The environmental footprint of data centers already rivals that of some of the largest countries in the world, according to a report from the United Nations University, which also predicts what water and energy consumption will be. The emissions that warm the atmosphere will double in less than five years, as the use of artificial intelligence grows.
The UN warns of the imminent formation of an El Niño episode, a natural warming with a great global impact that adds to the climate change caused by human activities. And that double factor especially justifies the alert.
Catalunya has reached a new absolute heat record in May. The 39.5 ºC recorded in Vinebre (Ribera d’Ebre) is the highest temperature ever reached in this month, surpassing the previous record: 38.5 ºC in May 2022 in Castellbisbal and Anglès, and matched on Thursday also in Vinebre.
The episode of high temperatures affecting Spain will continue at least until the middle of next week, with records typical of midsummer, historic records for May, and maximums around 40 ºC in the southern peninsula. Meanwhile, tropical nights will extend over large areas of the country. In Barcelona, there have already been four consecutive tropical nights (minimums of 20 ºC) at the Can Bruixa station in Barcelona, according to the Servei Meteorològic de Catalunya.
What is the difference between a heat dome and a heat wave? Experts clarify that they are different phenomena. “The heat dome is the cause and the heat wave would be the effect,” summarizes Rubén del Campo, spokesperson for the State Meteorological Agency (Aemet).
Much of Europe is experiencing unusual heat that is breaking temperature records for the month of May in countries such as the United Kingdom and France. In the neighboring country, this “heat dome” has triggered government alerts following reports of several deaths at amateur sporting events. The French Minister of Sports, Marina Ferrari, expressed her condolences to the family of a runner who died on Sunday in a popular race in Paris.
Scientists revealed this Monday the discovery of a new species of small blue octopus in the Galápagos archipelago, located about 1,000 kilometers from the Ecuadorian continental coasts and a Natural Heritage of Humanity since 1978.
The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, made a passionate defense of the “just” energy transition this Monday and announced the Government’s willingness to allocate 9.1 billion euros to reducing CO2 emissions with social aid in transport and housing, according to the proposal of the Social Plan for the Climate launched by the Government. The proposal of this social plan was presented in Madrid at an event where he was accompanied by the ministers for Ecological Transition, Sara Aagesen; Transport, Óscar Puente; and Housing, Isabel Rodríguez.
As a child, the movie The Butterfly Effect left me with a disturbing and ingrained idea: that a minimal, almost invisible gesture could completely alter the course of a life. Years later, this chaos theory is glimpsed, not in the wings of a butterfly, but in the red and black body of a queen ant.
Rarely in recent decades have reservoirs been as full and overflowing as this spring. According to the latest data from the Ministry for the Ecological Transition (Miteco), aquifers are very close to their maximum capacity. Reserves are only 16% – 9,000 cubic hectometers – away from reaching full capacity. In a climate not altered by the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, these figures would guarantee a long period of wet soils. However, on a planet warming to record levels, the abundant and concentrated rains of recent months do not shield the country from suffering a drought.