climate canary

British  

noun

1. a human being or other living organism whose lack of health indicates environmental problems, reminiscent of the way in which live canaries were once used to detect the presence of poisonous gas in coal mines

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Example Sentences

More recently, scientists have started calling this water-loving relative of redwoods by a less flattering name: the climate canary.

From Seattle Times

As for the climate canary, Buhl believes red cedar is unlikely to disappear from the landscape entirely but probably won’t grow back in areas where it’s dying off.

From Seattle Times

“There’s a feeling among the scientific community here that the eyes of the world are on Australia. It’s been called the climate canary in the coal mine. The predictions of climate change were expected to be manifest first and most obviously in Australia, because it’s already a dry continent,” Dickman said.

From Washington Post