Climate sceptics tell us that more people die of extreme cold than extreme heat. What’s the truth?
I began by trying to discover whether or not a widespread belief was true. In doing so, I tripped across something even bigger: an index of the world’s indifference. I already knew that by burning fossil fuels, gorging on meat and dairy, and failing to make even simple changes, the rich world imposes a massive burden of disaster, displacement and death on people whose responsibility for the climate crisis is minimal. What I’ve now stumbled into is the vast black hole of our ignorance about these impacts.
What I wanted to discover was whether it’s true that nine times as many of the world’s people die of cold than of heat. The figure is often used by people who want to delay climate action: if we do nothing, some maintain, fewer will die. Of course, they gloss over all the other impacts of climate breakdown: the storms, floods, droughts, fires, crop failures, disease and sea level rise. But is this claim, at least, correct?
George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
11/21/2025 - 03:00
11/21/2025 - 03:00
This week’s best wildlife photographs from around the world
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11/21/2025 - 02:48
The enormous, serpentine fish, regarded in Japanese folklore as a herald of disaster, usually live deep below the surface and are only sighted when sick or dying
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It was a beautiful warm day in north-west Tasmania when a fish with a reputation as a harbinger of doom washed ashore.
Tony Cheesman, who lives in the seaside town of Penguin, was walking his two dogs, Ronan and Custard, along the beach at Preservation Bay on Friday morning when something silvery and surrounded by gulls grabbed his attention.
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11/20/2025 - 20:26
Exclusive: The Guardian understands Brazil had been planning to drop a roadmap to a transition away from fossil fuels amid opposition from petro states
Countries supporting a phase-out of fossil fuels at the Cop30 climate summit in Brazil have threatened to block any agreement that does not include such a commitment, in a significant escalation of tensions at the crunch talks, the Guardian can reveal.
The simmering row over a potential roadmap for the “transition away from fossil fuels” boiled over on Thursday night when a group of at least 29 countries signed a strongly worded letter to Brazil, the Cop presidency. The leaked letter demanded that the roadmap be included in the outcome of the talks, which are due to end on Friday but likely to carry on into the weekend.
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11/20/2025 - 18:54
But Sunshine state Republicans might oppose drilling off state’s famous beaches that keep tourism dollars coming in
The Trump administration on Thursday announced new oil and gas drilling off California’s and Florida’s coasts, setting the stage for a political showdown – including with Sunshine state Republicans who have largely opposed petroleum development in the Gulf of Mexico.
This announcement comes as the US petroleum industry, despite contending with low crude prices, has been pushing for an entree to additional offshore drilling areas. The industry’s move for increased access also marks an effort to increase jobs and US energy independence, according to the Associated Press.
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11/20/2025 - 16:20
US speaker emerita criticizes Trump’s anti-climate stance and his remarks to the UN general assembly
“President Trump is the biggest con job in American history,” said Nancy Pelosi, the US speaker emerita, to reporters on Thursday while criticizing his anti-climate agenda.
Donald Trump told the UN general assembly in September that the climate crisis was “the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world”. But he was “projecting”, Pelosi said at a press conference. The meeting was convened by Democrats on the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works to comment on the US’s official absence from the United Nations Cop30 climate summit in Belém, Brazil, where 195 countries are represented.
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11/20/2025 - 15:28
Event thrown into confusion and 13 treated for smoke inhalation after conference centre evacuated
Brazilian president will take fossil fuel phase-out plan to G20 summit
Talks at the Cop30 climate summit in Brazil were disrupted on Thursday after a fire broke out in the venue, triggering an evacuation just as negotiators were preparing to try to land a deal to strengthen international efforts to address the climate crisis.
Thirteen people were treated for smoke inhalation, organisers said in a statement, after the fire broke out in the pavilion area of the conference centre in Belém, Brazil.
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11/20/2025 - 14:29
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva says he is ready to fight for transition roadmap despite opposition from some states
All the coverage from Cop30
The Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has told Cop30 delegates that he will take his fossil fuel transition roadmap to the G20 in Johannesburg this week to campaign for it, despite reports that petrostates have said they will not accept the plan.
Before leaving Cop30 in Belém, the figurehead of the global south told civil society representatives he was ready to fight for the proposal to phase out oil, coal and gas in whatever forum was necessary.
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11/20/2025 - 12:07
Scourge of goldfish has become growing problem as fish are released by pet owners into increasingly warm waters
City officials in Canada’s capital city, Ottawa, plan to cull thousands of feral goldfish from a stormwater pond, a decision that reflects the pervasive spread of the species throughout the region.
Earlier in the year, city staff removed 5,000 fish from the city’s Celebration Park. But as many as 1,000 more are believed to still be living in the water.
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11/20/2025 - 10:49
Researchers have launched the first coordinated plan to protect microbial biodiversity, calling attention to the “invisible 99% of life” that drives essential Earth systems. The IUCN has formally recognized this effort through the creation of the Microbial Conservation Specialist Group. By developing new metrics, policies, and restoration tools, scientists aim to make microbial life a core part of global conservation action. The roadmap also outlines upcoming goals such as microbial hotspot maps and new microbe-based conservation solutions.
