https://phys.org/earth-news/environment en-us The latest news on the environment, environmental issues, earth science and space exploration. At a field outside Kozani, northern Greece, the strikingly blue-and-purple petals of saffron give off an intoxicating scent that underscores the value of one of the country's most lucrative crops. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-earth-greece-saffron-heartland-drought.html Environment Fri, 08 Nov 2024 04:40:01 EST news650262267 Authorities cleared uprooted trees and debris in the northern Philippines on Friday as Typhoon Yinxing blew out to sea after pounding the coast overnight, ripping roofs from homes and forcing thousands to seek shelter. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-philippines-typhoon-yinxing-slams-north.html Environment Fri, 08 Nov 2024 04:30:02 EST news650262137 Decades-old policies aimed at improving air quality may also be accelerating global climate change, warns a recent study published in the journal Ecology. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-air-pollution-contribute-climate-impacting.html Environment Thu, 07 Nov 2024 16:49:03 EST news650220542 Thousands of people were urged to flee an out-of-control wildfire burning around communities near Los Angeles on Thursday, with scores of homes already lost to the fast-moving flames. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-thousands-told-wildfire-los-angeles.html Environment Thu, 07 Nov 2024 16:20:01 EST news650218245 Researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have introduced an innovative model that incorporates recreational freshwater ecosystem services into water allocation decisions. The study, conducted by Aliza Fleischer, student Yadin Gindin and Yacov Tsur from the Department of Environmental Economics and Management at the Faculty of Agriculture, focuses on how recreational activities like fishing, boating, and swimming—often overlooked in water management—should play a more central role in water allocation policy. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-incorporating-cultural-recreational-ecosystem-freshwater.html Environment Thu, 07 Nov 2024 16:19:03 EST news650218741 From time to time, when Earth's tectonic plates shift, the planet emits a long, slow belch of carbon dioxide. In a new modeling study published in Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, R. Dietmar Müller and colleagues show how this gas released from deep Earth may have affected the climate over the past billion years. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-advances-plate-tectonics-view-deep.html Earth Sciences Environment Thu, 07 Nov 2024 16:09:30 EST news650218164 Plastics are not as safe and inert as previously thought. A new research study written by an international team of researchers uses the planetary boundaries framework to structure the rapidly mounting evidence of the effects of plastics on the environment, health and human well-being. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-plastics-pollution-worsens-impacts-planetary.html Environment Thu, 07 Nov 2024 16:09:21 EST news650218156 Annual emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) from private aviation increased by 46% between 2019 and 2023, according to an analysis published in Communications Earth & Environment. The results also show that some individuals who regularly use private aviation may produce almost 500 times more CO2 in a year than the average individual, and that there were significant emissions peaks around certain international events, including COP 28 (2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference), and the 2022 FIFA World Cup. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-private-aviation-emissions-soar.html Environment Thu, 07 Nov 2024 12:56:58 EST news650206614 The annual United Nations Conference of the Parties global climate change meetings play a pivotal role in elevating climate conversations. They're often accompanied by intense media coverage that raises awareness and engages the public. This visibility is crucial, as it brings discussions from distant, elite-driven events into local news. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-climate-people-real-issues.html Environment Thu, 07 Nov 2024 11:40:02 EST news650201047 Scientists have spotted microplastics, tiny pieces of plastic smaller than 5 millimeters, in some of the most pristine environments on Earth, from the depths of the Mariana Trench to the snow on Mt. Everest to the mountaintop clouds of China and Japan. Microplastics have been detected in human brains, the bellies of sea turtles and the roots of plants. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-microplastics-impact-cloud-formation-affecting.html Environment Thu, 07 Nov 2024 11:22:02 EST news650200914 An international team of forest and resource management specialists, ecologists and conservationists has verified the claims of China's national greenhouse gas inventories regarding major forest biomass carbon gains. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-satellite-based-evidence-china-forestation.html Environment Thu, 07 Nov 2024 11:20:57 EST news650200852 Tree planting has been widely touted as a cost-effective way of reducing global warming, due to trees' ability to store large quantities of carbon from the atmosphere. But, writing in the journal Nature Geoscience, an international group of scientists argue that tree planting at high latitudes will accelerate, rather than decelerate, global warming. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-trees-high-latitudes-arctic-decelerate.html Earth Sciences Environment Thu, 07 Nov 2024 11:00:01 EST news650193494 Found all over the world, calcite is the most stable form of calcium carbonate and is the main mineral found in limestone. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-calcite-versatile-mineral-future-carbon.html Earth Sciences Environment Thu, 07 Nov 2024 10:03:04 EST news650196182 A report published this week by the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult lays out a new approach to environmental monitoring and consenting within the UK offshore wind sector. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-route-environmental-consenting-uk-offshore.html Environment Thu, 07 Nov 2024 09:50:02 EST news650194862 Less snow does not mean fewer avalanches. This is the result of a study published in Snow/Seasonal Snow by SLF researcher Stephanie Mayer. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-dry-climate-affect-avalanche-situation.html Earth Sciences Environment Thu, 07 Nov 2024 09:39:52 EST news650194790 Europe is pushing for ministers to take part in UN talks this month to ensure that the world's first treaty on plastic pollution will be "highly ambitious". https://phys.org/news/2024-11-europe-ministers-plastic-pollution-treaty.html Environment Thu, 07 Nov 2024 09:38:52 EST news650194729 Sweeping aside thick toxic scum, thousands of Hindu devotees ignored court warnings Thursday against bathing in the sacred but sewage-filled Yamuna river, a grim display of environmental degradation in India's capital. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-india-hindus-holy-river-defiled.html Environment Thu, 07 Nov 2024 09:37:42 EST news650194657 More than 420,000 children in the Amazon basin are being badly affected by a drought parching much of South America that is impacting water supplies and river transport, UNICEF said Wednesday. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-drought-amazon-impacts-children-unicef.html Environment Thu, 07 Nov 2024 04:40:01 EST news650175148 A "dangerously fast" wildfire fanned by hurricane-strength winds was burning out of control near Los Angeles on Wednesday, with thousands of residents ordered to evacuate and some taken to the hospital. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-fanned-wildfire-los-angeles.html Environment Thu, 07 Nov 2024 04:30:01 EST news650175138 Hurricane Rafael knocked out power to all of Cuba on Wednesday as it slammed through the cash-strapped island, which was still reeling from a recent blackout and a previous deadly storm. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-hurricane-rafael-triggers-nationwide-blackout.html Environment Thu, 07 Nov 2024 04:20:01 EST news650174962 This year is "virtually certain" to be the hottest in recorded history with warming above 1.5C, EU climate monitor Copernicus said Thursday, days before nations are due to gather for crunch UN climate talks. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-virtually-hottest-year-eu.html Environment Thu, 07 Nov 2024 04:10:01 EST news650174913 The Brazilian Amazon experienced its smallest amount of yearly deforestation in nearly a decade, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's government reported Wednesday, in line with its promise to combat forest loss. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-brazil-amazon-lowest-deforestation-years.html Environment Thu, 07 Nov 2024 04:09:57 EST news650174990 The natural environment across the globe is deteriorating, leading to crises like climate change, biodiversity loss, and water scarcity. Companies and industries play a major role in this decline, and they are expected to take responsibility for their environmental impact. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-natural-environment-declining-companies.html Environment Thu, 07 Nov 2024 03:51:53 EST news650173900 Higher temperatures caused by anthropogenic climate change made an ordinary drought into an exceptional drought that parched the American West from 2020–2022. A study by UCLA and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration climate scientists has found that evaporation accounted for 61% of the drought's severity, while reduced precipitation only accounted for 39%. The research found that evaporative demand has played a bigger role than reduced precipitation in droughts since 2000, which suggests droughts will become more severe as the climate warms. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-climate-contributing-drought-american-west.html Earth Sciences Environment Wed, 06 Nov 2024 17:01:03 EST news650134861 Research suggests that urban areas could reduce their carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by optimizing their urban form. However, the relationship between urban form and emissions is highly context-dependent and generalizations cannot be made. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-locally-optimized-urban-carbon-dioxide.html Environment Wed, 06 Nov 2024 15:27:03 EST news650129221 Traditionally, research has focused on either climate change or chemical pollution in isolation, overlooking their combined effects. This oversight creates a blind spot in understanding the full scope of risks to ecosystems and human health. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-highlights-combined-effects-climate-chemical.html Environment Wed, 06 Nov 2024 15:15:03 EST news650128501 A multi-disciplinary team of scientists have made significant progress in understanding the origins of the mysterious black balls washing ashore on Sydney beaches. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-mysterious-sydney-beach-blobs-scientists.html Environment Wed, 06 Nov 2024 15:14:04 EST news650128442 University of Massachusetts Amherst researchers have discovered a new way to detect per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in water. This marks an important step forward in creating testing devices that are simpler, more cost-effective, faster and generally more accessible than existing methods. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-pfas-method-portable-accessible.html Environment Wed, 06 Nov 2024 14:00:01 EST news650116279 Nearly 12,000 cans packed into re-usable "crash boxes" could protect drivers and passengers on Thailand's roads. The innovation developed by Cranfield University focuses on addressing the devastating outcomes of high-speed collisions involving highway maintenance trucks, which each year kills around 70 people in the country. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-cans-thailand-roads-safer.html Environment Wed, 06 Nov 2024 13:11:04 EST news650121061 Two years ago, when the curtain fell on the COP27 summit in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, developing nations on the frontline of climate change had something meaningful to celebrate. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-extreme-weather-vulnerable-island-nations.html Environment Wed, 06 Nov 2024 12:10:01 EST news650113528