Water scarcity is a major issue in Iran, particularly in arid provinces in the country’s south, with shortages blamed on mismanagement and overexploitation of underground resources, as well as the growing impact of climate change.

Tehran’s provincial water management company called for usage to be reduced by “at least 20 percent” to help ease the shortages.

In a statement, it said “the reservoirs of the dams supplying water to Tehran are currently at their lowest level in a century”, following years of steady decline in rainfall.

crosspostato da: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/39332565

[...]

Myanmar is not listed among the countries with the largest rare earth reserves, despite intensive mining activities, especially in Shan and Kachin states.

This clearly indicates that while Myanmar may “produce” rare earth minerals, it does not “own” the resources. It serves primarily as a transit point for initial extraction, with the minerals being sent to other countries, particularly China, for further processing.

[...]

The true source of China’s rare earth dominance lies in Myanmar’s border regions, where Shan and Kachin states are emerging as key centres for the mining of rare earth elements like terbium and dysprosium. These areas are experiencing rapid and uncontrolled growth in mining activities.

In Shan State, rare earth mining has proliferated, particularly in the town of Poke, which falls under the influence of the United Wa State Army (UWSA). The number of mines has increased from just 3 in 2005 to 26 in 2025, an eightfold growth in just one decade. The mining technique used, “ore leaching,” has led to chemical runoff contaminating major water sources, including the Kok and Sai rivers, which flow into northern Thailand.

In the northern part of Myanmar, Kachin State, areas like Pang Wa, Manse, Momok, and Loy Ja have become intensive mining zones. In 2023, over 300 mines were operating, with more than 3,000 extraction pits. After the 2021 coup, production surged by 40%, and China purchased 41,700 tons of rare earth minerals from Myanmar within the same year.

[...]

Pianporn Deetes, Director of Southeast Asia Campaigns at International Rivers, stated in an interview with Bangkok Business that the cross-border pollution crisis is severely impacting millions of people in Chiang Rai, who are facing risks to their lives and health due to heavy metal contamination, particularly arsenic, in the Kok River, which flows into the Mekong and Sai rivers.

“Local residents can no longer engage in traditional activities like fishing or operating tour boats, and farmers are worried that rice grown using water from the Kok River may be contaminated with arsenic, as rice tends to absorb arsenic well. Additionally, there have been reports of fish with unusual parasites, which correlate with mining activities disturbing the soil.”

She further called for the Thai government to urgently negotiate with Myanmar and China, using various measures, including economic, diplomatic, and even food-related pressures, to halt mining activities. “If the soil continues to be disturbed and mining continues, the people of Chiang Rai will be ‘slowly dying.’ The restoration of rivers contaminated with heavy metals is extremely difficult and time-consuming, as seen with the unresolved issue of the Klity Creek contamination, which has persisted for over 30 years.”

The study: Long-term air pollution exposure and incident dementia: a systematic review and meta-analysis

If she raises climate change at a party, “at some point someone says, ‘Look, you’re being a bit of a Debbie Downer’ … it was nice to sit in that room with other people, no one was hysterical, no one was over the top, no one was crazy [but] people weren’t going, ‘Oh, calm down. It’ll be fine.’ ”

https://sarahwilson.substack.com/p/table-of-contents

Petrostates and well-funded lobbyists at UN-hosted talks are derailing a deal to cut plastic production and protect people and the planet

Authoritarianism is not a genetic destiny. It’s a psychological response to fear, uncertainty, and social threat, a reflex born from the very human desire for order, cohesion, and identity when the world feels unmoored. People don’t wake up yearning to silence others, tear down institutions, or cheer for strongmen. They gravitate toward authoritarianism when they feel the social contract has failed them, and when the tools of democratic deliberation feel powerless to protect what they value.

(the rest of the article / blog is also good)

Algae blooms in the Baltic Sea are caused by the rapid growth of phytoplankton, often triggered by high temperatures and nutrient-rich waters due to eutrophication. These blooms can be harmful, leading to oxygen depletion and toxic conditions for marine life and humans.

Archived

The global landscape of energy investment is experiencing a significant shift, with coal-fired power plants receiving unprecedented attention despite international climate commitments. Global approvals for coal-fired plants have reached their highest level since 2015, marking a dramatic reversal of the anticipated decline in fossil fuel investments.

China stands at the forefront of this coal renaissance, having commenced construction on approximately 100 gigawatts of new coal plants in 2024 alone. This massive expansion represents a capacity equivalent to the entire existing coal fleet of countries like Germany and Japan combined.

[...]

In 2024, a “resurgence” in construction of new coal-fired power plants in China is “undermining the country’s clean-energy progress”, says a joint report by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) and Global Energy Monitor (GEM).

[...]

This surge in coal investment presents a stark contradiction to global climate goals. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), coal remains the largest source of energy-related emissions, accounting for a staggering 45% of the global total. The continued expansion of coal capacity threatens to undermine international efforts to limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.

[...]

Bulgaria, the EU's poorest country, has decades-old pipes -- some laid before World War II -- while water theft and poor resource management amplify the consequences of climate change.

"Every other drop is lost before reaching the tap," said Emil Gachev, a researcher at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.

In mid-July, water interruptions affected more than 156,000 people in the country of 6.4 million, which ranks worst in the EU for losses in supply networks.

Climate science deniers are flooding social media with false claims during extreme weather events, drowning out reliable information and putting lives at risk.

A new report by the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), which researches and campaigns against online hatred and disinformation, finds that anti-climate figures are increasingly spreading false information about wildfires and hurricanes fuelled by climate change.

South Korean cabbage, Australian lettuce, Japanese rice, Brazilian coffee and Ghanaian cocoa are among the many foods that have been hit by price hikes following extreme climate events since 2022, a team of international scientists has found.

The research released on Monday cites, among other examples, a 280 percent spike in global cocoa prices in April 2024, following a heatwave in Ghana and the Ivory Coast, and a 300 percent jump in lettuce prices in Australia after floods in 2022.

Archived

China needs to cut steel output from the coal-powered blast furnace process by more than 90 million metric tons from 2024's level to achieve its green steel target this year, researchers said in a report published on Tuesday.

The global steel industry is responsible for around 8% of the world's carbon dioxide emissions and China accounts for more than half of global steel output.

[...]

China has lagged far behind its global peers in terms of electric arc-furnace steel share. The average share is around 30% globally, 71.8% in the United States, 58.8% in India and 26.2% in Japan, [a report by the Helsinki-based Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air] said.

From 2021 to the first half of 2025, China's blast furnace capacity utilisation rose from 85.6% to 88.6%, while electric-arc furnace utilisation fell from 58.9% to 48.6%, it added.

[...]

"A credible strategy to curb emission-intensive production and rein in excess capacity would not only tackle the sector's structural issues but also ease global tensions," said Belinda Schaepe, an analyst at the Helsinki-based centre.

[...]

by "Garys Economics"

tl.dw. the rich are buying it all

Microplastics are present in all beverages, but those packaged in glass bottles contain more microplastic particles than those in plastic bottles, cartons or cans. This was the surprising finding of a study conducted by the Boulogne-sur-Mer unit of the ANSES Laboratory for Food Safety. The scientists hypothesised that these plastic particles could come from the paint used on bottle caps. Water and wine are less affected than other beverages. These findings have highlighted a source of microplastics in drinks that manufacturers can easily take measures to address.

Up until a disastrous day earlier this month, more than 150 trucks crossed daily over a border bridge between Nepal and China. Known by locals as the Miteri Pul (Friendship Bridge), the Rasuwagadhi crossing served as the main trade route between the two countries, with over $50m of goods passing over it last year alone.

But on the 8 July, floodwaters tore through northern Nepal’s Rasuwa district, sweeping away parts of this critical border highway. According to the National Disaster Risk Reduction & Management Authority, seven people lost their lives, and 20 were missing, including six Chinese nationals.

The Chinese nationals were working on a 200 megawatt hydro project in the Tirsuli River, which was also damaged by the floods. Initial estimates suggest Nepal has sustained losses of over $100m in the incident as a whole.

Scientists have determined that the cause was an outburst from a glacial lake. According to Jakob Steiner, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Graz (Austria), and Amrit Thapa, a PhD student at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, the glacial lake had formed in March, approximately 35km upstream from the border inside Chinese territory.

Glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) have become increasingly common in Nepal, driven by rapid warming in the Himalayas. Nepal's Department of Hydrology and Meteorology reports that temperatures in the Himalayan region have increased by 0.42C per decade between 2008 and 2018 – nearly double the global average.

Nepal lost 24 per cent of its glaciers due to global warming between 1977 and 2010, the most recent data available, contributing to a substantial decline in freshwater reserves in the Himalayas. In the Himalayan region, the number of glacial lakes and their area are rapidly increasing.

More than 14 million children did not receive a single vaccine last year — about the same number as the year before — according to U.N. health officials. Nine countries accounted for more than half of those unprotected children.

In their annual estimate of global vaccine coverage, released Tuesday, the World Health Organization and UNICEF said about 89% of children under 1 year old got a first dose of the diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough vaccine in 2024, the same as in 2023. About 85% completed the three-dose series, up from 84% in 2023.

Officials acknowledged, however, that the collapse of international aid this year will make it more difficult to reduce the number of unprotected children. In January, U.S. President Trump withdrew the country from the WHO, froze nearly all humanitarian aid and later moved to close the U.S. AID Agency. And last month, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said it was pulling the billions of dollars the U.S. had previously pledged to the vaccines alliance Gavi, saying the group had “ignored the science.”

Kennedy, a longtime vaccine skeptic, has previously raised questions the diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough vaccine — which has proven to be safe and effective after years of study and real-world use. Vaccines prevent 3.5 million to 5 million deaths a year, according to U.N. estimates.

The mega-drought is considered the most prolonged and widespread in a century, and the local population and mining companies are fighting for the right to water in the Atacama desert, the driest place on Earth, where the world’s largest copper and lithium deposits are located.

The lack of rainfall has had profound effects on Chile’s water resources, agriculture and ecosystems and is severely depleting its freshwater reserves in the Atacama region. Even mining operations have occasionally been forced to stop due to water shortages.

Lithium is critical for electric vehicle batteries, while copper underpins most renewable energy technologies and infrastructure. The global green transition is projected to substantially increase demand for copper and lithium. For Chile, this implies escalating water requirements for mining operations.

Despite advances in desalination, mining remains a major consumer of fresh water, accounting for about 50% of regional reserves in the north. Chile’s ministry of mining projects that total consumption of water will go up by about 20% by 2034.

Desalination and transporting seawater inland also come with environmental costs. These are energy-intensive processes, and studies forecast that CO2 emissions from Chile’s desalination plants could reach up to about 700,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent annually by 2030 – about the same as Antigua and Barbuda.

Desalination may also transfer environmental risks from the desert to the ocean. In Antofagasta, a coastal town in northern Chile near where Escondida’s desalination plant and port are located, local fishers have already noticed changes.

“We’re losing 120 calories per person, per day, for every degree of global warming.” That stark data point from a 2025 Nature study signals more than a threat to food security, it points to a growing risk to global financial security.

Food system instability exposes markets to cascading shocks: inflation, trade disruption, insurance losses and sovereign credit stress. Yet these risks remain largely unaccounted for in core financial systems. Despite mounting exposure to climate-driven volatility, financial systems, from asset pricing models to fiscal and monetary policy frameworks, still treat food risk as peripheral.

This disconnect is no longer sustainable. As climate extremes intensify, the next financial crisis may not come from housing or tech, but from a climate-driven breakdown in the global food system.

A growing number of climate groups are campaigning for the introduction of a wealth tax to ensure the transition to a sustainable economy is not done “on the backs of the poor”.

Last week campaigners from Green New Deal Rising staged a sit-in outside the Reform UK party’s London headquarters as part of a wave of protests targeting the offices, shops and private clubs of the super-rich across the UK.

The Pay Up campaign – backed by more than 20 civil society groups including Friends of the Earth, the National Education Union and Tax Justice UK – is calling on the government to bring in a series of wealth taxes as an alternative to spending cuts. It is one of a number of campaign initiatives focused on overhauling the tax regime being run by climate groups who say the revenue from the ultra-rich could fund investment, restore crumbling public services and help tackle the climate emergency.