ClimateAdaptationNow VCC News
[Apr. 25, 2026] Women are ‘the first to die’: Mariana Rosetti and Paola Churchill in the article “Three disasters in three years: Brazil’s deadly floods show women are ‘the first to die’ when extreme weather hits” published in the Guardian point out that the changing climate is accelerating the frequency of devastating weather-related events across the world that displacing millions and disproportionately affecting women. Based on three extreme events in Brazil, the authors underline that the built environment is not prepared for these events.
[Apr. 22, 2026] Extreme Heat is Impacting Food Security: In the article “World food systems ‘pushed to the brink’ by extreme heat, UN warns” by Fiona Harvey published in the Guardian, the author reports on a warning by the UN that extreme heat is severely stressing food systems. Richard Waite, the director of agriculture initiatives at the World Resources Institute commented: “Without adaptation, extreme heat will cut crop and livestock yields, forcing more land into agriculture to maintain food production. That would drive even higher emissions from land use change, which in turn would make climate impacts on agriculture even worse.”
[Apr. 19, 2026] Earth Energy Imbalance is Increasing Rapidly: Finally the extreme increase in the Earth Energy Imbalance (EEI) is slowly starting to make headlines - far too late, though. The article “ What are zettajoules – and what do they tell us about Earth’s energy imbalance?” by Jonathan Watts published in the Guardian explains some of the basics. Importantly, the EEI double within only 13 years. In another article by Watts also in the Guardian and titled “ Earth being ‘pushed beyond its limits’ as energy imbalance reaches record high” the author points out that the World Meteorological Organization warned that Earth is struggling with a record energy imbalance, which is warming the oceans to unprecedented levels, making weather more extreme and threatening health and food supplies. Considering that Earth is more like a pool house with a very large pool than a greenhouse, the ocean is only delaying the heating of the atmosphere but not preventing it.
[Apr. 19, 2026] Climate Change Impacts Human-Wildlife Interactions : The article “‘It feels like death is certain’: lives and limbs lost to crocodile attacks on the banks of Kenya’s rising Lake Turkana” by Carlos Mureithi gives a shocking picture of the changing interaction between crocodiles and humans at Lake Turkana in Kenya. Lake levels are rising in the desert-terminal lake due to changing precipitation in the course of the changing climate. This brings crocodiles and humans closer together, with more and more deadly incidents happening.
[Apr. 09, 2026] Heatwaves are Much Worth Than Previously Thought: In the article titled “‘Non-survivable’: heatwaves are already breaching human limits, with worse to come, study finds” published in The Guardian, Graham Readfearn reports on a new study published in Nature. In this study, a new model of human survivability was used to study the impacts of extreme heatwaves. The research found that humans are more sensitive to heatwaves than previously thought. For older people, mortality under extreme heat is much higher then believed before. This underlines the necessity of heat shelters in regions with extreme heatwaves. Another study also published in Nature found that deadly heatwaves are already occurring.
[Mar. 10, 2026] Extreme Heat Requires Extreme Adaptation: The article by Jonathan Watts titled “‘A sobering preview’: extreme heat now affects one in three people globally, study finds” underlines that already now the rising temperatures are making it hard even for young, healthy people to safely do normal physical tasks in many regions rapidly growing in size. Watts comments are based on the study by Parson et al. published in the journal Environmental Research: Health.
[Mar. 04, 2026] Sea Levels are Already Higher Than Previously Estimated: In an article in The Guardian titled “Global sea levels have been underestimated due to poor modelling, research suggests&rdquo, Tara Russell discusses a new study “ Sea level much higher than assumed in most coastal hazard assessments” by Katharina Seeger Philip S. J. Minderhoud published in Nature. The authors reach the conclusion that average sea levels are 30 cm higher than thought globally, and up to 150 cm in south-east Asia and the Indo-Pacific. This establishes an urgent need to revise many risk assessments and efforts to develop coastal resilience.
[Mar. 04, 2026] Carbon dioxide overload: Potentially Toxic Atmosphere Within 50 Years: A study by Alexander N. Larcombe and Phil N. Bierwirth titled “Carbon dioxide overload, detected in human blood, suggests a potentially toxic atmosphere within 50 years” published in The Lancet indicates that the anthropogenic activities increasing the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere could lead to a toxic atmosphere already in 50 years from now. “There is mounting experimental evidence that lifetime exposure to these increasing atmospheric CO2 levels can negatively impact the normal physiology of organisms.”
Platform News
[Apr. 25, 2026] World Happiness Report Finds Positive Impacts of Collaborative Platforms: The World Happiness Report 2026 has a strong focus on the impacts of social media and the Web in general on human happiness. The results of most studies indicate that the use of most social media seems to have a negative impact on happiness, while those tools that generate trust and collaboration have a positive impact. The report sumarizes: “Internet activities fall into two groups. Communications, news, learning, and content creation are associated with higher life satisfaction. Social media, gaming, and browsing for fun are associated with lower life evaluations.” This supports the mission of Place4Us as a trust-focused collaborative platform for intercreativity and learning.
[Apr. 25, 2026] Neurodivergence VCC opened: The "Made by Neurodivergence VCC" has been initialized and is open now.
[Apr. 21, 2026] SlaveryToday VCC opened: The "Fighting Modern Slavery VCC" has been initialized and is open now.
[Apr. 19, 2026] Earth Energy Imbalance is Increasing Rapidly: Finally the extreme increase in the Earth Energy Imbalance (EEI) is slowly starting to make headlines - far too late, though. The article “ What are zettajoules – and what do they tell us about Earth’s energy imbalance?” by Jonathan Watts published in the Guardian explains some of the basics. Importantly, the EEI double within only 13 years. In another article by Watts also in the Guardian and titled “ Earth being ‘pushed beyond its limits’ as energy imbalance reaches record high” the author points out that the World Meteorological Organization warned that Earth is struggling with a record energy imbalance, which is warming the oceans to unprecedented levels, making weather more extreme and threatening health and food supplies. Considering that Earth is more like a pool house with a very large pool than a greenhouse, the ocean is only delaying the heating of the atmosphere but not preventing it.
