Mike Joy, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington
The idea that harm done today can be offset in the future is based on a basic misunderstanding of the carbon cycle. Planting more trees is important – but it’s no substitute for cutting emissions.
A swan stands between dumped plastic bottles and waste on the Danube river near Belgrade, Serbia, on April 18, 2022.
(AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
Climate action should be framed not as a sacrifice but as an investment that can generate economic savings and improve human and ecosystem health today.
Relative to the long-term average, this autumn has been even hotter than summer.
Forest fires were mostly started by lightning. Their spread was then exacerbated by a lack of precipitation and abnormally high temperatures.
(Victor Danneyrolles)
Dorian M. Gaboriau, Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT); Jonathan Lesven, Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT); Victor Danneyrolles, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi (UQAC), and Yves Bergeron, Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT)
The forest fires of the summer of 2023 in Québec were devastating. It was the worst year in 50 years. But with climate change, the worst may be yet to come.
Rapidly changing temperatures and sensory environments are challenging the nervous systems of many species. Animals will be forced to evolve to survive.
Buying back water from irrigators across the Murray-Darling Basin will not be enough to restore river health because we have big problems getting this ‘environmental water’ to where it’s needed most.
Our birds are tough. They went through some mean climatic conditions to make Australia home.
Smoke from the McDougall Creek wildfire fills the air and nearly blocks out the sun as people take in the view of Okanagan Lake from Tugboat Beach, in Kelowna, B.C., in August 2023.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
Canadians should demand greater accountability from their governments to reduce the need for last-minute humanitarian efforts in the face of climate-related disasters in their communities.
Historically, most Pacific visa programs in Australia have been tied to labour mobility. And none has specifically referenced climate change as a driving rationale.
Fossil fuel emissions are still growing in much of the world.
Kevin Frayer/Getty Images
With many countries planning fossil fuel production increases and continuing subsidies, negotiators have their work cut out for them when the COP28 climate summit begins.
The aftermath of Storm Daniel in Derna, eastern Libya. September 2023.
EPA-EFE/Stringer
For Australia to shift to a net zero economy, its big polluters need to cut emissions. A get-out clause buried in the policy makes it unlikely that they will, and the result will be devastating.
Fire over Tenterfield, New South Wales.
Try Liang/AAP
Jem Bendell encourages us to think about societal collapse in ways that are ‘profound and startlingly original’, with the potential to birth whole new social movements, says Tom Doig.
UK workers have a high degree of concern about the climate crisis.
MNBB Studio/Shutterstock
Apartment residents need more sustainable, climate-adapted designs. They shouldn’t have to depend on costly, high-emissions air conditioning to remain comfortable and healthy.
As COP28 looks for solutions to the climate crisis, retaining biodiversity is crucial to the planet’s future. But not every species can be saved from extinction. Here’s one approach.