今日吃瓜

November 12, 2026

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ENVIRONMENT

Climate change

A French cereal farmer spreads nitrogen fertilizer white pellets on a wheat field in Larchant, France, in May. While nitrogen gas is harmless and makes up 78% of the air we breathe, human activities have dramatically increased the production and release into the environment of various forms of reactive nitrogen.

ENVIRONMENT / Climate change / OUR PLANET

Nov 1, 2026

What a Japanese scientist says can be done about the climate’s nitrogen problem

By Tomoko Otake

While nitrogen gas is harmless, the production of fertilizers used to feed the world converts it into reactive nitrogen, and that comes with a cost.

Rows of the air conditioning compressors installed on the rear of buildings at Boat Quay in Singapore on Aug. 26

ENVIRONMENT / Climate change / FOCUS

Nov 1, 2026

‘Air-con nation’ Singapore eyes alternatives to cool down

The city-state has the highest per-capita air conditioner ownership rate in Southeast Asia, with about 99% of private residences equipped with cooling units.

Fiji's climate-threatened Serua Island, which lacks natural forms of wave breakers, is constantly threatened by sea level rise and cyclones.

ENVIRONMENT / Climate change

Oct 27, 2026

Climate-threatened Fijian utopia rejects calls to relocate

By Ben Strang

Residents of Serua Island want to protect their ancestral home and the culture linked to it. The island also boasts “$100 million views.”

Motorists drive through a road covered with smog from wildfires nearby in Ogan Ilir in Indonesia's South Sumatra province on Sept. 25.

ENVIRONMENT / Climate change / OUR PLANET

Oct 25, 2026

What can Asia do to avoid crossing crucial climate tipping points?

By Tomoko Otake

At a global conference in smog-hit Malaysia, scientists outlined how the Earth’s natural systems are buckling due to warming.

People sit in the shade during a heat wave in Rome on Aug. 3.

ENVIRONMENT / Climate change

Oct 25, 2026

Summer heat’s toll on Europe: 50,000 deaths and a €17 billion GDP hit

By Olivia Rudgard and Laura Millan

Almost two-thirds of the deaths linked to high summer temperatures would not have happened without climate change, a study showed.

Dead coral on a beach off the coast of India's Tamil Nadu state in September. Almost all shallow-water coral reefs around the world are at "extremely high risk" of disappearing by 2075 due to climate change, the International Union for Conservation of Nature warned on Thursday.

ENVIRONMENT / Climate change

Oct 22, 2026

Nearly all coral reefs risk collapse in 50 years: IUCN

In its first global assessment, the world authority on threatened wildlife classified 96% of coral reef systems as “critically endangered.”

A wildfire burns in Palangkaraya, Indonesia, on Oct. 8.

ENVIRONMENT / Climate change

Oct 9, 2026

Weather-roiling El Nino hits record strength, Japan weather agency says

Sea temperatures in the tropical Pacific Ocean were 4C above normal as of September, the highest in records going back to 1949, the JMA said.

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Famima Park Azabudai is a concept store by FamilyMart that combines convenience store staples with branded apparel, merchandise and a landscaped outdoor space.

Convenience stores, toilets and the allure of everyday Japan

By Elizabeth Beattie

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