People wait for rescue in a building in Beijing on Aug. 2 after record rainfall caused widespread flooding in the capital. Photo: VCG

A child stands on a beach inundated with garbage on Dec. 1 in Chennai, India. Photo: IC Photo

Treated radioactive water is released into the sea from Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant on Aug. 24. Photo: VCG

A man dunks his head into a fountain amid a heat wave in July in Rome, Italy. Photo: IC Photo

Scientists from the University of Iceland take measurements and samples from an active volcano in Grindavik, Iceland, on Dec. 19. Photo: VCG

On June 6, the Statue of Liberty in New York is shrouded in an orange haze caused by smoke from wildfires in eastern Canada. Photo: IC Photo

People sit on the banks of the McDougall River on Aug. 17 and watch wildfires rip through Kelowna in British Columbia, Canada. Photo: VCG

A man carries drinking water along a dried riverbed near the Amazon rainforest on Oct. 26 in Amazonas, Brazil. Photo: IC Photo

A man walks on the cracked bed of the dried Baells reservoir in March in Catalonia, Spain. Local drinking water supplies reached the lowest point since 1990 due to extreme drought. Photo: VCG

A dog sits in front of a shed on July 26 as the nearby forest burns in Volos, Greece. Photo: VCG

A woman wades through floodwater in Northern Ireland on Oct. 31. Photo: IC Photo

A worker on Oct. 2 deals with the remains of dolphins that died from an intense drought in Amazonas, Brazil. Photo: IC Photo

A man runs through sea foam caused by huge waves and floods in Cape Town, South Africa, on June 19. Photo: IC Photo

A worker scoops up plastic bottles with a shovel in Kenya on June 5, World Environment Day. The theme of this year’s World Environment Day was “solutions to plastic pollution.” Photo: IC Photo