Guardian: Destroyed crops, riverbed cyclists and a ‘Rock of Starvation’: how drought has devastated the Danube

Guardian: Destroyed crops, riverbed cyclists and a ‘Rock of Starvation’: how drought has devastated the Danube

A Guardian reporter and photographer traveled 100 miles (160km) along the banks of the Danube, the EU’s longest river, to document the impacts of its record-low levels. The Danube flows through or forms the border of 10 countries, making it most international river in the world. The describe crop loss and failure, unnavigable areas, and drinking water emergencies. Below, an account by the president of the Hungarian Cyclists Club who embarked on a bike ride on the river.

The water is so low in the capital that on 28 July, at about 4.30pm, Gábor Kürti, president of the Magyar Kerékpárosklub (Hungarian cyclists’ club) and owner of a cargo bike company, left his office in central Budapest, jumped on his bicycle and, in an unprecedented feat, rode for 30km along the exposed bed of the Danube, with his journey quickly going viral on social media.

“I wanted to show that if you can cycle along the bed of the Danube for 30km, it means that, because of this climate emergency, we have literally hit rock bottom,” he told the Guardian.

Riding his KTM X-Strada 20 gravel bike, Kürti set off from the mouth of the Szilas stream (Szilas-patak) and made his way across fine gravel, large pebbles, hard-packed sand and mud, eventually reaching the ferry terminal at Vác about three hours later.

“For many people it was an extraordinary adventure. For me, it was heartbreaking,” he said. “Cycling through parts of the river where, as a child, I used to swim or go kayaking, and which I could now cross on a bicycle, filled me with an indescribable sadness. It was like looking at the scene of a terrible accident. Throughout that journey, the scale of the catastrophe was unfolding before my eyes.”

Link.

EuroNews: A Japanese Inventor is Turning Soil Into a Source of Electricity

EuroNews: A Japanese Inventor is Turning Soil Into a Source of Electricity

Well grounded? Japanese designer Satoshi Nakagawa is using soil, compost and other everyday materials to generate small amounts of electricity that could power sensors, lights, and other low-energy devices in off-grid settings.

EuroNews via AFP reports:

Glinting in the night, halfway up a hill in Japan, the greenhouse-like ‘Ku-An’ test lab is lit by electricity harnessed from 1,500 wooden boxes of soil and compost.

Designer Satoshi Nakagawa has long battled sceptics, but believes that the technology powering the 800 LEDs has a role to play in solving humanity’s energy conundrum. Failing that, it at least looks nice and gets people thinking.

“As the population moves toward 10 billion, energy issues will become just as critical as food issues,” says Nakagawa, chief executive of design firm Tripod Design. “Even if it’s just a small contribution, I want people to be able to produce their own electricity using the soil around them,” the Japanese product designer and engineer told news agency AFP.

Link.

Copernicus: Oceans Hit Hottest Temperatures on Record for July

Copernicus: Oceans Hit Hottest Temperatures on Record for July

The world’s oceans hit their highest temperatures on record for July, Copernicus, the European Union’s Earth observation program, reported today. Other stats of note for July 2026:

  • Globally, the month was the joint second warmest July on record, tied with July 2024 and behind the record set in July 2023, with an average surface air temperature 1.47°C hotter than the estimated pre-industrial baseline (1850-1900 average).
  • The average temperature for June–July for western Europe was the highest on record, at 21.62°C or 2.79°C above average, surpassing the previous record from 2022 and reflecting the exceptional persistence of heat since the beginning of summer.
  • The average Sea surface temperatures for the extra-polar ocean (60°S–60°N) in July 2026 was the highest on record for the month, at 20.96°C, surpassing the previous July record of 20.89°C, which was set in 2023.
  • Sea surface temperatures remained at exceptionally high levels across a large portion of the tropical Pacific, an area where current El Niño conditions are forecast to further strengthen in the coming months.
  • Around Europe, Sea surface temperatures reached record highs for July along the Atlantic coast and western Mediterranean, associated with widespread strong or severe marine heatwave conditions.

Said Samantha Burgess, Strategic Lead for Climate at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF):

“July 2026 was the third consecutive month of exceptional heat in western Europe, bringing the combined temperature for June and July to a new record for the region. Persistent high-pressure systems trapped heat over western Europe, the extreme temperatures also amplified widespread drought. As soils dry out, they lose their ability to provide natural cooling, allowing heat to build more readily. This is a clear example of how climate change is intensifying heat extremes, with heat and drought increasingly reinforcing one another.”

Link.

NYT: Birds Are Dying. Clues Point to El Niño. (Gift Link)

NYT: Birds Are Dying. Clues Point to El Niño. (Gift Link)

Sad news, a story on bird die-off from this week’s NYT Climate Forward newsletter. This comes on top of bird population decline already linked to climate change-related impacts.

Every month, Giovanny Suárez Espín walks a beach near his home in southern Ecuador, monitoring for dead seabirds. Usually, he sees maybe a handful.

But on recent surveys, the sand has been littered with carcasses.

It’s too soon to say for certain what has caused the spike in deaths, which has affected various species, including sooty shearwaters, Peruvian and blue-footed boobies, cormorants, petrels and the critically endangered waved albatross. Die-offs in sea birds aren’t uncommon, and can stem from a variety of factors. In 2023, Ecuador saw mass deaths from avian influenza, said Sebastián Cruz, a seabird ecologist who runs the South American marine bird program for American Bird Conservancy.

It’s too soon to say for certain what has caused the spike in deaths, which has affected various species, including sooty shearwaters, Peruvian and blue-footed boobies, cormorants, petrels and the critically endangered waved albatross. Die-offs in sea birds aren’t uncommon, and can stem from a variety of factors. In 2023, Ecuador saw mass deaths from avian influenza, said Sebastián Cruz, a seabird ecologist who runs the South American marine bird program for American Bird Conservancy.

But this time, he said, looks different. The birds’ bodies are emaciated. Testing for bird flu is needed, but the few necropsies that have been conducted, along with the behavior of surviving birds, show no signs of infection. And critically, sea surface temperatures off the coast have been exceptionally elevated.

Gift link.

Copernicus: Europe’s major rivers at record low water levels

Copernicus: Europe’s Major Rivers at Record Low Water Levels

Yesterday’s Image of the Day from the EU’s Copernicus Earth observation programme shows record low water levels from four of Europe’s largest rivers. More specifically:

Copernicus Sentinel-2 images acquired between 1 and 3 August 2026 reveal exceptionally low water levels along sections of four of Europe’s largest rivers: the Loire near Saumur in France, the Po near Cremona in Italy, the Rhine near Boppard in Germany, and the Danube near Paks in Hungary. Extensive sandbanks and gravel bars, normally hidden beneath the water, are clearly visible in each scene, illustrating the widespread impact of the prolonged drought which is affecting much of Europe.

The consequences extend well beyond the riverbanks. On the Rhine, reduced water levels are limiting cargo transport and disrupting industrial supply chains across central Europe. Along the Danube, the image shows the Paks Nuclear Power Plant, where low river discharge is creating serious operational challenges for reactor cooling. In Italy, the level of the Po River continues to cause mounting pressure on irrigation, hydropower generation, and freshwater availability, while the Loire reflects hydrological conditions consistent with the severe hydrological stress affecting large parts of western Europe.

The Copernicus product portfolio includes two Drought Observatories, managed by the Copernicus Emergency Management Service, which provide, respectively, drought indicators and early warning for droughts in Europe (EDO) and worldwide (GDO).

Link.

IEA Report: EV Sales Surge in Q1, Double Year on Year in Some Major Markets in First Half of 2026

IEA Report: EV Sales Surge in Q1, Double in Some Major Markets in First Half of 2026

More specifically, since Trump and Netanyahu launched their dimwitted war on Iran.

Global sales of electric cars fell in the first quarter of 2026, largely reflecting lower sales in [China and the US]. But according to the report, they rebounded sharply in the second quarter – rising 35% compared with the first three months of the year as second quarter sales reached record levels in 50 countries. In Australia, Brazil, India, Korea and Viet Nam – all sizeable electric car markets – sales roughly doubled between March and June compared with the same period in 2025. Overall, more than 90 countries recorded year-on-year growth in electric car sales during the first half of 2026.

The report, ‘Electric Car Markets in a Time of Uncertainty‘, was released on 30 July.

Press release link.

NYT: In Ohio, Toxic Wastewater Is Bubbling Up Out of the Ground – Gift Link

NYT: In Ohio, Toxic Wastewater Is Bubbling Up Out of the Ground – Gift Link

I spent a dozen years in southeastern Ohio, it’s where I studied and came of age. Some of my closest friends live in the area so this hits close to home.

In historic Marietta, Ohio, riverboats churn past shores once surveyed by George Washington. Trolleys bump along brick roads that pass between Victorian homes and 2,000-year-old Adena and Hopewell burial mounds. Its cemeteries hold more Revolutionary War officers than anywhere else in the nation.

And there is something else buried deep beneath Marietta: Hundreds of millions of gallons of radioactive fracking wastewater.

For years, it has arrived in a caravan of tanker trucks that come night and day to deposit the toxic brine in injection wells that pump it thousands of feet underground, where it is supposed to stay forever.

But the brine is spurting to the surface, and locals fear it could soon contaminate the drinking water source for 32,000 people. “It would destroy the city,” said Susan Vessels, president of the Marietta City Council. “Once the damage is done, it cannot be undone.”

Gift link.