Europe battles wildfires and braces for another summer heatwave

It doesn’t have to be this way. We know what needs to be done Disturbing news about our water resources is now constant and unrelenting. In just the past few weeks, media have reported that Puerto Rico is suffering a deep water crisis as severe drought has cut water supplies to thousands. The Rhine and Po rivers in Europe are at record low levels. The seven states sharing the Colorado River in the US are fighting over unprecedented shortages, while its major reservoirs have shrunk to their lowest levels since they were built. Hungary’s only nuclear power plant is on the verge of shutting down because there isn’t enough water in the Danube River to cool it. Toxic chemicals have been found in all English water bodies...

95 percent of mainland France had drought conditions in July. A drought situation shared across Europe. Journalist Ellen Gainsford tells us more.

Modelling finds AI-driven productivity gains in coal, oil and gas enable more emissions than applications in renewables avoid AI-driven productivity gains enable more planet-heating pollution from fossil fuels than they avoid from renewables, a study has found. Researchers modelled the technical potential for AI to boost clean power generation along with projections for how it can help produce coal, oil and gas. Across 64 scenarios, they found net yearly carbon pollution rose by 0.47-1.8 gigatonnes, or about 1-5% of the energy sector’s annual emissions...