Suzanne York

Australian wildlife in ‘harm’s way’, with volunteers left to ‘pick up the pieces’ amid climate crisis, fires and floods Ken Henry leads push for federal government to do more to protect animals as biodiversity declines

“Government investment is not a luxury item any more, it is essential. Without it there is a real risk that injured wildlife will soon have nowhere to go and that is something the community would not accept if it were widely understood.”

Winter getting shorter in 80% of major US cities, new data shows Researchers find that across 195 US cities, winters are on average nine days shorter than they were in 1970-1997

Juneau and Anchorage in Alaska have seen winters shrink the most, by 62 and 49 days, respectively. Approximately 15% of the 295 cities analyzed saw winters lengthen, particularly along the California coast and in the Ohio valley.

Study of 40,000 cases links Somalia migration mainly to water scarcity A study published in Nature Food by researchers from the Politecnico di Milano and the University of California at Berkeley provides forward-thinking answers to the debate on the role of environmental...

"The results show an exodus from areas characterized by drought, food insecurity and scarcity of water for agricultural uses: between 76% and 91% of environmental migrations have originated in these hotspots."

Wildfires in the Arctic May Be Releasing Far More Carbon Than We Thought Northern wildfires may be unleashing hidden reservoirs of ancient carbon — and climate models are missing much of it.

“Peatlands and organic soils can smolder for weeks to years, releasing enormous amounts of ancient carbon.”

To feed just one average person per day takes 950 litres of water, 12 kilos of lost soil, 1.6 litres of fossil fuel, 1g of highly toxic pesticide and 4.9 kilos of carbon emissions.

Birds Aren’t Just Declining. They’re Declining Faster, a New Study Finds.

Overall drops in bird population, measured from 1987 to 2021, were sharpest in warm and warming areas, suggesting that climate change may play a role.

UK activists plan protests over climate, social impacts of AI data centres Activists are set to take to British streets on Friday for two days of protests against the expansion of data centres to serve booming demand for artificial intelligence, and the impact of the facilit...

"We are, therefore, in support of a moratorium on all future hyperscale data centre development unless and until there is informed debate, a public inquiry and a meaningful community-designed engagement framework that ensures ownership of the process by those most likely to be impacted"

Can this Mexican paradise navigate a water crisis? » Yale Climate Connections Baja California Sur’s droughts, tourism boom, and salty aquifers offer a warning – and a blueprint – for dry regions worldwide.

Same story in so many places all over the world - “Water availability is very limited, and the population is growing so much”

Extreme weather is transforming the world’s rivers. We need new ways to protect them Rivers support billions of people but are among the least protected parts of nature. A major review shows what needs to be done as climate change accelerates.

'Around the world, rivers are no longer changing gradually. Rather, they are being increasingly transformed by extreme climatic events such as floods, droughts and heatwaves. …these events are pushing ecosystems beyond their limits and eroding biodiversity'

theconversation.com/extreme-weat...

Tropical plants flowering months earlier or later because of climate crisis – study Changes threaten ecosystems as flowering falls out of sync with fruit-eating, seed-dispersing animals and pollinators

“Ecosystems are very delicate webs of interactions, and if there is one element out of sync, especially with the plants, which are the basis of the ecosystem, things can fall apart at every level of the ecosystem.”

Shrinking cold-water habitat means more whales get caught in nets, research finds | CBC News Humpback whales are more likely to get entangled in fishing gear in years when rising ocean temperatures make cold-water habitat harder to find, according to new research published Wednesday.

"Humpbacks, unfortunately, when they get caught in something, they have a tendency to roll in it and they can wrap themselves up so tight and they have an inability to get out of it."

Chronic ocean heating fuels ‘staggering’ loss of marine life, study finds Fish levels fall by 7.2% with as little as 0.1C of warming per decade, northern hemisphere research shows

“To put it simply, the faster the ocean floor warms, the faster we lose fish,” said Shahar Chaikin, a marine ecologist at the National Museum of Natural Sciences in Spain and the study’s lead author.

Staple crops are a major contributor to global deforestation, says study Rice, maize, and cassava crops cumulatively account for approximately 11% of total global deforestation—exceeding that of cocoa, coffee, and rubber—according to an analysis between 2001 and 2022, publ...

Rice, maize, and cassava together contribute to roughly 11% of global deforestation. In total, 121 million hectares of forest were lost from 2001 to 2022 due to the expansion of croplands, pastures, and forest plantations, resulting in emissions of 41.2 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide.

Plans for proposed ICE facility in Merrimack, N.H., won’t move forward, governor says - The Boston Globe “We can breathe easy again,” said the chair of the Merrimack Town Council, which had opposed the warehouse.

“Today, the people of Merrimack and all of New Hampshire proved that organized, local voices are more powerful than a federal agency’s ruthless expansion,” she said. “This is a victory for us and all of New England but it is not the end of the fight.”

www.bostonglobe.com/2026/02/24/m...

These shy, scaly pangolins are the most trafficked mammals in the world They are hunted for their unique scales, and the demand makes them the most trafficked mammal in the world.

There are eight pangolin species, four in Africa and four in Asia. All of them face a high, very high or extremely high risk of extinction. The World Wildlife Fund estimates that over a million pangolins were taken from the wild over the last decade, including those that were never intercepted.

Brazil’s growing water crisis Scientists warn Brazil is entering a hidden water crisis with global consequences.

“There’s been an enormous increase in exports of wood, beef, soy, corn, and minerals. This is a project based on destroying nature to sell primary commodities."

The true cost of Ecuador’s perfect roses: how the global flower trade poisons workers Many farmers in the Andes rely on growing blooms for export, but high water usage and risky pesticides threaten Indigenous communities

“The risks of the heavy use of agrochemicals extend beyond workers, affecting entire rural communities”

Climate change threatens coffee-growing regions — study Coffee-growing regions are seeing more hot days as the climate changes, reducing yields, researchers say. "Climate change is coming for our coffee," said one climate scientist.

Maybe a good slogan to go viral? - "Climate change is coming for our coffee."

Climate change and persistent contaminants deliver one‑two punch to Arctic seals, study finds New research shows a single year of warmer-than-average Arctic temperatures can cause malnutrition in Arctic seals, intensifying risks to Inuit food security and northern ecosystems already under pres...

"We saw that just one year of unusually warm temperatures and reduced ice is enough to change what these seals are eating and how their bodies process nutrients"

Turtles breeding earlier, but half as often, due to climate change Climate change affects the turtles through many pathways, with warming altering breeding times, and marine food webs reducing reproduction

When turtles do return they build fewer nests, and lay fewer eggs per nest.

Restored Peatlands Could Become Carbon Sinks Within Decades - Eos That’s much faster than what most scientists thought.

Restored Peatlands Could Become Carbon Sinks Within Decades eos.org/articles/res...

In the eye of a super hurricane | The Observer Climate change is creating a new kind of hurricane – and the US is failing to adapt. Survivors of Hurricane Helene recall the storm that was ‘so much worse than anybody thought was possible’

Your 'moment of doom' for Feb. 16, 2026 ~ Category 6

"Sea levels around the US mainland are rising faster than the global average, gaining around 15cm over the last three decades. The rising seas mean there will be deeper and more frequent coastal flooding..."

observer.co.uk/style/featur...

Cyprus appeals to residents to cut water use amid once-in-a-century drought Island’s reservoirs hit record lows even before tourist season starts as Cypriots are warned ‘every drop counts’

“Twenty years ago when scientists were predicting temperatures in Nicosia being on a par with Cairo by 2030 and Bahrain by 2045, we all knew what was coming.”

America’s super-rich are running down the planet’s safe climate spaces, says Oxfam Data shows wealthiest 0.1% of the US burn carbon at 4,000 times the rate of the world’s poorest 10%

“The climate crisis is an inequality crisis,” said the director of Oxfam Int'l. “The very richest individuals in the world are funding and profiting from climate destruction, leaving the global majority to bear the fatal consequences of their unchecked power.”
www.theguardian.com/environment/....

Western US states fail to negotiate crucial Colorado River deal: ‘Mother nature isn’t going to bail us out’ Negotiators disbanded on Friday without a plan for the basin supplying water to 40m people, thrusting the region into uncertainty

“There needs to be unbelievably harsh, unprecedented cuts” that will affect water users in major ways, said Dr Brad Udall, senior water and climate research scientist at Colorado State University’s Colorado Water Center. “Mother Nature is not going to bail us out.”

Over half of world's coral reefs are bleached; 'irreversible' damage warned: study A new study reveals that more than half of the world's coral reefs are bleached because of ocean warming, with 15% experiencing significant mortality.

Data from more than 15,000 reefs globally analyzed by a team of scientists over a three-year period found 51% of the world's reefs sustained "moderate or worse bleaching" while 15% experienced "significant mortality."

Western US gripped by extreme snow drought: ‘I’ve never seen a winter like this’ States brace for less water and fire risks as Oregon, Colorado and Utah report lowest statewide snowpack since 1980s

February’s water supply outlook for the Colorado River basin was the worst in more than three decades. More than two-thirds of the river’s water is fed by mountain snow.

EPA reverses long-standing climate change finding, stripping its own ability to regulate emissions The agency announced Thursday that it is repealing its 2009 conclusion that greenhouse gases warm the Earth and endanger human health and well-being.

Not surprising, but sickening (and literally, for human health). “The climate is changing faster than ever before, driven by human activities, and the resulting impacts on people and the world we depend on are becoming ever more dire,” the American Geophysical Union said in a statement

Climate crisis linked to fall in southern right whale birth rates as researchers raise ‘warning signal’ Lead author of Australian study says breeding slowdown is linked to climate-driven changes in ‘magnificent’ whale’s foraging grounds

“Anthropogenic climate disruption affects everything … It’s just another message, if people choose to pay attention to it, that we’ve got to do something about this.”

Point of no return: a hellish ‘hothouse Earth’ getting closer, scientists say Continued global heating could set irreversible course by triggering climate tipping points, but most people unaware

“It’s likely that global temperatures are [already] as warm as, or warmer than, at any point in the last 125,000 years and that climate change is advancing faster than many scientists predicted.”