Climate and environment updates: 7 key measures of Earth's health in danger, report warns

The world uses a lot of plastic -- 460 million metric tons of it are produced each year, according to the United Nations. And the International Union for Conservation of Nature says an estimated 20 million metric tons of plastic end up as trash in our environment.

So when more than 3,300 delegates from 170 countries and 440 organizations met in South Korea at the end of November to hash out an agreement to reduce the production of plastics, environmentalists hoped that something might finally get done to address the problem. It didn't.

The fifth U.N. Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee failed to reach a binding agreement on plastic production and waste for the fifth time since the group began meeting in November 2022.

Nearly 100 countries came to an agreement that would limit plastic production and establish an accountability method ensuring all parties would meet reduction goalposts. Some oil-rich nations pushed back, however, wanting to focus on plastic pollution instead. U.N. rules require a consensus among all delegates for any plan to be binding. That didn't happen.

"It is clear there is persisting divergence in critical areas and more time is needed for these areas to be addressed," said Inger Andersen, executive director of the U.N. Environment Program.

Most plastic is not recycled. Instead, it ends up in landfills and pollutes marine bodies like oceans and rivers worldwide. According to an OECD report from 2022, only 9% of plastics worldwide get recycled, and since 1970, 139 metric tons have ended up in our oceans, rivers and lakes. A 2021 study revealed that the plastics industry's contribution to climate change will exceed coal's by 2030.

While countries failed to reach an agreement on capping the production of plastic, they did agree to continue talks in 2025.

"As we look ahead to 2025, and navigate what an INC 5.2 could look like, countries must come to the table ready to fight for our future," said Erin Simon, vice president and head of plastic waste and business at World Wildlife Fund. "The current draft has some of the ingredients for success, but we can't back down on delivering a legally binding text that finally puts us on a course to eliminate plastic pollution."

According to the Center of International Environmental Law, fossil fuel and chemical industry lobbyists made up the largest delegation of all groups at the talks.

"Let us always remember that our purpose is noble and urgent: to reverse and remedy the severe effects of plastic pollution on ecosystems and human health," said Luis Vayas Valdivieso, chair of the U.N.'s international plastics negotiating committee.

-ABC News' Charlotte Slovin

It's all but certain that 2024 will be Earth's warmest year on record, surpassing 2023 as the previous record holder. While this troubling milestone measures global average temperatures, a new study from the Columbia Climate School found that unexplained extreme heat wave hot spots are popping up in specific areas worldwide.

Calling it "a striking new phenomenon," the study's authors write, "Distinct regions are seeing repeated heat waves that are so extreme, they fall far beyond what any model of global warming can predict or explain."

According to the study, "The large and unexpected margins by which recent regional-scale extremes have broken earlier records have raised questions about the degree to which climate models can provide adequate estimates of relations between global mean temperature changes and regional climate risks."

The study identified these hot spots on every continent except Antarctica. Researchers say the heat waves have mostly been a recent phenomenon, occurring primarily over the last five years, although some date back to the early 2000s and before.

Central China, Japan, Korea, the Arabian peninsula, eastern Australia and certain parts of Africa were the hardest-hit areas. The study, however, found that parts of Texas and New Mexico were also impacted, just not as much as the other regions.

"This is about extreme trends that are the outcome of physical interactions we might not completely understand," said lead author Kai Kornhuber, an adjunct scientist at the Columbia Climate School's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, in a statement. "These regions become temporary hothouses."

The researchers say it's unclear what is causing these hot spots. While one study has pointed to wobbles in the jet stream as a possible culprit, the authors say that the hypothesis doesn't explain all the extremes.

Regardless of the cause, heat is the deadliest weather-related hazard in the United States. The Journal of the American Medical Association found that heat deaths in the U.S. have nearly doubled since 1999 and account for a 63% increase in health-related death rates between 1999-2023.

"Due to their unprecedented nature, these heat waves are usually linked to very severe health impacts, and can be disastrous for agriculture, vegetation and infrastructure," said Kornhuber. "We're not built for them, and we might not be able to adapt fast enough."

-ABC News Climate Unit's Matthew Glasser

The amount of food consumed every year at Thanksgiving is actually associated with a large carbon footprint, according to experts.

Although Thanksgiving may be the holiday best known for indulging, there are ways to enjoy your favorite meal of the year while keeping the environment in mind.

"The Thanksgiving meal is more than just the food," Lauri Wright, director of nutrition programs at the University of South Florida's College of Public Health, told ABC News. "There's so much meaning [and] emotions associated with it."

The average Thanksgiving dinner has a carbon footprint of about 103 pounds of carbon dioxide, according to the Climate Trade, an environmental solutions platform.

Here are some tips to have a more sustainable Thanksgiving.

Maine has become the latest in a growing number of states to sue the fossil fuel industry over the impacts of global warming.

Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey accused major fossil fuel companies of deceiving Mainers for decades about the impact their product has on human-amplified climate change.

"For over half a century, these companies chose to fuel profits instead of following their science to prevent what are now likely irreversible, catastrophic climate effects," Frey said in a statement.

The lawsuit, filed in state court on Tuesday, alleges the defendants knew as early as the 1960s that an increasing use of fossil fuels could potentially bring devastating consequences to Maine. The state argues the companies not only failed to warn residents about the consequences, but knowingly concealed their knowledge about the long-term negative impacts that Maine's people, environment and economy could face.

The filing states the companies focused on creating public doubt by launching public relations campaigns targeting the science of climate change and the impacts of burning fossil fuels. It is seeking financial compensation for both past and future climate-related damages and for the companies to cease their ongoing deception in Maine.

"They burdened the state and our citizens with the consequences of their greed and deception," Frey said.

Maine Gov. Janet Mills applauded the attorney general's actions, saying in a statement that "for decades, big oil companies have made record profits, taking billions out of the pockets of Maine people while deliberately deceiving them about the harmful impacts of fossil fuels -- impacts that Maine people see and feel every day."

Maine joins a growing list of more than 20 states -- including California, Minnesota, Massachusetts and Vermont -- that have brought similar types of lawsuits to date. Earlier this year, Vermont's Climate Superfund Act became law, seeking financial accountability for climate change-related damages brought by fossil fuel companies. However, due to stipulations in the law and likely lawsuits, it's expected to be several years before any potential first charge to fossil fuel companies would be attempted.

-ABC News meteorologist Dan Peck