2023

 

Stories of devastation and loss dominated 2023, with reports of violent conflicts in Israel and Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan and elsewhere reverberating around the world. Not only did Earth experience its hottest day on record—four days in a row—but 2023 is also on pace to be the hottest year to date.

In other climate-related news, natural disasters devastated Turkey and Syria, Mozambique, and the Hawaiian island of Maui; wildfires in Canada left smoke and smog blanketing cities across the United States. A landmark study found that 41 percent of amphibians—the world’s most vulnerable animals—are at risk of extinction, in large part due to climate change.

But the news wasn’t all negative. The Covid-19 pandemic continued to show signs of abating, with the federal government declaring the end of the national emergency in April. In July, moviegoers returned to theaters in droves, eager to experience “Barbenheimer” for themselves.

Conservation wins included the discovery of a golden mole species once thought to be “possibly extinct” and the arrival of the first wild kiwi chicks to be born near New Zealand’s capital in 150 years.

Though Washington, D.C. bid farewell to its three beloved giant pandas, Chinese President Xi Jinping signaled that the black-and-white animals will return to the U.S. in the near future. (Atlanta, now the only American city with pandas, is slated to send its bears back to China in 2024.)

-Smithsonian