Almost all scientists agree that climate change is being caused by humanity's affect on our world — but the general public isn't quite so convinced. Skeptics often say that even before humans were the reigning species on Earth, the average temperatures on the planet tended to fluctuate between warmer and colder periods. But a pair of new studies basically takes the wind out of that argument, finding solid proof that the climate change we're experiencing now is a direct result of human activity.
The studies, published on Wednesday in Nature and Nature Geoscience, both investigated our current climate and compared it to previous warm periods in the Earth's history. The first study concluded that while certain regions of the Earth have experienced fluctuations in climate before, modern climate change is the first time that the entire planet has warmed — at least in the last 2,000 years.
The second study, meanwhile, assessed the intensity of modern climate change. It found that, even during warm periods in the last 2,000 years, never before has the temperature risen so swiftly as it is now. Since the beginning of the 20th century, global temperatures have risen about two degrees, NBC News explained — and it could rise over five more degrees by the end of this century. That might not seem like a lot, but it's much faster than any other warming event in the last 2,000 years.
The conclusion? "We cannot discern any event that is remotely equivalent" to modern climate change, said Scott St. George, a geographer at the University of Minnesota, in a letter published alongside the two studies.
If there's any hope of reversing the effects of climate change, "it's time for everybody to wake up and make changes now," said Jennifer Hertzberg, a paleoclimatologist not involved in the research. Read more at NBC News. Shivani Ishwar
The leaders of the Group of Seven nations were all smiles during Sunday's photo shoot on the beach in Biarritz, France, "eager to present a show of bonhomie after so many previous meetings ended in discord," Peter Baker reports at The New York Times. "But behind the scenes at the annual gathering of some of the world's leading powers, President Trump still found himself at odds with his counterparts."
This year, on issues from trade to Iran, Russia to climate change, Baker adds, "ever so gingerly, as if determined not to rouse the American's well-known temper, the other Group of Seven leaders sought to nudge him toward their views on the pressing issues of the day, or at least register their differences — while making sure to wrap them in a French crepe of flattery, as they know he prefers."
After Trump said his fellow world leaders "respect the trade war" he is escalating with China and wouldn't tell him otherwise, for example, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson first congratulated Trump "on everything that the American economy is achieving," then appended "the faint, sheeplike note" that Britain is "in favor of trade peace on the whole, and dialing it down if we can," adding, "We don't like tariffs, on the whole."
"Johnson wasn't even the only one to gently contradict Trump," Aaron Blake writes at The Washington Post. For a president used to "throwing his weight around — even if to no other end than making his counterparts squirm and cater to him," Trump "found himself on his heels and fumbling throughout much of the first day of the Group of Seven summit."
At the same time, "Trump seemed even more intent on countering press accounts that he is increasingly isolated on the world stage and that his relations with historic U.S. allies are deeply strained," Politico reports. And for the most part, G-7 leaders "have managed to keep their disagreement behind closed doors and out of the views of television cameras," USA Today says. "Yet despite Trump's claim that all is well, the summit is expected to end Monday without proffering a formal agreement from the G-7 leaders — the first time that has happened in the group's 44-year history." Peter Weber
It took more than a decade, but Maggie Welz knew that her cat Tiger, who slipped out the door of her New York home 11 years ago, would one day reunite with his family.
They were "heartbroken" when Tiger escaped, Welz told ABC New York, and a year later, after moving 10 houses away, she told the new owners to "keep an eye out for him, but he never returned." No one knows what Tiger was up to during his first few years on the streets, but in 2016, he appeared for the first time in Carol O'Connell's yard. O'Connell works for the Dutchess County SPCA, and said it wasn't until this spring that the cat would let her come close.
She wasn't sure if the cat was feral, had been abandoned, or was missing, and when she scanned him for a microchip, she learned that Welz was his owner. The 14-year-old cat was in great shape for having been on his own for 11 years, and after being examined by a vet, Tiger was able to go home. Welz told ABC New York she is "grateful" to O'Connell and her family for their "persistence and their dedication and for making sure that our cat was okay. I have no idea where he was for the years in between, I'm sure he could tell us many tales, but the thing is that he is now home with us and he will be with us for the remainder of his life." Catherine Garcia
By Tuesday, Tropical Storm Dorian, now headed toward the Lesser Antilles, could be nearing hurricane strength, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said on Sunday.
Dorian, the fourth tropical storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, is expected to move into the eastern Caribbean Sea on Tuesday. The Lesser Antilles should expect to receive two to four inches of rain, forecasters said. Barbados, St. Vincent, St. Lucia, and the Grenadines are all under a tropical storm warning, and a tropical storm watch is in effect for Grenada and Martinique.
Forecasters said it is too early to know if Florida should brace for anything, but Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and the Virgin Islands need to keep a close watch on Dorian's progression. Catherine Garcia
French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday said leaders at the Group of Seven summit are close to reaching a deal that provides Brazil with "technical and financial help" to fight the fires devastating the Amazon rainforest.
The Amazon is the world's largest rainforest, and produces about 20 percent of the planet's oxygen. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who campaigned on a promise to open the Amazon up for mining, logging, and other businesses, was slow to react, and environmentalists and researchers say cattle ranchers and loggers, emboldened by Bolsonaro's rhetoric, are behind most of the fires. On Friday, Bolsonaro finally said the military would fight the blazes, and told world leaders to let him deal with the crisis on his own.
Last week, Macron said the fires are an "international crisis," and on Sunday, Pope Francis said they are worrisome, and he wants people to "pray so that with the commitment of all, they can be put out soon. That lung of forests is vital for our planet." Catherine Garcia
Police in Hong Kong arrested 36 people, including a 12-year-old, on Sunday, following a violent protest.
They were detained for a variety of reasons, police said, including unlawful assembly, possession of an offensive weapon, and assault against a police officer. Demonstrators have been filling the streets for more than two months, calling for democratic elections and investigations into use of force by police. Tens of thousands of people marched peacefully earlier in the day, but at the end of the rally, some protesters broke away from the crowd at Tsuen Wan Park and started setting up traffic barriers in the road.
Police responded, putting up warning flags and then using tear gas to get the protesters to leave. In response, demonstrators threw bricks and gasoline bombs toward the officers, The Associated Press reports. After the remaining protesters, holding sticks and rods, started chasing officers down the street, police pulled their guns on the group, with one firing a warning shot. "The escalation you're seeing now is just a product of our government's indifference toward the people of Hong Kong," demonstrator Rory Wong told AP. Catherine Garcia