Matt McGrath
Appearances
Global News Podcast
Trump calls Zelensky a 'dictator'
Scientists drill into the Gorner glacier in Switzerland, one of the biggest ice masses in the Alps. But it's decreased in length by almost two miles since the middle of the 19th century. In common with glaciers all over the world, that loss has increased rapidly as temperatures have risen in recent decades, mostly from humanity's ongoing use of fossil fuels.
Global News Podcast
Trump calls Zelensky a 'dictator'
Over the past 23 years, mountain glaciers outside the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets have lost around 5% of their volume, with 273 billion tonnes of ice melting every year on average. To put that in perspective, one year's glacier ice loss is the same as 30 years of water consumption by the entire world's population.
Global News Podcast
Trump calls Zelensky a 'dictator'
These melting waters are ultimately running into the oceans and are boosting sea levels across the globe. While the picture painted by this comprehensive new study is bleak, its lead author, Professor Michael Zemp from the University of Zurich, says curbing carbon emissions is more critical than ever for glaciers.
Global News Podcast
Trump calls Zelensky a 'dictator'
Another important aspect of glacier loss is the impact on fresh water. From the Andes to the Himalayas, the loss of glacier ice threatens future drinking water supplies for hundreds of millions of people.
Global News Podcast
First deaths as wildfires wreak havoc in LA
Los Angeles and Southern California over the last two decades has been essentially a drought that's lasted for that period of time. And it has been influenced by climate change, drier, warmer weather, less rainfall.
Global News Podcast
First deaths as wildfires wreak havoc in LA
But then over the last two years, they've had a lot of rain in two essentially wet seasons, which has seen a lot of growth of the type of things that burn, shrubs, trees, that sort of vegetation. But then since last summer, it's been very dry. They had a hot summer and they've had a very dry autumn and winter. In fact, they've had less than
Global News Podcast
First deaths as wildfires wreak havoc in LA
0.16 of an inch of rain when they'd normally have more than four inches of rain so they've had very dry conditions over a longer period of time they've had dry and wet conditions that have caused this fuel to grow and those fingerprints of climate change are in the background here when you get these incredible winds when you get incredible dry conditions you get these type of configurations particularly in areas where there are lots of people unfortunately
Global News Podcast
First deaths as wildfires wreak havoc in LA
Yeah, absolutely. It's the fire season question and the quote from Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, saying it's a fire year now, not a fire season. That very much reflects what's happening with the science, where scientists talk about fire weather days. These are the days on which the conditions are likely to help fires.
Global News Podcast
First deaths as wildfires wreak havoc in LA
So low humidity, winds, dryness, that sort of thing is very, very powerful. So we've seen those increase, we've seen the fire seasons lengthen, and now we're talking about in California perhaps the year-round fire season. But it's not just California. These are reflected in many different parts of the world as well.