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Wind turbines installed off the coast of Rhode Island, U.S.

Potential wind slowdown threatens renewable energy and fuels heat domes

Mongabay.com 29 Oct 2025

Students in Afghanistan walk to school in a sand storm during a drought in 2019.

Supercharged dust storms are exposing millions to deadly air pollution

Mongabay.com 28 Oct 2025

A wind farm in Altamont, California. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay.

Big Oil isn’t part of the clean energy push, despite its claims, study shows

Malavika Vyawahare 10 Oct 2025

Respite, for now, for bird migration hotspot at heart of Sri Lanka’s wind power dispute

Malaka Rodrigo 20 Aug 2025

Banner image of motorists riding through a flooded road caused by heavy monsoon rain in Lahore, Pakistan, on July 10, 2025. Image by AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary.

Deadly monsoon rains in Pakistan made worse by climate change: Study

Kristine Sabillo 7 Aug 2025

Heavy rainfall in Colombia and Venezuela caused deadly landslides and widespread flooding in June. A new analysis now points to rapid urbanization, deforestation, mining and overgrazing as having reduced the region’s climate resilience.   “The rapid growth of population and informal settlements in areas prone to landslides, particularly in Colombia, puts people and infrastructure at risk,” the World Weather Attribution (WWA), a network of scientists evaluating extreme weather events, said in its latest rapid analysis. It said the informal communities are growing as people seek livelihoods in cities or are displaced due to conflict. Roop Singh, report co-author from the Netherlands-based Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre, said at a media briefing that pasture- and agriculture-driven deforestation rose over the past two decades, increasing “the risk of landslides because tree roots are no longer binding and anchoring the soils.”  The heavy rains during the last week of June triggered widespread flooding and damage in Colombia; a landslide in Antioquia department killed 27 people. In Venezuela, rivers overflowed, and smaller landslides cut off rural communities. WWA said in its report that rains in these regions had persisted since April, and that the June rain fell on already saturated ground where the deadly landslide occurred, and in rivers with already high levels of water. The scientists examined the total rainfall from April-June this year over the Magdalena River catchment in Colombia and the Falcón and Maracaibo basins in Venezuela. They also studied data on the accumulated rainfall from June 20-24 in the affected states in the Venezuelan Llanos, a grassland plain. “Neither events were particularly extreme,” Mariam Zachariah, co-author and research associate at Imperial College London, said at the briefing. The WWA analysis showed the heavy rain that fell in June is common, expected every 10 years in Colombia and every three years in Venezuela. The scientists also used climate models to understand the influence of human-induced climate change on the rains, but the findings were inconclusive. Instead, the models projected a drying trend for Colombia and mixed results for Venezuela. Friederike Otto, co-author and climate science professor at Imperial College London, said not being able to show clear linkages to climate change doesn’t mean there’s no influence. The researchers attributed some of the uncertainty to a lack of long-term observational weather data and weather stations in the region. “Unfortunately, extreme weather is not well understood in northern South America,” Paola A. Arias, a professor at the University of Antioquia, said in a statement. “We urgently need more investment in climate science to understand shifting risks and prepare for what’s ahead. More science will save lives." Zachariah said Colombia and Venezuela must prepare for both rainfall and drought, and build resilience to extreme weather. Banner image: People look at their destroyed home after a deadly landslide was triggered by heavy rain in Colombia’s Antioquia department on June 25, 2025. Image by AP Photo/Fredy Amariles.

Deadly landslide and flooding in Colombia and Venezuela linked to rapid urbanization

Kristine Sabillo 18 Jul 2025

Rescuers evacuate people from a flooded hospital following landslides and flash flooding in India's northeast state of Manipur, Sunday, June 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Donald Sairem)

Heavy rains inundate northeast India

Kristine Sabillo 6 Jun 2025

Banner image of Mokwa after the flooding, by the Nigerian National Emergency Management Agency via X.

Hundreds die after flash floods tear through Nigerian market town

Kristine Sabillo 5 Jun 2025

Banner image of a 2018 flood in Vietnam (for representation only) by Eleveneighteen via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Heavy rainfall in Vietnam & China causes flash floods, landslides

Kristine Sabillo 20 May 2025

Sheep near Nieuwoudtville, South Africa. Image by Leonie Joubert for Mongabay.

PHOTO ESSAY Wind-blown sand scouring life off a Southern African landscape

Leonie Joubert 30 Apr 2025

Damage from the wind pictured in Beijing. Image from 飞蟹子/Weibo.

Typhoon-strength winds sweep across northern China, killing cyclist

Shanna Hanbury 15 Apr 2025

Brazil communities accuse companies of ‘green grabbing’ for wind energy

Jonathan Moens, Thomas Bauer 7 Mar 2025

Banner image of a common noctule courtesy of Kamran Safi/Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior.

Smart tags reveal migratory bats are storm-front surfers

Kristine Sabillo 15 Jan 2025

French court greenlights lawsuit against EDF over wind farm in Mexico

Chris Arsenault, Philippe Le Billon 26 Jun 2024

If forests truly drive wind and water cycles, what does it mean for the climate?

Mike DiGirolamo, Rachel Donald 18 Jun 2024

Colombian wind farm end-of-life raises circularity and Indigenous questions

Natalia Torres Garzón 9 Nov 2023

In trio of storms hitting Western Europe, role of climate change is complicated

Elizabeth Claire Alberts 22 Feb 2022

A modern sailing vessel passes a fossil-fueled container ship. Image via Visualhunt.

New age of sail looks to slash massive maritime carbon emissions

Andrew Willner 15 Mar 2021

Dusty winds exacerbate looming famine in Madagascar’s deep south

Rivonala Razafison 29 Jan 2021

Ocean winds, wave heights have increased around the world

Mongabay.com 25 Apr 2019

Combined effects of fire, fragmentation, and windstorms leave Amazonian trees particularly vulnerable

Mongabay.com 11 Mar 2019

Renewable energy to power 139 countries? Scientists say it’s possible

Mongabay.com 23 Aug 2017

Elusive seabird breeding grounds discovered in Chilean desert

Kim Smuga-Otto 16 Jun 2017

Bat threats difficult to anticipate on wind farms

John Cannon 7 Nov 2016

Global carbon dioxide emissions stay flat for second year in a row

Shreya Dasgupta 17 Mar 2016

Wind can power the world, says two new studies

Jeremy Hance 10 Sep 2012

Tigers vs. coal in India: when big energy meets vanishing cats

Jeremy Hance 1 Aug 2012

Germany proves the promise of renewable energy: hits 20 percent renewables

Karimeh Moukaddem 6 Sep 2011

Bats worth billions

Jeremy Hance 3 Apr 2011

Clean energy investments rise 630% in 7 years

Jeremy Hance 29 Mar 2011

Is Obama’s clean energy revolution possible?

Jeremy Hance 26 Jan 2011

New Google wind project moves clean energy forward in US

Jeremy Hance 12 Oct 2010

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