DEDURU OYA, Sri Lanka – On April 16, eight members of Priyantha Kumara’s family including his wife, son, brother, father-in-law, and four other relatives were swept away by strong currents in the Deduru Oya, a river in Sri Lanka’s North Western province. Sri Lanka Police reported more than 30 drowning deaths between April 12 and 21 this year, underscoring the risks posed by flooding rivers. Sri Lanka Police media spokesperson Udaya Kumara Wootler told Mongabay that 376 individuals have died due to drowning in rivers last year while 595 fatalities were reported in 2024. Buddhika Sampath, spokesperson for the Sri Lanka Navy told Mongabay that the Navy Diving Unit recovered 148 bodies of people between May 2022 and May 2023. While the police are yet to disclose official statistics of deaths due to drowning from January to May 2026, the number of reported incidents show over 50 fatalities. Kumara is a resident of Gopallawa in the northwestern district of Kurunegala. His son had requested that they all go for a bath in the river. The group had been bathing at a popular spot named Kuriyagas Mankada when they met the tragedy. “My son was only 13 years old, and he was a bright student,” Kumara told Mongabay. “My brother was about to hold a housewarming ceremony at his newly built house. But all these dreams were shattered within seconds. My father used to take us to this same spot to bathe when we were young. But the river has changed…This article was originally published on Mongabay
California could be due for a major earthquake in the near future, according to concerning new models based on data comprising 1,000 years of quake activity on the West Coast.
According to recent findings, tectonic stress has quietly been building in California to levels not seen since the last major earthquake in the region, which bore a magnitude of 7.9 and struck the West Coast nearly 170 years ago.
That event, known as the Fort Tejon earthquake, affected the greater Los Angeles area, and since the time of those historic rumblings, researchers have grown increasingly concerned about a period of seismic silence that could point to the likelihood of an event of similar magnitude at some point in the future.
The potentially concerning new forecast was detailed in a recent study by an international team of researchers led by Dr. Liliane Burkhard of the Division of Space Research and Planetary Sciences (WP) at the Physics Institute of the University of Bern, which focused on historic earthquake data as a means of gauging current stress loading at Cajon Pass.
The study, published in the Journal ofGeophysical Research: Solid Earth, indicates tectonic stress levels that are now believed to exceed the highest seen during the years the team surveyed.
The “Earthquake Gate” at Cajon Pass
The researchers aimed to investigate stress that has slowly built along the San Andreas and San Jacinto faults and incorporated what they likened to an “earthquake gate” at Cajon Pass, which, in their models, functioned like a point of control that governed the size of earthquakes and whether they could spread to both systems.
For their research, they used a four-dimensional earthquake cycle model that allowed them to replicate certain processes both in spatial dimensions and across time.
Using a millennium of reconstructed earthquake data from the region based on geological information such as radiocarbon dates, unusual events recorded in dendrochronological data (i.e., information obtained from tree rings), and historical information sources, the team gave this to the model they devised.
Dr. Burkhard said the team’s simulation offered them a unique opportunity to better understand the ways stresses in the fault system build up over long periods of several centuries.
“By running the earthquake history of Southern California as a simulation, we can estimate the extent to which the fault system is already under stress today,” Dr. Burkhard said. The results of those simulations weren’t particularly promising either: according to Burkhard, current stress levels in the region are the highest they have been in 1,000 years, based on the data.
Concerning New Earthquake Data
The team also identified significant new information regarding the function of the so-called “earthquake gate” at Cajon Pass.
“The earthquake gate concept captures something important about how fault junctions work,” Burkhard said in a recent statement. “Cajon Pass doesn’t simply block or channel earthquakes: It responds to stress conditions, and those conditions change over centuries.”
Not only this, but Burkhard and her team also determined that a key element to these quakes involves not only the level of stress that accumulates at a single fault, but perhaps more significantly, the way stress between two systems can align. This is because, as the stress across a pair of faults rises together over longer periods, this appears to be most conducive to a large joint rupture comparable to the 1857 Fort Tejon earthquake.
Conversely, if stress levels are not in concert as they evolve, the team determined that this causes quakes that probably will not propagate beyond the junction.
In short, a more severe earthquake event today would entail a joint rupture that crosses the Cajon Pass, as opposed to one constrained either to the San Andreas or the San Jacinto Fault alone. Should such an event occur, it would likely impact one of the largest population centers, as well as a crucial infrastructure system that supplies energy and transportation to surrounding areas.
For Burkhard, “The question of when and how the next major earthquake will occur in this region is one of the most pressing problems in applied geoscience.” Based on the team’s findings, they say that their new modeling hopes to provide a much more complete picture of the science behind the factors that could lead to a major quake—conditions that could apply equally to other parts of the world as they do to California.
Burkhard adds that her team’s study is not intended merely as a prediction for when the next major earthquake could potentially occur, but also as a means of preparing for future quakes and mitigating their effects.
“What we can say is that the system is critically stressed and that physics-based models like ours give a clearer picture of the range of scenarios we should be prepared for,” Burkhard says. “This information is important for hazard assessment, infrastructure planning, and emergency preparedness.”
Micah Hanks is the Editor-in-Chief and Co-Founder of The Debrief. A longtime reporter on science, defense, and technology with a focus on space and astronomy, he can be reached atmicah@thedebrief.org. Follow him on X @MicahHanks, and at micahhanks.com.
Across the stories today, a common thread emerges: the growing gap between urgent environmental realities and the systems—political, economic, and social—struggling to keep pace with change.
This tension plays out most starkly in the realm of climate health impacts. New research warns that heat-related hospitalizations could double by 2040, while a super El Niño threatens to deepen global economic inequality through cascading climate disruptions. Behind the numbers are real communities adapting in real time. In Pacoima, a working-class Los Angeles neighborhood sandwiched between highways and heavy industry, residents like Jose Luis Salas are mounting their own defense against air pollution, installing shoebox-sized monitoring devices that track what they breathe daily.
Yet the day’s coverage also points to growing momentum around practical solutions gaining real traction. Solar energy quietly surpassed coal in U.S. electricity generation for the first time this May—a milestone that arrived not through grand announcements but through the steady accumulation of rooftop panels and utility-scale installations. Britain cleared a major bottleneck by offering grid connections to over 700 clean energy projects, while new data reveals the country’s green economy now employs over one million workers across a £100 billion sector.
The stories reveal how environmental challenges are increasingly driving innovation at the community level. In Guatemala’s Western Highlands, approximately 60 communities are reviving ancient Maya agricultural wisdom, creating homemade biopesticides from aromatic plants to replace expensive chemical alternatives. Similarly, 120 women farmers in Malawi’s Chiradzulu district have transformed traditional maize cultivation by adding organic fruits and vegetables now in high demand from urban buyers—though their success is shadowed by a troubling reality: their bees, crucial pollinators for food security, are mysteriously disappearing.
It’s a reminder that progress and pressure often arrive together. Colombia enacted groundbreaking legislation requiring detailed cattle tracking to prevent deforestation-linked beef from reaching markets, while Indonesia’s magnificent hornbills face accelerating threats from both habitat loss and an illegal online pet trade. The contrast illustrates how conservation gains in one area can be undermined by emerging threats in another.
Perhaps most telling is how wealth continues to complicate climate action. New research from Greenpeace reveals that the ultra-rich drive a quarter of global emissions not through private jets—their visible symbols of excess—but through their investment portfolios and asset ownership. Meanwhile, chemical companies are quietly pushing “immunity laws” across 15 states to shield themselves from health-related lawsuits, even as communities bear the costs of environmental damage.
The space program offers its own metaphor for these broader tensions. NASA’s latest astronaut selections for Artemis missions reflect both ambition and limitation—crews training for missions that won’t reach the Moon, while hundreds of women gathered at the AeroWomen conference to prepare for space careers in an industry still taking shape.
As the week unfolds, all eyes will be on whether these parallel tracks—accelerating environmental pressures and emerging solutions—can converge into the systemic changes scientists say are necessary. Today’s stories suggest we’re living through a period when local innovation and global challenges are both intensifying, creating opportunities for breakthrough and breakdown in equal measure.
US energy secretary Chris Wright featured in seminars to judges when he was a fracking executive
As cities and states sue big oil for billions in damages over allegations that it covered up the dangers of its products, rightwing organizations are attempting to discredit the wave of litigation. They claim the lawyers behind it are teaming up with an environmentally focused legal education non-profit to bias federal judges against oil companies.
But it is actually fossil fuel-backed organizations that are attempting to sway the judiciary in their favor, one of those law firms is countering. Evidence of this includes judicial seminars hosted by one such group featuring pro-industry speakers such as the current energy secretary, Chris Wright, in his former occupation as a fracking executive.
A powerful El Niño weather pattern is emerging as a formidable force that could significantly worsen existing economic disparities across the globe. This climate phenomenon, characterized by unusually warm ocean temperatures in the Pacific, has the potential to trigger a cascade of environmental and economic disruptions that will disproportionately affect the world’s most vulnerable populations.
The intensifying El Niño brings with it a familiar yet devastating playbook of climate impacts: prolonged droughts in some regions, catastrophic flooding in others, and widespread agricultural disruption that threatens food security worldwide. These weather extremes don’t affect all nations equally—developing countries with limited infrastructure and financial resources often bear the heaviest burden when crops fail, supply chains collapse, and communities are forced to rebuild from climate disasters.
Economic experts warn that this “super” El Niño could amplify existing inequalities between wealthy and developing nations. While affluent countries have greater capacity to adapt and recover from climate shocks through advanced technology, robust insurance systems, and emergency reserves, poorer nations often struggle to protect their populations and economies from the same environmental threats. The result is a widening gap where climate change becomes both a symptom and a driver of global economic inequality, creating a vicious cycle that leaves the most vulnerable populations increasingly exposed to future climate risks.
Americans are bracing for another summer of dangerous heat waves, and new research suggests the health crisis is only getting worse. A groundbreaking study projects that heat-related hospitalizations across the United States could double over the next 15 years, creating an unprecedented strain on the nation’s healthcare system.
The alarming findings predict annual heat-related emergency department visits and hospitalizations will surge from approximately 109,000 cases today to as many as 237,000 cases by 2040. This dramatic increase reflects the growing intensity and frequency of extreme heat events driven by climate change, which are pushing human bodies beyond their ability to cope safely.
The healthcare implications extend far beyond patient suffering. This spike in heat-related medical emergencies is expected to drive annual healthcare costs for heat-related conditions above $1 billion, placing enormous financial pressure on hospitals, insurance systems, and families already struggling with rising medical expenses.
The study’s authors describe the current state of preparedness as “woeful,” highlighting a critical gap between the escalating threat and existing public health infrastructure. Heat-related illnesses disproportionately affect vulnerable populations including elderly residents, outdoor workers, and communities with limited access to air conditioning or cooling centers. As extreme temperatures become the new normal rather than exceptional events, public health officials are calling for urgent investments in heat adaptation strategies, improved early warning systems, and expanded cooling resources to protect lives in the coming decades.
In Pacoima, a working-class neighborhood trapped between Los Angeles highways and heavy industry, residents are taking air quality monitoring into their own hands. Jose Luis Salas recently watched as environmental project manager Shance Taylor climbed a ladder to install a shoebox-sized white container on the side of his home—an Aeroqual sensor that’s part of an ambitious community-led air monitoring program.
The sensor network, operated by local environmental group Pacoima Beautiful, represents a growing trend of hyperlocal air quality monitoring that gives communities real-time data about the pollution they’re breathing. Unlike traditional government monitoring stations that may be miles away, these sensors provide block-by-block information about air quality conditions.
Pacoima’s geography makes it particularly vulnerable to poor air quality. Nestled in Los Angeles’s northeast San Fernando Valley, the neighborhood sits at the intersection of major freeways and industrial facilities, creating a perfect storm for air pollution accumulation. Residents often report higher rates of asthma and respiratory issues compared to other parts of the city.
The grassroots monitoring program empowers residents with data they can use to make informed decisions about outdoor activities, advocate for policy changes, and hold polluting industries accountable. By installing sensors on homes, offices, and even portable units carried in bags, the community is creating an unprecedented picture of how air pollution varies throughout their neighborhood—data that could prove crucial for protecting public health and environmental justice.
A powerful 6.1-magnitude earthquake struck the Caribbean waters off Cuba’s coast Monday afternoon, marking the strongest seismic event the region has experienced in nearly 150 years. The significant tremor sent shockwaves far beyond its epicenter, with residents across Florida and parts of Mexico, including the popular resort destination of Cancún, reporting feeling the ground shake.
The earthquake occurred approximately 65 miles northwest of Mantua, Cuba, at a depth of 16 miles beneath the ocean floor, according to the US Geological Survey. This relatively shallow depth likely contributed to the widespread sensation of the tremor across multiple countries and hundreds of miles from the epicenter.
The Caribbean region sits within a complex zone of tectonic activity, where several major fault systems intersect. While earthquakes of this magnitude are rare in the area, the event serves as a reminder of the ongoing geological processes that shape the region’s landscape and coastal environments. The shallow marine location of this earthquake highlights the dynamic nature of the seafloor in the Caribbean basin.
Scientists continue to monitor the area for potential aftershocks, which commonly follow significant seismic events. The widespread reach of Monday’s earthquake—felt across international borders and vast distances—demonstrates how major geological events can impact entire regional ecosystems and coastal communities simultaneously, underscoring the interconnected nature of Caribbean environmental systems.
The net zero economy is booming, so claims that prosperity depends on oil and gas are bunkum – unless you’re a Reform backer with fossil fuel interests, of course
Really? You want to destroy a million jobs? Vote Reform UK for mass unemployment: is that your pitch? Hammer these questions home whenever you meet a supporter of the party. Or, for that matter, a Conservative, as their party now takes an almost identical line.
The figures are stark. They were compiled not by Just Stop Oil or the Green party, but by that bastion of conservatism, the Confederation of British Industry. They show that the net zero economy now directly employs more than 300,000 full-time workers, while supporting the jobs of 1.1 million. The net zero sector is worth £100bn to the UK already, and is likely to grow by hundreds of billions more. The rest of the green economy directly employs a further 600,000.
The 700 projects include wind and solar farms, battery storage, gas and hydro plans
More than half the renewable energy projects needed to meet the government’s clean power targets by 2030 are now able to plug into the electricity grid after years of delay, according to the system operator.
The National Energy System Operator (Neso) has offered more than 700 clean energy projects in Great Britain a grid connection date since the start of the year, after a two-year process to unblock a bottleneck that threatened to delay projects into the 2030s.
Government plan to de-link gas and electricity prices aims to reduce bills for consumers after global surge in prices
Households in England, Scotland and Wales could save nearly £200 a year on their energy bills if the government stepped into the market to act as the sole buyer of electricity, according to a thinktank.
The research found that public procurement of electricity, meaning the government would become the “single buyer” of power before it is resold to consumers, could shave billions of pounds from electricity prices.
The global space industry is expanding rapidly, with thousands of new satellites expected to enter orbit in the coming years. These spacecraft will support a wide range of activities, including internet services, Earth observation, scientific research, and even space tourism. While this growth promises many benefits, scientists are becoming increasingly concerned about its environmental impact. […]
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