The Living Planet Index tracks thousands of vertebrate species globally and found the worst declines were in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Earth’s wildlife populations have fallen on average by a “catastrophic” rate of 73 percent in the past half-century, according to a new analysis the World Wildlife Fund released Wednesday.
Modern buildings tend to take electricity and air conditioning for granted. They often have glass façades and windows that can’t be opened. And when the power goes out for days in the middle of a heatwave, as the Houston area experienced in July 2024 after Hurricane Beryl, these buildings can become unbearable.
Yet, for millennia, civilizations knew how to shelter humans in hot and dry climates.
Experts hailed the study as "groundbreaking" and "sobering" for the connections it draws between ecosystem and human health.
Bat die-offs in the U.S. led to increased use of insecticides, which in turn led to greater infant mortality, according to a "seminal" study published Thursday that shows the effects of biodiversity loss on human beings.
Record heat is fueling an accelerating megafire crisis in California. The ongoing massive Park fire is the latest monster to burn off the old-climate charts.
Before 2018, the state's largest wildfire on record was the Thomas fire, which burned 280,000 acres. At the time, the Thomas fire felt apocalyptic. The current Park fire burned more in just its first three days. It's currently the state's fourth-largest on record, at 430,000 acres -- joining the rapidly swelling ranks of unprecedented megafires.
Extreme weather events like fires, floods, heat waves and droughts pose an increasing risk to Canada’s food supply chain, putting pressure on prices all the way to the grocery store shelf, say experts.
“Anytime you have major weather-related events, it tends to increase costs,” said Frank Scali, vice-president of industry affairs at Food, Health & Consumer Products Of Canada.
