The climate emergency is all around us.

Smokehouse Creek Fire now second-largest on record in Texas…

The Smokehouse Creek Fire has burned 500,000 acres since igniting Monday afternoon, making it the second-largest wildfire on record in Texas, according to the Texas A&M Forest Service. It remains completely uncontained and is likely to grow further. The largest wildfire was the East Amarillo Complex fire in 2006, which consumed more than 900,000 acres, according to Texas A&M.

Climate change is undoing decades of progress on air quality…

A choking layer of pollution-laced fog settled over Minneapolis last month, blanketing the city in its worst air quality since 2005. A temperature inversion acted like a ceiling, trapping small particles emitted from sluggish engines and overworked heaters in a gauze that shrouded the skyline. That haze arrived amid the hottest winter on record for the Midwest. Warmer temperatures melted what little snow had fallen, releasing moisture that helped further trap pollution.

More Australian towns threatened by massive bushfire | Reuters

SYDNEY, Feb 23 (Reuters) - Fresh evacuation warnings were issued on Friday for dozens of rural Australian towns as around 1,000 firefighters battled a bushfire in Victoria state which has destroyed properties, killed livestock and is threatening to spread through towns.

More than 2,000 people on Thursday fled from towns in Victoria’s west after emergency evacuation orders were issued to leave while it was still safe and head east to the nearby regional hub of Ballarat, 95 km (59 miles) west of Melbourne.

Alberta wildfire season starts early as Canada’s mild winter persists | Reuters

Feb 20 (Reuters) - The western Canadian province of Alberta on Tuesday declared an early start to wildfire season as a result of an unusually dry and mild winter, allowing the government to put more money and resources into tackling blazes.

Canada endured its worst wildfire season on record last year as 18.5 million hectares (45.7 million acres) burned, nearly seven times the 10-year average, according to the federal government.

Alberta is also suffering from drought, and there are 52 wildfires still burning in the province from last year as well as 17 new blazes so far in 2024.

New climate data shows global temperatures continuing to rise sharply | DW News…

For the first time the world was 1.5 degrees warmer compared to pre-industrial times. It was actually anticipated that this important threshold would only be reached in the next few years or the next decade. Recently, scientists expressed “alarm” over the latest findings that the so-called AMOC, a system of ocean currents in the Atlantic, is about to shift due to rapid ice melt. If it were to fail, Europe would see a dramatic drop in temperatures of up to 10 degrees on average. In southern hemisphere countries, warming could intensify, and in the Amazon region, the rainy and dry seasons could be reversed. Sea levels would rise at a speed that would make it impossible for humans to adapt in time. Have we already exceeded the key 1.5-degree limit agreed in the Paris Climate Accord for good?

Natural disasters could cost NSW $9bn a year by 2060, analysis finds…

The New South Wales coastline is increasingly at risk of severe natural disasters, with the state on track for an annual damage bill of $9bn by 2060 if the effects of climate change and population growth are not mitigated.

Fresh analysis from the NSW Reconstriction Authority revealed that while the highest natural hazard risks historically were from fires and heatwaves – and, at the moment, storms and floods – coastal hazards will dominate in years to come.

Growth in CO2 emissions leaves China likely to miss climate targets - The Guardian…

China is off track on all of its core 2025 climate targets, despite the fact that clean energy is now the biggest driver of the country’s economic growth, analysis has found.

After years of extraordinarily rapid growth, China is now grappling with a slowdown that is causing ripples internally and internationally. The government has supercharged the growth of the renewable energy industry but it has imultaneously poured stimulus funds into construction and manufacturing, and continues to approve coal power.

It’s the middle of winter, and more than 100 wildfires are still smouldering | CBC News…

“A lot of people talk about fire season and the end of the fire season, but our fires did not stop burning in 2023,” said a wildfire crew chief in Fort Nelson, B.C. There are still 94 active fires in British Columbia and another 54 in Alberta, holdovers from last year’s record-breaking wildfires.