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This year, global heating breached 1.5 degrees Celsius over an entire year for the first time. But what happens when it hits 2.5 or even 3 degrees? Scientists say we could soon find out.
In this ThinkLandscape digest, dig through the bleak headlines with us to find the occasional beacon of hope, from compostable plastics to unity through conservation.
This month on ThinkLandscape
What are peatlands, and how can they help us avert climate oblivion? Here’s all you need to know ahead of next month’s GLF Peatlands conference.
Right now, the world’s biggest show of democracy is taking place in India. What could it mean for the climate?
The green transition could wipe out millions of jobs and livelihoods. Here’s how we can – and must – achieve a just transition for everyone.
Renewable energy has a dirty little secret: minerals like lithium and cobalt have to be mined. But can the mining industry ever become sustainable?
Can restoration be a force for peace? Cameroon’s farmers and herders are often at loggerheads, but one initiative is bringing them together to heal nature.
In Australia, Indigenous rangers are lending their knowledge to conservation, joining forces with scientists to protect the great desert skink.
And in our latest interactive article, we explore how Model Forests are bringing together communities, environmentalists, policymakers and businesses to sustainably manage forests.
What we’re reading
People
It’s confirmed: being exposed to PFAS, or forever chemicals, increases your risk of dying from cardiovascular disease.
Unfortunately, PFAS are so ubiquitous that they’re found at higher levels in ocean spray than in many industrial plants.
Environmental journalists are facing ever greater threats of violence: 44 have been murdered since 2009, and only five of these cases resulted in convictions.
An Iraqi father is suing BP. He believes the oil giant’s gas flaring caused his 21-year-old son’s death from leukemia.
Chronic kidney disease is ravaging farming communities in Sri Lanka – but why?
Planet
You can now listen to the sounds of nature on your favorite streaming platform – and the royalties will help fund conservation initiatives around the world.
Sadly, those sounds are slowly growing fainter, leaving us to reflect in silence on our broken relationship with the natural world.
The sixth mass extinction is here. What can we learn from the dinosaurs to prepare?
In the heart of Mesopotamia lies what was once the world’s biggest wetlands. Here’s what happened to them – and why some locals want to bring them back.
And in Eswatini, three rival chiefdoms are putting their differences aside to protect the forest they share.
Climate
Forget 1.5 degrees – climate scientists are convinced we could see global heating exceed 2.5 degrees Celsius by the end of the century.
No, last month’s floods in Dubai weren’t caused by cloud seeding. Blame the climate crisis instead.
In the past few weeks, floods have also devastated parts of Kenya, Tanzania, Brazil, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Russia and Kazakhstan, just to name a few countries.
The climate crisis caused last month’s heatwave in West Africa. Asia was the region most impacted by climate disasters in 2023, but Europe is heating up faster than any other continent.
Four years after the COVID-19 pandemic, millions of Asian and African students have been sent home again – this time due to extreme heat.
Business
What if plastic could recycle itself? Scientists have invented a self-digesting plastic that you’ll be able to chuck into compost.
Just 57 companies are responsible for the majority of carbon emissions since 2016 – and unsurprisingly, corporations are doing nowhere near enough to reduce their emissions.
Oil and gas producers are trying to hide their methane emissions from gas flaring, while an investment firm has made USD 14 million by selling off a small town’s water supply.
Rice production is another major source of methane. These Vietnamese farmers want to change that.
Policy
As Indian voters brave 40-degree Celsius heat, is the climate crisis already affecting turnout at the polls?
Many of the world’s most climate-vulnerable countries are saddled with debt, and it’s hampering their ability to adapt.
Mongolia has signed one of Asia’s biggest climate financing deals to date, which will protect an area of grasslands the size of Bangladesh.
The EU’s nature restoration law is on the brink of collapse. Scientists say it’s destined to fail – unless farmers are given a say.
Canada wants to position itself as a global climate leader. Can it do that while remaining the world’s fourth-largest oil producer?
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