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Study finds older adults could face harmful heat stress at just 1.5C of warming above preindustrial levels
People aged 60 and over face dangers to their health from exposure to heat at much lower temperatures than previously thought, research has found.
Older adults will bear the brunt of increasingly frequent sustained spells of extreme heat globally as the world continues to warm up, according to a study in The Lancet Public Health.
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Vegetable and grain growers call for urgent action, warning of ‘catastrophic’ harvests due to continent-wide drought
Successive intense heatwaves and an increasingly severe, continent-wide drought have left many of Europe’s farmers in an “unprecedented” crisis, with vegetable and grain growers in particular warning of “catastrophic” harvests.
French vegetable production is down by “a very significant extent” compared with previous years, French growers have said, with shortfalls put at 25% for courgettes, 35% for lettuces, 40% for peas, 60% for broccoli and 50% to 100% for artichokes.
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Nurses, medical experts and green campaigners reject party deputy leader’s dismissal of efforts to reach net zero
Reform’s deputy leader has been accused of spreading misinformation after he dismissed efforts to tackle the climate crisis and urged British people to enjoy the warmth of the recent heatwaves.
Richard Tice prompted a backlash from nurses, medical experts and green campaigners on Monday after he told a press conference he believed it was “arrogant” to try to stop the climate emergency, while encouraging people to focus on upsides such as better English wine.
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As warming seas push native species to cooler waters farther north, once-rare visitors have become more common
‘It sounds silly but I thought it was a person in the water waving,” says Kurt Lander, skipper of the Yellowfin charter boat, based out of Brighton. But when he grabbed his binoculars, he realised the fluttering movement he had noticed in the middle of the Channel shipping lane was a pair of sunfish.
The huge fish were lying on their sides and flapping their fins. “Apparently, they do it as a visual attraction to birds,” he says. “They’re trying to get the birds to eat the parasites off them.”
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Goyt Valley, Derbyshire: My patience into dusk is rewarded with a full display of unlikely calls and aerial prowess
The setting sun spread a last Iberian glow over the hills opposite before they were drained of colour and sound, and by nine, the world was in monochrome. In line with national increases in their numbers and range, nightjars have prospered here recently. It seems especially so with the clearance of conifers, which has left a mix of old Scots pine and open space perfectly suited to this crepuscular ground-nesting migrant.
You hear nightjars much more than see them. Churring is the name given to their vocalisation – a continuous unfurling throat song that is one-part stridulation, one-part deep earth rumble. It feels subterranean, but also flows weightlessly like mist. Intermittently the unseen bird will turn its head; the song shifts key, then resumes, but its location is barely more obvious.
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Robert Smith, Olly Alexander and Paris Paloma also among signatories to letter saying exploitation of Rosebank and Jackdaw fields defies climate reality
More than 200 musicians including Massive Attack and Brian Eno have written to Andy Burnham urging him to reject plans for more oil and gas drilling in the North Sea.
The letter, signed by 211 artists such as Bobby Gillespie, Olly Alexander and Paris Paloma, called on the prime minister to reject the Rosebank oilfield, warning that the project would fail to lower energy bills or provide energy security as most of the oil was likely to be exported.
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Temperatures could drop by more than 15C compared with last Thursday as cold front moves in
Relief from the unrelenting heat is finally arriving this week across western Europe, with more unsettled conditions bringing the chance of rain. Temperatures are expected to fall back towards the seasonal norm, with some parts of the UK even falling about 3C below normal by Thursday. After such a scorching summer, and with a temperature drop of more than 15C compared with last Thursday’s heat, it may feel surprisingly chilly.
There are signs that some substantial rain could be on the cards for the south of the UK this week as a cold front moves in from the Atlantic on Monday night into Tuesday. As of Monday, parts of southern England had endured 62 consecutive days of no rainfall – this is observed at a Met Office weather station in Wisley, Surrey. Even the last recorded rainfall here on 16 June amounted to just 0.4mm.
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Nearly a decade after fighting ended in northern Iraq, the climate crisis has brought extreme heat and a water shortage, making life almost impossible
The first thing that strikes visitors arriving in Faka, a small village in Sinjar district, northern Iraq, is the silence. No children play in the streets. No shops are open. Roofless houses stretch across the hillside, their walls pockmarked by shellfire, while weeds and wild grasses grow through collapsed living rooms.
A decade after Islamic State (IS) swept across the region, war remains visible everywhere. But according to the people who returned, another enemy has quietly taken its place.
Rajab Mohammed says the problem in his village of Faka is no longer Islamic State but water and jobs
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After trying nearly everything to prevent mosquito bites, I tested Biogents’ traps, used by the CDC and WHO, to find if backyard results are worth $200
Don’t get me wrong: I’m a peaceful person with compassion for all earthly creatures. Except mosquitoes, which deserve all the swats, cursing and loathing they get.
As someone for whom a single bite brings big, red, itchy lumps that last for days, I’ve done everything imaginable for relief. I’ve removed any standing water I could find, slathered myself with Deet, picaridin and eucalyptus oil until I smelled like a chemical waste dump, and worn hats, long sleeves and shirts soaked in alleged repellants, but none of it works.
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It said that was what I was due after I submitted a claim for £300 for energy exported through my solar panels
British Gas paid memore than £38,000 by mistake, then had no idea how to reclaim it. I receive quarterly feed-in tariff (Fit) payments for energy exported by my solar panels.
In May, I submitted a claim for £300, based on mymeter reading, and I received an email stating that I was due £38,611.59.
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