As his bush plane circled the craggy peaks of the Alaska Range, the explorer Bradford Washburn peered down and had a burning thought. Coursing down the southern slopes of Denali and Mount Silverthrone were the accumulated snows of thousands of winters, compacted under their own weight into colossal rivers of …
Read More »Here’s What a Shocking New Number on Wildlife Declines Really Means
Wildlife populations around the world continue dropping precipitously, according to an important but limited and often misinterpreted assessment that’s issued every two years. The declines reported by the Living Planet Index, a collaboration between two large conservation organizations, have been so steep as to feel disorienting. This year is no …
Read More »Can Your Electric Vehicle Catch Fire During a Hurricane?
Officials in Florida warned residents to move their electric vehicles away from potential flood zones ahead of Hurricane Milton to avoid the risk that the cars could burst into flames after being submerged in saltwater for extended periods. “Keep electric vehicles and lithium-ion batteries away from floodwaters and storm surge,” …
Read More »Our Planet’s Twin Crises
The world’s largest river, the Amazon, has fallen to its lowest level on record in the past few weeks, a development that has shocked experts around the world. Rising temperatures, fueled by global warming, seem to be the driving force behind the powerful drought. They’re parching the largest freshwater reservoir …
Read More »For Some Children, Hurricane Helene’s Ruin ‘Could Take Years to Get Over’
Tens of thousands of children across the Southeast remain out of their classrooms one week after Helene, the deadliest hurricane to strike the mainland United States since Katrina. They are cut off from academics, friends and stabilizing routines. Hurricane Helene ravaged school buildings, demolished football fields and killed young children …
Read More »The Climate Fix: Solutions for a Warming World
As we report on climate change, it’s all too easy to get caught up in the often troubling news. Ferocious storms wreak havoc around the globe. Planet warming-emissions keep rising. Scientists warn of catastrophic tipping points. Yet those headlines, crucially important as they are, often overshadow a different, equally important …
Read More »‘Climate Havens’ Don’t Exist
Hurricane Helene has torn through cities across the Southeast, killing at least 120 people in six states since it made landfall on Thursday. The death toll is still expected to rise. Some of the worst damage has happened inland in North Carolina, and almost a third of those killed were …
Read More »An Oil C.E.O. Answers Our Questions
For seven hours on Wednesday, my colleagues and I interviewed world leaders, chief executives, scientists and activists in front of a live audience at our annual Climate Forward event in New York City. Somini Sengupta talked with Muhammad Yunus, Bangladesh’s interim leader and a Nobel laureate, and President Mohamed Irfaan …
Read More »They’ve Got a Plan to Fight Global Warming. It Could Alter the Oceans.
In a quiet patch of forest in Nova Scotia, a company is building a machine designed to help slow global warming by transforming Earth’s rivers and oceans into giant sponges that absorb carbon dioxide from the air. When switched on later this year, the machine will grind up limestone inside …
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