Climate change and environmental degradation are among the most critical challenges facing the world today. The year 2024 stood as a stark reminder of the pressing and escalating environmental and climate crises. From record-breaking temperatures to intensified natural disasters, the year’s events underscored the urgency of global action.
By participating in this conversation, we hope to contribute to raising awareness about the accelerating impacts of climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution, and deforestation. This blog post captures the key environmental and climate-related developments of 2024, supported by data, illustrations, and sourced information.
The year 2023 was marked by significant environmental and climate-related events that underscored the urgent need for collective global action. From escalating greenhouse gas emissions to unprecedented weather extremes, the planet experienced alarming signs of environmental degradation and climate disruption. This blog delves into the most pressing issues of 2023, accompanied by illustrations and sourced data to shed light on the state of our environment.
Rising Carbon Emissions
Despite global efforts to curb carbon emissions, 2023 saw a continued increase in atmospheric CO₂ levels. According to the Mauna Loa Observatory, CO₂ concentrations peaked at 424 parts per million (ppm) during the year, a stark reminder of the relentless upward trajectory.
Key Contributors:
Energy Sector: Fossil fuels continued to dominate global energy production, with coal consumption hitting record highs in some regions.
Deforestation: Large-scale deforestation in the Amazon and Southeast Asia contributed significantly to carbon emissions.
Industrial Activities: Rapid industrialization in emerging economies exacerbated emissions, outpacing efforts to transition to cleaner technologies.
2023 was a year of extreme weather events that affected millions of lives and ecosystems:
Heatwaves: Record-breaking heatwaves scorched parts of Europe, the United States, and Asia. Southern Europe saw temperatures surpassing 48°C, severely impacting agriculture and water resources.
Flooding: Catastrophic flooding displaced millions in Pakistan, Nigeria, and Italy, with damages running into billions of dollars.
Wildfires: Uncontrollable wildfires ravaged forests in Canada and Greece, releasing massive amounts of carbon and destroying biodiversity hotspots.
Biodiversity loss reached critical levels in 2023, with numerous species teetering on the brink of extinction. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) reported that:
28% of species assessed were threatened with extinction.
Coral reefs, which host 25% of marine species, suffered extensive bleaching due to rising ocean temperatures.
Melting Ice and Rising Seas
The Arctic and Antarctic regions continued to lose ice at alarming rates in 2023. The National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) reported:
The Greenland ice sheet lost an estimated 400 gigatons of ice, contributing significantly to global sea level rise.
Antarctic sea ice reached its lowest extent in recorded history during the winter months.
Plastic pollution remained a critical issue, with over 8 million tons of plastic waste entering the oceans annually. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch expanded further, threatening marine life and ecosystems.
Efforts to Combat Plastic Waste:
Legislative Actions: Countries like Canada and the EU implemented bans on single-use plastics.
Innovative Solutions: Startups and NGOs developed ocean-cleaning technologies and biodegradable alternatives.
The environmental and climate challenges of 2023 serve as a stark reminder of the fragility of our planet. While progress was made in renewable energy and policy initiatives, the pace of degradation continues to outstrip solutions. Addressing these challenges demands an unprecedented level of global cooperation, innovation, and commitment from all sectors of society.
What can you do? Educate yourself, advocate for sustainable policies, and make environmentally conscious choices in your daily life. The fight for our planet’s future requires all hands on deck.
We are feeling extra merry this month and would like to make the holidays brighter with a special limited time offer:
Throughout December you get a FREE YEAR with main account renewals on the Medium plan or larger!
This means that your existing account plan will be immediately upgraded for TWO YEARS if you purchase the Medium, Max, Max100, or Max250 plan now.
The additional subscription time will automatically be added to the end of your current subscription.
Just go to Plans & Upgrades and log in, and then select the Medium plan or larger. Finally, proceed to the shopping cart in the top right corner and complete your payment.
We have recently upgraded Runbox 7 with a new message list action menu. Per popular request from our customers we have now implemented a new menu that is always shown above the message list, instead of as a popup menu shown only when messages are selected:
We have also upgraded the HTML editor in Compose and added font selections so that you can change the font face when writing messages.
And if you search for email often (like us) you will be happy to know that searches now support date ranges. Here are a few examples of date searches that you can use either directly in the basic search field or via the advanced search pane:
date:2023 All messages in 2023
date:202310 All messages in October 2023
date:20231001 All messages on October 1, 2023
date:2022..2023 All messages from 2022 to (and including) 2023
date:20231001..202311 All messages from October 1, 2023 to (and including) November 2023
For more help on email searches in Runbox 7, please see message search help.
To see all changes to Runbox 7, please go see the Changelog in the app.
Runbox was recently informed via our Internet Service Provider that a global botnet (robotnetwork) consisting of hundreds of thousands of computers has been disrupted by the FBI.
In a coordinated operation taking place on August 29 in the US and several European countries, the malware (malicious software) known as Qakbot was removed from a large number of infected computers around the world.
What is Qaknet?
Since 2008, Qakbot had spread to victim computers mainly through spam email messages that contained malicious attachments or links. The infected computers effectively comprised a multinational infrastructure that cybercriminals utilized to commit ransomware, financial fraud, and other criminal activities.
In recent years the Qaknet botnet grew rapidly and some estimates state that it was related to around 25% of malware websites and responsible for extorting their victims through ransom payments amounting to tens of millions of dollars over the past couple of years.
Protecting your email account
As a security and privacy conscious email service we welcome this news and congratulate law enforcement on disrupting a vast network of cyber criminals who have victimized individuals and businesses on a large scale for decades.
Qaknet has also impacted some Runbox customers and we are contacting those affected directly via email in order to ensure their accounts are secured.
We strongly recommend that all email users utilize antivirus and antimalware software in addition to the spam and virus filters that are available in your email account. You can find a comparison of such software for various platforms at Wikipedia.
More information
More information about the dismantling of Qaknet can be found here:
With this release we are adding more advanced search features including date range searches, as well as improved HTML view controls that let you save display preferences per individual sender.
💡 To access these features, ensure that Runbox 7 is updated by reloading it in a web browser or restarting it on your phone.
More advanced search functionality
Search field controls
By clicking the wrench icon next to the search field you can now easily search only for messages that:
Have one or more attachments.
Have been replied to.
Are flagged.
Are unread.
This screenshot shows the advanced search area that provides you with extensive options for message search:
Advanced search area screenshot
Additionally you can now search by date ranges, for instance messages that were:
Received in 2023: date:2023
Received between 2020 and 2021: date:2020..2021
Received in 2021 or later: date:2021..
Improved HTML message view controls
We have also improved the HTML message view controls that allow you to save HTML and image display preferences for individual senders or for all senders.
The examples below illustrate how this functionality can be used.
HTML view options example 1
Show the text version for the current message:
HTML view options example 2
Show the HTML version with images for all messages from this sender:
Larger popular recipients list
The popular recipients list in Compose has also been improved by increasing the number of contacts from 5 to 10.
The addresses shown beneath the To field can be added to the To field by clicking on them, or dragged to the To, CC, or BCC fields.
Note that this functionality is only available when using the local search index, which is controlled by the “Synchronize index” button in the lower left corner.
Changelog since the previous release
For the more technically inclined, a list of the changes made to Runbox 7 since the previous release can be found below.
This constitutes a major upgrade to the framework and libraries that Runbox 7 is built on, which will facilitate further continuous upgrades and features.
It also includes several bug fixes and improvements, including storing display preferences on the server. This will make the user interface work more consistently across browsers, devices, and sessions and result in a more streamlined experience.
Internal changes (deps): bump ua-parser-js from 0.7.31 to 0.7.33 (75df34d)
Internal changes (deps): bump jszip from 3.7.1 to 3.10.1 (ef32ab1)
Bug fix (drafts): Ensure we only refresh drafts once per folders update (f024af2)
Bug fix (delete): Catch/Prevent more errors by ensuring defaults (5e83f89)
New feature (mailviewer): Display incoming attachment sizes (926ab4b)
Bug fix (compose): More readable attachment file size display (e44fc63)
Visual changes (security): Specify which special characters are allowed in passwords. (#1401) (c575f06)
Internal changes (deps): Update angular2-hotkeys to v13 (85aee64)
Internal changes (deps): Upgrade to angular 12 (11b3aeb)
Internal changes (deps): Update nodejs version for CI (a5cd077)
Here at Runbox we have been hard at work over the past several months making improvements to Runbox 7, our cutting edge webmail app available at https://runbox.com/app.
Our goal is to develop the fastest and most user-friendly email service available, and as we’re winding down a bit for the holidays we take the opportunity to tell you all about the many bug fixes and other improvements we have made based on feedback from you, our customers.
The most noticeable change is that we have decreased the font sizes slightly, which allows a much more efficient use of the available space in your browser:
Runbox 7 screenshot
Based on your feedback we have fixed a large number of issues that makes the Runbox 7 app more streamlined in everyday use. Through a series of Quality Milestones and a thorough review of Runbox 7 feedback along with diverse support requests we have made over 70 improvements to:
The overall performance and reliability of the app
Folder and message list displays
Compose and the Draft Desk, including attachment handling
Message view including the display of HTML and images
Settings including Identities and Account Security
After this period dedicated to improving the quality of existing functionality in Runbox 7 we are gearing up to continue implementing the Runbox 7 Roadmap in 2023, so stay tuned for new features and improvements coming your way in 2023!
