Extreme | Environment.org

Nature Climate Change, Published online: 23 October 2024; doi:10.1038/s41558-024-02172-2

Record-breaking temperatures pose critical risks to the global food supply, particularly endangering fresh produce. Urgent enhancements in food safety measures, including re-evaluating the impact of food production, improving cold chain logistics and adapting dietary practices, are required to ensure the resilience of food systems and public health.
Nature Climate Change…

Extreme weather events do not increase political parties’ environmental attention

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| Climate

Nature Climate Change, Published online: 13 June 2024; doi:10.1038/s41558-024-02024-z

Addressing the consequences of climate change requires political attention and leadership. However, this study shows that apart from Green parties, political parties do not increase their attention to environmental issues following extreme weather events.
Nature Climate Change…

Texas inmates are being ‘cooked to death’ in extreme heat, complaint alleges

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| Pollution

This story was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.

April signaled the beginning of blistering heat for much of Texas. And while the summer heat is uncomfortable for many, it can be deadly for the people incarcerated in Texas’ prison system where temperatures regularly reach triple digits.

With another sweltering summer likely ahead, on April 22 prison rights advocates filed a complaint against Texas Department of Criminal Justice executive director Bryan Collier, arguing that the lack of air conditioning in the majority of Texas prisons amounts to cruel and unusual punishment.

The filing came from four nonprofit organizations who are joining a lawsuit originally filed last August by Bernie Tiede, an inmate who suffered a medical crisis …

How air pollution delayed a surge in extreme rain

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| Pollution

The past half-century has seen remarkable improvements in air quality in many parts of the world, thanks largely to legislation like the U.S. Clean Air Act. Efforts like these took aim at pollutants like the group of chemicals known as aerosols, which include sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, and other compounds that are harmful to human health.

Like greenhouse gases, aerosols are produced by cars, factories, and power plants — but unlike greenhouse gases, they make the earth cooler rather than warmer. This is because aerosols reflect the sun’s rays, rather than trapping its heat like carbon. Some studies estimate that, without aerosol pollution, the world might have already warmed by another half a degree Celsius.

This creates a tricky paradox, which renowned climate scientist James Hansen has called a “Faustian bargain.” If you remove aerosols from the air, you …