8 h. ago How memories of clean water, frogs and fresh air could help save Rio’s favelas from future climate disaster

A new exhibition in the Brazilian city looks at how water, the environment and extreme weather is interwoven with personal stories from 10 marginalised communitiesLeticia Pinheiro grew up hearing stories about the Acari River. Her grandmother bathed in its clean waters; her father caught frogs on its margins; and many in the community made a living from fishing there.Now, Pinheiro, 28, and her peers do not even call it a river; it’s become known as a valão – an open canal for sewage and rubbish. It borders the Acari favela, which spread over swampy terrain in northern Rio de Janeiro from the 1920s. Continue reading...

Society

62 h. ago Climate crisis threatens the banana, the world’s most popular fruit, research shows

Fourth most important food crop in peril as Latin America and Caribbean suffer from slow-onset climate disasterThe climate crisis is threatening the future of the world’s most popular fruit, as almost two-thirds of banana-growing areas in Latin America and the Caribbean may no longer be suitable for growing the fruit by 2080, new research has found.Rising temperatures, extreme weather and climate-related pests are pummeling banana-growing countries such as Guatemala, Costa Rica and Colombia, reducing yields and devastating rural communities across the region, according to Christian Aid’s new report, Going Bananas: How Climate Change Threatens the World’s Favourite Fruit. Continue reading...

Events

5 d. ago Netflix movie branded 'too real' as people terrified by 'haunting' disaster film

The End We Start From is a film that shows a world in which the UK is hit by the devastating effects of climate change - and viewers have branded the disaster movie 'too real'

Events

5 d. ago ‘If I had to choose, I’d prefer the earthquake’: the 2015 disaster left Nepal in ruins, now record rains wreak fresh havoc

Despite attempts to build resilience by improving infrastructure and first response, extreme weather events and US aid cuts have left many feeling vulnerableWhen the monsoon rains came last September, they swept away most of the village of Panauti, in the foothills of the Nepali Himalayas. The Roshi River overflowed after the unprecedented rainfall, triggering landslides and destroying most of the roads and bridges.Peering through the thick blanket of relentless rain “felt like waiting for morning to arrive so we could see the world again”, says Bishnu Humagain. “We lost everything – our home, our agriculture, and all of our belongings.” Continue reading...

Events

6 d. ago US retires database tracking billions of dollars of climate change

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said it is retiring its public database meant to keep track of the cost of losses from weather and climate disasters, including floods, heat waves, wildfires and more

Politics

9 d. ago The cities most vulnerable to climate disasters: Shocking report reveals the urban areas set to be battered by deadly infernos and flooding

A shocking report has revealed the 'sitting duck' cities most vulnerable to climate disasters.

Events

9 d. ago Trump cuts will increase devastation after disasters, expert warns: ‘It is really scary’

Layoffs and funding cuts to Fema and Noaa will hamstring emergency managers, warns professor Samantha MontanoThe Trump administration’s sweeping cuts to disaster management will cost American lives, with hollowed-out agencies unable to accurately predict, prepare for or respond to extreme weather events, earthquakes and pandemics, a leading expert has warned.Samantha Montano, professor of emergency management at Massachusetts Maritime Academy and author of Disasterology: Dispatches from the Frontlines of the Climate Crisis, said the death toll from disasters including hurricanes, tornadoes and water pollution will rise in the US unless Trump backtracks on mass layoffs and funding cuts to key agencies. That includes the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema), whose work relies heavily on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa), which is also being dismantled. Continue reading...

Events

9 d. ago Trump cuts will lead to more deaths in disasters, expert warns: ‘It is really scary’

Layoffs and funding cuts to Fema and Noaa will impact how they predict and respond to disasters, warns professor Samantha MontanoThe Trump administration’s sweeping cuts to disaster management will cost lives in the US, with hollowed-out agencies unable to accurately predict, prepare for or respond to extreme weather events, earthquakes and pandemics, a leading expert has warned.Samantha Montano, professor of emergency management at Massachusetts Maritime Academy and author of Disasterology: Dispatches from the Frontlines of the Climate Crisis, said the death toll from disasters including hurricanes, tornadoes and water pollution will rise in the US unless Trump backtracks on mass layoffs and funding cuts to key agencies. That includes the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema), whose work relies heavily on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa), which is also being dismantled. Continue reading...

Events

9 d. ago ‘Sitting ducks’: the cities most vulnerable to climate disasters

Extreme weather means wildfires and flooding are becoming more likely, posing a risk to urban areas around the world

Events

1 week ago ‘I won’t vote for that’: Senior Republicans dig their heels in over Medicaid cuts as they try to push through Trump agenda

Lawmakers tell The Independent they’re determined to protect ‘vulnerable citizens’ – but for Mike Johnson, the cuts have to come from somewhere

Politics

2 w. ago UK is not ready for coming climate ‘disaster,’ government advisers warn

Despite increased examples of extreme weather, advisers say “we are seeing no increase in action”

Events

2 w. ago Trump dismisses contributors to key US report on climate crisis preparedness

The assessment, mandated by Congress, is used by federal and local governments to prep for climate disastersDonald Trump’s administration has dismissed all contributors to the US government’s flagship study on how to prepare for climate change impacts, prompting strong criticism from experts over a “senseless” move.The climate assessment is used by federal and local governments to understand how to prepare for climate crisis impacts including from extreme heat, hurricanes, flooding and drought. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Loss of FEMA program spells disaster for hundreds of communities and their projects

For hundreds of communities nationwide, plans to protect against natural disasters and climate change have been upended because of the Trump administration's elimination of a federal grant program

Events

3 w. ago A surprising number of Americans want climate action. But why aren’t there more?

Support for climate action is growing in the US, but partisan divides and fossil fuel interests hold swayOver the last 12 months, the United States has endured a rash of disasters worsened by the climate crisis: devastating wildfires in southern California, a catastrophic hurricane in western North Carolina, and deadly heatwaves across the country.Americans increasingly believe global heating is a serious threat that will affect them personally – and 74% want to see more climate action. Yet while that sounds high, it is still lower than most other countries around the world. What explains this disparity? Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago ‘An outlier’: why does the US rank low on demands for climate action?

Support for climate action is growing in the US, but partisan divides and fossil fuel interests hold swayOver the last 12 months, the United States has endured a rash of disasters worsened by the climate crisis: devastating wildfires in southern California, a catastrophic hurricane in western North Carolina, and deadly heatwaves across the country.Americans increasingly believe global heating is a serious threat that will affect them personally – and 74% want to see more climate action. Yet while that sounds high, it is still lower than most other countries around the world. What explains this disparity? Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Climatologist Friederike Otto: ‘The more unequal the society is, the more severe the climate disaster’

The German scientist on her new book arguing that inequality, wealth and sexism are making the climate crisis worse – and what we need to do about itFriederike Otto is a senior lecturer in climate science at Imperial College London. She is also the co-founder of the World Weather Attribution initiative, which seeks to determine the influence of global warming on intensity and likelihood of an extreme weather event. The project also examines how factors such as ill-suited architecture and poverty exacerbate heatwaves, hurricanes, floods and wildfires. This is the theme of her second book, Climate Injustice: Why We Need to Fight Global Inequality to Combat Climate Change.The thesis of your book is that the climate crisis is a symptom of global inequality and injustice. That will be quite topsy-turvy to some people, who think global heating is caused by the amount of carbon that we are putting into the atmosphere.Yes, of course, if you just stick to the physics, then the warming is cau...

Events

3 w. ago Climate change is not just a problem of physics but a crisis of justice

In an exclusive extract from Friederike Otto’s new book, she says climate disasters result from inequality as well as fossil fuelMy research as a climate scientist is in attribution science. Together with my team, I analyse extreme weather events and answer the questions of whether, and to what extent, human-induced climate change has altered their frequency, intensity and duration.When I first began my research, most scientists claimed that these questions couldn’t be answered. There were technical reasons for this: for a long time, researchers had no weather models capable of mapping all climate-related processes in sufficient detail. But there were other reasons that had less to do with the research itself. Continue reading...

Society

4 w. ago The great Mississippi tops list of most endangered rivers amid fears over Trump rollbacks

Cuts to disaster agency and deregulation of fossil fuels, plus rise of water-guzzling datacentres, highlighted in new reportThe Trump administration’s sweeping cuts to the federal climate disaster agency – and the full-throttle deregulation of fossil fuels and water-guzzling datacentres – could prove catastrophic for America’s endangered rivers, threatening the food, water and livelihoods of millions of people, according to a new report.American Rivers’ annual most-endangered rivers list lays bare a myriad of human-made threats including floods, drought and other extreme weather events driven by the climate crisis, as well as industrial pollution and poor river management – all of which Trump’s regulatory rollbacks will almost inevitably make worse. Continue reading...

Politics

4 w. ago Green groups sue Trump administration over climate webpage removals

The White House has pulled federal webpages tracking climate and environmental justice dataUS politics live – latest updatesGreen groups have sued the Trump administration over the removal of government webpages containing federal climate and environmental justice data that they described as “tantamount to theft”.In the first weeks of its second term, the Trump administration pulled federal websites tracking shifts in the climate, pollution and extreme weather impacts on low-income communities, and identifying pieces of infrastructure that are extremely vulnerable to climate disasters. Continue reading...

Politics