Air pollution is the second-largest risk factor for early death globally. Traditionally, our response has focused on reducing the levels of pollution people breathe, but this is only part of the story.
More than 30,000 hectares of land are covered in plastic, a geometric labyrinth five times the size of Manhattan, where 3.5m tons of vegetables are produced every year from tomatoes to cucumbers, peppers to courgettes, aubergines to melons, enough to feed half a billion people and generate a turnover of more than 3bn euros.
Not only will temperatures break March monthly records, but this heatwave will even break April records. Over the next week, around 800 high temperature records are forecast to be neared, tied or broken at 165 locations in Western and Central states - some by more than 10 degrees - with unusual warmth set to linger into late March.
'Our results show that the next 20 years are critical,' lead author Dr Rob Cooke told the Daily Mail. 'By around 2050, we reach a point where the choices we make on emissions and land use will largely determine whether Britain moves towards a much more degraded or a much more nature‑positive future.'
In Grazalema, Spain's wettest town, a year's-worth of rain fell in a fortnight and overloaded the karst aquifer beneath it. Water rushed into homes through floors, walls and even electricity sockets. Authorities ordered everyone to evacuate. I felt a lot of fear, said Sanchez Barea, a guesthouse owner whose home is one of hundreds still in an exclusion zone.
as the EU's climate advisory board urges countries to prepare for a catastrophic 3C of global heating. Maarten van Aalst, a member of the European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change (ESABCC), said the continent was already paying a price for its lack of preparation but that adapting to a hotter future was in part common-sense and low-hanging fruit. It is a daunting task, but at the same time
Europe's ageing fleet of nearly 2,000 ferries are a large but overlooked source of foul air in coastal cities. Emissions of sulphurous oxides toxic gases that smell like burnt matches and rotten eggs react to form tiny particles that penetrate the lungs, ride the bloodstream and damage organs throughout the body.
Cities across Nouvelle-Aquitaine and the Basque Country, including Bordeaux, Bilbao and San Sebastian, matched or exceeded their long-term February records, with temperatures of 27.1C and 27.6C recorded in Bilbao and San Sebastian on Wednesday, more than 13C above average for the time of year.
One year ago, Nancy Ward, then the director of the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES), petitioned the Federal Emergency Management Agency to spearhead the cleanup of toxic ash and fire debris cloaking more than 12,000 homes across Los Angeles County. Although Ward's decision ensured the federal government would assume the bulk of disaster costs, it came with a major trade off.
After a majority of EU leaders gave the green light last week to the free-trade deal that was 25 years in the making, von der Leyen said it would "create more business opportunities" and "give [European] companies better access to critical raw materials." Once approved by the European Parliament and ratified by both the EU and Mercosur, the massive accord often dubbed a "cows-for-cars" trade deal will open up markets on both continents to almost all goods, including cars, machinery and chemicals from Europe.
Authorities in Cyprus have urged residents to reduce their water intake by 10% the equivalent of two minutes' use of running water each day as Europe's most south-easterly nation grapples with a once-in-a century drought. The appeal, announced alongside a 31m (27m) package of emergency measures, comes as reservoirs hit record lows with little prospect of replenishment before the tourist season starts.
Spain and Portugal have endured another storm over the weekend, just days after the deadly flooding and major damage caused by Storm Kristin and Storm Leonardo last week. Storm Marta passed over the Iberian peninsula on Saturday bringing fresh torrential rain, killing two people. Storm Kristin killed at least five people when it swept through Portugal last week with Storm Leonardo claiming another victim last Wednesday.
Plastic is everywhere. Inside the human body, in the depths of the ocean and the far reaches of the Arctic. Now a new study warns that, unless the world changes course, plastic could more than double its damage to human health within the next two decades. The culprit is not plastic litter in the environment or microplastics, but the emissions released across plastic's entire life cycle from fossil fuel extraction and manufacturing to transport, recycling and disposal.