Aug 23, 2023 | Salon.com
If you’ve never had to flee a wildfire, the idea can seem like something out of a disaster film. But as the climate gets warmer, thanks to humans burning fossil fuels, wildfires are becoming larger and more common. Earlier this summer, millions of people in North America awoke to orange skies and blankets of smog from Canadian wildfire smoke that was drifting thousands of miles away....
Originally posted on salon.com
Aug 22, 2023 | Salon.com
The head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) admitted last week that COVID-19 booster shots will not be available until the end of September. Now that there are reports of a late summer COVID-19 wave, the news raises questions about whether the recent COVID variants will be adequately controlled as the world continues to ride out the pandemic....
Originally posted on salon.com
Aug 22, 2023 | Salon.com
Climate change is primarily caused by humans burning fossil fuels, as well as other activities that produce greenhouse gases. But that blame is not evenly distributed amongst the entire human species.
A recent study published in the journal PLOS Climate emphasizes that the society’s elites are disproportionately responsible for the extreme weather events linked to climate change like heatwaves, droughts, floods, tropical storms, hurricanes and rising sea levels....
Originally posted on salon.com
Aug 13, 2023 | Salon.com
Growing up in rural Pennsylvania, I was often warned by adults to be careful of ticks if I ever played outside. Like so many other children, the main tick-related boogeyman that I was taught to fear was the dreaded Lyme disease. Readily identifiable by the angry red bullseye rash it often leaves on patients, Lyme disease can also cause severe headaches, fever, shooting pains, muscle and joint aches, facial palsy, which is drooping of one or both sides of the face, and nerve pain....
Originally posted on salon.com
Aug 11, 2023 | Salon.com
This week, social media has been flooded with tragic images of a freakish wildfire that leveled a Hawaiian town, leaving at least 53 people dead and destroying more than 270 buildings, according to county officials August 10. The fires are still not completely out.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the planet, wildfires are blazing through the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, while Portugal and Greece are on high alert for wildfires due to the intense heatwave settling over Spain....
Originally posted on salon.com
Aug 10, 2023 | Salon.com
A new report submitted by the Indian government to the United Nations offers a glimmer of hope when it comes to the fight against climate change: Over the past 14 years, the world’s most populous nation has reduced its carbon emissions by a larger-than-expected 33%. According to the report filed to the United Nations Convention on Climate Change, India is well on its way to achieving the goal it established for itself in the Paris climate accord: To reduce its carbon emissions intensity by 45% from its 2005 levels by 2030....
Originally posted on salon.com
Aug 10, 2023 | Salon.com
July 2023 was officially the hottest month in recorded history — and, as such, was a regrettable milestone in the history of climate change. Scientists lamented the “new abnormal” that made itself apparent throughout that month, one that included extreme weather events like wildfires, tropical storms and freakishly scorching heatwaves....
Originally posted on salon.com
Aug 9, 2023 | Salon.com
An ancient creature known as Hupehsuchus nanchangensis was not a tiny whale, but a person watching it feed could be forgiven if they mistook it for one. This three-foot long reptile was shaped like a chubby miniature whale, but with an elongated trunk, webbed feet and a long, narrow snout. There were no teeth on the inside of that snout, however — instead one would find rows of long strip-like keratin plates....
Originally posted on salon.com
Aug 8, 2023 | Salon.com
As many suspected, the month of July 2023 was the hottest 31 days in recorded human history, setting new all-time records in air temperatures and ocean surface temperatures across the world. The culprit is overwhelmingly humans burning fossil fuels that emit greenhouse gases, unnaturally warming the Earth, which has shifted the global climate....
Originally posted on salon.com
Aug 8, 2023 | Salon.com
The good news is that, according to recent research in the journal Nature Geoscience, we’re dumping less plastic into the ocean than previously estimated. The bad news is that it’s still a dangerously high amount that will have dramatic negative effects for the environment if not mitigated.
From an ecological standpoint, the new study is equivalent to a doctor telling a patient with high cholesterol: Your cholesterol is still dangerously high, but perhaps not as bad as we previously thought....
Originally posted on salon.com