Avid texters will soon have a new way to talk about the growing impacts of climate change: an emoji depicting a tree without leaves. Approval of the emoji was revealed in an update earlier this ...

Google earlier in the month unveiled its full-color design versions of the newly approved emoji, which also include a paint splatter, a fingerprint, root vegetable, harp, leafless tree ...

“The climate is changing, droughts are becoming more frequent and more severe,” said Brian Baihaki, the designer behind the new emoji. “Trees have adapted in different ways to survive these ...

While the leafless tree emoji might look like a reference for winter, or a spooky emoji perfect for a Halloween post, the icon was created to represent nature dying because of droughts.