Each year on 22nd April we’re supposed to stop and think about how our collective actions and inactions impact the natural world. Yet, more than half a century later, the planet is in a worse state than ever.
It’s easy to feel overwhelmed at climate headlines so far this year. Most recently, reports came in that scientists may have significantly underestimated the speed at which vital North Atlantic currents are collapsing.
Not only does this threaten the ocean’s already depleted marine life and fisheries, but it poses an existential threat to life — and food production — across the Northern Hemisphere. AMOC (the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation) and the Gulf Stream effectively regulate temperatures in the North, and without them thermometers are likely to plunge in Britain and many other countries. Should this happen, it will be irreversible.
In contrast, global regions where hot atmospheric conditions are set to become even hotter are likely to start seeing a rise in populations of venomous snakes, bringing dangerous species closer to densely populated coastal areas. The journal, PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, published a study recently that suggested parts of the eastern North American continent and China could soon face snakebite risks on a similar level to Sub-Saharan Africa, South and Southeast Asia. The black-necked spitting cobra, many-banded krait, cottonmouth, and copperhead are likely to be much more visible.
This is before we come to the sudden ecological impact of the Iran war, which Environment Journal has covered extensively. And the ongoing fallout from neighbouring Middle East flashpoints like Lebanon and Israel. Not forgetting the devastation of Gaza, where alongside crimes against humanity the rubble and waste left in the wake of Benjamin Netanyahu’s genocide is leaching all manner of toxic and highly polluting materials into the environment.
Worryingly, the worst of this year’s climate red flags are yet to come. Only yesterday, the Union of Concerned Scientists published a feature in The Equation looking at the likelihood of record-breaking temperatures in 2026 because of a predicted Super El Niño. The Climate Prediction Center has already announced a 50% chance this global weather system will be ‘strong’ or ‘very strong’, and the National Center for Atmospheric Research even suggests it could be the most powerful on record. Meanwhile, some modelling points to worldwide temperature briefly hitting 2C above pre-industrial levels as a result.
Unsurprisingly, if you manage to sift beyond the latest madness from Washington D.C. and Westminster’s finger-pointing over Peter Mandelson-gate, civil unrest tied to climate issues is everywhere. Ahead of elections in Brazil, 6,000 indigenous community members are protesting and demanding increased land rights to protect their ways of life and the nature they depend on. The annual Free Land Camp is happening right now in Brasilia, and — amongst other things — is taking aim at Canadian company Belo Sun’s Volta Grande mega-mine. Hence the slogan ‘life is worth more than gold.’
Closer to home, a Chilean delegation arrived in Spain this week armed with a proposal for the Seafood Expo Global conference at Fira de Barcelona. 2,300 companies from 86 nations are in attendance, and the South American team, made up of indigenous leaders and small scale fishers, hope at least some will listen to their message.
Much like those pushing back to protect inland habitats featured in our 2024 feature on climate defenders, the collective position themselves as ocean defenders and emphasise how industrial production decisions can decide the future of species and entire ecosystems. More so, they want to reiterate that working towards making seas more sustainable opens up a wealth of economic opportunities many major industry stakeholders overlook.
European citizens have also been making their voices heard. In Munich, Hamburg and Berlin, Germany, pro-clean energy marches took place last weekend due to spiking in oil and gas prices as a result of the Iran war, and proposals by the Reichstag to slow down the shift to renewables. Conservative Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s coalition government are coming under increasing fire for suggesting now is the time to reduce green and net zero investment, with Economy Minister Katherina Reiche — a former energy company executive — also in the crosshairs.
This week is likely to see even more action on the streets, with Fridays For Future calling for decentralised activism across more of the country’s major cities, including Dresden, Freiberg and Leipzig. In total, residents in around 50 towns are expected to be involved. Whether the numbers can match the 80,000 people thought to have been involved in the first protests is another question. Likely it will depend on where you get your news from.
Last month, an analysis by the Media and Climate Change Observatory at the University of Colorado, US, showed a 14% drop in coverage of the environment and natural world compared with 2024. This is now the fourth consecutive year journalism focused on the crisis has been reduced, with Europe, North America, the Middle East, and Africa experiencing the sharpest declines. Unsurprisingly, these are also regions with significant gains to be had from continued support for fossil fuels, with current political headwinds driving rhetoric away from ecological recovery. Then you have major media centralisation and the rise of newspaper and TV ownership being in the hands of Big Tech, which could do without concerns over water shortages, carbon emissions, and global warming caused by data centres.
Burying heads in the sand is never a good idea, and in this instance is likely to prove catastrophic in the long run given the scientific consensus is that a changing atmosphere, more unpredictable weather patterns, higher temperatures and the destruction of critical Earth systems will define life as we know it in the 21st Century. Less widely talked about is the impact this is already having on democratic processes. In 2024 alone, no less than 94 elections in 52 countries across the planet were disrupted because of climatic events like flooding, wildfires, heatwaves and hurricanes.
As per an International IDEA report, voters are being displaced, making them unable to engage in polling, infrastructure is collapsing, causing logistical and transport issues, and last-minute changes to voting systems — introduced in a bid to overcome those unexpected obstacles — are putting undue pressure on administrators. At the worst end of this, between 2006 and 2025, 26 elections and referendums were postponed completely or abandoned due to extreme weather.
Image: Rema / Unsplash
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