“We are on the deathbed. Humanity cannot survive – the way it has been behaving with nature – for more than fifty years, sixty years, or, at the most, one hundred years, which is nothing. If the Third World War does not happen, then we will be committing a slow suicide. Within a hundred years, we will be gone. Not even a trace will be left.”1 Osho
See also: Osho, “Religion: The Crimes Against Nature and the Environment”
And: Priests & Politicians: The Mafia of the Soul
It is becoming increasingly clear that humanity just doesn’t have the consciousness to prevent the inexorable destruction of the only home it has.
- Carbon Dioxide Levels in the Atmosphere
- The Human Population Clock is Ticking
- The Emissions Gap Report 2022
The Unfolding Story – 2025 – Updated Regularly:
Read 2024 Edition HERE
May 21, 2025
Earth may already be too hot for the survival of polar ice sheets, study says
If Earth stays at its current levels of warming — below policymakers’ goal of 1.5 degrees Celsius — polar ice sheets may melt, causing seas to rise and displacing coastal communities, a study finds.
“A group of scientists has demonstrated that if the world stays on course to warm up to 1.5 degrees — or even stays at its current level of 1.2 degrees above preindustrial levels — polar ice sheets will probably continue to quickly melt, causing seas to rise and displacing coastal communities, according to a study published Tuesday in Communications Earth and Environment.
“‘There was a kind of misunderstanding that 1.5 was going to solve all our problems,’ said Chris Stokes, a professor at Durham University in England who focuses on glaciers and ice sheets, and an author of the study. Now, the team surmised that limit is closer to around 1 degree Celsius.” – The Washington Post
May 20, 2025
Sea level rise will cause ‘catastrophic inland migration’, scientists warn
Rising oceans will force millions away from coasts even if global temperature rise remains below 1.5C, analysis finds
“The world is on track for 2.5C-2.9C of global heating, which would almost certainly be beyond tipping points for the collapse of the Greenland and west Antarctic ice sheets. The melting of those ice sheets would lead to a ‘really dire’ 12 metres of sea level rise.
“Today, about 230 million people live within 1 metre above current sea level, and 1 billion live within 10 metres above sea level. Even just 20cm of sea level rise by 2050 would lead to global flood damages of at least $1tn a year for the world’s 136 largest coastal cities and huge impacts on people’s lives and livelihoods.” – The Guardian
May 19, 2025
Glaciers will take centuries to recover even if global warming is reversed, scientists warn
New research reveals mountain glaciers across the globe will not recover for centuries — even if human intervention cools the planet back to the 1.5 C limit, having exceeded it.
“‘Overshooting 1.5°C, even temporarily, locks in glacier loss for centuries. Our study shows that much of this damage cannot simply be undone — even if temperatures later return to safer levels. The longer we delay emissions cuts, the more we burden future generations with irreversible change.'” – ScienceDaily
May 14, 2025
How the World’s Most Powerful Corporations Have Fought Accountability for Climate Change
A new report draws on internal company documents and other public records to comprehensively outline the fossil fuel industry’s decades-long campaign to mislead the public and avoid paying for their products’ harms.
“The documents and records cited in the report, released Wednesday by the watchdog group Union of Concerned Scientists, have been reported on previously. But the report’s authors say they are the first to aggregate and analyze those documents in a comprehensive way.
“‘This report puts together, in one place, a powerful body of evidence about what the fossil fuel corporations knew—and when—about the climate impacts of their products, and what they did in spite of what they knew,’ said Kathy Mulvey, a report author and accountability campaign director for the Climate and Energy Program at UCS.
“Mulvey said the report should add heft to dozens of lawsuits pending worldwide against fossil fuel companies over their contribution to climate change.” – Inside Climate News
May 14, 2025
Car use and meat consumption drive emissions gender gap, research suggests
“Cars and meat are major factors driving a gender gap in greenhouse gas emissions, new research suggests.
“Men emit 26% more planet-heating pollution than women from transport and food, according to a preprint study of 15,000 people in France. The gap shrinks to 18% after controlling for socioeconomic factors such as income and education.
“Eating red meat and driving cars explain almost all of the 6.5-9.5% difference in pollution that remains after also accounting for men eating more calories and travelling longer distances, the researchers said. They found no gender gap from flying.” – The Guardian
May 13, 2025
Pharmaceutical Pollution Is Widespread Across the World’s Waterways
Antibiotics, antidepressants and other drugs frequently leach into the environment, where they can impact ecosystems and human health.
“Many of the world’s waterways are awash with varying levels of pharmaceuticals, according to a wide body of research. These medical byproducts come from all different sources, including industrial dumping and agriculture. They can even come from our own waste; peoples’ bodies don’t absorb all the medication they take, so much of it ends up in the sewage system, which then frequently releases into the environment.
“A new modeling study estimates that every year, thousands of tons of the most-used antibiotics are released into the world’s rivers from human consumption alone—and 11 percent of them reach the world’s oceans or inland sinks. Researchers have also discovered widespread contamination of aquatic ecosystems with antidepressants, heart medications and other drugs in recent years.
“Though levels of drug accumulation in watersheds are often low, even trace amounts can have profound impacts on wildlife and human health—and climate change could be making the problem worse.” – Inside Climate News
May 10, 2025
Silent Collapse of the World’s Fertile Lands
“About 86% of global croplands have experienced an increase in extreme climate stress over the past two decades, with fertile areas rich in soil organic carbon (SOC) being particularly at risk.”
“While overall surface exposure of croplands has decreased globally, areas with high SOC are increasingly exposed to extreme events such as high temperatures, strong winds, and intense precipitation.”
“A globally increasing exposure of SOC-rich croplands to climate extremes may accelerate soil degradation and threaten global food production.”
– Feng et al. (2025), Nature Communications
May 9, 2025
Unprecedented Climate Extremes Will Define the Lives of Today’s Children
“A new study published in Nature warns that more than half of the world’s children born in 2020 will experience unprecedented lifetime exposure to extreme climate events such as heatwaves, crop failures, floods, droughts, wildfires, and tropical cyclones.
Under current policies leading to 2.7°C of warming, the study projects a dramatic rise in exposure to life-threatening conditions. If global temperatures reach 3.5°C by 2100, 92% of people born in 2020 will face extreme heat waves, 29% will face crop failures, and 14% will encounter major river floods. These risks are disproportionately higher among socially vulnerable groups.
What today’s children are inheriting is not just a warmer world, but a deeply unjust one — a reality where the timing and place of one’s birth determines their right to a livable life.” – Grant et al. (2025), Nature
May 8, 2025
“The Smoke That Kills” — A Silent Toll from Climate-Driven Wildfires
“Wildfires intensified by climate change have silently claimed over 15,000 lives in the United States between 2006 and 2020, according to a new study. The economic toll? An estimated $160 billion.
As global warming fuels droughts and extreme heat, forests across the American West—especially in Oregon and California—are turning into tinderboxes. The primary killer is PM2.5, microscopic particles from wildfire smoke that penetrate deep into the lungs. These particles worsen existing health conditions and disproportionately threaten the vulnerable: children, the elderly, pregnant people, and outdoor workers.
“These numbers are really significant… This study drives home how far-reaching the impacts are.” — Jacob Bendix, Professor Emeritus, Syracuse University
The research demonstrates that climate change is not a distant threat but a deadly force already shaping mortality—with wildfires just one of its many faces. And unless emissions are drastically reduced, such deaths will only increase.” – AP News
May 7, 2025
Climate change: Future of today’s young people
Today’s vulnerable youth will be most affected by continued greenhouse gas emissions
“Climate scientists reveal that millions of today’s young people will live through unprecedented lifetime exposure to heatwaves, crop failures, river floods, droughts, wildfires and tropical storms under current climate policies. If global temperatures rise by 3.5° C by 2100, 92% of children born in 2020 will experience unprecedented heatwave exposure over their lifetime, affecting 111 million children.
“Meeting the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C target could protect 49 million children from this risk.
This is only for one birth year. When considering all children currently between 5 and 18 years old, this adds up to 1.5 billion affected under a 3.5°C scenario — with 654 million children that could be protected by staying below 1.5°C.”
— ScienceDaily
May 7, 2025
Two-thirds of global heating caused by richest 10%, study suggests
Paper in Nature Climate Change journal reveals major role wealthy emitters play in driving climate extremes
“Wealthier groups bore more disproportionate responsibility still, with the richest 1% – those with annual incomes of €147,200 – responsible for 20% of global heating, and the richest 0.1% – the 800,000 or so people in the world raking in more than €537,770 – responsible for 8%.
“‘We found that the wealthiest 10% contributed 6.5 times more to global warming than the average, with the top 1% and 0.1% contributing 20 and 76 times more, respectively,’ they write in their paper, published on Wednesday in the journal Nature Climate Change.” – The Guardian
May 6, 2025
Cutting greenhouse gases will reduce number of deaths from poor air quality
“Up to 250,000 deaths from poor air quality could be prevented annually in central and western Europe by 2050 if greenhouse gas emissions are drastically reduced, say researchers.” – ScienceDaily
May 3, 2025
Killer fungi to spread as climate heats up
“Rising temperatures will drive the global spread of a killer fungus that infects millions of people a year, according to new research on how climate change is stoking severe disease threats. The Aspergillus family could expand its reach to more northerly swaths of Europe, Asia and the Americas, underscoring the stealthy menace of moulds already estimated to be a factor in 5 per cent of all worldwide deaths. “Climatic shifts are broadening the geographical reach of many potentially lethal pathogens, such as those borne by mosquitoes. Fungi are a particular peril, due to their hard-to-detect spores, a shortage of treatments for the diseases they trigger, and growing resistance to existing drugs. The world is now approaching a ‘tipping point’ in the proliferation of fungal pathogens whose habitats range from arid earth to warm damp corners of houses, warned Norman van Rhijn, co-author of the new Aspergillus research.
“‘We’re talking about hundreds of thousands of lives, and continental shifts in species distributions,’ said van Rhijn, a Wellcome Trust research fellow at Manchester university who specialises in fungal infections and microbial evolution. ‘In 50 years, where things grow and what you get infected by is going to be completely different.'” – Financial Times
May 2, 2025
75 percent of North America’s bird species are in decline, study says
Birds are rapidly vanishing from North America, with dramatic population losses in places that were once thought safe.
“Across North America, three-fourths of bird species are in decline, according to a sweeping study of avian populations published Thursday, the latest sign of a slow-moving extinction crisis that threatens entire ecosystems.
“The population losses among the continent’s birds — red-winged blackbirds belting conk-la-ree! in marshlands, chickadees gathering around suburban bird feeders, peregrine falcons swooping between skyscrapers — should serve as a canary in the coal mine for people who live alongside birds, scientists say.
“For a majority of bird species, the decrease observed between 2007 and 2021 was greatest in the places where they are most abundant, suggesting birds are struggling even in their strongholds.” – The Washington Post
May 2, 2025
Thousands of Falling Satellites Put the Atmosphere at Risk
“Decommissioned satellites, which vaporize when they plunge through the atmosphere, are threatening the Earth’s protective ozone layer. Last year, about 1,000 of them reentered, or about three a day. By 2035, the daily rate is estimated to rise as high as 50.” – Bloomberg
April 30, 2025
In two decades increasing urban vegetation could have saved over 1.1 million lives
“Increasing urban vegetation by 30% could save over one-third of all heat related deaths, saving up to 1.16 million lives globally from 2000 to 2019 according to a 20-year modelling study of the impact of increasing greenness in more than 11,000 urban areas.” – ScienceDaily
April 29, 2025
Common chemicals in plastic linked to over 350,000 deaths from heart disease
Researchers estimate that exposure to phthalates contributes to 13 percent of all heart disease deaths in people between ages 55 and 64 each year worldwide.
“A set of chemicals found in food packaging, plastics, and lotions and shampoos has been linked to hundreds of thousands of deaths from heart disease, according to a study published Tuesday in the journal eBioMedicine.
“These chemicals, known as phthalates (pronounced tha-lates), were responsible for more than 350,000 deaths worldwide in 2018, researchers found. About 75 percent of the deaths were in Asia, the Middle East and the Pacific — reflecting growing concern about the amount of plastic proliferating in developing countries.
“‘We think of plastics as an issue in high-income countries,”’said Leonardo Trasande, a professor at the New York University Grossman School of Medicine and one of the authors of the paper. ‘But what we’re seeing in the pattern geographically is disturbing.’
“While the researchers acknowledge that exposure to phthalates coincides with other risk factors — such as obesity and metabolic disorders — the findings add to the growing evidence that chemicals used in plastics come with serious health risks.” – The Washington Post
April 24, 2025
A Grim Signal: Atmospheric CO2 Soared in 2024
Scientists are worried because they can’t fully explain the big jump, but they think it might mean that carbon absorption by forests, fields and wetlands is slowing down—a major problem for the world.
“The latest anomaly in the climate system that can’t be fully explained by researchers is a record annual jump in the global mean concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere measured in 2024.
“The concentration, measured in parts per million, has been increasing rapidly since human civilizations started burning coal and oil in the mid-1800s from the pre-industrial level of 280 ppm.
“In recent decades, the increase has often been in annual increments of 1 to 2 ppm. But last year, the increase measured by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Global Monitoring Laboratory was 3.75 ppm, according to the lab’s early April update of atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations.
“That brings the annual mean global concentration close to 430 ppm, about 40 percent more than the pre-industrial level, and enough to heat the planet by about 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit (1.5 degrees Celsius).” – Inside Climate News
April 24, 2025
Trump Takes a Major Step Toward Seabed Mining in International Waters
A new executive order pits the United States against the rest of the world over the question of who can exploit mineral resources in shared waters.
“President Trump has ordered the U.S. government to take a major step toward mining vast tracts of the ocean floor, a move that nearly every other nation in the world considers off limits to this kind of industrial activity.
“The executive order, signed Thursday, would circumvent a decades-old international treaty that every major coastal nation except the United States has ratified. It is the latest example of the Trump administration’s willingness to disregard international institutions and is likely to provoke an outcry from the country’s rivals and allies alike.
“The order ‘establishes the U.S. as a global leader in seabed mineral exploration and development both within and beyond national jurisdiction,’ according to a text released by the White House.” – The New York Times
April 23, 2025
World’s largest bleaching event on record has harmed 84 percent of coral reefs
Bleached coral dies when exposed to heat stress for too long, threatening the bountiful marine ecosystem that depends on it for survival.
“Coral reefs around the world are losing their color at an unprecedented scale as a result of rising sea temperatures, federal marine scientists announced this week, with 84 percent of reefs exposed to bleaching levels of heat since 2023.
“The massive blow to marine habitats reported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration — the highest share ever recorded — comes as the planet experiences its fourth global coral bleaching event, which occurs when bleaching is confirmed in every one of the oceans’ basins at once.
“NOAA says the latest global event began on Jan. 1, 2023, and mass bleaching has now been observed across at least 83 countries and territories, threatening marine life from Fiji to the Florida Keys to Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.
“‘The ongoing global coral bleaching event is the biggest to date,’ NOAA scientists said.” – The Washington Post
April 23, 202
World on course to trigger multiple climate ‘tipping points’ unless action accelerates
Multiple climate ‘tipping points’ are likely to be triggered if global policies stay on their current course, new research shows.
“Scientists assessed the risk of “tipping” in 16 different parts of the Earth system — ranging from the collapse of major ice sheets to the dieback of tropical coral reefs and vast forests.
“Based on current policies and the resulting global warming, their most conservative estimate is a 62% risk of triggering these tipping points on average….
“The study assessed tipping point probabilities in five different scenarios, known as shared socioeconomic pathways (SSPs). Professor Tim Lenton, from Exeter’s Global Systems Institute, said: ‘Climate tipping points could have devastating consequences for humanity.
“‘It is clear that we are currently on a dangerous trajectory — with tipping points likely to be triggered unless we change course rapidly.
“‘We need urgent global action — including the triggering of “positive tipping points” in our societies and economies — to reach a safe and sustainable future.'” – ScienceDaily
April 22, 2025
April 15, 2025
Scientists warn rising heat could cause more mental health disorders
High temperatures are already worsening mental health, from anxiety to schizophrenia
Extreme heat is putting people’s mental health at risk, an Australian study warns, linking rising temperatures to a growing burden of mental and behavioural disorders.
High temperatures are already contributing to thousands of cases of poor mental health each year, the study published in Nature Climate Change on Monday says. This toll could increase drastically by 2050 as the planet continues to warm.
“From mild distress to serious conditions like schizophrenia, rising temperatures are making things harder for millions,” Dr Peng Bi, lead author of the study from the University of Adelaide’s school of public health, says….
“It notes that heat currently contributes to an annual loss of over 8,450 healthy life years in Australia, or around 1.8 per cent of the country’s total mental and behavioural disorder burden.” Independent
April 12, 2025
Paris said au revoir to cars. Air pollution maps reveal a dramatic change.
Air pollution fell substantially as the city restricted car traffic and made way for parks and bike lanes.
“Airparif, an independent group that tracks air quality for France’s capital region, said this week that levels of fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) have decreased 55 percent since 2005, while nitrogen dioxide levels have fallen 50 percent….
“Carlos Moreno, a professor at Paris’s Sorbonne University and a former adviser to the city, said Paris has developed ‘an urban policy based on well-being.'” – The Washington Post
April 8. 2025
3-Year-Old Girl Dies In Mexico’s First Human Case Of Bird Flu
Mexican health authorities say that the girl from the western state of Durango died early Tuesday after she was hospitalized with respiratory complications caused by the infection.
“Type A H5N1 influenza has been spreading through animals and some people in the United States. There have been 70 cases in that country since during the past year, according to the World Health Organization, though researchers and studies suggest that’s likely an undercount.
“The girl had been hospitalized in the neighboring state of Coahuila. Health officials had announced she was the country’s first human infection on Friday.”– HuffPost
April 8, 2025
Researcher calculated carbon footprints for extremely impoverished community, detailed how they absorb climate crises, argues for role of social work in addressing injustice
“In one of the most impoverished areas of Seoul, South Korea, residents live in precarious conditions: tiny micro-units often without bathrooms, kitchens, heating or cooling. The residents contribute the least among society to climate change yet suffer disproportionately due to historical and systemic inequalities.” – ScienceDaily
April 7, 2025
In Western Wildlife, Bird Flu Deaths Highlight Uncertainties
The closely-spaced deaths of two cougars in Washington state suggest the virus is likely more widespread than thought.
“The H5N1 strain, which was initially identified in domestic geese in China in the 1990s, had infected wild birds by 2002 and reached North America in 2021.
“Since then, the virus has caused the deaths of tens of millions of domestic chickens, geese, ducks, and turkeys in the U.S., contributing to the rise in egg prices. As of early March, it had killed at least 50,000 wild birds, according to estimates by the U.S. Geological Survey, and been detected in nearly 400 individual wild mammals, including felines, raccoons, rodents, seals, and skunks. Globally, H5N1 has killed thousands of mammals in mass mortality events, including sea lions in Peru and Chile and elephant seals in Argentina.” – UNDARK
April 5, 2025
Millions of Americans believe they’re safe from wildfires in their cities. New research shows they’re not
Many of the suburbs and cities hit hardest in recent years were caught off-guard, and key stakeholders are racing to understand the dynamics that drive these fires
Communities across the US that were once considered beyond the reach of wildfires are now vulnerable to disaster. As fires increasingly spread deep into neighborhoods, researchers estimate roughly 115 million people – more than a third of the US population – live in areas that could host the next fire catastrophe….
“Fire season, which was once confined to a window during the year when the weather was hot and dry, now started earlier and lingered longer, ultimately stretching further into the winter and autumn months when strong winds tended to whip through the west.
”Climate change is giving fires more time, and giving them more time gives them more access to bad conditions,’ Scott said.
“Temperatures and low humidity, which used to calm after the sun went down, were now continuing into the night. When fires are given more time to spread, they grow exponentially, according to Scott: ‘If you give a fire 10% more time to grow, it doesn’t just get 10% bigger – it gets 20 or 30% bigger.'” – The Guardian
April 3, 2025
Trump’s tariffs will deliver a big blow to climate tech
Broader economic anxieties and uncertainty over clean-energy subsidies are compounding industry fears.
“Experts fear that the US cleantech sector is especially vulnerable to a deep downturn, which would undermine the nation’s progress on reducing greenhouse-gas emissions and undercut its leadership in an essential, growing industry.
“’It would be hard for me to think of cleantech or climate tech sectors that aren’t facing huge risks,’ says Noah Kaufman, senior research scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University, who served on the Council of Economic Advisers under President Joe Biden.
“’I think we’re a country without a federal climate strategy at this point, with an economy headed in the wrong direction, so I don’t see a lot of reason to be optimistic,’ he adds.” – MIT Technology Review
April 3, 2025
Climate crisis on track to destroy capitalism, warns top insurer
Action urgently needed to save the conditions under which markets – and civilisation itself – can operate, says senior Allianz figure
“Global carbon emissions are still rising and current policies will result in a rise in global temperature between 2.2C and 3.4C above pre-industrial levels. The damage at 3C will be so great that governments will be unable to provide financial bailouts and it will be impossible to adapt to many climate impacts, said Thallinger, who is also the chair of the German company’s investment board and was previously CEO of Allianz Investment Management.
“The core business of the insurance industry is risk management and it has long taken the dangers of global heating very seriously. In recent reports, Aviva said extreme weather damages for the decade to 2023 hit $2tn, while GallagherRE said the figure was $400bn in 2024. Zurich said it was “essential” to hit net zero by 2050….
“Nick Robins, the chair of the Just Transition Finance Lab at the London School of Economics, said: ‘This devastating analysis from a global insurance leader sets out not just the financial but also the civilisational threat posed by climate change. It needs to be the basis for renewed action, particularly in the countries of the global south.'” – The Guardian
April 2, 2025
Global economy could shrink 40% if planet warms by 4C, new study says
New modelling finds global economic losses could be four times higher than previously thought under 4C warming scenario
“A 4C rise in global temperatures could wipe out 40 per cent of the world’s economic output by the end of the century, according to a new peer-reviewed study that dramatically revises earlier estimates.
“The global economy is far more exposed to climate breakdown than previously thought, the study from the University of New South Wales concludes, making the case that rapid decarbonisation is not only an environmental imperative but an economic necessity as well.
“Previous modelling estimated global GDP losses at around 11 per cent under 4C of warming. The new figure – nearly four times higher – stems from correcting what the researchers call a key blind spot that has long shaped international climate policy.” – Independent
March 28, 2025
Arctic ends winter with lowest sea ice cover on record – scientists
“The new record shows how Arctic sea ice has ‘fundamentally changed’ from earlier decades, scientists said.” – Independent
March 26, 2025
Researchers’ breakthrough method reveals clouds amplify global warming far more than previously understood
“Now, researchers have developed a groundbreaking method that significantly improves accuracy in climate predictions. This led to a major discovery — that tropical cloud feedback may have amplified the greenhouse effect by a staggering 71% more than previously known to scientists.” – ScienceDaily
March 24, 2025
Trump wants Greenland. But much of the island is vanishing
‘”Picture yourself pouring a liter of water into the ocean, the stream quickly disappearing into the surf. Now imagine every person on Earth, all 8.025 billion of us, adding a liter of water to the ocean every 15 minutes, day in and day out, for the last 22 years,’ wrote Dr. Twila Moon, the deputy lead scientist and science communication liaison at the National Snow and Ice Data Center. ‘The steady and substantial influx of freshwater would change the ocean’s salt content, alter current patterns, and raise sea levels. This is what’s happening as the Greenland Ice Sheet shrinks.’” – Independent
March 20, 2025
Glacier meltdown risks food and water supply of 2 billion people, says UN
Unesco report highlights ‘unprecedented’ glacier loss driven by climate crisis, threatening ecosystems, agriculture and water sources
“Retreating glaciers threaten the food and water supply of 2 billion people around the world, the UN has warned, as current ‘unprecedented’ rates of melting will have unpredictable consequences.
“Two-thirds of all irrigated agriculture in the world is likely to be affected in some way by receding glaciers and dwindling snowfall in mountain regions, driven by the climate crisis, according to a Unesco report.
“More than 1 billion people live in mountainous regions and, of those in developing countries, up to half are already experiencing food insecurity. That is likely to worsen, as food production in such regions is dependent on mountain waters, melting snow and glaciers, according to the World Water Development Report 2025.” – The Guardian
March 20, 2025
Interior to open millions of acres in Alaska to drilling and mining
Trump officials said they would open up areas of Alaska that Joe Biden had made off-limits to oil and gas production, and allow for a gas pipeline to be built across the state.
“Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said the department would allow oil and gas leases on 82 percent of the 23-million-acre National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, overturning protections that President Joe Biden finalized last year, and will reinstate a program to permit drilling in the 1.56-million-acre Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the country’s largest preserve of its kind.
“The department also will work to transfer federal land to the state to help construct a pipeline to transport liquefied natural gas for export to Asia and a road that is critical in operating a planned copper and zinc mine in northern Alaska. Nearly a year ago Biden administration officials blocked the land transfer for Ambler Road, which was slated to traverse Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve, on grounds that it would harm the region’s Indigenous communities and wildlife habitat.” – The Washington Post
March 20, 2025
‘Don’t call it zombie deer disease’: scientists warn of ‘global crisis’ as infections spread across the US
A contagious, fatal illness in deer, elk and moose has taken hold in the US and is now reaching other countries. While it has not infected humans yet, the risk is growing
“Described by scientists as a “slow-motion disaster in the making”, the infection’s presence in the wild began quietly, with a few free-ranging deer in Colorado and Wyoming in 1981. However, it has now reached wild and domestic game animal herds in 36 US states as well as parts of Canada, wild and domestic reindeer in Scandinavia and farmed deer and elk in South Korea.” – The Guardian
March 19, 2025
In the Australian outback, climate change widens the racial divide
“Extreme heat is surging around the world as climate change drives up temperatures and threatens to force hundreds of millions of people from their homes by 2050. Poor countries will be affected the most.” – The Washington Post
March 19, 2025
UN report warns of a ‘frightening’ future: ‘Your five-year-old now faces a future with 7 times more heatwaves’
Scientists warn the impacts seen in 2024 will be impossible to reverse
“Record heat, melting glaciers, and oceans warming at an unprecedented pace made 2024 the hottest year ever recorded, delivering consequences that scientists warn are now irreversible for hundreds of years.
“Global temperatures soared past the critical 1.5C threshold above pre-industrial levels in 2024, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) has confirmed. Earlier, a report from the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service also confirmed it in January this year.
“But new details from the WMO’s State of the Global Climate report show how this heat reshaped the planet, unleashing permanent damage to oceans, glaciers, and ecosystems, and displacing millions from their homes.” – Independent
March 10, 2025
Microplastics hinder plant photosynthesis, study finds, threatening millions with starvation
Researchers say problem could increase number of people at risk of starvation by 400m in next two decades
“The pollution of the planet by microplastics is significantly cutting food supplies by damaging the ability of plants to photosynthesise, according to a new assessment.
“The analysis estimates that between 4% and 14% of the world’s staple crops of wheat, rice and maize is being lost due to the pervasive particles. It could get even worse, the scientists said, as more microplastics pour into the environment.
“About 700 million people were affected by hunger in 2022. The researchers estimated that microplastic pollution could increase the number at risk of starvation by another 400 million in the next two decades, calling that an ‘alarming scenario’ for global food security.” – The Guardian
March 7, 2025
Butterflies in the U.S. are disappearing at a ‘catastrophic’ rate
“The total number of butterflies in the contiguous United States has declined 22 percent over a 20-year period, according to a study in the journal Science, as shrinking habitat, rising temperatures and a toxic array of pesticides kill off the delicate insects….
“The crisis for butterflies is part of a troubling downturn in the number of bumblebees, fireflies and other insects that has been observed in Europe, the Caribbean and other places worldwide. It could signal a potential “bugpocalypse” that scientists are fiercely debating — a shift that may spell trouble for both nature and society.
“The loss of insects — “the little things that run the world,” as naturalist E.O. Wilson once put it — has dire implications for ecosystems in which birds and mammals rely on them for food and plants depend on them for pollination. Farmers and gardeners, meanwhile, may be losing allies that act as pollinators and natural pest control.
“David Wagner, a University of Connecticut entomologist not involved in the study, said butterflies act as a ‘yardstick for measuring what is happening’ among insects broadly. He called the new findings ‘catastrophic and saddening.’” – The Washington Post
March 6, 2025
Global sea ice hit ‘all-time minimum’ in February, scientists say
Scientists called the news ‘particularly worrying’ because ice reflects sunlight and cools the planet
“The agency found the area of sea ice hit its lowest monthly level for February in the Arctic, at 8% below average, and its fourth-lowest monthly level for February in the Antarctic, at 26% below average. Its satellite observations stretch back to the late 1970s and its historical observations to the middle of the 20th century.
“Scientists had already observed an extreme heat anomaly in the north pole at the start of February, which caused temperatures to soar more than 20C above average and cross the threshold for ice to melt. They described the latest broken record as “particularly worrying” because ice reflects sunlight and cools the planet.
“‘The lack of sea ice means darker ocean surfaces and the ability of the Earth to absorb more sunlight, which accelerates the warming,’ said Mika Rantanen, a climate scientist at the Finnish Meteorological Institute.” – The Guardian
March 3, 2025
Rising Temperatures Are Scrambling the Base of the Ocean Food Web
“Humans are living in a plankton world. These minuscule organisms are spread across the oceans, covering nearly three-quarters of the planet, and are among the most abundant forms of life on Earth.
“But a warming world is throwing plankton into disarray and threatening the entire marine food chain that is built on them.
“‘Do you like breathing? Do you like eating? If your answer is yes for either of them, then you care about phytoplankton,’ said Jeremy Werdell, the lead scientist for the satellite program, called PACE, which stands for ‘Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem.’” – The New York Time
February 24, 2025
Arctic study urges stronger climate action to prevent catastrophic warming
Remember when 2 degrees Celsius of global warming was the doomsday scenario? Well, we’re now staring down the barrel of something much worse. From the fish on your plate to the weather outside your window, everything’s about to change. A new study underscores the grave risks posed by insufficient national commitments to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.” – ScienceDaily
February 21. 2025
The rising tide of sand mining: A growing threat to marine life
“Sand is the literal foundation of human development across the globe, a key ingredient of concrete, asphalt, glass, and electronics. It is relatively cheap and easily extracted….
“Sand mining across the world is being linked to coastal erosion, habitat destruction, the spread of invasive species and impacts on fisheries. Extracting sand can harm marine life by clouding water and riling sediment that can smother seagrasses and coral. Disrupting spans of ocean sand can fragment habitat, change the patterns of waves and other issues that can throw marine life into disarray.” – ScienceDaily
February 20, 2025
We’re Running Out of Chances to Stop Bird Flu
“If this outbreak isn’t controlled, the virus could mutate and plunge humans into a new public health emergency. And by all accounts, not enough is being done to control the outbreak. Unlike their peers in the poultry business, dairy farmers have no Red Book for dealing with bird flu….
“Unless something changes, the specter of bird flu’s devastation will hang over the United States indefinitely — as will the threat of other emerging diseases. Scientists have long considered bird flu, or H5N1, a leading candidate for causing a human pandemic. Since 2003 the virus has infected at least 954 people around the world and killed at least 464— an almost 50 percent mortality rate — mostly in people in proximity to infected birds….
“Unfortunately, such policies seem unlikely, given that the Trump administration has signaled its intent to soften its focus on infectious disease.” – New York Times
February 20, 2025
This company is trying to make a biodegradable alternative to spandex
“The global spandex market, valued at almost $8 billion in December 2024, is projected to grow between 2% and 8% every year over the next decade. That might be better news for your comfort than for the environment. Most stretch fabrics contain petroleum-based fibers that shed microplastics and take centuries to decompose. And even a small amount of plastic-based stretch fiber in a natural garment can render it nonrecyclable.” – MIT Technology Review
February 19, 2025
Global retreat of glaciers has strongly accelerated
“There are currently around 275,000 glaciers worldwide, in which huge quantities of fresh water are stored. But this reservoir is increasingly shrinking…..
“It is striking that ice loss has accelerated significantly in recent years. In the second half of the period under investigation (2012 to 2023), it was 36 per cent higher than in the period from 2000 to 2011….
“The loss of ice from the glaciers since 2000 has led to a rise in sea level of 18 millimetres. This makes the melting of glaciers the second strongest driver of sea level rise after ocean warming, well ahead of the mass loss of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets.” – ScienceDaily
February 19,2025
‘Glacial fracking’: A hidden source of Arctic greenhouse gas emissions
“The Arctic is warming at four times the global average, and glaciers across the region are shrinking rapidly. As they melt, more methane could be released, creating a positive feedback loop — where warming melts glaciers, releasing methane, which in turn traps more heat in the atmosphere and accelerates further melting.
“Gabrielle warns that this process could have global climate consequences: ‘Methane is a much more powerful greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide over short timescales. Even though these emissions are seasonal, they could add up as more glaciers retreat.'” – ScienceDaily
February 18, 2025
How the Oil Industry Turned Climate Change into a Partisan Issue
The climate policy pendulum is swinging back again with Trump in office. Money, lobbying and talking about red vs. blue states all play a role in the political and public divide.|In “1979, the scientific consensus that climate change posed a significant threat to the environment, the economy and society as we had come to appreciate them began to emerge.
“The Ad Hoc Study Group on Carbon Dioxide and Climate, commissioned by the U.S. National Research Council’s climate research board, concluded then that if carbon dioxide continued to accumulate in the atmosphere, there was ‘no reason to doubt that climate changes will result.’…
“But none of this came as a surprise to the oil industry. Working behind the scenes since the 1950s, researchers working for companies such as Exxon, Shell and Chevron had made their leaders well aware that the widespread use of their product was already causing climate change. And coinciding with the Ad Hoc Study Group’s work in the late 1970s, oil companies started making large donations to national and state-level candidates and politicians they viewed as friendly to the interests of the industry.
“The oil industry also implemented a disinformation campaign designed to cast doubt about climate science and, in many cases, about their own internal research. The strategy, ripped from the pages of the tobacco industry playbook, involved “emphasizing uncertainty” to cast doubt on the science and calling for “balanced” science to sow confusion.”
February 14, 2025
Scientists have a new explanation for the last two years of record heat
Rising temperatures are fueled, in part, by declining cloud cover — which could be a potential climate feedback loop.
“Earth’s overall energy imbalance — the amount of heat the planet is taking in minus the amount of heat it is releasing — also continues to rise, worrying scientists. The energy imbalance drives global warming. If it rises, scientists expect global temperatures to follow.
“Two new studies offer a potential explanation: fewer clouds. And the decline in cloud cover, researchers say, could signal the start of a feedback loop that leads to more warming.”– The Washington Post
February 14, 2025
Research reveals how Earth got its ice caps
“Benjamin Mills, Professor of Earth System Evolution in Leeds’ School of Earth and Environment, supervised the project. He added that the results of the research had important implications for global warming and the immediate future.
“‘There is an important message, which is that we should not expect the Earth to always return to a cold state as it was in the pre-industrial age,’ he said.
‘”Earth’s current ice-covered state is not typical for the planet’s history, but our current global society relies on it.
‘”We should do everything we can to preserve it, and we should be careful with assumptions that cold climates will return if we drive excessive warming before stopping emissions. Over its long history, the Earth likes it hot, but our human society does not.’ – ScienceDaily
February 13, 2025
World’s largely unprotected peatlands are ticking ‘carbon bomb’, warns study
Bogs and swamps are a colossal carbon store but their continued destruction would blow climate change targets
“Peatlands occupy just 3% of all land, but contain more carbon than all of the world’s forests. However, farmers and miners are draining the peatlands, releasing so much CO2 that if they were a country, they would be the fourth biggest polluter in the world after China, the US and India.
“The first global assessment found that only 17% of the peatlands were within protected areas. This contrasted starkly with other valuable ecosystems such as tropical forests, where 38% were protected, and mangroves (42%).
“Protection was even lower than the 17% average in the three nations with the most peatlands: Canada, Russia and Indonesia.” – The Guardian
February 11, 2025
Bird flu strain that just jumped to cows infects dairy worker in Nevada
“A dairy worker in Nevada has been infected with a strain of H5N1 bird flu—genotype D1.1—that has newly spilled over to cows, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed….
“The bird flu strain H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b, genotype D1.1 is the predominant strain currently circulating in wild birds in North America and was confirmed for the first time in cows in Nevada last week. According to the US Department of Agriculture, the new spillover was initially detected on January 31 via bulk milk testing. Until this point, the outbreak of H5N1 in dairy cows—which was declared in March 2024—was entirely caused by H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b, genotype B3.13. The outbreak was thought to have been caused by a single spillover event from wild birds to cows in Texas in late 2023 or early 2024.” – ArsTechnica
February 11, 2025
The False AI Energy Crisis
“Over the past few weeks, Donald Trump has positioned himself as an unabashed bull on America’s need to dominate AI. Yet the president has also tied this newfound and futuristic priority to a more traditional mission of his: to go big with fossil fuels. A true AI revolution will need ‘double the energy’ that America produces today, Trump said in a recent address to the World Economic Forum, days after declaring a national energy emergency. And he noted a few ways to supply that power: ‘We have more coal than anybody. We also have more oil and gas than anybody.'” – The Atlanatic
February 7, 2025
An Arctic ‘beyond recognition’ by 2100
“In 2024, annual average global air temperatures surpassed 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels for the first time, triggering extreme weather events like record-breaking rainfall and flooding events in the Sahara Desert and extreme summer heat waves across the planet. However, global warming will not stop at this level. Based on the current pledges of countries for limiting their emissions of greenhouse gases, global temperatures are projected to reach 2.7 degrees Celsius beyond pre-industrial levels by the end of this century. This scenario would dramatically reshape the Arctic, the fastest-warming region of Earth….
“‘These changes will devastate infrastructure, ecosystems, vulnerable communities, and wildlife’: Julienne Stroeve, senior research scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) and professor at the Centre for Earth Observation Science at the University of Manitoba. ‘The Arctic is warming at four times the rate of the rest of the planet.'” – ScienceDaily
February 4, 2025
Temperatures at north pole 20C above average and beyond ice melting point
“’This was a very extreme winter warming event,’ said Mika Rantanen, a scientist at the Finnish Meteorological Institute. ‘Probably not the most extreme ever observed, but still at the upper edge of what can happen in the Arctic.’…
“Burning fossil fuels has heated the planet by about 1.3C since preindustrial times, but the poles are warming much faster as reflective sea ice melts. The increase in average temperatures has driven an increase in fiercely hot summers and unsettlingly mild winters.” – The Guardian
February 4, 2025
Climate change target of 2C is ‘dead’, says renowned climate scientist
The pace of global heating has been significantly underestimated, according to renowned climate scientist Prof James Hansen, who said the international 2C target is “dead”.
“The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC) defined a scenario which gives a 50% chance to keep warming under 2C – that scenario is now impossible,” he said. ‘The 2C target is dead, because the global energy use is rising, and it will continue to rise.’…
“The climate crisis has already supercharged extreme weather across the world with just 1.3C of heating on average in recent years destroying lives and livelihoods – 2C would be far worse.” – The Guardian
February 4, 2025
Half a degree further rise in global warming will triple area of Earth too hot for humans
“New assessment warns area the size of the USA will become too hot during extreme heat events for even healthy young humans to maintain a safe body temperature if we hit 2 degrees Celsuis above preindustrial levels. For those aged over 60, the same 2 degree rise would see more than a third of the planet’s land mass cross this critical ‘overheating’ threshold….
Dr Tom Matthews, lead author and Senior Lecturer in Environmental Geography at King’s College London said: ‘Our findings show the potentially deadly consequences if global warming reaches 2°C. Unsurvivable heat thresholds, which so far have only been exceeded briefly for older adults in the hottest regions on Earth, are likely to emerge even for younger adults. In such conditions, prolonged outdoor exposure — even for those if in the shade, subject to a strong breeze, and well hydrated — would be expected to cause lethal heatstroke. It represents a step-change in heat-mortality risk .'” – ScienceDaily
February 3, 2025
A new study projects that climate change could drive a $1.47 trillion decline in home values across the U.S. by 2055.
“Published by the climate risk modeling nonprofit First Street Foundation, the analysis found that population shifts and insurance costs will largely be to blame as consumers look for houses in areas that are less susceptible to extreme weather (though as studies show, there is no such thing as a “climate haven” anymore). The biggest projected population losses are set to occur in certain areas of New Jersey and California.” – Inside Climate News
February 3, 2025
Greenland ice sheet cracking more rapidly than ever, study shows
Crevasses increasing in size and depth in response to climate breakdown, Durham University researchers find
“The Greenland ice sheet – the second largest body of ice in the world – is cracking more rapidly than ever before as a response to climate breakdown, a study has found.
“Researchers used 8,000 three-dimensional surface maps from high-resolution commercial satellite imagery to assess the evolution of cracks in the surface of the ice sheet between 2016 and 2021.
“They found that the crevasses – the wedge-shaped tears that open in glaciers – had significantly increased in size and depth over the five years and at a faster rate than previously detected.
“’The biggest thing I was surprised about was how fast this was happening. One previous study showed changes over the scale of decades … and now we’re showing this happening on scales of five years,’ said Dr Tom Chudley, an assistant geography professor at Durham University and lead author of the study.” – The Guardian
February 3, 2025
How huge parts of the US could become uninhabitable within decades — even so-called ‘climate havens’
“It’s not just Florida and California — from poisoned water supplies to infrastructure issues to polar vortices, Holly Baxter speaks to experts about why the entire U.S. is being threatened by climate change, and why you can’t just move to Vermont to escape it.” – Independent
February 3, 2025
Our brains are filling with more and more microplastics, study shows
“A new study shows that microplastics are making their way into human brains — with potentially dangerous effects on people’s health andmental acuity.
“A paper published Monday in Nature Medicine found that the tiny fragments of plastic are passing the blood-brain barrier and into human brains, and the amount of microplastics in the brain appears to be increasing over time. The concentration of microplastics in analyzed brains rose by about 50 percent from 2016 to 2024.” – The Washington Post
January 30, 2025
Will bird flu spark a human pandemic? Scientists say the risk is rising
H5N1 is adapting to new mammalian hosts, raising the possibility of the virus spreading between humans.
“Ten months on from the shocking discovery that a virus usually carried by wild birds can readily infect cows, at least 68 people in North America have become ill from the pathogen and one person has died.
“Although many of the infections have been mild, emerging data indicate that variants of the avian influenza virus H5N1 that are spreading in North America can cause severe disease and death, especially when passed directly to humans from birds. The virus is also adapting to new hosts — cows and other mammals — raising the risk that it could spark a human pandemic.
“’The risk has increased as we’ve gone on — especially in the last couple of months, with the report of [some] severe infections,’ says Seema Lakdawala, an influenza virologist at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia.” – Nature
January 30, 2025
Groundwater in Arctic is delivering more carbon into the ocean than was previously known
A relatively small amount of groundwater trickling through Alaska’s tundra is releasing huge quantities of carbon into the ocean, where it can contribute to climate change.
“Researchers found that although the groundwater only makes up a fraction of the water discharged to the sea, it’s liberating an estimated 230 tons of organic carbon per day along the almost 2,000-kilometer coastline of the Beaufort Sea in summer. This quantity of carbon is on par with what free-flowing rivers in the area release during summer months.
“‘This study shows that there’s humongous amounts of organic carbon and carbon dioxide released via fresh groundwater discharge in summer,’ said Cansu Demir, who led the research while she was completing her doctoral degree at the UT Jackson School of Geosciences. She is now a postdoctoral research associate at Los Alamos National Laboratory.” – ScienceDaily
January 28, 2025
2025 ‘Doomsday Clock’: This is how close we are to self-annihilation, scientists say
“Scientists and global leaders revealed on Tuesday that the ‘Doomsday Clock’ has been reset to the closest humanity has ever come to self-annihilation.
“For the first time in three years, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moved the metaphorical clock up one second to 89 seconds before midnight, the theoretical doomsday mark.
“‘It is the determination of the science and security board of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists that the world has not made sufficient progress on existential risks threatening all of humanity. We thus move the clock forward,’ Daniel Holz, chair of the organization’s science and security board, said during a live-streamed unveiling of the clock’s ominous new time.
“‘In setting the clock closer to midnight, we send a stark signal,” Holz said. ‘Because the world is already perilously closer to the precipice, any move towards midnight should be taken as an indication of extreme danger and an unmistakable warning. Every second of delay in reversing course increases the probability of global disaster.'” – ABCNews
January 28, 2025
Ocean-surface warming four times faster now than late-1980s
“This accelerating warming underscores the urgency of reducing fossil fuel burning to prevent even more rapid temperature increases in the future and to begin to stabilise the climate.” – ScienceDaily
Extreme heat will kill millions of people in Europe without rapid action
Climate models predict that the number of heat-related deaths could soar in cities over the coming century, even when efforts are made to keep people safe.
“An extra 2.3 million people in European cities could die as a result of extreme temperatures — both hot and cold — by the end of the century if countries do not take action to mitigate climate change, according to a study that modelled the effects of rising temperatures.” – Nature
January 22, 2025
Brazil fires consumed wilderness area larger than Italy in 2024 – report
“After enduring its worst drought on record in 2024, Brazil closed the year with another alarming milestone: between January and December, 30.86m hectares of wilderness burned – an area larger than Italy. The figure published in a new report is 79% higher than in 2023 and the largest recorded by Fire Monitor since its launch in 2019 by MapBiomas, an initiative by NGOs, universities and technology companies that monitors Brazil’s biomes.” – The Guardian
January 21, 2025
A third of the Arctic’s vast carbon sink now a source of emissions, study reveals
“A third of the Arctic’s tundra, forests and wetlands have become a source of carbon emissions, a new study has found, as global heating ends thousands of years of carbon storage in parts of the frozen north.
“For millennia, Arctic land ecosystems have acted as a deep-freeze for the planet’s carbon, holding vast amounts of potential emissions in the permafrost. But ecosystems in the region are increasingly becoming a contributor to global heating as they release more CO2 into the atmosphere with rising temperatures, a new study published in Nature Climate Changeconcluded.
“More than 30% of the region was a net source of CO2, according to the analysis, rising to 40% when emissions from wildfires were included. By using monitoring data from 200 study sites between 1990 and 2020, the research demonstrates how the Arctic’s boreal forests, wetlands and tundra are being transformed by rapid warming.” – The Guardian
January 18, 2025
Peering Into a Bleak, ‘Uninsurable Future’
Property insurance premiums are skyrocketing in the face of climate shocks like the fires raging through greater Los Angeles.
“The fires have killed at least 27 people and destroyed more than 12,000 structures, including many homes in Altadena and the Pacific Palisades. Early estimates from AccuWeather project total damages and economic loss at $250 billion….
“In 2024, insured losses from natural disasters reached $140 billion as climate change ‘showing its claws,’ according to reinsurance company Munich Re. Consumers and companies alike are taking hits. For example, since 2021, at least nine property and casualty insurers have gone bankrupt in Florida, largely because they don’t have the money to pay out rising claims.
“‘We’re marching steadily towards an uninsurable future in this country and across the globe, because we’re not doing enough to deal with the underlying cause’” said Dave Jones, who served two terms as the California insurance commissioner, where he regulated insurers amidst some of the state’s most destructive wildfires.” – Inside Climate News
January 16, 2025
Thawing permafrost threatens up to three million people in Arctic regions
First comprehensive pan-Arctic study of social impacts of thawing permafrost soils
“Increasingly thawing permafrost soils not only pose a global threat due to the CO2 and methane gas stored in them, but also have far-reaching implications for the approximately three million Arctic residents who live on permafrost soils…. They identified five key risks related to infrastructure, transport and supply, water quality, food security and health. The scientists found that the thawing permafrost posed an increased risk of exposure to infectious diseases and release of contaminants, and interruptions of supply routes.” – ScienceDaily
January 16, 2025
Economic growth could fall 50% over 20 years from climate shocks, say actuaries
“The stark warning from risk management experts the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA) hugely increases the estimate of risk to global economic wellbeing from climate change impacts such as fires, flooding, droughts, temperature rises and nature breakdown….
“At 3C or more of heating by 2050, there could be more than 4 billion deaths, significant sociopolitical fragmentation worldwide, failure of states (with resulting rapid, enduring, and significant loss of capital), and extinction events.” – The Guardian
January 15, 2025
Age of the panzootic: scientists warn of more devastating diseases jumping between species
“Bird flu poses a threat that is ‘unique and new in our lifetime’ because it has become a ‘panzootic’ that can kill huge numbers across multiple species, experts warn. For months, highly pathogenic bird flu, or H5N1, has been circulating in dairy farms, with dozens of human infections reported among farm workers. It has now jumped into more than 48 species of mammals, from bears to dairy cows, causing mass die-offs in sea lions and elephant seal pups. Last week, the first person in the US died of the infection.
“This ability to infect, spread between, and kill such a wide range of creatures has prompted some scientists to call H5N1 a ‘panzootic’: an epidemic that leaps species barriers and can devastate diverse animal populations, posing a threat to humans too. As shrinking habitats, biodiversity loss and intensified farming create perfect incubators for infectious diseases to jump from one species to another, some scientists say panzootics could become one of the era’s defining threats to human health and security.” – The Guardian
January 10, 2025
2024 first year to pass 1.5C global warming limit
“The planet has moved a major step closer to warming more than 1.5C, new data shows, despite world leaders vowing a decade ago they would try to avoid this…. Global average temperatures for 2024 were around 1.6C above those of the pre-industrial period – the time before humans started burning large amounts of fossil fuels – according to Copernicus data. This breaks the record set in 2023 by just over 0.1C, and means the last 10 years are now the 10 warmest years on record.” – BBC
January 10, 2025
As fires rage, CA fears home insurance collapse
“JPMorgan doubled its prediction for the disaster’s total economic losses to $50 billion yesterday. Insured losses could surpass $20 billion, per JPMorgan, which would make it the costliest wildfire in US history.” – Morning Brew
January 10, 2025
The Insurance Crisis That Will Follow the Californian Fires
“Damages… now estimated to be up to a hundred and fifty billion dollars.” – The New Yorker
January 10, 2025
World’s richest use up their fair share of 2025 carbon budget in 10 days
Emissions caused by wealthiest 1% so far this year would take someone from poorest 50% three years to create
“In less than a week and a half, the consumption habits of an individual from this monied elite had already caused, on average, 2.1 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions, according to analysis by Oxfam GB. It would take someone from the poorest 50% of humanity three years to create the same amount of pollution.” – The Guardian
January 9, 2025
Floods, droughts, then fires: Hydroclimate whiplash is speeding up globally
“Hydroclimate whiplash – rapid swings between intensely wet and dangerously dry weather — has already increased globally due to climate change, with further large increases expected as warming continues, according to a team of researchers. Los Angeles is burning, and accelerating hydroclimate whiplash is the key climate connection.” – ScienceDaily
January 9, 2025
La Niña has arrived. Here’s what that means.
“But La Niña’s cooling effect will not be enough to prevent this year from becoming another of the warmest in human history, climate scientists predicted. This La Niña could instead demonstrate just how high the baseline of average global temperatures has shifted. ‘We’ve reached the stage where every year is an anomalously hot year,’ said Gavin Schmidt, a climate scientist and director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies. “’They’re all different, statistically, than the climate we grew up with.'” – The Washington Post
January 9, 2025
U.S. Efforts to Cut Emissions Stalled in 2024 as Power Demand Surged
“America’s efforts to cut its climate change pollution stalled in 2024, with greenhouse gas emissions dropping just a fraction, 0.2 percent, compared to the year before, according to estimates published Thursday by the Rhodium Group, a research firm. Despite continued rapid growth in solar and wind power, emissions levels stayed relatively flat last year because demand for electricity surged nationwide, which led to a spike in the amount of natural gas burned by power plants. The fact that emissions didn’t decline much means the United States is even further off-track from hitting President Biden’s goal of slashing greenhouse gases 50 percent below 2005 levels by 2030. Scientists say all major economies would have to cut their emissions deeply this decade to keep global warming at relatively low levels.” – The New York Times
January 6, 2025
‘Forever Chemicals’ Reach Tap Water via Treated Sewage, Study Finds
“As the world grapples with climate change, population growth and dwindling supplies of fresh water, more people are set to rely on treated wastewater to sustain their daily lives. But wastewater, even after treatment, contains high levels of harmful “forever chemicals” that are already contaminating the drinking water of millions of Americans, researchers said in a study published on Monday that analyzed wastewater samples nationwide. The study, led by researchers at Harvard and New York University, found elevated levels of six types of chemicals known as PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, in the samples. The chemicals, which have been linked to cancer and other diseases, are known as forever chemicals because they don’t break down in the environment.” – The New York Times
January 6, 2025
Floods linked to rise in US deaths from several major causes
Study in Nature Medicine reveals potential deadly effect of large floods on injuries, infectious diseases, and other causes
“Over the last 20 years, large floods were associated with up to 24.9 percent higher death rates from major mortality causes in the U.S. compared to normal conditions. A new study demonstrates the sweeping and hidden effects of floods –including floods unrelated to hurricanes, such as those due to heavy rain, snowmelt, or ice jams.” – ScienceDaily
January 6, 2025
Earth shattered heat records in 2023 and 2024: is global warming speeding up?
Nature examines whether the temperature spike is a blip or an enduring — and concerning — trend.
“‘I would be very careful about saying this is clear evidence [of acceleration], but there might be something going on,’ says co-author Helge Goessling, a climate physicist at the Alfred Wegener Institute in Bremerhaven, Germany.
“Global temperature spikes have happened before. Why are scientists so worried about this one?
“One reason is that global temperatures were off-the-charts hot in 2023, with an average 1.45 °C of warming above the pre-industrial baseline (see ‘Temperature surge’), shattering previous records. This level of warming is outside the range of what scientists expected on the basis of previous trends and modelling.” – Nature
January 6, 2025
Climate crisis ‘wreaking havoc’ on Earth’s water cycle, report finds
Global heating is supercharging storms, floods and droughts, affecting entire ecosystems and billions of people
“The climate crisis is ‘wreaking havoc’ on the planet’s water cycle, with ferocious floods and crippling droughts affecting billions of people, a report has found. Water is people’s most vital natural resource but global heating is changing the way water moves around the Earth. The analysis of water disasters in 2024, which was the hottest year on record, found they had killed at least 8,700 people, driven 40 million from their homes and caused economic damage of more than $550bn (£445bn).” – The Guardian
