, underscoring an outsized polluter presence year after year at crucial climate talks, according to a new analysis from Corporate Europe Observatory, Corporate Accountability and Global Witness, from the Kick Big Polluters Out (KBPO) coalition.

COP29 in Baku, which finished last week, was crawling with fossil-fuel lobbyists determined to eke out profits for as long as possible. Shockingly, for a second year running, it is European governments that have facilitated access for a huge number of them.

Microplastics and nanoplastics may be present in food, primarily from environmental contamination where foods are grown or raised.

Microplastics are ubiquitous environmental contaminants for which there are documented human exposures, but there is a paucity of research evaluating their impacts on human health. We conducted a rapid systematic review using the “Navigation Guide” systematic review method. We searched four databases in July 2022 and April 2024 with no restriction on the date.

Jem Bendell encourages us to think about societal collapse in ways that are ‘profound and startlingly original’, with the potential to birth whole new social movements, says Tom Doig.

The climate and ecological crisis poses an unprecedented challenge, with scientists playing a critical role in how society understands and responds. This study examined how 27 environmentally concerned scientists from 11 countries construct the future in the context of climate change, applying a critical discursive psychology analysis. The degree to which the future is constructed as predetermined or transformable impacts both the urgency and scope of proposed actions. ...

Hastened reviews of compounds as industry ramps up could increase pollution from likely toxic chemicals. The Environmental Protection Agency is quietly fast tracking approval of new PFAS “forever chemicals” for use by the semiconductor industry at the same time the agency is publicly touting increased scrutiny of new PFAS and other chemicals.

President formally files new plans under Paris agreement and hails ‘boldest climate agenda in American history’. Joe Biden has announced tougher targets on the US’s carbon dioxide emissions for the next decade, in a defiant final gesture intended as a “capstone” on his legacy on the climate. With just weeks to go before Donald Trump enters the White House, the Biden administration is formally filing new plans under the Paris agreement – the global climate treaty from which Trump has vowed to withdraw.

As the world’s largest gathering of Earth and space scientists swarmed a Washington venue last week, the packed halls have been permeated by an air of anxiety and even dread over a new Donald Trump presidency that might worsen what has been a bruising few years for science.