Brown seaweed covers coral killed by bleaching in the Sekiseishoko area of Okinawa Prefecture in this photo taken on Dec. 21. (Provided by the Environment Ministry)

Coral bleaching has killed 70.1 percent of the nation’s largest coral reef as of the end of 2016, up from 56.7 percent just a few months earlier, the Environment Ministry said...

Meadow pipit have disappeared from sites in the south of England. Photograph: Alamy Stock Photo

Rising temperatures and crop farming mean birds are disappearing from parts of England, says study, while butterflies and dragonflies are faring better...

2016 was the second hottest year for the U.S. in more than 120 years of record keeping, government scientists announced on Monday, marking 20 above-average years in a row. Every state had a temperature ranking at least in the top seven, with two, Georgia and Alaska, recording their hottest year...

credit: Russ Bowling

If one person is forced to leave home, that shift can feel world-changing.  When that upheaval happens on a global scale, it is...

Mongolian nomadic homes on the outskirts of the capital, Ulaanbaatar. Many such districts have sprung up as nomads are forced to abandon their traditional way of life by climate change. Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian

In the last six years, some 140 million people have been forced to move because of climate-related disasters (Mongolian herders fly steppe blighted by climate extremes and social change, 5 January). Climate change is driving long-term environmental damage and sudden catastrophes, presenting a global long-term threat to human security...

“Without bolder action, our children won’t have time to debate the existence of climate change — they’ll be busy dealing with its effects.”

Image via Joe Raedle/Getty Images.

Climate change: It's real, folks!!!

A satellite image of the US West Coast taken in 2016 shows dark green colours near the continental margin, indicating blooms of phytoplankton, some of which produced toxins Image courtesy of Nasa’s earth observatory

Giant blooms of micro-algae that can produce a potent neurotoxin which gets into shellfish are increasing as the water warms, study finds...

The Fish and Wildlife Service warns that continued climate warming could doom already dwindling polar bear populations. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.

The Fish and Wildlife Service today said "decisive" action is needed to slow climate change and stop sea ice melting that threatens to wipe out polar bears in the Arctic...

On January 3 and 4, the first of two back-to-back atmospheric river storms brought heavy rain, mountain snow, and localized flooding to central California. The second storm, fueled by a powerful, long-duration atmospheric river funneling warm and moist air from southeast of Hawaii, hit central and northern California beginning late on January 7 and pushed major rivers past flood stage levels and drove extreme gusts, leading to power outages as well as rock and mudslides...

Buildings are seen near the ocean as reports indicate that Miami-Dade County in the future could be one of the most susceptible places when it comes to rising water levels due to global warming on March 14, 2012 in North Miami, Fla. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

It seems like just about every week, there’s more news on the rapid melting of glaciers in Greenland, Antarctica and elsewhere — and scientists’ growing concern about their potentially dramatic contributions to global sea level rise. But there’s another major element affecting global sea levels, and research suggests that it could be a factor for centuries to come...

Photographer: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images

The ski season is a month shorter than it was four decades ago because of changing snowfall patterns...

Looks p. risky. (Nature Climate Change)

There are a lot of them...

Yale University scientist Wei Liu has calculated that the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation could collapse within 300 years. The graphic illustrates predicted responses on surface temperature and precipitation. Wei Liu et al

“Engine” of the sea could sputter to a halt due to climate change...

Global warming is causing land-based ice to melt in parts of Antarctica such as the Weddell Sea region. Image: NASA/Jeremy Harbeck via Flickr

Evidence of Antarctic ice sheet melting and sea level rise almost 15,000 years ago raises alarm over current climate change dangers...

In 1769, Ben Franklin became the first person to map the Gulf Stream when he made the above chart. (NOAA)

Scientists have recently begun to re-examine a scary question: Will a crucial ocean current shut down?

Image by NOAA shows projected surface air temperature change by the year 2050.

Abstract

Ten years ago, Paul Crutzen asked whether the time had come to consider undertaking research into intentionally intervening in the climate system so that it might be considered a policy option comparable to reducing emissions for limiting human-induced climate change...

How do I explain climate change to my teenager? originally appeared on Quora: the knowledge sharing network where compelling questions are answered by people with unique insights...

[Photo: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/Flickr]

By one calculation, we have 365 days left to do something drastic with our carbon emissions before we lock in a future of drastic climate change...