The Guardian Climate Change

I see looming political and environmental threats – and too few willing to address them. Where is the urgency?

The world is on fire. At no time since the Cuban missile crisis of 1962 has the world looked so dangerous, nor has an end to its 56 conflicts – the highest number since the second world war – seemed so distant and so difficult to achieve.

Distracted by domestic election campaigns, preoccupied by internal divisions and blindsided by the seismic geopolitical shifts happening beneath our feet, the world is sleepwalking into a “one world, two systems”, “China v America” future. And the cooperation needed to firefight is proving so elusive that even now, an international agreement to prepare for and prevent global pandemics remains beyond our grasp. Nor, even up against the existential problem of climate change (the planet is on course for a temperature increase of 2.7C above pre-industrial levels), can many hold out hopes that Cop29 in Azerbaijan will be equal to the challenge. At a time when global problems urgently need global solutions, the gap between what we need to do and our capacity – or, more accurately, our willingness – to do so is widening by the minute.

We are at a global turning point, not just because crises are multiplying far beyond the very public tragedies of the Ukraine and Israel-Gaza wars, but because in a year when nearly half the world has gone to the polls, few political candidates have been prepared to acknowledge the altered geopolitical landscape. For three seismic shifts that are bringing to an end the unipolar, neoliberal hyperglobalised world of the last 30 years make a total rethink essential.

Gordon Brown is a former UK prime minister; he will give a keynote lecture at the Edinburgh international festival on Sunday 25 August

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Stings needing medical attention surge by 41% as rising sea temperatures due to the climate crisis boost reproduction

Costa Brava resorts in Spain’s north-east are struggling to cope with an influx of jellyfish as rising sea temperatures facilitate reproduction and drive species farther north.

Between May and August almost 7,500 people on the Catalan coast sought medical attention for jellyfish stings – a 41% increase on last year. The stings are painful and can have unpleasant consequences for anyone with compromised immunity.

Ukraine’s offensive in Russia, Israeli bombardment in Gaza, the Democratic National Convention in Chicago and wildfires in Turkey: the last seven days as captured by the world’s leading photojournalists

• Warning: this gallery contains images that some readers may find distressing

Amid rising temperatures last year, unionized UPS workers made heat an issue – but despite a key contract win, workers say little progress has been made

Seth Pacic works as a United Parcel Service delivery driver in Dallas, Texas. In the summer, he has a second “full-time job”: staying cool.

Each morning, Pacic packs his cooler full of ice, water jugs and hydrating foods such as pickles and grapes. He straps frozen cooling packs to his wrists, hangs another around his neck and ensures he has powdered sports drinks and a battery-operated fan on hand.

August should mean peak snow depth, Jindabyne worker says, but early blast of spring threatens ‘catastrophic’ premature end to season

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Australia’s snow season has begun to melt away early as unseasonable warmth cuts snowfalls to almost half the average for this time of year, experts say.

A global-heating fuelled early blast of spring weather means the season may have peaked early, with snow fields melted by warm temperatures and washed away by showers.

As the group prepare for Act 1.5, a Bristol festival aiming to have the lowest emissions of any big music event, Robert Del Naja says decarbonised touring is possible

As pop stars fly on private jets and haul stage sets around the world, with their fans collectively generating significant emissions via their own travel to gigs, Massive Attack’s Robert Del Naja has said “it’s time to act” and address the environmental damage wreaked by live music.

A home town Bristol show on Sunday, titled Act 1.5 – a reference to the 2015 UN climate treaty that asked countries to keep global heating to under a 1.5C threshold – will be 100% powered by renewable energy, in what the band say is a “world first” for an event of its scale. Thirty thousand fans will attend the one-day festival, which also features the US rapper Killer Mike, the Irish folk group Lankum and the actor Samantha Morton’s solo music.

The calendar says it is still WINTER

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At the Kisho Jinja weather shrine in Tokyo, worshippers come to pray for respite from extreme weather events fuelled by the climate crisis

Amid the hustle and bustle of Tokyo, the Kisho Jinja weather shrine has become a destination for a new and unusual kind of pilgrimage.

Described as the only shrine in Japan dedicated to the weather, it has seen a surge in visitors who clasp their hands together, bow their heads and pray for relief from yet another sweltering summer or destructive super-typhoon.

Environment minister says severe drought is ‘aggravating’ factor as smoke engulfs Porto Velho city

The Brazilian government has deployed almost 1,500 firefighters to the Amazon as the most severe drought in decades is turning the rainforest’s usually moist vegetation into kindling and flames.

Despite a sharp decrease in deforestation since the president, Lula da Silva, took power in January 2023, there have reportedly been 59,000 fires in the forest since the start of the year, the highest number since 2008, according to satellite data from the National Institute for Space Research.

August temperature records threaten to break as Oodnadatta in South Australia braces for 38C and BoM forecasts above 30C in Brisbane next week

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Australia is on track to face its hottest August on record as a global heating-fuelled “heat engine” brings spring and summer warmth to Australia’s winter, experts forecast.

Weatherzone meteorologist Ben Domensino said the unseasonably warm weather was coming from a “heat engine” in Australia’s red centre, where clear skies in the coming week would drive maximum temperatures towards 40C, more than 10C above average, in northern SA, southern NT, and western NSW.

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With the largest US fossil fuel lobby group at the Democratic convention, some urge VP to prioritize crisis in her speech

As Donald Trump accuses Kamala Harris of waging “war on American energy”, some advocates are pressing the vice-president to embrace a bold climate message at the Democratic national convention this week.

Harris will have a major opportunity to lay out her key platform as she accepts the Democratic party’s presidential nomination on Thursday evening. Some are hoping climate features heavily in her speech.

Just cutting carbon emissions will not prevent climate breakdown, says Susana Muhamad before Cop16 in Colombia

Humanity risks catastrophic global heating if it focuses only on decarbonisation at the expense of restoring the natural world, Colombia’s environment minister has said in the lead-up to the world’s key nature summit later this year.

Susana Muhamad, who will be president of the UN biodiversity Cop16 summit in Cali in October, said that a singular focus on cutting carbon emissions while failing to restore and protect natural ecosystems would be “dangerous for humanity” and risk societal collapse.

Find more age of extinction coverage here, and follow the biodiversity reporters Phoebe Weston and Patrick Greenfield on X for all the latest news and features

Category 4 hurricane that devastated the islands of St Vincent and the Grenadines when it hit the Caribbean last month has left many traumatised

From the outside, it looks like a typical primary school in the multi-island Caribbean nation of St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG), with children’s voices echoing behind the distinctive green walls. But inside, washing lines sag with the weight of towels and clothes, and there are people of all ages: a baby frets on her mother’s hip, children squeal as they chase each other, teens play basketball, and elderly people sit on classroom chairs chatting.

This school in the district of Calliaqua is one of 20 on the country’s mainland, St Vincent, which were converted into shelters for those displaced by Hurricane Beryl, the category 4 storm which tore through the region in early July with winds of up to 120mph (193km/h).

I’ve relearned the meaning of seasonality – and how fragile the natural systems that sustain us really are

A few months ago, when I received an email about an available allotment in my area, I struggled to remember when I had signed up for one. It turns out I had done so two years ago, fuelled by my envy for those with gardens during lockdown. Back then, all I wanted was a small bit of outdoor space that felt like my own, to plant flowers, herbs and, at a push, some chillies. A place where I could read and write in the sun, safe from distractions.

Now I was being presented a half plot of available land (125 square metres!) with an established apple tree in the middle – which I mistook for a cherry because of its pink blossom. “You’ll have to have a trial period, to see how you get on,” the woman showing me around said. She meant business. The plot, which was bigger than I could dream of, was beautiful but overgrown – getting it started would require proper graft. I wasn’t sure I had it in me.

Diyora Shadijanova is a journalist and writer

July was warmer than 1961-1990 average and the 34.8C peak this month was very hot, but perceptions have changed

There has been a widespread feeling that this summer was a big letdown, unusually cool and even cold at times. But was it really so bad? There were some hot spells, and on 12 August temperatures peaked at 34.8C in Cambridge, which was remarkably hot.

British summers in the 1950s, 60s, 70s and 80s were far more likely to be thoroughly cool. And even the historic long hot summer of 1976 had only one occasion when 34.8C was exceeded, with a high of 35.9C on 3 July in Cheltenham, which set a new record at the time for the UK’s highest temperature.

Satellite image analysis shows 329 hectares of forest cleared during development of factory in Germany

The development of a Tesla gigafactory near Berlin has resulted in about 500,000 trees being felled, according to satellite analysis.

The building of the German factory has been highly controversial and attracted significant protests, as well as prompting a debate about the trade-offs involved in developing a green economy.

Simulated study shows southern ecosystems could be compromised by objects from South Africa, South America, New Zealand and Australia as global heating continues

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Antarctic ecosystems could be disrupted by animals, diseases and rubbish floating from Africa and Australia as rising temperatures melt sea ice buffers, new research suggests.

The study, published in the journal Global Change Biology, used a simulation of ocean currents to track the paths of virtual objects released from different locations.

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Countries in south most at risk, with rise likely to outstrip fall in cold-related deaths if global heating hits 3C or 4C

Heat deaths in Europe could triple by the end of the century, with the numbers rising disproportionately in southern European countries such as Italy, Greece and Spain, a study has found.

Cold kills more people than heat in Europe, and some have argued that climate change will benefit society by reducing those deaths. But the study, published in the Lancet Public Health, found that the death toll would respond slowly to warming weather and may even rise through people growing older and more vulnerable to dangerous temperatures.

Researchers say public health officials not doing enough to share warnings and safety information with health workers

Wildfires pose serious risks to pregnant people and their developing fetuses, including low birth weight and preterm birth. But public health officials are not doing nearly enough to keep these vulnerable populations safe, according to a new report.

“While we know that wildfires are continuing to intensify in the US, and we’re increasingly clear on what damages wildfires represent to maternal and newborn health, we’re still not seeing the kind of response from policymakers and public health officials that we need,” said Skye Wheeler, a researcher at Human Rights Watch and one of the report’s authors.

Beef, lamb and dairy products are the most carbon-intensive foods by far. More boldness around dietary changes is needed

The publication of a major study linking habitual eating of processed and red meat to a greater risk of type 2 diabetes is the latest very good reason to think hard about what we consume. Rising obesity rates, food poverty and concerns about the seemingly unstoppable rise of ultra-processed and junk food mean British eating habits are a longstanding source of widespread concern. Many people also recognise that there are environmental reasons to change their diets. Meat and dairy are the most carbon-intensive foods by far. Most of us should eat less of them. But the messaging around this continues to be poor.

Ever since red and processed meat was linked to an increased risk of cancer a decade ago, people have been advised to limit their daily consumption of these to a maximum of 70g. But while the “five a day” fruit and vegetables campaign turns 21 this year, and warnings about excess sugar abound, other government guidelines on food remain vague. While they specify two weekly portions of fish, one of which should be oily, about meat they say only “eat some”. There are no recommendations as to how much white meat should be consumed.