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"Nearly three in four of us will face extreme weather changes within the next two decades, a new study predicts.

"In the best case, we calculate that rapid changes will affect 1.5 billion people," says physicist Bjørn Samset from the Center for International Climate Research (CICERO) in Norway.

This lower estimate would only be reached by dramatically reducing greenhouse gas emissions – something that is yet to occur.

Otherwise, CICERO climate scientist Carley Iles and colleagues' modeling finds that if we continue on our current course, these dangerous changes will hit 70 percent of Earth's human population.

Their modeling also suggests that much of what's to come is already locked in.

"The only way to deal with this is to prepare for a situation with a much higher likelihood of unprecedented extreme events, already in the next one to two decades," explains Samset.

We've already lived through examples of these extremes..."

"This is part 4 of our 5-part series, Pollution's mental toll: How air, water and climate pollution shape our mental health.

The more people experience climate change, or even hear about storms and wildfires, the more it is expected to impact their mental well-being.

Some mental health experts have started preparing for the tsunami of need some leaders anticipate in the coming years..."

"All of humanity could share a prosperous, equitable future but the space for development is rapidly shrinking under pressure from a wealthy minority of ultra-consumers, a groundbreaking study has shown.

Growing environmental degradation and climate instability have pushed the Earth beyond a series of safe planetary boundaries, say the authors from the Earth Commission, but it still remains possible to carve out a “safe and just space” that would enable everyone to thrive.

That utopian outcome would depend on a radical transformation of global politics, economics and society to ensure a fairer distribution of resources, a rapid phase-out of fossil fuels and the widespread adoption of low-carbon, sustainable technologies and lifestyles, it said.

This would probably mean that limits have to be placed on excess consumption and that taxes have to be used to address inequality and raise revenue for investment in technology and infrastructure.

The scale of the required change will alarm many governments, acknowledged one of the lead authors. “It won’t be immediately welcomed. To some extent, it is frightening, but it shows that there is still a space for people and other species,” said Joyeeta Gupta, a former co-chair of the Earth Commission and a professor of environment and development in the global south at the University of Amsterdam..."

"A 41-year-old man in New Hampshire died last week after contracting a rare mosquito-borne illness called eastern equine encephalitis virus, also known as EEE or “triple E.” It was New Hampshire’s first human case of the disease in a decade. Four other human EEE infections have been reported this year, in Wisconsin, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Vermont.

Though this outbreak is small, and triple E does not pose a risk to most people living in the United States, public health officials and researchers are concerned about the threat the deadly virus poses to the public, both this year and in future summers. There is no known cure for the disease, which can cause severe flu-like symptoms and seizures in humans four to 10 days after exposure and kills between 30 and 40 percent of the people it infects. Half of the people who survive a triple E infection are left with permanent neurological damage. Because of EEE’s high mortality rate, state officials have begun spraying insecticide in Massachusetts, where 10 communities have been designated “critical” or “high risk” for triple E. Towns in the state shuttered their parks from dusk to dawn and warned people to stay inside after 6 pm, when mosquitoes are most active.

Like West Nile virus, another mosquito-borne illness that poses a risk to people in the US every summer, triple E is constrained by environmental factors that are changing rapidly as the planet warms. That’s because mosquitoes thrive in the hotter, wetter conditions that climate change is producing..."

"Human activities, mostly the burning of fossil fuels, are changing the climate faster than ever. As the world gets hotter, scientists and policymakers have agreed to try everything they can to limit warming to 2C above pre-industrial levels. But even 2C of warming will greatly impact life on Earth. Earth.Org looks at what will happen when we hit this warming milestone, what changes we can expect in extreme weather events, climate patterns, sea levels and temperatures, and what it means for ecosystems and human activities..."

"Days after Brazilians sweltered under scorching heat, panted through a parching drought and choked from wildfire smoke, scientists anticipate temperatures in Brazil to linger between 35º C and 40º C all week — equivalent to 95º F to 104º F.

The temperatures are expected to reach these blistering heights primarily in the Central West region, which includes large cities like Brasília, Manaus and Belo Horizonte. In addition to putting the residents of these areas at risk of heat stroke and other health problems, the escalating heat creates a risk of wildfires..."

"Summers in Phoenix are notoriously hot. But after two punishing summers of record-breaking heat, the latest milestone, set Tuesday, may be the most ominous yet.

At 11 a.m. local time, temperatures in Phoenix hit 100 degrees for the 100th day in a row. The longest previous 100-degree streak was 76 days in 1993. In other words, this year has seen an uninterrupted stretch of 100-degrees days at least 3½ weeks longer than in any other year since records began in 1896..."

"Climate change is going to have a big effect on the availability of water in this part of the country, said Doug Kluck, the central region’s climate services director for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. He said swings between weather extremes will exacerbate man-made issues that are already in play, like increasing demand from growing communities.

“You're talking about longer periods of drought with more heavy rainfall events kind of stuck in between that don't help as much when it comes to needs,” Kluck said.

Pouring rain isn’t as helpful for recharging soil and groundwater in a drought as slow, steady rainfall. But Kluck said beneficial, orderly precipitation is already shown to be happening less over time.

“So, ‘when it rains, it pours,’ is becoming more the norm, as opposed to the exception,” Kluck said.

On top of drought, Kluck said climate change is messing with the timing and amount of snowmelt that feeds rivers like the Missouri in the middle of the country. The 2,300-mile Missouri River starts in the mountains of southwestern Montana and is fed at first by snow, before taking on water from tributaries that look like a vascular system throughout its basin on the way to St. Louis.

And some research has shown the line that marks the start of the arid west might already be moving east as the climate changes.

As humans increase the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, further warming the planet, these changes could intensify, which Kluck thinks could, unfortunately, make lawsuits over water more likely.

“Whiskey is for drinking, water's for fighting,” Kluck said. “It's an old term, and there's good reason people have said it for years and years and years”...

"Almost 4 million people in southern Japan have been urged to evacuate as Typhoon Shanshan made landfall Thursday, leaving thousands of residents without power and lashing Kyushu island with hurricane-force winds, torrential rain and dangerous storm surges.

The Japan Meteorological Agency issued a rare emergency warning for the slow-moving storm, saying it was expected to bring damaging flooding and landslides to most of Kyushu, the country’s southernmost main island, with record rainfall expected.

Hundreds of flights have been canceled, bullet train services suspended and major companies like automaker Toyota have closed factories.

Japanese authorities on Thursday warned that a “life-threatening situation” was imminent for towns in Kyushu’s Oita prefecture and urged 57,000 people to take “live-saving actions” as it issued its highest typhoon alert. A Level 4 evacuation advisory, the second-highest alert, is in place for all of Kyushu, affecting 3.7 million residents..."

"404 Media previously reported Cox Media Group (CMG) was advertising a service that claimed to target ads based on what potential customers said near device microphones. Now, here is the pitch deck CMG sent to prospective companies. Google has kicked CMG off its Partner Program in response..."

"In recent years, Europe has experienced some of its hottest summers, which have coincided with high mortality rates. Elderly people are at heightened risk of death from extreme temperatures, and the number of people reaching old age is projected to increase over time.

Most previous studies projecting deaths from hot and cold temperatures in Europe have contained little local-level detail or have been in-depth assessments for individual countries, mostly in Western Europe. This study is the first in-depth analysis of the current and future health risks from hot and cold temperatures across Europe to look at the predicted impact on regions within countries..."