US NewsRefreeze polar regions to reverse climate change, expert says

One of the most famous skiing regions in the world, the Alps stretch across eight countries. Due to their low altitude, they have seen significant snowmelt during shorter winter periods over the years. Around 3 percent of Alpine glacial ice is lost per year and experts from the University of Innsbruck in Austria believe that the glaciers could disappear entirely by 2050 if the melting continues.

The saltwater lake has shrunk by a third over the last 40 years since development in the region started. Sinkholes are appearing where the water has receded while mineral extraction by cosmetic companies has further eroded it. Rainfall in the region has declined and a study of the region conducted by Columbia University's Earth Observatory Lamont-Doherty found that thousands of years ago when temperatures were similarly rising, the entire region suffered a megadrought that was worse than any that has been recorded ever.

'Climate emergency' declared by the Dáil

Ireland has become the second country in the world to declare a climate emergency. 

Situated along the Atlantic Coast, the city’s coastline and specifically the harbor areas are experiencing high erosion rates, says a report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The Ebrie lagoon has also become increasingly polluted and led to the loss of fisheries. Heavy and untimely rains are also threatening the cocoa growers in the region.

The world’s largest tropical rainforest, that roughly covers 40 percent of the continent, has not only experienced rising deforestation but also extreme drought that has left the forest susceptible to fires says a report published by the United Nations Environment Program. Entire species of vegetation are on the brink of extinction.

Locals have slowly come to accept the flooding of Piazza San Marco (pictured) and other low-lying areas of the city, but with ocean levels rising, Venice is inundating further. The city of canals is sinking fast enough to become uninhabitable by the end of this century, warned the scientists at the Venice in Peril Fund.

The largest coral reef in the world, covering more than 132,973.5 square miles (344,400 square km), has started showing signs of damage due to rising ocean temperatures. Vast regions have experienced coral bleaching—a condition where the coral turns white and is prone to mass death. A report by the ARC Center of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies found that around 93 percent of the reef has experienced bleaching to some degree.

After Trump invite, Iran commander says: No talks with US

Thousands of Iranians have rallied after Friday prayers in support of the country's leaders, chanting traditional anti-U.S. slogans of "Death to America" and "Death to Israel." The demonstrators burned U.S. flags and some threw fake punches at a protester wearing a Trump costume mask. The Trump administration has not offered specific details of the threat allegedly presented by Iran that prompted the U.S. to dispatch the aircraft carrier and B-52 bombers to the Mideast. © Getty B-52 bomber (file photo) The B-52 bombers arrived at an American air base in Qatar, the U.S. Air Force acknowledged Friday.

The winemaking region has sprawling vineyards that are slowly getting affected by increasing temperatures. In a profession where even a small degree change can cause differences in the produce or even completely ruin it, a report published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences forecasted an 85 percent decrease in wine production in the combined Bordeaux, Rhone and Tuscany region.

Erratic rainfall and increasing desertification accompanied by intense droughts have pushed temperatures so high in the north African country that harvests are getting ruined. Warming temperatures have rendered many farmlands unsuitable and will continue to affect the country’s food security, according to a report published jointly by the World Food Program and the UK Met Office. Gigantic dust storms called haboob (pictured) have become more commonplace.

The city consists of a mainland and a series of islands that are all at risk of flooding with increasing sea levels. To prevent that, there are plans to build an artificial megacity on reclaimed land and then build a seawall surrounding it. Several researchers like the environmental writer Martin Lukacs have named this “climate apartheid” as the wall will push storm surges from the more affluent locale to the neighboring areas that are not protected by it.

Floods during the Atlantic hurricane season have caused increasing damage in the archipelago. The Army Corps of Engineers estimates that the sea levels will rise by up to 15 inches (38 cm) over the next 30 years, submerging many portions of the city.

CO2 in the atmosphere just exceeded 415 parts per million for the first time in human history

The human race has broken another record on its race to ecological collapse. Congratulations humanity! For the first time in human history -- not recorded history, but since humans have existed on Earth -- carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has topped 415 parts per million, reaching 415.26 parts per million, according to sensors at the Mauna Loa Observatory, a research outpost of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency. © Provided by Oath Inc. CO2 emissions over time as recorded by measurements of Arctic ice and the Mauna Loa Observatory. Courtesy of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

The coastal city is growing so quickly that it has been unable to consider the harm it’s causing to the ecosystem. With increased rainfall, it’s become increasingly prone to floods with downpours causing $47.3 million worth of damages in just the area surrounding the Msimbazi river, according to the World Bank.

As the lowest-lying country on Earth, almost 80 percent of the atolls are less than 3.2 feet (1 meter) above sea level. Locals are already getting displaced due to climbing tides and according to an IPCC report, 75 percent of the Maldives could sink by 2100.

In Russia’s far north, the permafrost is melting as the weather has become increasingly unpredictable. Giant craters (pictured) are forming as the frozen ground started thawing. The winter season has shortened in length, and the unusually warm temperatures caused an outbreak of anthrax in 2016, said Alexei Kokorin, head of WWF Russia’s climate and energy program.

The Arctic is warming at almost twice the global average with sea ice disappearing from the ecosystem. While this has made the waters more navigable through the Northwest Passage that connects Europe to Asia, it is also contributing to a rise in the global sea level. In the future, this could make Arctic fisheries disappear and harm the coastline, according to the WWF.

Over the last 150 years, snowfall in south-central Alaska has increased dramatically by 117 percent due to climate change, according to the study published in the journal Scientific Reports. Another report, by the Alaska Division of Public Health, says additional diseases, lower air quality from more wildfires, melting permafrost and disturbances to local food sources are the outcomes of climate change.

Labour reveals plans to renationalise the National Grid

Labour reveals plans to renationalise the National Grid

The only continent with permanent ice coverage has lost 20,800 square miles (53,872 sq km) of ice on an average, each year, since the late 1970s. The west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula is one of the most rapidly warming parts of the planet. This has affected the distribution of penguin colonies along the coast as sea ice conditions have changed, reports the IPCC. Melting snow has seen increased plant coverage. Many glaciers have retreated, and ice shelves have collapsed too.

A mild 2007 winter in the region allowed Asian tiger mosquitoes to breed and when a tourist returned from India with chikungunya, the mosquitoes became the carriers of the new disease. According to the WHO, this was the first European outbreak of a tropical disease. The localised epidemic was repeated in 2017.

The changing monsoon season that has caused intense flooding in the economic capital, over the past decades, has been attributed to climate change in a report published by the WHO. The torrential rains are traditional but their occurrence in spurts over a few days isn’t. The August 2017 “extreme rain event” deposited 15 percent of the city’s annual rainfall in a single day.

The 5.2 million people of the city have been battered by unseasonably late typhoons and torrential rains that are causing extensive floods. If temperatures continue to rise, the entire commercial region of Osaka will go under water by the 2070s, predicts the Union of Concerned Scientists.

As one of the largest ice fields in the world, they are receding at a shockingly fast speed. A Nature Geoscience paper has found that the accelerated melting ice fields account for nearly 10 percent of the global sea-level change from mountain glaciers. In the last few years, dozens of glacier lakes have virtually disappeared.

All these Pacific island nations are slowly getting submerged and by 2100 many of the lower islands would become uninhabitable reports the IPCC. The Pacific Climate Change Science Program study found that Tuvalu (pictured) will not only see a rise in sea level but also more extreme rainfall and intense cyclones. Five reef islands in the Solomon Islands have already been lost, while another six are eroding quickly.

Once home to over 150 glaciers, Montana’s majestic park now has fewer than 25. Scientists, including from the U.S. Geological Survey, believe that rapid climate change could see that number shrink to zero between 2030 and 2080, which would not only leave the park without a glacier but also severely disrupt its ecosystem.

Locals in the Caribbean island have become used to flooding every rainy season. Nearly 80 percent of the reefs around the area have been mined to build up the islands to prevent sinking, reported the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. The report also cites that the natives are prepared to relocate if the sea level rises by three feet (91 cm).