author

 
 

Meta

Eric Roston
Trees in a forest in Nyanga, Gabon
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Dec 3, 2024
Scientists behind ‘net zero’ concept say nations are getting it wrong
Countries may be claiming carbon credits for work already being done by land and oceans — and the accounting mismatch has consequences.
This year is expected to be the hottest year on record, and the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service predicts it will also be the first year ever to breach 1.5 C of warming.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Nov 12, 2024
Global warming is already on the cusp of 1.5 C, new research finds
While there is nothing symbolic about the number 1.5 in particular, every extra increment of heat risks worsening climate impacts like powerful storms and drought.
Cars are flooded in a local street during the pass of a winter storm in Lodi, New Jersey, on Jan. 10.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Aug 28, 2024
Extreme rain is a growing climate threat to the northeastern U.S.
A warming world will bring more rain-induced flooding to the United States' Northeast, a region of millions who aren't prepared for it.
Homes surrounded by floodwaters in Steinhatchee, Florida, after Hurricane Debby made landfall on Aug. 5.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Aug 10, 2024
Clashing risk predictions cast doubt on black box climate models
Insurers and investors are using private modeling tools to make risk assessments, but they have major inconsistencies.
A typhoon hits Hong Kong. Scientists warn that the danger ahead isn’t just from supercharged weather catastrophes. A warmer planet increases the chances of "compound events,” where multiple disasters — natural and manmade — occur at the same time or place.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jun 19, 2024
The era of super-wild weather is already here
Floods, wildfires, droughts and heat waves have become more widespread and volatile than before.
A woman sits where her apartment once stood in Lahaina, Hawaii, after the city was devastated by a wildfire, on Aug. 11.
ENVIRONMENT
Nov 17, 2023
Nowhere is safe from worsening climate change, new U.S. report warns
The report comes at a time of record-shattering heat, with recent months ranking as the hottest on record across the world.
Cooling towers at a coal-fired power plant in Germany. While surface temperatures might stabilize quickly after reaching net-zero, other shifting parts of the climate are harder to slow once set in motion.
ENVIRONMENT / Earth science
Nov 17, 2023
Amid climate efforts, will net-zero emissions be enough?
A new study suggests uncertainty about how climate systems will respond after emissions stabilize is an argument for reducing them as quickly as possible.
A woman in Vatican City on July 19 during a heat wave. Projecting temperatures is inherently imprecise because modern humans have never experienced such extremes.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jul 29, 2023
An overheating planet requires extreme climate solutions
Projections say warming will only get worse, but humans exert control over planet-warming pollution and can change these models’ trajectories.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Jun 13, 2023
California wildfires are five times bigger than they used to be
The burned area grew 172% more than it would have without climate change.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Jun 1, 2023
Humans have blown past key limits for Earth’s stability, scientists say
A new analysis also includes criteria for justice for the many millions of people at risk today and the billions coming in the future.
Japan Times
WORLD
May 25, 2023
Guam typhoon highlights climate threat to U.S. military in Pacific
Many of America’s most strategic assets are in places increasingly threatened by extreme weather events, rising seas and other consequences of climate change.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 23, 2023
El Ninos cause trillions in lost economic growth, study shows
With the world 1.2 C hotter than it was before industrialization, El Nino now practically guarantees record heat.
Japan Times
WORLD
Feb 9, 2023
A fifth of the world’s species-rich wetlands have been destroyed
Wetlands provide critical and historically under-recognized benefits to humanity, including flood defense, water storage and biodiversity protection.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jan 25, 2023
Jacinda Ardern leaves mixed record on tackling climate change
Ardern established a new policy framework for New Zealand to address global warming, but there’s a sense that her government failed to deliver fully on its climate promises.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Nov 11, 2022
Can world leaders at COP27 climate summit still limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius?
One of the key objectives around which the 2015 Paris Agreement was formed, the figure has become a shorthand for the success of every subsequent climate summit.
Japan Times
WORLD
Sep 16, 2022
Climate change intensified rain that fueled deadly Pakistan floods, study says
The death toll from the floods has risen to nearly 1,500 and the physical damage to the country may surpass $30 billion.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jul 29, 2022
Climate change made deadly U.K. heat wave at least 10 times likelier
More than 840 people may have died in England and Wales during the extreme heat, according to a preliminary analysis.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Apr 5, 2022
Planet’s breakneck warming likely to pass 1.5 degrees, U.N. scientists warn
The world may be on track to warm by more than 3 degrees — a change that would painfully remake societies and life on the planet.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Apr 5, 2022
A Paris Agreement architect is now terrified by lack of climate action
'I don't have words to explain. u2018Concerning' is not enough. This is frankly a terrifying report,” Costa Rican diplomat Christiana Figueres said.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Apr 5, 2022
Five takeaways from the U.N.’s latest 3,000-page climate report
The new report updates previous work by the IPCC, and offers evidence that climate action, when done right, can improve the health and wellbeing of people around the world.

Longform

People in cities across Japan will pop into their local convenience store for any number of products they believe will help them with a night of drinking.
Hangover cures are everywhere in Japan — but do they work?