Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Suzanne York @suzanneyork.bsky.social · 18h

We all need bees.

Wild honeybees now officially listed as endangered in the EU

The wild cousins of beehive honeybees are disappearing – here’s why that matters.

theconversation.com

Suzanne York @suzanneyork.bsky.social · 22h

“We already know what works to stop forest loss, but countries, companies, and investors are only scratching the surface. And even those initial efforts are facing strong pushback from the standard bearers of an economic system built on forest destruction.”

‘Dismal’ health of world’s forests is threat to humanity, report warns

Financial institutions pouring money into land clearance and undermining efforts to stop destruction, says Climate Focus

www.theguardian.com

Suzanne York @suzanneyork.bsky.social · 23h

Per @billmckibben.bsky.social, "It’s an epochal moment: it demonstrates that the clean energy transition is not destined to be the slow, dragged-out affair that most analysts would have predicted even five years ago."

Something extraordinary just happened

But of course there's a but. Or two.

open.substack.com

Suzanne York @suzanneyork.bsky.social · 23h

Dolphins in Florida have been found to show Alzheimer’s-like brain damage due to neurotoxins released 'from harmful algal blooms, which are giant slime deposits that form in water thanks to warming oceans and nutrient-rich runoff.'

Scientists Think Climate Change Is Causing Alzheimer’s-Like Brain Damage in Dolphins

Well, here’s a bummer of a story: dolphins are getting Alzheimer’s, and climate change might be the one driving them senile.

www.vice.com

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Suzanne York @suzanneyork.bsky.social · 1d

It's more than 'just' the canary in the coal mine warning us - More than half of all bird species are in decline, according to a new global assessment, with deforestation driving sharp falls in populations across the planet.

More than half of world’s bird species in decline, as leaders meet on extinction crisis

Biodiversity losses are growing, the IUCN reports as summit opens, but green turtle’s recovery ‘reminds us conservation works’

www.theguardian.com

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Suzanne York @suzanneyork.bsky.social · 1d

“Women and children make up 80 per cent of the displaced population, and the protection risks they face – from gender-based violence to trafficking and forced recruitment – are worsening.”

In Africa’s Sahel, conflict and climate change force millions from their homes

Nearly four million people across Africa’s vast semi-arid Sahel region have been uprooted by a volatile mix of conflict, hunger and climate change, the UN warned on Friday, describing an unfolding pro...

news.un.org

Suzanne York @suzanneyork.bsky.social · 1d

“No system, no power, no government, no big company seeking profit should trump the rights of billions of people in the world. And that’s what’s happening. It’s the rich, the powerful that are creating such a disaster for humanity.”

‘It’s a road to destruction’: climate defenders facing surge in reprisals, says UN expert

Mary Lawlor, UN special rapporteur for human rights defenders, accuses US, UK and other governments of paying lip service to climate goals while criminalizing activists

www.theguardian.com

Suzanne York @suzanneyork.bsky.social · 1d

“The first tipping of widespread dieback of warm water coral reefs is already under way.” ~Prof Tim Lenton, University of Exeter’s Global Systems Institute

Planet’s first catastrophic climate tipping point reached, report says, with coral reefs facing ‘widespread dieback’

Unless global heating is reduced to 1.2C ‘as fast as possible’, warm water coral reefs will not remain ‘at any meaningful scale’, a report by 160 scientists from 23 countries warns

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Suzanne York

Prof. Eliot Jacobson @climatecasino.net · 4d

Your 'moment of doom' for Oct. 10, 2025 ~ Joining the party.

"We have now seen three of the five worst harvests on record this decade... This is what farming with climate change looks like, as extreme weather wrecks harvests..."

www.independent.co.uk/climate-chan...

England sees second worst harvest on record, analysis shows

Provisional Government data suggests a much worse harvest than experts had so far predicted.

www.independent.co.uk

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Suzanne York @suzanneyork.bsky.social · 5d

“The escalating fire occurrence, driven by climate change and unsustainable land use, threatens to push the Amazon towards a catastrophic tipping point”

Amazon Rainforest hits record carbon emissions from 2024 forest fires

In 2024, the Amazon Rainforest underwent its most devastating forest fire season in more than two decades. According to a new study by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre, the fire-driven ...

news.mongabay.com

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Suzanne York @suzanneyork.bsky.social · 6d

'A growing number of scientists are backing laws recognizing that nature has inherent rights and intrinsic value.'

The Scientists Making the Case for Nature’s Rights - Inside Climate News

A growing number of scientists are backing laws recognizing that nature has inherent rights and intrinsic value. A group of wetlands scientists wants the critical ecosystems they study to be next.

insideclimatenews.org

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Suzanne York @suzanneyork.bsky.social · 10d

“Migratory animals are the planet’s early-warning system and they are in trouble”

Climate change is threatening all of the ocean's migratory species - Oceanographic

A report from the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species warns that all migratory species are being impacted by climate change.

oceanographicmagazine.com

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Suzanne York @suzanneyork.bsky.social · 10d

"Water could drop too low behind the dam that holds back Lake Powell, allowing it to flow through the hydropower turbines that generate electricity for millions of people across seven states"

Could another poor water year spell disaster for the Colorado River?

It’s no secret the Colorado River is under threat from increased demand and prolonged drought, but what the seven states that rely on the river are going to do about it is still a mystery.

knpr.org

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Suzanne York @suzanneyork.bsky.social · 10d

Tehran has grown to a city of more than 10 million people, and consumes nearly a quarter of Iran’s water supplies.

Iran must move its capital from Tehran, says president as water crisis worsens

Masoud Pezeshkian says subsidence is also ‘a disaster’ in city of 10 million, which consumes quarter of Iran’s water

www.theguardian.com

Suzanne York @suzanneyork.bsky.social · 10d

"In the long run, this will have an impact on cropping intensities and the types of crops we can grow, which in turn will impact our food security."

Solar-powered farming is digging Pakistan into a water catastrophe

Karamat Ali's cows and buffalos once provided his multi-generational family with milk. But earlier this year, the 61-year-old sold about a dozen bovine - and spent the proceeds on a set of solar panels.

www.reuters.com

Suzanne York @suzanneyork.bsky.social · 11d

Good for them, may this site get a lot of traction - climate.us.

Former staffers of Climate.gov are attempting to launch a new site: Climate.us

Climate.gov went dark after cuts from the Trump administration. Now, a group of former employees are trying to revive it under a new domain.

www.npr.org

Suzanne York @suzanneyork.bsky.social · 12d

She certainly was a tireless and fierce advocate for a better world.

‘A remarkable ability to inspire’: global tributes pour in for Jane Goodall

Barack Obama, Prince William and Tanzanian president among many to mark death of primatologist at age of 91

www.theguardian.com

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Suzanne York @suzanneyork.bsky.social · 12d

The poorest always suffer the most - “We are helpless; we have no adequate place to cook and live, we have lost everything – our crops, our homes and our belongings. Outbreaks of diseases are already increasing, and everyone is suffering.”

Crowded camps, stagnant water and not enough doctors: first the floods, now disease stalks millions in Pakistan

As the waters recede, a surge in cases of cholera, diarrhoea, malaria and dengue has compounded the misery of people who have already seen their homes and crops disappear

www.theguardian.com

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Suzanne York @suzanneyork.bsky.social · 12d

"Since about 20 years, all glaciers in Switzerland are losing ice, and the rate of this loss is accelerating"

Swiss glaciers have shrunk by a quarter since 2015, study says

Switzerland’s glaciers have lost 24 percent of their volume over the past decade, researchers said Wednesday, warning that accelerated melting in 2025 brought ice loss close to record levels. Scientis...

www.france24.com

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Suzanne York @suzanneyork.bsky.social · 13d

The world has lost an amazing woman today. What a life. RIP Dr Jane Goodall.

Conservationist Jane Goodall, whose work revolutionized the study of primates, has died | CNN

Jane Goodall, whose lifelong work as a primatologist helped broaden the world’s understanding of animal behavior and emotions, has died, her institute said Wednesday. She was 91.

www.cnn.com

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Suzanne York @suzanneyork.bsky.social · 13d

There's no thought about the consequences to the natural world - “The wildlife there have existed for and evolved over thousands of years in a connected ecosystem and this wall will sever populations in half”

Border wall slicing through Arizona wildlife corridor begins construction: ‘A show of force for nothing’

The 30ft-high wall between the US and Mexico will cut through one of the last unbroken grasslands in the west, leaving residents alarmed over the potential impact on wildlife and water use

www.theguardian.com

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Suzanne York @suzanneyork.bsky.social · 14d

“What men call progress has killed our history” - Soya beans are now cultivated in 25 of Brazil’s 27 states and cover more than half the nation’s arable land, from the pampas to the equator.

How the world’s taste for soya is eating Brazil’s Amazon

Cultivation of the crop has made a few wealthy but at a huge cost to untouched forest as it spreads across vast areas of former wilderness

www.theguardian.com

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Suzanne York @suzanneyork.bsky.social · 14d

"Sometimes they cry and say they cannot fetch more, but what else can we do?"

Kabul's wells run dry, driving children out of class and into water queues

Eight-year-old Noorullah and his twin, Sanaullah, spend their days hauling yellow jerrycans on a wheelbarrow through Kabul's dusty alleys instead of going to school - an ordeal for one family that reflects Afghanistan's deepening water crisis.

www.reuters.com

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Suzanne York @suzanneyork.bsky.social · 14d

"...This isn’t a problem we can simply air-condition our way out of. Cities need an immediate funding boost to improve insulation and ventilation of buildings, develop heat plans and create shade cover where possible.” ~Anna Walnycki, International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED)

World’s major cities hit by 25% leap in extremely hot days since the 1990s

Capitals from London to Tokyo need urgent action to protect people from deadly high temperatures, analysts say

www.theguardian.com

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Suzanne York @suzanneyork.bsky.social · 15d

Insanity rules.

Mississippi Free Press @mississippifreepress.org · 15d

Meta is constructing its largest data center yet: a $10 billion facility in Louisiana, as big as 70 football fields, requiring more than twice as much electricity as the City of New Orleans.

Louisiana has had to greenlight $3 billion in new energy infrastructure to service Meta's facility.

New Meta Data Center Needs Twice as Much Energy as New Orleans

Meta is constructing its largest data center yet: a $10 billion facility in Louisiana requiring more than twice as much electricity as New Orleans.

www.mississippifreepress.org