BY ANDREW PERSHING AND BERNADETTE WOODS PLACKY, OPINION CONTRIBUTORS — 06/20/21 08:00 AM EDT 654THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY CONTRIBUTORS ARE THEIR OWN AND NOT THE VIEW OF THE HILL
June 21 is the first full day of astronomical summer — and meteorologists all over the world have declared it #ShowYourStripesDay. On this day, expect to see your TV meteorologist sporting blue, white and red striped ties or pins or even custom dresses.
The stripes are a clever visualization of the changing temperature of the planet created by Ed Hawkins at the University of Reading. The blue color on one side shows that conditions in the early part of the 20th century were colder than the long-term average. The white that pops up in the middle represents temperatures close to average, and the red at the tip of the tie or the edge of…
Mink, masked palm civets, raccoon dogs, Siberian weasels, hog badgers and Chinese bamboo rats were among 38 animal species sold live at markets in Wuhan from May 2017 to November 2019, researchers said on Monday (June 7) in a paper in the journal Scientific Reports originally submitted last October.
The hunt for Covid-19’s origins has become increasingly political amid criticism that the Chinese government has not been open and transparent with key information, including activities…
Wildfires rage in the West. Hurricanes batter the East. Droughts and floods wreak damage throughout the nation. Life has become increasingly untenable in the hardest-hit areas, but if the people there move, where will everyone go?
byAbrahm Lustgarten, photography byMeridith KohutSept. 15, 2020, 5 a.m. EDTA wildfire on the foothills of the San Gabriel Canyon that border the Mountain Cove gated residential community in Azusa, California. The Ranch 2 Fire burned over 4,200 acres.(Time lapse video by Jeff Frost)
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This article, the second in a series on global migration caused by climate change, is a result of a partnership between ProPublica and The New York Times Magazine, with support from…
Shonisani TshikalangeReporter17 June 2021 – 21:14Mpumalanga police spokesperson Brig Leonard Hlathi has confirmed the fatal shooting. Image:123RF/Paul Fleet
Alleged rhino poaching kingpin Petros Sidney Mabuza was shot dead in Hazyview, Mpumalanga, on Thursday.ADVERTISEMENT
Mabuza, also known as “Mr Big”, allegedly died on his way to hospital after an apparent hit. Media reports say his Ford Ranger was struck by at least 17 bullets.
Mpumalanga police spokesperson Brig Leonard Hlathi has confirmed the fatal shooting.
“I can confirm that a man who was investigated by the Hawks on poaching-related cases was shot and killed at Hazyview today [Thursday] around 1pm,” he said.
In a video doing the rounds on social media, a black car is seen approaching the Ranger, which is parked under the shade of a tree. A few seconds later , men get out of the black vehicle and, it appears, this is when the shooting…
A dispute about the wolf population around Yellowstone National Park and the size of elk herds has gotten chippy, as at least one Fish Wildlife and Parks Commissioner alleged intentional pain and suffering, while an outdoor group claims the commissioners who are now in the minority are using legal stall tactics to appease out-of-state environmental groups.
The Outdoor Heritage Coalition along with William H. Hoppe sued The Montana FWP and the commissioners for failing to follow its own policies about hunting gray wolves. They said that if the statewide number of wolves exceeds more than 15 breeding pairs, the management plan calls for a “harvest season.”
Matthew Monforton, who represents Hoppe and the coalition, said that as of 2017 — the most recent data — there were 124 wolf packs, 63 breeding pairs and “the minimum number of wolves was 633.”
It’s hot. It’s toxic. It spins backwards and is covered in volcanoes. And we’re headed there soon. Three Venus missions, recently announced by NASA and the European Space Agency, are going to reveal more than we’ve ever known about the scorcher of a planet, a place that many scientists describe as Earth’s evil twin.
In recent weeks, NASA green-lit two Venus missions, VERITAS and DAVINCI+, while the ESA announced a Venus orbiter called EnVision. Already, planetary scientists are exhilarated by the possibilities. We spoke with several experts about why Venus is so exciting.
“It’s only beginning to hit me what this means,” said Paul Byrne, a planetary scientist at North Carolina State University, in a video call. “I’m gonna lose my shit every time a new paper comes out of it.” Fundamentally, he said, the reason for our return to Venus comes down to understanding why the planet “is our sibling and not our twin.”
“How is it that you have a planet that is almost the same size as Earth, made of presumably about the same stuff, in about the same compositions, orbiting the same star, and that has the same age—how do you have two worlds that are on paper the same, that are yet so vastly different?” Byrne explained. “EnVision, VERITAS, and DAVINCI+ are going to provide an unbelievable and unexpectedly solid foundation for how we tackle this question.”
Federal meteorologists and climate experts say the potential for another devastating wildfire season is higher than normal for much of the western United States, where a brutal heat wave shattered temperature records across multiple states this week.
Nearly 90 percent of the West is experiencing drought, increasing the amount of “fuel” for fires, such as dead trees and brush that is drying out up to a month ahead of schedule in many places, according to the latest climate update from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The past spring has been the warmest on record and the driest since 2006 in the lower 48 states.
Drought conditions have only intensified during the latest heat wave. More than 40 million people experienced triple-digit temperatures this week, straining power grids in Texas and California and prompting officials across the Southwest to warn the public against walking dogs on hot sidewalks and spending time outside during the day.
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Wildfires are already burning across multiple states, including a massive 21,000-acre blaze in Montana, according to the U.S. Forest Service and news reports. With the start of summer right around the corner, the National Interagency Fire Center reported five new large fires on Thursday, bringing the current total to 33 fires burning across more than 400,000 acres in 10 western states.
Wildfires occur naturally and play an important role in certain ecosystems, especially in the West. However, climate change and the disruption of natural areas caused by human pollution and development have created conditions for widespread and devastatingly intense wildfires. A landmark 2016 study found that human-caused climate change is responsible for 55 percent of the increase in dryness that creates fuel for wildfires, more than doubling the amount of land burned across the western U.S. over the past three decades.
Last year, record-breaking summer temperatures, the fourth-highest level of drought on record and an unusual amount of dry lightning combined to create an “apocalyptic” fire season that saw 10.27 million acres of land burned, the most ever recorded, according to Yale Climate Connections. Millions of people in California, Oregon and Washington were forced to evacuate from cities large and small as huge wildfires raced across the landscape and sent enough smoke into the air to change atmospheric conditions across the nation.
Gina Palma, a fire meteorologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, said scientists are currently observing drought conditions that they would not normally see not in June, especially in the foothills of mountains and higher elevations across the West, increasing the likelihood of fires. Still, every fire needs a spark, and it remains to be seen whether lightening or fires started by people, for example, will spark the tinder available in brushy areas and dry forests and cause another intense wildfire season.
While there are a number of factors behind these tinderbox conditions, human-caused climate change is certainly one of them.
“We do expect in a warmer world to see more frequent and more intense wildfires, and also heat waves,” Palma told reporters on Thursday.
There is some good news: NOAA forecasters predict monsoon rains that were largely absent in recent years will return to New Mexico and Arizona later in the summer, relieving drought conditions and reducing the potential for significant wildfire outbreaks to normal levels. Palma said widespread drought has also prevented grass from growing that could dry out later in the summer and provide fuel for potential fires.
The potential for fire across most of Texas and the Midwest is expected to be normal or below normal this summer, although scientists warn that “normal” summer conditions could soon be a thing of the past as climate change threatens to become irreversible absent a widespread reduction in fossil fuel pollution.
According to NOAA, it’s still highly likely that many of the same areas across California, Utah, Oregon, Idaho, Washington and western Montana that suffered destructive and even deadly wildfires last year will see significant wildfire activity this summer.
President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill Biden, shown here on Jan. 20, 2021, attend Mass at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle during Inauguration Day ceremonies in Washington, D.C.Evan Vucci/AP
After a contentious debate, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has voted to move forward with a process that could call into question the eligibility of politicians like President Joe Biden to receive Communion.
The bishops voted 168-55 in favor of drafting “a formal statement on the meaning of the Eucharist in the life of the Church,” officials announced on Friday afternoon, the final day of their three-day virtual meeting. Six bishops abstained.
Biden’s election as only the nation’s second Roman Catholic president has prompted renewed debate overdenying communionto Catholic politicians whosupport abortion rights, a position at odds with church…
Exposing the Big Game 