It’s Halloween, which means costumes, candy, and scary movies. Fear turns to fun on October 31 because Halloween lets us seek scary thrills that can’t hurt us. When we feel like threats are closing in on us and things are getting truly scary, we just turn off the TV and turn on the lights. But there is one terror that we can’t escape, no matter the time of year.

We’re talking about climate change! Here are five of the scariest, most bone-chilling facts about climate change to get you in the mood for terror this season (and hopefully also scare you and your fellow trick-or-treaters into action to address it).

1. Within the next 2 decades, global temperatures are likely to reach 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

In its highly-anticipated Sixth Report in 2021, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) stated that a certain amount of global warming is locked in and is irreversible. They reported that from 2011–2020, the global temperature had already reached 1.1 degrees Celsius above 1850-1900 levels. 

In 2024, global temperatures rose above 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels for the first time, and if this trend persists, we will have failed to reach our climate goals established under the Paris Agreement. As climate change becomes more severe, it is predicted to increase the frequency of “fire weather”, kill 70-90% of coral reefs at 1.5 degrees Celsius warming, and raise our sea levels globally by .3 meters above 2000s level.

Scientists estimate that we are on track to reach the 1.5 degree Celsius threshold by 2030 and reach the “tipping point” for climate change. Although the 1.5 degree threshold is considered by the signatories of the Paris Agreement as an acceptable level of global warming, every “extra bit of warming increases the severity of many weather extremes, ice melt and sea-level rise.” Yet, little has changed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It’s like the movie Don’t Look Up; we know what’s happening but we aren’t doing enough to change the outcome.

In 2019, global carbon emissions from fossil fuels and industry reached a high of 36.44 billion metric tons. In 2020, emissions from fossil fuels and industry fell by 5.8 percent due to COVID-19 and the resulting economic crisis. Despite that year’s reverse trend, however, 2022 emissions were back up to 36.8 billion metric tons. In the latest estimates from 2024, fossil fuel and industry emissions reached a new record high of 37.41 billion metric tons of CO2.

Four years later, Professor Forster’s eerie words still hold true.

2. The last 7 years have been the warmest on record

In 2023, NASA announced that the summer of 2023 was the hottest summer on record globally, surpassing the intense heat experienced in 2016. One year later, 2024 is confirmed by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) as the hottest year on record. 

And not only is food security severely at risk because of climate change, but our human security is as well. With temperatures rising due to climate change comes the risk of heat stress, the leading cause of weather-related deaths. 

As we enter the spooky season, the Washington Post reports that it will be an unseasonably hot one in the US. As a marine heatwave amplified by long-term global warming sweeps across the US, we are likely to experience temperatures above seasonal averages, with the Ohio Valley, Appalachians and Northeast predicted to experience 10 to 20 degree deviations.

 “Whether one year is a record or not is not really that important — the important things are long-term trends,” said Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) Director Gavin Schmidt. The current long-term trend is that each year is getting hotter and hotter. 

Are you scared for our future, yet? Well get ready, because it’s going to get even scarier.

3. Our extinction rate is currently estimated to be 1,000-10,000 times the natural rate.

Imagine dressing up as a frog for Halloween and having to explain to younger generations what a frog was and why it’s gone. Currently it is estimated that  41%  of all amphibians species are at risk of extinction due to climate change — so this could be a reality if we don’t act soon.

Extinction is a natural phenomenon, claiming about five species per year. But some experts suggest we’re in the midst of the sixth mass extinction — one that is caused mostly by human activity.

According to a 2023 report, 48% of species are declining and on their way to extinction. It also revealed that the 33% of species listed as non-threatened by the IUCN Red-List are actually decreasing. By mid-century, over one third of the total species found on Earth are predicted to disappear because our extinction rate is currently 1,000 to 10,000 times the natural rate. In 2024, 21 species were declared extinct by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, which tragically included the beloved Bachman’s Warbler.

Allowing this to continue is “a crime equivalent to tossing books from the Library of Alexandria thoughtlessly into a fire, erasing the shared inheritance of all mankind,” according to the National Institute of Environmental Health Science in a review from 2009.

Species diversity is crucial for ecosystem resilience, and without it, ecological communities will not have the strength to withstand change — especially not the change we’re throwing at them.

4. Climate change is already happening, and it’s detrimental to human life, too

The impacts to human health are much scarier than any child-eating clown movie.

Rising temperatures — coupled with cities that lack the capacity to minimize the accumulation and generation of urban heat and the increasing population of elderly — have increased heat-related deaths, according to an article published in 2024 by the World Health Organization.

A 2018 report concluded that the lack of adaptive capacities and effort toward reducing emissions threatens human lives and the national health systems people rely on, by pushing services to their limit and disrupting core infrastructure. Vulnerable communities are already being hit first and worst.

But hyperthermia is not the only risk climate change brings to human life. Pollution worsens air quality, and as of 2021, has been reported to be responsible for 1 in 8 deaths worldwide. This makes air pollution the second leading risk factor for death worldwide. 

A warming world also increases the intensity of natural disasters.

According to NASA, extreme wildfire activity has more than doubled worldwide.  This year, California saw one of the most destructive wildfires in US history in terms of loss of life, structural damages, and acres lost. In 2024, an intense wildfire in Chile killed 136 people, making it the deadliest disaster in the country since the 2010 earthquake and tsunami. Not only are the fires themselves deadly, but the smoke they produce is as well. As of this year, smoke from wildfires in Canada and the American West are predicted to cause more than 40,000 premature deaths per year. This is more than all the fatalities from car crashes in 2024. 

Hurricanes are reaching new extremes, too. According to scientists, 84% of Atlantic hurricanes between 2018 and 2023 were, on average, 18 mph stronger because of climate change. It has become immensely more difficult to escape these storms unscathed, and it will only get harder in the future.

Have you noticed that the Halloween season doesn’t feel the same either? If we can’t wear a full costume without sweating then something is wrong, right?

That’s because climate change is shifting the seasons. Over the past five decades, the vegetation season has become lengthened by an average of one month. This means that spring arrives earlier, while fall is delayed. This not only affects Halloween, but it might affect your Christmas plans too! Because of this change in seasons, many popular ski destinations around the world are forced to make their own artificial snow to stay open.

This change in season not only makes dressing up in a full-body werewolf costume uncomfortable but also disrupts the natural interactions between species, their habitats, and their migration patterns. 

BOO!

5. Many leaders still aren’t taking it seriously.

The world has been aware of climate change at least since the IPCC formed in 1988. Scientists and the public rallied around environmental policy, but many global governments had a different idea.

They were going to ignore it.

Countries contributing the most to global emissions have the best chance of curbing climate change, but leaders are doing little to address it.

Although it has been seven years since the Paris Agreement entered into force, none of the world’s major economies are on track to keep global warming well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

To outline steps to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and build resilience to climate change, parties submit Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) every five years. February 10 was the deadline to submit updated NDCs, however, some countries failed to submit theirs, including many of the world’s major polluters. Although the US submitted their NDCs, they have since withdrawn from the Paris Climate agreement. Climate literacy is among the climate goals that have missed the mark. Climate literacy (as supported by an integrated K-12 curricula) is needed to prepare youth with an understanding of the climate crisis and skills to create solutions, yet not one country has thoroughly addressed it within its NDC.

Everyone may die at the end of horror movies, but we don’t have to.

We’re not in a Hollywood studio, helplessly in the hands of sadistic screenwriters. We can actively choose to change the ending of our story — and for that we should feel hopeful.

In 2019, younger generations took matters into their own hands and started striking for the climate. They skipped school completely to plead for an end to inaction toward climate change and demanding world leaders to undertake environmental reforms. A 2021 study revealed that 83% of people aged 16-25 feel that we have failed to take care of our planet and concluded that it is vital for governments to take “urgent” action against climate change. In June of this year, UNICEF described this eco-anxiety as “an emergent mental health problem.”

The next UN Conference of Parties (COP30) will be held this November. In this international meeting of heads of state and governments and stakeholders, countries will have an opportunity to heighten their ambition on climate change. 

After decades of inaction on climate change, we don’t have any more time to spare before it’s too late. Join the movement and add your voice to this urgent call for change. You can sign the Global Plastics Treaty petition, and spread the word to your friends! Or, you can donate to our Canopy Project, which organizes tree plantings all over the world, and take the effort not to buy clothes that promote Fast Fashion.

This Halloween we must face our fears. The human-made monster that is climate change won’t go anywhere if you just close your eyes or turn off the TV. Action and advocacy are the only way to flip the script — and not wind up like your favorite victim at the end of the horror film.

The post 5 Climate Change Facts to Scare You Into Action This Halloween appeared first on Earth Day.

The Barbary Macaque, also known as a magot, is one of the most endangered populations in the world. Barbary Macaques are extinct in the wild in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya, but can still be identified in Algeria and, mainly, Morocco. In fact, nearly 75% of the remaining population resides in Morocco’s Atlas Mountains and Rif Mountains. Thus, Barbary Macaques’ concentration in the area elevated their importance as a part of Morocco’s national heritage. 

These tailless, terrestrial monkeys live in groups and are approximately 24 inches long, with light yellow and brown fur, and a bald, pale-pink face. They are the only species of the genus Macaca living outside of Asia, and the only non-human primate living north of the Sahara desert. The life span for the Barbary Macaque is roughly 22 years, and males weigh 16-20 kg on average, whereas females typically weigh 11-15 kg. Barbary Macaques are an omnivorous species with various diets, including plants, fruits, lizards, and agricultural crops like seeds, stems, grains, and nuts. Their ability to demonstrate facial expressions is a unique aspect separating them from other species, and they are extensively adapted to their natural habitat, meaning any changes to their domain can have harmful consequences for the species. 

Barbary Macaques are facing the dreadful repercussion of extinction due to wildfires damaging forests. Sidi Imad Cherkaoui, associate professor at the Superior School of Technology–Kénitra at Morocco’s University of Ibn Tofail, explained current climate changes and warmer air temperatures worsen the wildfires in Morocco. Wildfires directly affect the survival rate of the Barbary Macaques, as their diet relies on fruit and flower leaves which often get significantly damaged after wildfires. 

The impact of climate change on Barbary Macaques has been evident since 1975. Once thriving at 21,000 individuals, the population is now declining with only 5,000 Barbary Macaques left in the area. In fact, they are currently classified as Endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources and are on their Red List of Threatened Species. Deforestation, illegal wildlife trafficking, and human settlements are primarily responsible for the decrease in the Barbary Macaques population. 

In response to these critical conditions for Barbary Macaques, EARTHDAY.ORG’s the Canopy Project continues to plant trees in M’Goun Valley, Morocco, helping with the growing rates of wildfires. The project is anticipated to plant at least 40,000 trees next year alone, which can positively drive the population number of Barbary Macaques up in the area by protecting their natural habitat and ensuring access to food.

The post How Wildfires Leave Barbary Macaques at Heightened Risk of Extinction appeared first on Earth Day.

Good morning, and welcome back to This Week on Earth. Each week, we highlight the latest environmental news and what it means for our planet.

Protests continue across the world, including the Mass Poor People’s Assembly and March on Washington this Saturday. Global daily emissions are jumping back to pre-pandemic levels as countries reopen. And it turns out, plastics are everywhere. 

Check out our week in review.

Climate change and pregnancy risks

Research published this week linked climate change to negative health effects for pregnant women and babies. As climate change worsens, heat rises and air pollution increases, factors that increase the likelihood of premature, underweight or stillborn babies. According to the study, black mothers are affected most.

“We already know that these pregnancy outcomes are worse for black women,” said Rupa Basu, one of the paper’s authors, to the New York Times. “It’s even more exacerbated by these exposures.”

Big Dairy’s huge climate footprint

A new study found that the world’s 13 largest dairy farms have the same climate footprint as the entire United Kingdom, reports Grist. 

Cows are a huge source for methane emissions, a greenhouse gas that absorbs much more heat than CO2. Meanwhile, according to the report, consolidation and rising production among dairy companies have accelerated these emissions. 

Many know the link between meat consumption and climate change, but the latest study shows the huge, and growing, climate impact of dairy. The news provides yet another reason to go plant based (here are some of our favorite plant-based recipes to get started).

PG&E pleads guilty to 2018 wildfire

In late 2018, the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California’s history tore through the northern part of the state. At least 84 people died directly from the blaze and it damaged towns across Butte County. 

On Tuesday, California utility company Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) pleaded guilty to 84 counts of involuntary manslaughter and one felony count of unlawfully causing a fire, reports NBC News. 

“Our equipment started that fire,” PG&E Corporation CEO and President Bill Johnson said in a court hearing. “I wish there was some way to take back what happened, or to take away the impact, the pain that these people have suffered. But I know that can’t be done.”

The EPA’s latest failure: Air quality

Research shows that current air pollution standards are inadequate to protect public health, yet lately the Environmental Protection Agency’s deregulatory and skeptical-science approach has trumped all else, including human lives.  

The EPA, initially created to protect its citizens from environmental pollution, is now refusing to tighten restrictions on air pollution. And since the costs of air pollution are inequitably distributed, low-income communities and communities of color are disproportionately bearing the brunt of the EPA’s failures. 

Read the full story at Vox. 

Unilever’s ambitious carbon goal

Unilever, one of the largest consumer goods companies in the world, recently set an ambitious goal: The company plans to reach net-zero emissions by 2039, 11 years before the official deadline, set by the Paris Climate Agreement. 

Hundreds of countries and companies promise to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 — but many continue to miss these targets. Perhaps the latest from Unilever can start reversing that trend. Read the full story by Fast Company. 

Did we say 2050? Scratch that 

Energy experts predict we have six months to change the course of the climate crisis and prevent a post-pandemic rebound in greenhouse gas emissions, reports The Guardian. If we don’t, a climate catastrophe is all but guaranteed. 

Calls for a green coronavirus recovery are now even more urgent. 

“A post-Covid world must be a fair one,” said Jamie Peters, campaigns director at Friends of the Earth, in an interview with The Guardian. “It will only be equitable if the government prioritises health, wellbeing and opportunity for all parts of society. As if the case was not compelling enough in a dangerously heating planet, it is even more urgent post-Covid.”

Green recoveries, sans U.S. 

Speaking of green coronavirus recovery, the U.S. has yet to see any of its  $3 trillion in relief packages go toward addressing climate change.

“It is irresponsible from a very basic good government perspective to not have any of that money go to clean energy and fighting climate change,” Julian Brave NoiseCat, Vice President of Policy and Strategy at Data for Progress, tells NPR.

Other economic disasters — like the Great Depression and the 2008 recession — led to massive shifts in the energy sector. So far, that’s not been the case for the world’s second-largest greenhouse gas emitter.

Heat is killing Americans — and we’re not responding fast enough

This is a long read, but well worth the time. Five reporters investigate how a decade of neglect and politics undermined the Center for Diseases Control and Prevention’s fight against climate change, specifically extreme heat. 

Interviewing experts, outlining histories and telling stories of people on the frontlines of heat waves, the team of reporters depict a nationwide tragedy in which the U.S. has failed to respond. This investigation was conducted by Columbia Journalism Investigations and the Center for Public Integrity and co-published in partnership with The Guardian.

Save the platypuses

Now, for some good news: A small group of wild platypuses rescued from the Australian wildfires is returning home after months at the zoo. 

Platypuses are extinct in 40% of their historic range, and this estimate came before the devastating 2019 bushfires consumed habitats holding more than one billion animals. The Taronga Zoo in Sydney organized several rescue missions into the affected areas — saving seven of these animals, deemed a “legacy species.”

Read the full New York Times story.

The post This Week on Earth: 6 months to avoid a climate crisis appeared first on Earth Day.

If recent years are any indication, we’re on track for a future of fire. In 2018, wildfires consumed entire communities in California. In 2019, tens of thousands of fires ravaged the Amazon rainforest. Today, bushfires have threatened thousands of people and hundreds of millions of animals across Australia.

We’ve reached a new and devastating normal —from here on out, wildfires will be a tragic unifier, affecting areas from the dry Australian outback to lush Amazonian rainforests to the vineyards of the California coast, and everywhere in between.

Physically speaking, the recent Australian bushfires have been enormous. As reported by CNN, Australia’s wildfires have blazed 14.7 million acres of land since late July — more than double the area consumed by the 2019 Amazon rainforest fires and over ten times the acreage burned in the 2018 California wildfires.

Australia’s most recent fires are natural to an extent — largely ignited by lightning strikes in drought-affected areas — but the fires have been primed and fueled by a steady drip of human activities, particularly man-made climate change.

As we’ve pumped millions of tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere over the last century and a half, we’ve also severely altered the Earth’s chemistry, creating a world where extreme weather is more likely. In other words, we’ve set the table for our recent devastation.

Unnatural disasters

Last year Australia had its hottest, driest year on record, reflecting a larger global trend: Around the world, the last five years have also been the five hottest years on record.

Severe heat exacerbates drought, turning brush, forests and land into so much potential kindling. Fed by dry vegetation, these fires spread easily, leaving first responders and army reservists scrambling to contain the devastation.

And because the planet is experiencing warmer weather for longer periods of times, our wildfire seasons are also lengthening, meaning more fires will burn further and longer: Over the last 40 years or so, the wildfire season has lengthened by a quarter, according to research published in Nature.

The local impacts of Australia’s fires have been catastrophic, with at least 24 people killed and 900 homes destroyed. Additionally, 480 million animals have been affected by the fires, including the country’s iconic species: the koala bear. In one recent video, footage captured the haunting cries of a koala screaming while burning alive in the bushfires. 

“Australia’s biodiversity was already declining at an unprecedented rate — this event may tip some species to the brink of extinction,” said Richard Turner, a behavioral ecologist at Australian National University, in an email. “For example, almost all habitat of the remaining wild populations of brush-tailed rock-wallabies has burnt or is at imminent risk.”       

And those species spared extinction will still face insurmountable difficulties in both the coming months and years.

“Those not killed directly by the flames are now displaced — starving, dehydrated and vulnerable to predators,” said Turner. “The devastating scale of these fires means that many forests may take decades to recover.”

Besides their disastrous impacts on our environment, bushfires also pose a major health risk. Estimates report that breathing the air in some areas of Australia is comparable to smoking 37 cigarettes a day. As particulate matter, a common air pollutant from wildfires, increases in the atmosphere, so do risks of heart and lung disease, asthma-related issues, premature deaths, pediatric ER visits, more aggressive behavior and perhaps even violent crimes.

Playing with fire

As thousands of firefighters risk their lives to protect citizens, state and federal authorities must be commended for combatting the fires that our collective actions have created. But these courageous acts shouldn’t deflect blame from those responsible: Leaders who refuse to act on climate change.

Large, wealthy countries that should be leading us into an era of green energy are driving us further into catastrophe. As the embers cooled on two devastating years of wildfires in California, the United States started paperwork to withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord. And as Australia burns, its prime minster continues to support coal, the dirtiest of all traditional energy sources.

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), we have a mere decade to reverse course and avoid the worst impacts of climate change. The IPCC’s special report published in 2018 outlined the huge differences we can expect to experience between a world where we increase our world temperature by 1.5 degrees and 2 degrees Celsius. That distinction of half a degree is literally the difference between life and death for millions of species, including humans, on our planet.

Like so many environmental issues, simply reacting and responding is no longer a viable solution. Dousing a fire in water is far worse than preventing the fire in the first place.

Unfortunately for us, we’ve delayed climate action for so long, that while the 1.5-degree mark is technically reachable, it’s highly improbable. We’ve consistently emitted more carbon dioxide than the year before (and 2019 has set the latest record). Now, to hold temperature rise to 1.5 degrees, we must cut emissions by 7.6 percent every year for the next decade. And we need to start now.

Given our track record, which hasn’t seen action anywhere near this level of ambition, and in fact has actively gone in the opposite direction, this proposal can sound so outlandish that if the fate of humanity wasn’t at stake, it would be laughable. 

Too hot not to handle

But even though the 1.5-degree mark is probably unreachable, to throw our hands up and give in to our doomsday fate is misguided, even dangerous, as David Roberts outlines in a recent piece for Vox.

“Exceeding 1.5˚C, which is likely to happen in our lifetimes, doesn’t mean anyone should feel apathetic or paralyzed,” writes Roberts. “If anything, the need to mobilize against climate change only becomes greater with every new increment of heat, because the potential stakes grow larger.”

We must maintain hope in the face of crisis, because without it, our society is that much closer to collapse. That may sound hyperbolic, but civilizations have collapsed from much less, including drought, famine, disease — all of which are expected to increase in a warming world.

Each fraction of a degree of warming will make it harder on our survival as a species. And we must resist the urge to accept these fires as the new normal, as author David Wallace-Wells warns in his recent piece for New York Magazine.

“The duration of this climate horror has allowed us to normalize it even while it continues to unfold — continues to torture, and brutalize, and terrify,” Wallace-Wells writes. “Coming to see the wildfire season as a permanent threat is another terrifying adjustment, though [we] are now doing precisely that.”

What’s happening to the planet is unprecedented and we must treat it as such. We must push forward bold, innovative solutions that acknowledge and address the historic magnitude of the climate crisis. We must break our complacency for — and complicity in — these manmade tragedies and mobilize around a new way forward. If we don’t, Australia’s recent fires will only be the beginning of what’s to come in a burnt new world.

On the 50th anniversary of Earth Day — April 22, 2020 — tell leaders you won’t stand idly by as the world burns. Join the largest, most diverse mobilization in defense of the planet. Join the EARTHRISE movement.

Note: This article was edited to include comments from Richard Turner.

Image at top: A firefighter pauses after a 15-hour shift fighting bushfires in Bell, in the Western Downs Region of Queensland, Australia. Photo Credit: Daniel Knox and Andrew O’Dwyer

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