Heat Wave Nudged the Planet to Its Hottest June, European Forecasters Say

The heat wave that smothered much of Europe at the end of June helped raise average global temperatures to a record for the month, a European weather forecasting agency has said.

Seeking respite from the heat last week at the
Lustgarten on Museum Island in Berlin.

The European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts said Tuesday that global temperatures for June were about 0.2 degrees Fahrenheit, or 0.1 degree Celsius, higher than the previous record for the month, set in 2016. Europe itself was even warmer, about 2 degrees Fahrenheit higher than the 2016 record.

During the last week of June temperatures spiked by as much as 18 degrees Fahrenheit above normal across Central and Western Europe. It was 115 degrees in a village in southern France on Friday, the hottest temperature ever recorded in the country. 

Research groups are studying whether the hot weather in Europe was linked to climate change. In many previous heat waves in Europe and elsewhere, analyses have determined that climate change increased the likelihood that the events would occur. 

Read the story from The New York Times by Henry Fountain - “Heat Wave Nudged the Planet to Its Hottest June, European Forecasters Say.”

Coles and Woolworths’ plastic bag ban and the choices that remain

By the end of June, most of Australia’s major supermarkets will have stopped handing out single-use plastic bags.

Woolworths, Coles and the Queensland government are all
phasing out lightweight shopping bags, potentially
 preventing billions ending up in landfill or oceans.

Woolworths, Coles, and the Queensland and Western Australian governments are all phasing out lightweight shopping bags, potentially preventing billions of bags from finding their way into landfill or oceans.

But what is and isn’t being phased out? What are the alternatives, and how effective will the policy be? 

Read the story from The Guardian by Naaman Zhou - “Coles and Woolworths’ plastic bag ban and the choices that remain.”