Climate Change & Environment
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Nearly half of world's migratory species are in decline, UN report says

Nearly half of the world's migratory species are in decline, according to a new United Nations report released Monday.

Many songbirds, sea turtles, whales, sharks and other migratory animals move to different environments with changing seasons and are imperiled by habitat loss, illegal hunting and fishing, pollution and climate change.

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Berlin's zoo is mourning Ingo the Flamingo, who died at what's believed to be the age of 75

The Berlin Zoo is mourning Ingo the Flamingo, its oldest resident, who died at what is believed to be at least 75 years of age and had lived there since the mid-1950s.

His place of origin is unclear. The zoo announced Ingo's death at an "imposing" age in social media posts on Wednesday. It said that a ring on the bird's leg with the inscription "Cairo, 23.6.1948" indicated what is believed to have been "his minimum age."

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Iceland volcano erupts for 3rd time since December, spewing lava into the sky

A volcano in southwestern Iceland erupted for the third time since December on Thursday, sending jets of lava into the sky and triggering the evacuation of the Blue Lagoon spa, one of the island nation's biggest tourist attractions.

The eruption began at about 0600 GMT (1 a.m. EST) along a three-kilometer (nearly two-mile) fissure northeast of Mount Sundhnukur, the Icelandic Meteorological Office said. The site is about 4 kilometers (2½ miles) northeast of Grindavik, a coastal town of 3,800 people that was evacuated before a previous eruption on Dec. 18.

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Number of monarch butterflies plummets at Mexico wintering sites

The number of monarch butterflies at their wintering areas in Mexico dropped by 59% this year to the second lowest level since record keeping began, experts said Wednesday, blaming heat, drought and loss of habitat.

The butterflies' migration from Canada and the United States to Mexico and back again is considered a marvel of nature. No single butterfly lives to complete the entire journey.

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Globe breaks heat record for 8th straight month

For the eighth straight month in January, Earth was record hot, according to the European climate agency. That was obvious in the northern United States, where about 1,000 people were golfing last month in a snow-starved Minneapolis during what the state is calling "the Lost Winter of 2023-24."

For the first time, the global temperature pushed past the internationally agreed upon warming threshold for an entire 12-month period, with February 2023 to January 2024 running 2.74 degrees Fahrenheit (1.52 degrees Celsius) hotter than pre-industrial levels, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service of the European Space Agency. That's the highest 12-month global temperature average on record, Copernicus reported.

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Fires in Chile, California rains and Spain drought spread pain of weather extremes

Camila Lange, who is 7-months-pregnant, sat with her husband and dog in what used to be their home in Vina del Mar, Chile. Hundreds of homes in the central coastal area of the South American nation have been destroyed in fires that have killed at least 112 people.

Weather and climate extremes — wildfire, drought and flooding — are taking a toll around the world. Here's some of what's happening now.

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Punishing storm finally easing off in Southern California but mudslide threat remains

A storm that parked itself over Southern California for days, unleashing historic downpours that caused hundreds of landslides, was expected to move out of the region after one final drenching Wednesday, but authorities warned of the continued threat of collapsing hillsides.

One of the wettest storms in Southern California history unleashed at least 475 mudslides in the Los Angeles area after dumping more than a foot (30 centimeters) of rain in some areas, including the Hollywood Hills.

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Landslide hits southern Philippines, leaves at least 6 dead and 46 others missing

A landslide left at least six villagers dead and 46 others missing, including miners waiting in two buses for a ride home, in a gold-mining village in the southern Philippines, officials said Wednesday.

Army troops, police and volunteers rescued 31 villagers who were injured when the landslide hit the mountain village of Masara in the remote town of Maco in Davao de Oro province Tuesday night. They resumed the search on Wednesday morning after suspending it the night before due to fears of more landslides, officials said.

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Ocean sponges suggest Earth has warmed longer, more than thought

A handful of centuries-old sponges from deep in the Caribbean are causing some scientists to think human-caused climate change began sooner and has heated the world more than they thought.

They calculate that the world has already gone past the internationally approved target of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) since pre-industrial times, hitting 1.7 degrees (3.1 degrees Fahrenheit) as of 2020. They analyzed six of the long-lived sponges — simple animals that filter water — for growth records that document changes in water temperature, acidity and carbon dioxide levels in the air, according to a study in Monday's journal Nature Climate Change.

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How climate change contributes to wildfires like Chile's

At least 123 people have been killed by wildfires in central Chile, leading its president to declare two days of national mourning. The devastation comes soon after Colombia declared a disaster over wildfires. Scientists say climate change makes the heat waves and drought now hitting South America more likely — and both contribute to wildfires by drying out the plants that feed the blazes.

WHAT'S HAPPENING IN CHILE?

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