Photos Show A Year Of Catastrophic Events Due To Climate Change

We looked back at the year in climate change and the disasters we'll be seeing more often as our world is altered by climate-polluting fossil fuels.

If you think that the pandemic is dragging on forever, prepare yourself for our climate change future. This year felt like one major disaster followed on the heels of another, with heat waves, hurricanes, fires, floods, and freezing weather all contributing to a deadly year — and the death toll has been alarmingly undercounted. Concerns over resources, particularly water, are mounting as drought in the West continues. Action from the government to address climate change remains stalled and limited.

We looked back at the year in climate change and the disasters that are getting worse and more frequent as our world is altered by climate-polluting fossil fuels.

a woman holds a dog in front of a fence with fire behind her
Two men maneuver a boat through water in front of a three-story house during flooding
A car drives through a desolate desert area
One man holds a camera while another man holds a microphone in a flood zone, with a bench and a recycling bin
Cows stand in a hut with flooding all around them
A man in a straw hat wipes his neck
people sleep on air mats on the floor of a convention center in oregon
A ski lift with a giant wildfire behind it
A man holds a helmet that says mora next to a truck with coolers and a fire raging behind him
A town destroyed by fire with burned houses and a burned truck in the foreground
A woman sits outside a trailer holding her pug and wearing Birkenstocks with a truck behind her
protestors pack the street outside COP26
A woman in a mask and apron holds an umbrella with a mudslide behind her
An aerial shot of a german village flooded with brown water with houses and trees above it
A man kayaks on a flooded roadway while a group of people watch
A woman takes a cellphone photo of a flooded street from an overpass bridge
A man works on a computer outside the home as relatives sit and stand behind him with their house in the background
A frontal view of a house with flood damage and a couch poking through a broken window
A flattened neighborhood with destroyed houses among foundations of other homes, with smashed cars pointing in different directions
A river snakes through some rocks on Lake Powell with two stripes in the rock showing the high water mark
A giant green circle alongside a desert land with three houses in the distance
Two women guide a hose from a water truck filling up a dirt pool









Topics in this article

Skip to footer