On January 22, 2025, the Hughes Fire broke out north of Los Angeles, USA. The fire quickly spread over 8,000 acres (about 32 square kilometers) in just a few hours. The soil was also greatly damaged after the fires. The high temperatures caused the organic matter in the soil to be burned up, the soil…

Recent large-scale fires in the U.S. are impacting the environment with an alarming destructive force, releasing large amounts of harmful gases and particulate matter and worsening air quality. In some of the fires in California, the air quality index in the surrounding areas has exploded, and the concentration of PM2.5 and other pollutants has exceeded…

For the first time, the Brazilian National Foundation for Indigenous Peoples (FUNAI) has made public valuable information on the Masako tribe, which lives in a nature reserve in the northwestern Brazilian state of Rondônia, near the Bolivian border. Although its population has been growing in recent years, it is threatened by agribusiness development, logging, illegal…

During the winter heating season, air pollution indices were exceeded in some European cities such as Krakow in Poland and Prague in the Czech Republic. The main pollutants are fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and nitrogen oxides, etc. These pollutants cause damage to the human respiratory and cardiovascular systems, leading to an increase in the incidence…

On January 7, a wildfire broke out in the Pacific Palisades region of Los Angeles, fueled by strong winds and spreading rapidly. As of January 8, at least two people have been killed, many seriously injured, more than 1,000 structures have been destroyed, and the fire has reached 15,800 acres, which is still rapidly expanding.…

Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is still not looking good in 2025 after several coral bleaching events. Rising ocean temperatures, acidification of seawater and other factors have led to continued damage to the coral reef ecosystem, which not only affects marine biodiversity, but also has a huge impact on local tourism and fisheries and other industries…

During the New Year 2025 celebrations, fireworks set off around the world can be harmful to human and animal health as well as the environment. Pollutants from fireworks can reduce air quality and damage lungs, and the particulate matter they produce can lead to heart attacks, strokes and premature deaths, among other things. In addition,…

At 2:30 a.m. local time on December 23, Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano suddenly erupted, sending lava rushing out of the crater, which was temporarily confined to the caldera area of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, but its subsequent impacts were felt beyond its boundaries. Sulfur dioxide and other harmful gases released by the eruption pose a threat…

In Ghana, small-scale unlicensed gold mining has caused serious pollution. Heavy metals such as mercury and chemicals such as cyanide are used to extract gold from excavated soil, and toxic wastewater from dozens of unregulated mines flows into the 400-kilometer-long Tano River, which then flows into neighboring Côte d’Ivoire and ultimately into the Atlantic Ocean,…

Record low Antarctic sea ice extent has led to an increase in the frequency of storms over the emerging ice-free ocean. In late November, Storm Burt continued to hit the United Kingdom hard, causing widespread traffic disruption and chaos in the power system and the lives of residents there, while at the same time a…