December 27, 2019

A little more than two weeks ago, on December 9, the violent eruption of a volcano on New Zealand’s White Island killed 19 people and severely injured many more. Also known also by its Māori name, Whakaari, White Island is normally uninhabited. It is a popular tourist destination, however, and all of the volcano victims were people visiting the island for the day.

Ash, gas, and smoke billow from a volcanic eruption on White Island off the northern coast of New Zealand on Dec. 9, 2019. Credit: © Michael Schade

White Island is in the Bay of Plenty, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) from the coast of New Zealand’s North Island. White Island is small, about 1 1/4 miles (2 kilometers) across. The island is the peak of an underwater volcano that rises around 5,200 feet (1,600 meters) from the sea floor. The volcano is extremely active. It has vented gas almost continuously for its recorded history. The volcano also undergoes more violent eruptions spewing lava, ash, and pyroclastic flows (clouds of hot ash and gas that travel mostly along the ground). White Island became popular with volcano scientists and tourists because it is so active and fairly easy to reach.

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New Zealand.
Credit: WORLD BOOK map

On December 9, the day of the eruption, 47 people were visiting White Island. The volcano erupted with a violent explosion just after 2 p.m. local time, spewing deadly ash and gas some 12,000 feet (3,700 meters) into the air. Soon after the eruption, tourist boats and helicopters rescued many people from the island, but several people had already died and many others had suffered bad burns and other injuries. Of those rescued, three died from their injuries in the days following the eruption. Fifteen of the dead were from Australia. The other four were from New Zealand and the United States.

The British explorer James Cook became the first European to spot White Island, in 1769. The name he gave it may refer to white clouds of volcanic steam rising from the island, or it may refer to a thick, white covering of sea bird guano (waste). A sulfur mine operated on the island from 1885 until 1914, when 12 people died in a landslide at the volcano’s crater. A later mining camp was also abandoned and its remains now serve as a tourist attraction. Thousands of people visit White Island each year, but tourism was suspended after the eruption, pending the results of an investigation into the health and safety practices of tour companies and visitors.

December 23, 2019

Saturday, December 21, was the winter solstice in the United States and the rest of the Northern Hemisphere. In the Southern Hemisphere—which includes Australia, New Zealand, and other lands south of the equator—the solstice marks the beginning of summer. In Australia, summer is a season known for bushfires. Such wildfires are common in Australia, due in part to the country’s hot and dry climate. Many wildfires start in the remote countryside known to Australians as the bush. Bushfires can be extremely destructive, especially if they reach urban areas. The fires often kill people and destroy property and farmland. They also devastate forests, along with the koalas and other animals that live there.

Police in Jimboomba, Queensland, rescued this koala and her joey from a bushfire in late November 2019. Many other koalas were not so lucky. Credit: Jimboomba Police

A number of major bushfires have plagued Australia in 2019. Late last summer, in February, bushfires consumed more than 50,000 acres (20,000 hectares) of land in northern New South Wales. Far more destructive bushfires ignited again in New South Wales in September, burning nearly 5 million acres (2 million hectares) there and in neighboring Queensland. Some of those fires lasted for weeks, while others continue to burn, turning skies black or orange, causing severe damage, and killing a number of people. The bushfires also killed thousands of vulnerable and slow-moving koalas trapped by the rapidly spreading flames.

Bushfires are relatively common in Australia. These fire-damaged buildings are seen alongside a house that survived Christmas Day bushfires near Melbourne in 2015. Credit: © Julian Smith, EPA/Landov

Koalas live only in the forests of Queensland, New South Wales, and Victoria, in eastern Australia. They are found in significant numbers in only a few areas, and the animals are protected by law. Bushfires, however, ravage the koala’s natural habitat and its population. Koalas cannot escape the fast-moving fires, and their only defense is to climb to the top of a tree, curl into a ball, and hope the flames do not rise to reach them. Koalas sometimes survive this way, but they often burn their paws and claws descending charred trees, leaving them unable to climb properly again.

Koalas are not officially listed as endangered, but the population in New South Wales and Queensland has decreased by more than 40 percent since 1990. The animals are threatened by deforestation and habitat loss, as well as the effects of climate change, which is causing longer and more intense heat waves and droughts, leading to more frequent, intense, and longer-lasting bushfires. Beyond the flames and smoke of the fires, many koalas die from lack of water or exposure to prolonged periods of high temperatures. Australia just suffered through the driest spring in its history, and a brutal heat wave peaked on Dec. 19, 2019, when the highest ever nationwide average temperature—107.4 °F (41.9 °C)—was recorded.

October 4, 2019

Since the beginning of winter in South America (summer in the Northern Hemisphere), more than 200,000 wildfires have struck the Amazon rain forest of Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, Peru, and Venezuela. Some 30 million acres (12 million hectares) of wilderness have been lost in the fires, causing incalculable damage to the environment. The unusually severe fire season was blamed on winds and high temperatures as well as the ancestral practice of chaqueo (slash-and-burn farming). But many fires were thought to have been illegally set to clear land for large corporate agriculture, logging, and mining interests. Blame also fell on lax policing and the weakening of the environmental protection system in Brazil, where most of the fires occurred.

On Aug. 27, 2019, smoke rises above charred trees in the Amazon rain forest of northern Brazil. Credit: © Joao Laet, AFP/Getty Images

Forest fires are common in the Amazon during the dry season, from July to October. The fires are sometimes caused naturally by lightning strikes and exacerbated by drought, but most of the recent fires were probably started by people wanting to clear the land for other uses. There has been a vast increase in large, intense, and persistent fires along major roads in the Amazon, for example, something inconsistent with the randomness of lighting strikes. Climate change too is making the fires worse, as dry seasons in the Amazon become ever dryer, hotter, and longer.

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The Amazon rain forest covers much of northern South America. About two-thirds of the rain forest lies in Brazil. Credit: WORLD BOOK map

The fires (and the fire starters) have received divided attention in the Palácio do Planalto, the official workplace of the president of Brazil in Brasília, the capital. There, President Jair Bolsonaro has decreased environmental protections since taking office in January 2019, allowing an increase in deforestation—both legal and illegal, and always a problem—in the Amazon. Bolsonaro too has refused much international aid to help fight the fires, which continue to burn and destroy large portions of the rain forest. Bolsonaro eventually deployed some 44,000 soldiers to help the understaffed firefighters in the rain forest, and he agreed to coordinate firefighting efforts with other Amazonian countries. At the end of August, after the fires had raged for months, Bolsonaro also announced a 60-day ban on the legal setting of fires to clear land.

Deforestation results in the loss of vast areas of tropical rain forest each year. This photograph shows an area of the Amazon rain forest in Brazil that has been destroyed as part of slash-and-burn agriculture. In this method, farmers cut down trees and burn them. The ashes enrich the soil for only a brief period before the nutrients are depleted. The farmers then clear another area of forest. Credit: © Julio Etchart, Alamy Images

All seven Brazilian states that include parts of the Amazon have experienced sharp increases in fire activity in 2019. Numerous wildfires are also consuming alarming amounts of rain forest in the Amazonian regions of Bolivia, Paraguay, Peru, and Venezuela. The massive number of wildfires has greatly increased emissions of toxic carbon monoxide and the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, a leading contributor to global warming. Smoke from the fires has obscured skies and aggravated such health problems as asthma, bronchitis, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in people throughout the region.

September 23, 2019

Three weeks ago, on September 1, Hurricane Dorian savaged the Bahamas, a chain of islands east of Florida in the Atlantic Ocean. In the slang of the islands, Dorian mashed up (devastated) much of Grand Bahama and the Abaco Islands in the northwestern part of the archipelago. Dorian, one of the strongest hurricanes on record to strike the Bahamas, killed at least 53 people there. That number will almost certainly skyrocket, however, as more than 600 people remain missing.

Hurricane Dorian’s high winds and floods destroyed much of Freeport, Grand Bahama, seen here on Sept. 5, 2019. Credit: © Adam DelGiudice, AFP/Getty Images

Dorian struck the Bahamas as a category 5 storm on the Saffir-simpson scale, which measures hurricane intensity. Category 5 is the strongest hurricane rating, with winds above 157 miles (252 kilometers) per hour. Hurricanes of this strength typically occur about every three years, but Dorian marked the fourth consecutive year that a category 5 hurricane has struck the Caribbean, with two striking in 2017 when Irma and Maria killed more than 3,000 people, mostly in Puerto Rico. Hurricanes of all categories can cause terrible destruction and loss of life, but category 5 hurricanes are labeled “catastrophic” by the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Winds that strong will destroy most framed houses by tearing away roofs and collapsing walls. They will flatten trees and electric power poles and leave residential areas uninhabitable for weeks or months. Increases in the intensity of hurricanes and other bad weather align with what scientists expect as the world’s climate continues to change.

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Bahamas.
Credit: WORLD BOOK map

Dorian formed as a tropical depression over the Atlantic Ocean on August 24. A tropical depression is a low-pressure area surrounded by winds that have begun to blow in a circular pattern. Dorian developed into a hurricane four days later. The storm rapidly gained size and strength, reaching category 5 status by September 1. That day, the massive hurricane hit Elbow Cay and Great Abaco Island before moving on to Grand Bahama, where Dorian lingered for more than 24 devastating hours. Dorian lashed the islands with sustained winds of 185 miles (300 kilometers) per hour and gusts over 220 miles (350 kilometers) per hour. Storm surges (sudden onrushes of seawater) and torrential rains caused deadly flooding in many parts of the low-lying islands.

On Sept. 5, 2019, people search through the ruins of their home in Marsh Harbour, Great Abaco Island, days after Hurricane Dorian hit as a category 5 storm. Credit: © Jose Jimenez, Getty Images

Dorian then spun away along the coasts of eastern Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina, greatly diminishing to a category 1—but still dangerous—hurricane before hitting Cape Hatteras in North Carolina’s Outer Banks on September 6. From there, Dorian further downgraded to an extratropical cyclone (a stormy low pressure system) and raced northward off the U.S. east coast. On September 7, Dorian’s final gasp brought heavy rains and fierce winds to Newfoundland and Nova Scotia in Canada. The storm at last dissipated near Greenland on September 10.

Dorian threatened many areas, and states of emergency were declared in several Caribbean and Atlantic islands and eastern U.S. states. But the storm’s rapid degradation after striking the Bahamas greatly reduced its deadliness. Dorian still killed people—directly or indirectly—outside the Bahamas, however, including one person in Puerto Rico, six people in Florida, and three people in North Carolina. Direct deaths are caused by such things as blown debris, flooding, or falling trees. Indirect deaths include people who die by accident or heart attacks while involved in storm-related activities, such as clearing trees or boarding up houses. They also include those who die in car accidents trying to evacuate.

September 6, 2019

This summer, unusually warm air temperatures have caused record ice melt in the North Atlantic Ocean island of Greenland. During the month of July alone, the island lost more ice than it normally does in an entire year. In just a five-day period, from July 30 to August 3, the island lost about 90 percent of the surface of its ice sheet (a massive glacier)—an estimated 55 billion tons (50 billion metric tons) of ice. The record ice loss is a result of global warming and climate change.

A Danish meteorological team travels across submerged sea ice in Greenland’s Inglefield Bredning fjord on June 13, 2019. The area is normally covered with ice and snow. Credit: Steffen M. Olsen, Danish Meteorological Institute

At the highest point of the Greenland Ice Sheet, 10,550 feet (3,216 meters) above sea level, temperatures topped freezing (32 °F or 0 °C) for more than 16 hours during July 30 and 31, melting some 12.5 billion tons (11.3 billion metric tons) of ice during that brief period. It was the first time ice had melted at that high point since July 2012, and it was just the third such ice melt there in the last 700 years.

Click to view larger image. Greenland, a self-governing territory of Denmark, stretches from the Arctic to the North Atlantic Ocean. Credit: WORLD BOOK map

The ice sheet that covers Greenland is about the size of Alaska, and it contains enough ice to raise global sea levels by more than 20 feet (6 meters). During an average summer, Greenland will lose some ice from meltwater and from icebergs that calve (break off) into the ocean. But the ice loss typically happens at the sheet’s edges at sea level—not at the highest and coldest points. The amount of ice loss is also normally much less. From 1981 to 2010, the average ice melt from July 30 to August 3 was 15 billion tons (13.6 billion metric tons).

Huge icebergs form where the Jakobshavn Glacier flows into the sea near Ilulissat, Greenland. Credit: © Radius Images, Getty Images

The drastic summer ice melt in Greenland is a continuation of an alarming and worsening trend. In 1972, Landsat satellites (a project then known as the Earth Resources Technology Satellite) began photographing and mapping Greenland’s ice sheet. Landsat, a joint mission of NASA and the United States Geological Survey, uses a series of satellites to produce detailed images of Earth from space.

From 1979 to 2006, satellite images showed a 30 percent rise in the amount of Greenland ice that melts each summer, and the ice loss continues to increase. Greenland’s ice fronts have drastically retreated, rocky peaks have become exposed, and the size and shape of the island’s many fiords have changed significantly. In August 2019, Landsat images showed wet snow and melt ponds at Greenland’s higher elevations, and large parts of the island’s shrinking glaciers appeared brownish grey. The color indicates that the surface has melted, a process that concentrates dust and rock particles and leads to a darker recrystallized ice sheet surface.

Greenland is not the only site of rapidly increasing ice melt. Warmer global temperatures are reducing glaciers and ice fields in the Arctic and Antarctica, as well as in Iceland, the Alps, the Andes, the Himalaya, the Rockies, at Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, and in the Sudirman Range in Indonesia.

August 23, 2019

This weekend, August 23 to 25, a somber anniversary is taking place at the Chesapeake Bay city of Hampton, Virginia. It was there, at the town once known as Point Comfort, that African slaves were first brought to England’s American colonies in August 1619. Those first slaves, captured from Portuguese slave traders, were brought to Virginia 400 years ago in the English ship White Lion. Colonial officials traded food and supplies for the “20 and odd” Africans, beginning an ugly legacy of slavery. Slavery did not end in the United States until 1865, and its effects are felt to this day.

A historical marker details the arrival of the first enslaved Africans in English North America at Point Comfort, Virginia, in August 1619. Credit: National Park Service

Commemorative events in Hampton begin today with a ceremony at the Tucker Family Cemetery, where William Tucker, the first child born (in 1624) of those first slaves, is buried. William was the son of Anthony and Isabella, who, like their fellow captives, had been brought from the Kingdom of Ndongo in what is now the southwest African nation of Angola. Tomorrow, a new Commemoration and Visitor Center telling the story of those first slaves will open at Fort Monroe, the historic army fort in Hampton that is now a national monument. There will also be Black Heritage Tours, an educational African Landing Day Program, and a Commemoration Concert at the Hampton Coliseum. Sunday, a gospel music festival will highlight a “Day of Healing,” and the ceremonies will end with the release of butterflies and a nationwide ringing of bells. In addition, the Hampton History Museum is hosting events, and its traveling exhibit “1619: Arrival of the First Africans” is making its way around churches, community groups, libraries, and schools in Virginia.

Slaves were sold at public auctions in the southern United States. Pictures of blacks being sold like merchandise stirred much resentment in the North against slavery. Credit: Detail of The Slave Auction (1862), an oil painting on canvas by Eyre Crowe; Kennedy Galleries, Inc., New York City

That first group of captive Africans in Virginia were classed along with indentured servants, because the colony did not yet have rules regarding slavery. Most indentured servants had a contract to work without wages for a master for four to seven years, after which they became free. Blacks brought in as slaves, however, had no right to eventual freedom, and they were sold at auction. Some Africans did gain their freedom, however, settling in the colonies and buying property. But racial prejudice among white colonists forced most free blacks to remain in the lowest levels of colonial society.

The slave population in America increased rapidly during the 1700′s as newly established colonies in the South created a great demand for plantation workers. By 1750, about 200,000 slaves lived mostly in the southern American colonies. The American Revolution (1775-1783) led to the birth of the United States, but all Americans were not yet considered “created equal.” By the early 1800′s, most Northern states had taken steps to end slavery, but more than 700,000 slaves lived in the South, and the numbers continued to increase. By 1860, the South held some 4 million slaves.

Many white Americans grew to feel that slavery was evil and violated the ideals of democracy. Such ideas were particularly widespread in the North, where slavery was less common. However, plantation owners and other supporters of slavery regarded it as natural to the Southern way of life. The North and the South thereby became increasingly divided over slavery. Eventually, the South rebelled against the North, starting the American Civil War (1861-1865). In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation freed the slaves in the rebellious Southern states, and, in December 1865—after the South had surrendered—the 13th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States officially ended slavery throughout the nation.

Racial prejudice against African Americans did not end there, however, and the decades after the Civil War were a constant struggle for equality. It was not until the civil rights movement of the 1950′s and 1960′s that acts, amendments, and laws formally banned racial discrimination. Racial prejudice persists in much of America, however, and the struggle for fair treatment continues.

August 16, 2019

Throughout 2019, a controversial movement known as the Extinction Rebellion has been making headlines around the world. The Extinction Rebellion is an international movement that advocates nonviolent civil disobedience (see the detailed explanation below) to pressure governments into taking action on climate change and the mass extinction of animal species. The movement, spurred by the negative effects of global warming and habitat loss, began in the United Kingdom in 2018, and it has since spread to Australia, Canada, France, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, the United States, and other countries. The stated goal of the group is to preserve Earth for all living things.

Extinction Rebellion activists gather before the prime minister’s office in London, England, on March 9, 2019. Credit: © Sandor Szmutko, Shutterstock

In its own words, the Extinction Rebellion (sometimes referred to as XR) is attempting “to halt mass extinction and minimize the risk of social collapse.” The group wants governments to work to halt biodiversity loss and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The WWF (formerly the World Wildlife Fund) reports that animal populations have decreased by 58 percent in the last 50 years, mainly due to habitat loss. The widespread loss of animals has a corresponding detrimental effect on human populations. And carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases produced by the burning of fossil fuels are the leading causes of global warming. The XR also asks individual citizens to lead healthier and environmentally responsible lives.

The Extinction Rebellion began in October 2018, when climate activists gathered for a “Declaration of Rebellion” in London’s Parliament Square. The movement quickly grew and spread to other parts of the world where existing climate action groups gathered under the circled hourglass extinction symbol banner. Major Extinction Rebellion protests have blocked bridges, roads, and public transportation, and they have disrupted government, media, and petroleum company offices. Because their actions are often unlawful, the group is somewhat controversial, and many XR activists have been arrested.

Credit: © Extinction Rebellion

Civil disobedience is the deliberate and public refusal to obey a law. Some people use civil disobedience as a form of protest to attract attention to what they consider unjust or unconstitutional laws or policies. They hope their actions will move other people to correct the injustices. Other people regard civil disobedience as a matter of individual religious or moral conviction. They refuse to obey laws that they believe violate their personal principles.

Throughout history, there has been widespread disagreement concerning the use of civil disobedience in a society based on law and order. Some people claim that citizens are obligated to disobey laws they consider unjust, for example laws segregating the races. They say that such lawbreaking may be the best way to test the constitutionality of a law. Some defend the use of civil disobedience by pointing to laws widely considered unjust or immoral, such as Nazi Germany’s laws calling for extermination of Jews and other groups. Other people claim that it is never right to break a law deliberately. They argue that defiance of any law leads to contempt for other laws. Any act of civil disobedience, they believe, weakens society and may lead to violence and anarchy (the absence of government or law).

Famous practitioners of civil disobedience include the writer Henry David Thoreau, the suffragist Susan B. Anthony, and Mohandas K. Gandhi of India. In the United States, during the 1950′s and 1960′s, Martin Luther King, Jr., and other civil rights workers deliberately violated Southern segregation laws as a means of fighting racial injustice. Many opponents of the Vietnam War (1957-1975) committed various illegal acts in attempts to change U.S. policy. Some refused to pay their taxes. Others refused to register for the draft. During the 1980′s, nonviolent protests were directed at the repressive racial policy of apartheid (segregation) of the minority white government in South Africa.

July 17, 2019

To help reduce pollution in the United States, a Sierra Club program called “Ready for 100” is encouraging communities and individuals to commit to the use of 100 percent renewable energy sources. The Sierra Club, founded in 1892 by the naturalist John Muir, is an organization that works to protect the environment. Ready for 100 is asking business, civic, community, and religious leaders, as well as families and students, to help achieve the goal of complete nationwide reliance on clean, renewable energy by the year 2050.

Renewable energy comes from such sources as the sun, wind, moving water, heat beneath the ground, and plants. Such energy sources are considered “clean” because they cause little or no pollution, and they differ from fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas. Burning fossil fuels causes air pollution and acid rain, and also releases large amounts of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. The gases trap heat in Earth’s atmosphere, contributing to global warming and climate change.

Since November 2016, solar panels and battery systems have provided 100 percent of the energy needed to power the island of Ta’u, seen here, in the U.S. Pacific territory of American Samoa. Credit: © SolarCity

There are many benefits to using clean energy sources. They can provide communities with cleaner air and water, lower energy costs, greater energy independence, and greater local ownership of energy systems. More than 50 nations around the world, including Brazil, Canada, and Norway, already get more than 50 percent of their energy supply from renewable sources. Costa Rica expects to be using 100 percent renewable energy by 2021. The U.S. state of Hawaii has promised to be Ready for 100 by 2045, and recent California legislation requires the country’s most populous state to achieve 50 percent renewable energy use by 2030. Such worldwide cities as Munich, New York, and Sydney are also well beyond the 50 percent mark, and they are fast approaching total reliance on renewable energy. To reach 100 percent, the amount of energy generated from renewable sources (for such uses as electric power, heating and cooling, and transportation) must equal or exceed the annual energy consumed.

Hoover Dam on the Colorado River has been providing renewable hydroelectric energy in the southwestern United States since 1935. Credit: U.S. Department of Transportation

So far, 182 U.S. towns and cities from coast to coast have committed to 100 percent renewable energy use by 2050. Aspen, Colorado (since 2015); Burlington, Vermont (2014); Georgetown, Texas (2018); Greensburg, Kansas (2013); Kodiak Island, Alaska (2012); and Rock Port, Missouri (2008) have already hit the 100 percent renewable energy mark, leading the push for cleaner energy and a healthier future.

June 21, 2019

Today, June 21, is the first day of summer, and people in parts of the Midwestern and Southeastern United States can say goodbye to a stormy spring that included record flooding and an unusual number of powerful tornadoes. Beginning in March, snowmelt and repeated heavy rains overflowed the Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri, and other rivers. Tornadoes ravaged many areas in March and April, and in the month of May alone, an astounding 362 twisters touched down in 12 different states. The combined spring storms killed 64 people and caused billions of dollars worth of damage.

Mississippi River floodwaters cut off a highway at the Illinois-Missouri border on May 30, 2019. Spring storms ravaged many parts of the Midwest and Southeast in 2019. Credit: © Scott Olson, Getty Images

An unusually cold winter resulted in large snowfalls and frozen ground throughout the Midwest. In March, melting snow added large amounts of water to streams and rivers. Torrential downpours then followed, resulting in floods that affected Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. Six people died in the regional flooding, and the waters caused some $8 billion in damage. Powerful thunderstorms and flooding continued in April and May, spreading damage to the states of Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas. In some states, more than a month’s worth of rain (compared with the average) fell in a single day. Saturated fields prevented many crops from being planted, and many existing crops were severely damaged.

In early March, tornadoes first struck in the Southeast, killing 23 people and causing extensive damage in parts of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina. In April, tornadoes killed 20 more people in the states of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas. Then, in May, 362 tornadoes killed 15 people across the Midwest. A number of the tornadoes rated EF4—wind speeds of 166 to 200 miles (267 to 322 kilometers) per hour—on the Enhanced Fujita Scale, used to measure a tornado’s intensity. (EF5, with winds over 200 miles (322 kilometers) per hour, is the highest rating.) Destruction was substantial in Dayton, Ohio, and Linwood, Kansas, but no people were killed.

The Midwestern and Southeastern United States are accustomed to bouts of severe spring weather, but this year’s storms were abnormally abundant and strong. The increases in bad weather—in both winter and spring—aligned with what scientists expect as the world’s climate continues to change. As average global temperatures rise, air becomes saturated with moisture, resulting in higher amounts of precipitation. Scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have warned of increasing episodes of severe weather because of climate change.

May 13, 2019

The island nations of New Zealand and Sri Lanka are separated by nearly 7,000 miles (11,000 kilometers) of ocean. But in just over a month’s time, the distant neighbors were connected by ghastly mass killings. On March 15, 2019, a white supremacist gunman killed 51 Islamic people worshipping at a mosque in Christchurch, the largest city on New Zealand’s South Island. A few weeks later, on Easter Sunday, April 21, an Islamic terrorist group orchestrated coordinated attacks that killed 257 people, mostly Christians, in Colombo, Sri Lanka’s largest city, and other areas. The Islamic State terror group claimed to have organized these attacks with local Sri Lankan terrorists. They also claimed that the attacks were in retaliation for the mass shooting in New Zealand. Law enforcement agencies questioned the direct connection, however, as such a coordinated attack probably required more than a few weeks to plan.

On March 18, 2019, students display the New Zealand flag during a vigil for the people killed in a mass shooting at the Al Noor mosque in Christchurch. Credit: © Anthony Wallace, AFP/Getty Images

New Zealand is not generally known for extremism or violence, but that changed—at least for one day—on the afternoon of March 15. A gunman, inspired by hateful and racist rhetoric (influential speech), entered the Al Noor mosque in Christchurch and began firing. Minutes later, he returned to his car, retrieved a second weapon, and re-entered the mosque to continue his rampage. The shooter then fled in his car, arriving a short time later at the Linwood Islamic Centre. Unable to find a door quickly, the attacker began shooting at the windows. A worshipper chased the gunman back to his car, and he again fled. Police then captured the shooter, a 28-year-old Australian man carrying various weapons and explosives.

The gunman planned his attack for wide exposure over social media. Shortly before starting his attack, the shooter posted a lengthy manifesto (a public declaration of his motives) on several websites. The gunman, who had decorated his weapons with white supremacist slogans, live-streamed the attack over the internet using a head-mounted camera. Both the manifesto and the video of the attack quickly circulated widely across the internet, particularly on such sites as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. The postings raised questions about whether or not such sites were doing enough to stop the spread of white supremacist material and other extreme content.

The government of New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern worked quickly to draft a gun control bill. The bill overwhelmingly passed through Parliament and became law on April 12. In addition to banning the ownership of most automatic and semiautomatic weapons, the law established a buyback program under which owners of now-outlawed weapons could turn them in for fair compensation.

Ardern was widely hailed for the compassion and leadership she displayed in the aftermath of the attacks. She visited the survivors and publicly repudiated the gunman and his ideology. Ardern also vowed never to speak the gunman’s name in order to deny him the attention he sought.

Sri Lankan officials inspect the ruins of St. Sebastian’s Church in Negombo, a Colombo suburb, in the days after terrorist bombs struck the church and other targets on April 21, 2019. Credit: © Stringer/Getty Images

In Sri Lanka, a civil war ended in 2009, and since then the country has experienced little violence. Religious extremism is not prevalent in Sri Lanka, where Christians and Muslims together account for less than 20 percent of the mostly Buddhist population.

On April 21, 2019, however, the National Thowheed Jamath (NTJ), a Sri Lankan Islamist group linked to the Islamic State, carried out coordinated attacks on Easter, the most important Christian festival of the year. The attacks occurred in the morning as people were attending church services or enjoying breakfast with family members. NTJ suicide bombers hit several targets within minutes of each other: Saint Sebastian’s Church in Negombo, a Colombo suburb; the Shrine of Saint Anthony in Colombo; the Zion Chuch in Batticaloa, a city on Sri Lanka’s east coast; and the Cinnamon Grand, Kingsbury, and Shangi-La hotels in Colombo. Later in the day, two more attacks occurred in the Colombo suburbs of Dehiwala-Mount Lavinia (at the Tropical Inn) and Dematagoda (at a housing complex).

Initial reports listed the dead at 359, but that number was later revised to 257. The discrepancy was caused by the difficulty in identifying body parts separated by the violent explosions. Another 496 people were injured in the attacks. Sri Lanka’s government declared a state of emergency as it began investigating the attacks. Police quickly identified a number of the attackers, and in the following days, they captured or killed a number of people suspected of aiding in the attacks. Numerous weapons and bomb-making materials were confiscated.

Sri Lanka’s government looked inward for blame, finding serious lapses in domestic and international security. Several government officials resigned, and the inspector general of police was placed on compulsory leave. Social media was blacked out for several days after the attack, some government offices and university campuses were closed, and previously slack restrictions on extreme Islamic rhetoric were greatly tightened. Religious services—both Christian and Muslim—were temporarily cancelled for fear of further attacks or reprisals, and the numbers of foreign tourists in Sri Lanka dropped sharply.