Earlier this fall, a flock of birds descended upon New York City, flying through the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens. The arrival of these birds, however, isn't literal. They came to the city in the form of murals, thanks to the National Audubon Society's Mural Project. Since its launch more than 10 years ago, the project has produced 142 total murals around New York, with the goal of centering the birds most vulnerable to extinction from climate change.
A polar vortex happens when air in the Arctic is destabilized, often by intruding warming air currents, and moves extreme cold air southward. The type of polar vortex this current system could become is known as a "sudden stratospheric warming" event - if it indeed comes to pass, this would be the earliest instance of it happening during a winter season on record.
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More rainfall is expected in the region over the coming days as thousands lose homes and crops. Heavy rains continue to cause widespread flooding and landslides across Southeast Asia and have claimed several more lives as authorities mobilise to try to help. One person was confirmed to have been killed in Vietnam on Monday, bringing the death toll in the country to 91 people in just over a week.
Since at least 2008, scientists have warned that unchecked groundwater pumping for the city and for agriculture was rapidly draining the country's aquifers. The overuse did not just deplete underground reservesit destroyed them, as the land compressed and sank irreversibly. One recent study found that Iran's central plateau, where most of the country's aquifers are located, is sinking by more than 35 centimeters each year.
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging. At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground.
In 1995, when the first conference of the parties (Cop) of the UN's climate change convention met in Berlin, the atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration was approximately 360.67 parts per million. The then German chancellor, Helmut Kohl, gave a passionate speech about how greenhouse gases must be reduced to save the planet from overheating. There was a relatively unknown East German woman, the environment minister, Angela Merkel, chairing the conference. She was red hot at keeping order.
Papua New Guinea has voiced frustration after Australia ditched a bid to co-host next year's UN climate talks with its Pacific island neighbours. We are all not happy. And disappointed it's ended up like this, foreign minister Justin Tkatchenko told Agence France-Presse after Australia ceded hosting rights to Turkey. Australia had been pushing to host Cop31 next year alongside south Pacific nations which are increasingly threatened by rising seas and climate-fuelled disasters.
If tropical cyclone Fina crosses the Northern Territory coast on Friday, it could equal the earliest cyclone to make landfall in Australia. Fina, a category one cyclone about 370km north-east of Darwin, was moving east and expected to intensify to category two before turning south on Thursday. The latest Bureau of Meteorology update (issued at 10.30am local time on Wednesday) anticipated the cyclone would reach the NT coast for potential impact on Friday or Saturday.
Monty Don has shared dramatic photos of his Herefordshire garden underwater after a storm dumped a month's worth of rain in just 24 hours. The presenter of Gardeners' World reflected on life on a flood plain and the challenges of extreme weather. Despite the disruption, he emphasised gratitude that the flooding affected only his garden and fields, not homes or businesses.
Scientists have warned that the Gulf Stream is on the verge of collapsing - a disastrous event that could plunge the northern hemisphere into a new ice age. The researchers from China and San Diego have uncovered a 'key fingerprint' hidden below the ocean's surface that suggests it has been weakening for decades. The 'distinctive temperature fingerprint' is at 'mid-depth' - 3,280ft to 6,560ft (1,000-2,000 metres) below the ocean's surface - and it could point to a collapse later this century.
"The risk of many weather-related extreme events is growing as the planet warms, and some of those impacts are coming fast and furious now," says Carolyn Kousky, an economic policy expert at the Environmental Defense Fund and longtime property insurance researcher. Disaster costs are also rising because people continue to move to coastal regions vulnerable to hurricanes and to forested areas prone to wildfires.
In August, 2005, Anand Irimpen, a cardiologist and a professor at Tulane University, evacuated New Orleans during the approach of Hurricane Katrina. He and his family watched it make landfall from a hotel room in Dallas. "The storm passed by and I was ready to go home," Irimpen told me. "But then my wife said, 'The levees broke. We can't go back.'" The damage to New Orleans lingered; they ended up staying in Dallas for months.
The country's weather bureau said Fung-wong was carrying maximum sustained winds of 185 kilometers (115 miles) per hour and gusts of up to 230 kph as it passed close to the eastern province of Catanduanes on Sunday morning. The massive storm the biggest to threaten the Philippines so far this year spans 1,600 kilometers (994 miles), which ould cover two-thirds of the archipelago nation.
Trelawney Parish sits in a rural, agricultural region of Western Jamaica that borders the country's largest contiguous rainforest. Under normal circumstances, the parish is relentlessly green - covered in lush vegetation and long rows of orange trees - but the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa has "almost completely annihilated" the area, according to firefighter Ronell Hamilton. "Everything here is brown right now. It looks like California."
As workplaces have evolved, billionaire executives have quickly upgraded their luxury travel options to be fully equipped for remote work. This has included dedicated office space, high-speed satellite internet connections, board rooms, and even additional desk areas for support staff on yachts. "After Covid, working remotely became easy for everyone, and there's no reason you couldn't do it from a yacht," said yacht charterer Dimitris Angelakos, per the Wall Street Journal.
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