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Scientists say ‘old-school denier nonsense’ isn’t helpful as podcaster repeatedly airs false claim on his show
For months now, the popular comedian and podcaster Joe Rogan has been telling his vast audience of a study that shows Earth is cooling – even though this research states the complete opposite.
Rogan’s false claim about the climate crisis, which he has repeatedly aired on the Joe Rogan Experience, one of the world’s most popular podcasts, has exasperated the scientists who authored the research.
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In an extract from his new book, Tim Lenton explains how Fridays for Future challenged climate inaction to reach a positive tipping point
In August 2018, Greta Thunberg was sitting alone on the ground outside the Swedish parliament with a placard reading “Skolstrejk för klimatet” (School strike for climate) and a bunch of pamphlets under a stone.
An older woman stood over her and asked: “Why are you on strike? You have to go to school.” Greta retorted: “Why would I need an education if there is no future?”
Positive Tipping Points: How to Fix the Climate Crisis is published by Oxford University Press
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Carcinogens entering waterways from 25,000 road outflows are not monitored or regulated by Environment Agency, committee hears
Toxic, carcinogenic pollution that pours from 25,000 road outflows into rivers in England is being ignored by politicians and regulators, MPs have been told.
Road runoff containing toxic particles from tyres and brakes, and pollution from fuel and oil spills – which washes into rivers after rainfall – can devastate aquatic life and, by increasing toxicity, reduce the overall health of waterways. It is responsible for 18% of the reason all rivers fail to meet good ecological and chemical standards.
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Wildfires were 30% more intense than would have been expected without global heating, scientists say
The extreme weather that fuelled “astonishing” blazes across Spain and Portugal last month was made 40 times more likely by climate breakdown, early analysis suggests.
The deadly wildfires, which torched 500,000 hectares (1.2m acres) of the Iberian peninsula in a matter of weeks, were also 30% more intense than scientists would have expected in a world without climate change, according to researchers from the World Weather Attribution network.
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Patrick Tiernan says market will no longer discourage underwriting of such projects, stressing ‘apolitical’ stance
The new chief executive of Lloyd’s has stressed the insurance market’s “apolitical” stance in an apparent shift on climate policy, even as he warned of growing threats from an acceleration of extreme weather events.
Patrick Tiernan, who took over as CEO from John Neal in June, said the corporation would no longer discourage insurers operating in the market from underwriting coal and other fossil fuel projects.
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Review says ministers have only ‘small chance’ of wiping out bovine tuberculosis by 2038 without more investment
Labour can end the badger cull but only with a Covid-19 style focus on testing and vaccinating, the author of a government-commissioned report has said.
Ministerial plans to stop the shooting of the animals can be achieved but at a cost to the Treasury, the report warns.
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The country’s fisheries and the health of its seas still rely on a method practised for nearly 1,000 years – catching skipjack tuna one fish at a time
At 3.04am, most of the residents of the northern Maldivian island village of Kanditheemu are fast asleep. Only the faint sound of waves lapping against anchored boats and the crunch of sand under weathered sandals breaks the silence. Carrying buckets and small bags, 14 fishers emerge and move quietly towards the harbour, crossing a narrow wooden plank to board a 24-metre-long dhoni boat named Mas Vaali.
For captain Ibrahim Hamid, 61, this routine has been the same for decades: rise before dawn, steer a dhoni across the Indian Ocean, and oversee a crew hauling in silvery skipjack tuna using single poles and lines – in a process that is often unchanged from how they fished as boys.
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Scientists say ozone is warming Earth by 40% more than expected but that repair is still right thing to do
The repair of the Earth’s ozone layer has been a success, but a new study reveals a downside: ozone is warming the planet up to 40% more than originally anticipated.
Bill Collins from the University of Reading and his colleagues used a computer model to project the amount of warming associated with changes in ozone between 2015 and 2050, taking into account changes in humidity, clouds and surface reflectivity. If we continue to implement the air pollution controls mandated by the Montreal protocol in 1987 their results, which are published in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, suggest that the healing of the ozone layer will create more warming, cancelling out most of the climate benefits from stopping production of ozone destroying chemicals such as CFCs and HCFCs.
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US schools were built for a cooler climate that no longer exists. Now they face record-high temperatures
As schools are returning to session following one of the hottest summers ever recorded, districts are faced with a new problem: how to handle increasingly extreme heatwaves, both in and outside the classroom.
Unbearably hot days are no longer just a summer problem. In the US districts from the north-east to the mountain west to the deep south are shortening days, delaying openings, and reworking calendars as temperatures spike during August and September, the typical back-to-school months.
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Politicians have long promised the critical metal will rescue the economy but Indigenous locals say the push to exploit vast reserves threatens the ecosystem and their livelihoods
• Photographs by Sara Aliaga Ticona
Growing up near Bolivia’s Uyuni salt flats, Franz Alí Ramos remembers playing in the high-altitude wetlands near his home during the rainy season. “It was a beautiful recreation area for us and for animals,” he says.
Now, the wetlands have given way to cracked, sunbaked earth – a change that Alí Ramos blames on nearby operations by Bolivia’s state lithium corporation, Yacimientos de Litio Bolivianos (YLB). The government has recently signed lithium mining contracts with two foreign companies – one Russian and the other Chinese – and residents fear more serious damage is yet to come.
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pub. Bowtie Press, UK, 2005
pub. Souvenir Press, London, 2002
First published by Henston Ltd, 1988, new edition 1994. Later edition published by Interpret Publishing, Dorking, Surrey UK.
pub. Henston, Guildford UK, 1985, revised 1987, 1988, 1994.
pub. Crossing Press CA 1994
