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In 2022, Photographers Captured Pain of a Changing Planet

In 2022, Associated Press photographers captured signs of a planet in distress as climate change reshaped many lives.

That distress was seen in the scarred landscapes in places where the rains failed to come. It was felt in walloping storms, land-engulfing floods, suffocating heat and wildfires no longer confined to a single season. It could be tasted in altered crops or felt as hunger pangs when crops stopped growing. And taken together, millions of people were compelled to pick up and move as many habitats became uninhabitable.

2022 will be a year remembered for destruction brought on by a warming planet and, according to scientists, was a harbinger for even more extreme weather.

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PARCHED EARTH

In June, two young men sat smoking in front of a boat that had previously been under water. The waterline in parts of Lake Mead National Recreation Area in Nevada had dropped so much that the boat was now standing up in the mud. Such dramatic manifestations were seen in myriad places.

In Germany, drought combined with a bark beetle infestation left large swaths of Harz forest trees spindly, while in Kenya mothers struggled to keep their children nourished and animals died because of a lack of water. Along the Solimoes River in the Brazilian Amazon, houseboat dwellers found themselves living on mud instead of water, as parts dried up.

In eastern France, normally lush sunflowers looked as if they had been fried, their leaves withered and seeds blackened. Similar scars on the Earth's surface were seen in reef-like structures exposed by receding waters in Utah's Great Salt Lake, the cracked bed of Hungary's Lake Velence and the shrunken Yangtze River in southwestern China.

Bobby Rhinebolt, right, smokes a cigarette while sitting beside Victor Perez near a formerly sunken boat that is now above the waterline at the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, near Boulder City, Nev., on June 22.
—John Locher

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The remains of trees destroyed by bark beetle and drought are visible in the Harz forest at Brocken Mountain, near Schierke, Germany, on July 17.
—Matthias Schrader

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Maasai children stand beside a zebra that local residents say died due to drought, as they graze their cattle at Ilangeruani village, near Lake Magadi, in Kenya, on Nov. 9.
—Brian Inganga

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Park ranger Angelic Lemmon walks across reef-like structures called microbialites, exposed by receding waters, at the Great Salt Lake, near Salt Lake City, on Sept. 28.
—Rick Bowmer

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Nalangu Lekoomet weeps as she holds her malnourished son Peisaal Loitibik in West Gate Village, Samburu County, Kenya, on Oct. 13. She explains that the 2-year-old collapsed because of starvation.
—Brian Inganga

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Parched sunflowers stand in Kochersberg, near Strasbourg, in eastern France, on Aug. 28.
—Jean-Francois Badias

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Jose Penin, 72, walks with his brother Julio, 78, as they visit Aceredo, an old village that had been submerged three decades ago when a hydropower dam flooded the valley but could be seen above ground this year in the wake of a drought at the Lindoso reservoir, in northwestern Spain, on Feb. 11.
—Emilio Morenatti

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Houseboats sit on land affected by drought near the Solimoes River, in Tefe, Amazonas state, Brazil, on Oct. 19.
—Edmar Barros

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A goose walks on a dried bed of Lake Velence in Velence, Hungary, on Aug. 11.
—Anna Szilagyi

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A man stands in shallow water near the dry riverbed of the Yangtze River in southwestern China's Chongqing Municipality on Aug. 19.
—Mark Schiefelbein

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STORMS AND FLOODS

While a lack of rain did damage in many places, in others too much precipitation altered landscapes and swallowed lives. Sometimes the same region, in a short amount of time, went from drought to deluge — what scientists refer to as a “whiplash effect." This happened in parts of Yellowstone National Park last summer.

The country hardest hit by floods was Pakistan, with a third of its land submerged, millions of people displaced and at least 1,700 killed. But many countries were hit hard by storms. In Cuba, a tropical cyclone in June led to so much flooding that rescuers moved through the streets of Havana in boats. Just a few months later, Hurricane Ian slammed into the island before continuing to Florida, leaving destruction and death in its wake.

Heavy floods were also seen in parts of Nigeria, India, Indonesia and numerous other places, while in one part of Brazil, a common aftereffect of flooding — landslides — killed more than 200 people.

To be sure, there were human attempts to better prepare and deal with flooding. One example: Chinese authorities continued to develop and expand “sponge cities,” which aim to use porous pavement and green spaces to absorb water and reduce the destruction of flooding.

 

Residents push a boat through a flooded street to rescue a neighbor unable to leave his home on his own during a tropical cyclone in Havana, Cuba, on June 3.
—Ramon Espinosa

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Suratmi, who like many in Indonesia goes by one name, lies in her bed as her daughter Ngatiroh, right, walks on the floor that has been raised to keep flood water from entering their house in Timbulsloko, Central Java, Indonesia, on July 30.
—Dita Alangkara

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People wade through a flooded road after heavy rains in Gauhati, Assam state, India, on June 14.
—Anupam Nath

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A walkway goes through ponds and islets at the "Fish Tail" sponge park that's built on a former coal ash dump site to prevent flooding and collect water for times of drought in Nanchang in China's Jiangxi province on Oct. 30.
—Ng Han Guan

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​​A teacher dries out books at a school that was heavily damaged by Hurricane Ian in La Coloma, in the province of Pinar del Rio, Cuba, on Oct. 5.
—Ramon Espinosa

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A house sits in Rock Creek after floods washed away a road and a bridge in Red Lodge, Mont., on June 15.
—David Goldman

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Residents look for victims in an area affected by deadly landslides in Petropolis, Brazil, on Feb. 16.
—Silvia Izquierdo

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People walk through floodwaters after heavy rainfall in Hadeja, Nigeria, on Sept 19.

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Bruce Hickey, 70, walks along the waterfront, now littered with debris including shrimp boats, in the mobile home park where he and his wife, Kathy, have a winter home on San Carlos Island, Fort Myers Beach, Fla., on Oct. 5, one week after the passage of Hurricane Ian.
—Rebecca Blackwell

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Flood victims from monsoon rain use a makeshift barge to carry hay for cattle, in Jaffarabad, a district of Pakistan's southwestern Baluchistan province, on Sept. 5.
—Fareed Khan

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HEAT AND FIRE

In recent years, wildfires have become commonplace across the Western U.S. amid a 23-year drought and rising temperatures. Compared to last year, there were slightly fewer wildfires in 2022 in California — the state routinely hardest hit — but many blazes still chewed through land and homes.

America was hardly alone. There were significant fires in Portugal, Greece, Argentina and many other countries. Images like a living room engulfed in flames, an evacuated woman clinging to a police officer and a man using a branch to protect his home were visceral reminders of the fury that fires unleash.

Along with fires, there were periodic bouts of extreme heat. A sweating British soldier, wearing a traditional bearskin hat outside Buckingham Palace, captured a reality for many Brits, as temperatures reached 104 degrees Fahrenheit (40.3 degrees Celsius ), a new record for the country.

How people coped with sauna-like conditions depended on the place. In Madrid, a fountain at an urban beach provided relief to parents and children. In Hungary, three people cooled off in a fill-up pool. And in Los Angeles, a woman stuck her head in front of an open fire hydrant.

Flames engulf a chair inside a burning home as the Oak Fire rages in Mariposa County, Calif., on July 23.
—Noah Berger

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Barnabas Kantor works from the pool while his wife, Rebeka, left, and sister-in-law, Emma, cool down in Budapest, Hungary, on Aug. 4.
—Anna Szilagyi

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A volunteer swings a tree branch in an attempt to prevent a forest fire from reaching houses in the village of Casal da Quinta, outside Leiria, central Portugal, on July 12.
—Joao Henriques

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A police officer gives water to a British soldier wearing a traditional bearskin hat on guard duty outside Buckingham Palace, during a heat wave in London, on July 18.
—Matt Dunham

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People cool off at an urban beach in Madrid Rio park during a heat wave in Madrid on July 13.
—Manu Fernandez

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A wildfire consumes an area near Victoria, Entre Rios province, Argentina, on Aug. 19.
—Natacha Pisarenko

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Stephanie Williams, 60, cools off with water from a hydrant in the Skid Row area of Los Angeles on Aug. 31.
—Jae C. Hong

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Wind whips embers from a burning tree during a wildfire near Hemet, Calif., on Sept. 6.
—Ringo H.W. Chiu

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IMPERILED FOOD

In October, Wilbur Kuzuzuk pulled a spotted seal to the edge of the lagoon in Shishmaref, a town in western Alaska that is on the verge of disappearing because of climate change.

The 600 residents of the Inupiat village have stayed put despite increasing risks to their way of life, including their food supply, as warming seas encroach on land and warming temperatures hurt habitats. But residents like Kuzuzuk know Shishmaref's days are likely numbered: Twice the town has voted to relocate, though nothing has been put in motion.

All around the world there were clear threats to food supply. In India, floods damaged corn and other crops, leaving farmers no choice but to try to salvage as much as possible. In Kenya and surrounding countries, drought increased hunger and pushed villagers to dig ever deeper in search of groundwater, a lifeline for many.

Other threats were subtle. In Canada, northern gannet birds had to travel farther and dive deeper to colder waters in order to hunt fish. And in Brazil, rising sea levels brought more salt to the roots of acai palm trees, altering the taste —and marketability — of the beloved acai berry.

To be sure, there were stories of success. In a part of the Brazilian Amazon, locals putting limits on the number of giant pirarucu fish that can be caught has led the population to increase.
 

Seal hunter Wilbur Kuzuzuk, 53, drags a spotted seal, his only catch of the day, to the edge of the lagoon in Shishmaref, Alaska, on Oct. 4.
—Jae C. Hong

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Northern gannets dive for fish near Perce Rock just after sunrise in Perce, Quebec, Canada, on Sept. 15.
—Carolyn Kaster

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A dog named Kaloua sits next to freshly caught salmon along the Columbia River, which like other major river systems has been impacted by climate change in several ways, in Bonneville, Ore., on June 20.
—Jessie Wardarski

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A woman dries flood-damaged corn crops on a road near a paddy field in Morigaon district, Assam state, India, on June 28
—Anupam Nath

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A woman hesitates to share a piece of palm fruit with her friend in the village of Lomoputh, in northern Kenya, on May 12.
—Brian Inganga

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Fishermen who participate in a sustainability initiative to protect population levels of pirarucu fish prepare to transfer their catch and then transport it to a processing ship in Carauari, Brazil, on Sept. 6.
—Jorge Saenz

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Alcindo Farias Junior, who works in the production of acai, shows fruits that have had their color and taste altered by increasing incursions of salty waters in the community of Vila de Sao Pedro in the Bailique Archipelago, state of Amapa, northern Brazil, on Sept. 11.
—Eraldo Peres

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Letoyie Leroshi gives cows groundwater from a well, a lifeline in the drought-stricken area of Kom village, Samburu County, Kenya, on Oct. 15.
—Brian Inganga

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CLIMATE MIGRATION

Taken together, all of these problems pushed millions of people to migrate. Perhaps nowhere was that clearer than in Somalia, where severe drought led to starvation and prompted thousands of people to flee. Many migrants ended up in makeshift camps, like one in Dollow, emaciated, young children in tow, desperately seeking food and water.

Much of the migration happened within borders. In India's Ladakh region, a cold mountainous desert that borders China and Pakistan, shrinking grazable land, along with other effects of climate change, continued to force many to migrate from sparsely populated villages to urban settlements.

In Indonesia, a big driver of migration was encroaching seas. In Central Java, homes not outfitted with raised floors were swallowed, pushing those who didn't have the means to seek other abodes.

In Kenya, a woman named Winnie Keben recounted how she lost her leg to a crocodile attack. She blamed the attack, in part, on the fact that rising water levels around Lake Baringo have brought animals closer to humans. Many scientists attribute that to climate change.

Keben's home was also washed away, sending her family to another village.

A Somali woman breastfeeds her child at a camp for displaced people suffering amid a major drought on the outskirts of Dollow, Somalia, on Sept. 20.
—Jerome Delay

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Nomadic women milk Himalayan goats that produce cashmere on Sept. 17, in the remote Kharnak village in the cold desert region of Ladakh, India, an area particularly vulnerable to climate change.
—Mukhtar Khan

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Winnie Keben becomes emotional as she speaks to a reporter in Baringo County, Kenya, on July 21, and recounts how she lost her leg in a crocodile attack. That accident plus the loss of her home to rising water drove her and her family from their village.
—Brian Inganga

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A family crosses a raised walkway in Timbulsloko, Central Java, Indonesia, on July 31.
—Dita Alangkara

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Jerifa Islam stands outside her home on July 20 in a poor neighborhood in Bengaluru, India, where her family relocated after flooding in 2019 pushed them from their Himalayan village.
—Aijaz Rahi

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Amid a severe drought, people arrive at a displacement camp on the outskirts of Dollow, Somalia, on Sept. 21.
—Jerome Delay

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A migrant worker lies on a cot by a road after fleeing his house along the flooded banks of the Yamuna River in New Delhi, on Sept. 28.
—Altaf Qadri

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