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[ad_1] Americans are scrambling to buy AC units, fans, cooling mats and other products to help beat the heat, as temperatures soar to record highs across the country.  Amazon sales for air conditioners shot up 248% over the past 30 days, compared with the same period last year, with portable AC unit sales rising 208%, according to data analytics platform Jungle Scout. Sales for cooling gel patches and cooling pads for pets rose 226% and 365%, respectively.  Consumers are searching for ways to stay cool as a dangerous heat wave sweeps across the U.S. On Saturday, temperatures in the Southwest reached triple digits. The blistering temperatures have prompted officials to place more than a third of Americans under extreme heat advisories .  Much of the U.S. roasts under brutal heat wave 02:20 It's getting hotter every ...

[ad_1] The first few days of the new year brought confirmation of some disturbing news:  2023 was the hottest year ever recorded . Researchers had  that would be the case amid relentless daily and monthly record-breaking temperatures — but just how significant were the numbers, and what does it mean for the future of our  warming planet ? These charts paint a clear picture of how it happened, as well as  what's likely to come  in the not-so-distant future.  This chart from Climate Central shows how much global temperature has changed since pre-industrial times – and what's causing it to happen.  Climate Central How hot was 2023?  Copernicus , the European Union's climate agency, confirmed this week that 2023 saw a global average temperature of 14.98 degrees Celsius, nearly 59 degrees Fahrenheit. That temperature was 0.17 degrees Celsius higher than the...

[ad_1] Guwahati, India  — Indian rescue teams searched Thursday for 102 people missing after a devastating flash flood triggered by a high-altitude glacial lake burst that killed at least 10 people, officials said. Violent flooding from glacier lakes dammed by loose rock has become more frequent as global temperatures rise and ice melts. Climate scientists have warned the floods pose an increasing danger across the wider Himalayan mountain range — and the melting causing them to the entire world . "At least 10 people were killed and 102 others reported missing," Prabhakar Rai, director of the Sikkim state disaster management authority, told AFP a day after a wall of water rushed down the mountainous valley in northeastern India. Members of the Indian Army try to recover trucks that were buried by mud after flash flooding in Sikkim, in an undated image released by the Indian Army on Oct. 5, 2023. ...

[ad_1] UNITED NATIONS: Island nations bearing the brunt of climate change this week confronted rich countries at the United Nations General Assembly, saying the failure by developed countries to act with urgency had put the islands' survival at risk. "There are many amongst us, the small and marginalized islands of our globe, surrounded by rising seas and scorched by rising temperatures, who are beginning to question this annual parade of flowery speeches and public pretense of brotherhood, otherwise known as the UN annual General Assembly," Saint Lucia prime minister Philip Pierre told the gathering on Friday. Several speakers at the week-long event quoted UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres , who in July cautioned that the era of global warming had ended and "the era of global boiling has arrived." A perceived lack of urgency by developed nations was a recurring theme. Speakers emphasized that a failure to sufficiently curb greenhouse gas emiss...

[ad_1] GENEVA: Earth has sweltered through its hottest Northern Hemisphere summer ever measured, with a record warm August capping a season of brutal and deadly temperatures, according to the World Meteorological Organization . Last month was not only the hottest August scientists ever recorded by far with modern equipment, it was also the second hottest month measured, behind only July 2023, WMO and the European climate service Copernicus announced Wednesday. August was about 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than pre-industrial averages, which is the warming threshold that the world is trying not to pass. But the 1.5 C threshold is over decades - not just one month - so scientists do not consider that brief passage that significant. The world's oceans - more than 70% of the Earth's surface - were the hottest ever recorded, nearly 21 degrees Celsius (69.8 degrees Fahrenheit), and have set high temperature marks for three consecutive months, the WMO ...

[ad_1] Fossil fuel debate takes center stage at COP28 - CBS News Watch CBS News Phasing out fossil fuels has been a heated debate at the U.N. Climate Change Conference, known as COP28, in Dubai, and many climate activists fear the process has been compromised by being held in the oil rich United Arab Emirates. The Biden administration has touted record levels of federal funding for clean energy projects, but the U.S. is also producing record amounts of crude oil. Ben Tracy reports. Be the first to know Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. Not Now Turn On [ad_2] Source link https://worldnews2023.com/science-environment/fossil-fuel-debate-takes-center-sta...

[ad_1] The world just had its hottest year ever recorded, and 2024 has already set a new heat record for the warmest January ever observed, according to the European Union's climate change monitoring service Copernicus.  The service said that January 2024 had a global average air temperature of 13.14 degrees Celsius, or 55.65 degrees Fahrenheit. That temperature was 0.70 degrees Celsius above the 1991 to 2020 average for the month and 0.12 degrees Celsius above the last warmest January, in 2020.  It was also 1.66 degrees Celsius warmer than the pre-industrial average for the month.  Surface air temperature anomaly for January 2024 relative to the January average for the period 1991-2020. Data source: ERA5 Copernicus Climate Change Service/ECMWF "2024 starts with another record-breaking month," Samantha Burgess, deputy director of the Copernicus Clima...

[ad_1] Young environmental activists scored what experts described as a ground-breaking legal victory Monday when a Montana judge said state agencies were violating their constitutional right to a clean and healthful environment by allowing fossil fuel development. The Montana case, brought by plaintiffs ranging in age from 5 to 22, was the first of its kind to go to trial in the US. The ruling adds to a small number of legal decisions around the world that have established a government duty to protect citizens from climate change . If it stands, the ruling could set an important legal precedent, though experts said the immediate impacts are limited and state officials pledged to seek to overturn the decision on appeal. District court judge Kathy Seeley found the policy the Montana state uses in evaluating requests for fossil fuel permits - which does not allow agencies to look at greenhouse gas emissions - to be unconstitutional. It marks the first time a US court has ruled agai...

[ad_1] Artificial intelligence could be used to prevent planes from creating planet-warming condensation trails, or contrails, according to a new study . Exactly how much impact contrails have on global warming is still being studied, but one recent study found the feathery streaks in the sky can trap enough heat to account for about 35% of the aviation industry's climate impact.   "A contrail could form and then just dissipate, but the contrails that persist can be very warming," Jill Blickstein, vice president of sustainability at American Airlines, said.  The airline recently joined a study led by Google and Breakthrough Energy Ventures, which is a Bill Gates-created organization that helps fund technology to reduce emissions. The study found pilots could use contrail forecast maps developed by AI to make slight altitude adjustments during trips. That could decrease contrail creation by more than 50%  How the study worked  C...