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Climate Change

Page Updated:
June 2, 2023

• • Climate Shocks Are Making
  Parts of America Uninsurable

  It Just Got Worse
  
  

  June 2, 2023 - The climate crisis is becoming a financial crisis.

  This month, the largest homeowner insurance company in California, State Farm, announced that it would stop selling coverage to homeowners. That’s not just in wildfire zones, but everywhere in the state.

• • Who Are Rich Nations
  Protecting From Climate Change?

  Some of Those Billions
  Are Going to Stange Places
  
  

  June 1, 2023 - Wealthy countries have pledged $100 billion a year to help reduce the effects of global warming. But Reuters found large sums going to projects including a coal plant, a hotel and chocolate shops.

• • Arizona Limits Construction Around Phoenix

  A Dwindling Water
  Supply is the Culprit
  
  

  June 1, 2023 - Arizona has determined that there is not enough groundwater for all of the housing construction that has already been approved in the Phoenix area, and will stop developers from building some new subdivisions, a sign of looming trouble in the West and other places where overuse, drought and climate change are straining water supplies.

• • Arctic Risks Loom Large
  as Blinken Tours NATO’s North

  Climate Change is Opening New Sea Routes for Trade and Trouble
  
  

  May 31, 2023 - As polar ice melts, Russia, already a major Arctic power, wants to make the region its own. China has ambitions for a “Polar Silk Road.” And NATO is embracing Finland — and Sweden too, Washington hopes — giving the alliance new reach in the Far North.

• • Europe’s United Front To Battle
  Climate Change - Not So United

  Cracks Are Emerging
  
  

  May 30, 2023 -The European Union has been at the forefront of the fight against climate change and the protection of nature for years. But it now finds itself under pressure from within to pause new environmental efforts amid fears they will hurt the economy.

  With the next European Parliament elections set for 2024, some leaders and lawmakers are concerned about antagonizing workers and voters with new binding legislation and restrictive measures and are urging the 27-nation bloc to hit the brakes.

• • Could Climate Change Cut off the Panama Canal?

  Water Levels are Down Due to Less Rain in Central America
  
  

  May 29, 2023 -The Panama Canal connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific. Its creation was a huge boon for global shipping. Before the canal was completed, a ship had to travel around the southern tip of South America, a much longer and more dangerous route.

  The sea around the stormy Cape Horn was a veritable ships' graveyard for centuries. Thousands of sailors died there and countless ships were lost. But the passage through the Panama Canal shortened the trip by more than 13,000 kilometers (8,000 miles), saving money and time.

• • An Online “Danger Season” Map

  Released by the
  Union of Concerned Scientists
  
  

  May 29, 2023 -Just before the unofficial start of summer, a summer projected by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to be hotter than normal, the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) has launched an online “Danger Season” map, showing which parts of the country are at risk of extreme heat, wildfires, storms, or flooding.

  The map will update daily through October, during the months when extreme weather events in the United States and its territories have not only become more common and damaging, but also are more likely to overlap.

• • How Extreme Heat Causes Cascading Crises

  Power Grids and Hospitals Can Be Overwhelmed, but there are Fixes
  
  

  May 26, 2023 -Extreme heat can bring on some extremely dangerous feedback loops for American hospitals and clinics.

  The good news is that there are some practical fixes.

  The time to prepare is now. Because the heat is likely to get worse. Much worse. Quite soon.

• • 2023 Atlantic Hurricane Prediction Uncertainty

  Forecasts Hinge On What Will Happen with El Niño and Atlantic Sea Surface Temperatures
  
  

  May 26, 2023 - It’s hard to know how busy this year’s Atlantic hurricane season will be, thanks to a rarely observed combination of ocean and climate conditions.

  The Atlantic Ocean is in an active storm era, a years long period of increasing storm activity. Plus sea surface temperatures there are much higher than usual this year, which can fuel storms,

• • Emissions of a Super Climate
  Pollutant From Chemical Plants in China

  A US Non-Profit Aims to Reduce It
  
  

  May 24, 2023 -A new initiative by the Climate Action Reserve, a non-profit organization based in Los Angeles, could play a significant role in curbing emissions of a potent climate pollutant from chemical plants in China while filling a gap in international climate agreements and China’s environmental regulations.

  However, a former industry insider who worked for chemical producers decades ago when they voluntarily reduced their emissions of the pollutant, nitrous oxide, said the new initiative would unfairly reward bad actor companies who continued to pollute, long after low-cost pollution controls were widely adopted by their peers.

• • Record Low Water Levels at Lake Powel

  It Reveals an ‘Amazing Silver Lining’
  
  

  May 23, 2023 -If you want to see the Colorado River change in real time, head to Lake Powell.

  At the nation’s second-largest reservoir, water levels recently dipped to the lowest they’ve been since 1968. As the water recedes, a breathtaking landscape of deep red-rock canyons that cradle lush ecosystems and otherworldly arches, caverns and waterfalls is emerging.

• • COP28 Chief Under Fire
  from EU and US Lawmakers

  Sultan Al Jaber’s Appointment Jeopardizes the UN Climate Talks
  
  

  May 23, 2023 -More than 130 lawmakers from the European Union and the United States are calling for the removal of oil executive Sultan Al Jaber as president of this year’s COP28 climate talks.

  In a joint letter — addressed to the United Nations, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and U.S. President Joe Biden — the lawmakers warn of fossil fuel companies exerting “undue influence” over the negotiations, which take place in the United Arab Emirates at the end of the year.

• • A Temperature Rise of 2
  Degrees C Could Impact Billions

  Under Current Climate Change Policies, Billions Will Face Life-Threatening Heat
  
  

  May 22, 2023 - About 2 billion people will live in hazardous heat conditions by the end of the century if climate policies continue on their current trajectory, according to new research published in the Nature Sustainability journal That represents 23% of the projected global population.

  If the climate warms more drastically — a potential scenario under current policies — about 3.3 billion people could face extreme temperatures by the end of the century.

• • Parts of Western Canada are on Fire

  Wildfires Raging in Alberta and British Columbia have Created a Sense of Panic and Fear
  
  

  May 22, 2023 -As acrid smoke filled the air, turning the sky around her sleepy hometown, Fox Creek, Alberta, a garish blood orange, Nicole Clarke said she felt a sense of terror.

  With no time to collect family photographs, she grabbed her two young children, hopped into her pickup truck, and sped away, praying she wouldn’t drive into the blaze’s menacing path.

• • India Scorched by Extreme Heat

  Delayed Monsoon Rains
  Contribute to the Problem
  
  

  May 22, 2023 -Swathes of India from the northwest to the southeast braced for more scorching heat Monday, with New Delhi under a severe weather alert, as extreme temperatures strike parts of the country.

  The Indian Meteorological Department issued a heat wave alert for seven southern and central states last week and broadened it to the capital and some northern states on Monday as sizzling temperatures breached normal levels.

• • Damage Estimates from the Next El Niño

  It Could Total $3 Trillion
  
  

  May 22, 2023 - Two researchers at Dartmouth College have published a report in the journal Science which predicts that the economic impact of the next El Niño weather event (expected to occur this year) will be $3 trillion through 2029, compared to the same period without such an event.

  In a press release, the authors of the study says that in the years when El Niño occurs, a band of warm ocean water that spans from South America to Asia triggers far reaching weather changes which result in devastating floods, crop killing droughts, plummeting fish populations, and an uptick in tropical diseases. Here’s the abstract of the study:

• • Proposal Would Aid Drought-
  Stricken Colorado River

  3 Western States
  Offer Water Use Cuts
  
  

  May 22, 2023 -Arizona, Nevada and California said Monday they’re willing to cut back on their use of the dwindling Colorado River in exchange for money from the federal government -- and to avoid forced cuts as drought threatens the key water supply for the U.S. West.

  The $1.2 billion plan, a potential breakthrough in a year-long stalemate, would conserve an additional 3 million acre-feet of water through 2026, when current guidelines for how the river is shared expire. About half the cuts would come by the end of 2024. That’s less than what federal officials said last year would be needed to stave off crisis in the river but still marks a notable step in long and difficult negotiations between the three states.

• • Damages from Extreme
  Weather Over the Past Half-Century

  2M Killed, $4.3 Trillion in Damages
  
  

  May 22, 2023 - The economic damage of weather- and climate-related disasters continues to rise, even as improvements in early warning have helped reduce the human toll, the U.N. weather agency said Monday.

  The World Meteorological Organization, in an updated report, tallied nearly 12,000 extreme weather, climate and water-related events over the past half-century around the globe that have killed more than 2 million people and caused economic damage of $4.3 trillion.

• • Brazilian Ecologists are Trying
  to Succeed Where a Government has Failed

  A New Approach
  Against Deforestation and Poverty
  Collaborate to Do Just That
  
  

  May 22, 2023 - They’re managing a stretch of land in a way that welcomes both local people and scientists to engage in preserving the world’s largest tropical forest.

  The goal is ambitious, counter the forces that have destroyed 10% of the forest in less than four decades and create something that can be replicated in other parts of the Amazon.

• • The World's Lakes Are Shrinking

  More than Half of the Largest Lakes and Water Reservoirs Around the Globe Have Lost Water
  
  

  May 19, 2023 - The world’s largest lakes are rapidly shrinking, endangering a critical freshwater source for people around the world. In a new study published in the journal Science, researchers looked at satellite imagery to see that more than half of the world’s largest reservoirs and lakes have lost water.

  The team analyzed satellite images of 1,972 of the biggest lakes from 1992 to 2020; they also looked at long-term recorded water levels and recent water measurements. They found that 53% of these lakes and reservoirs had lost water, and the total loss was comparable to 17 times the amount of water that could fill Lake Mead, the U.S.’s largest reservoir.

• • Cities vs. Rising Seas

  Around the World, Millions Could Lose their Homes in the Coming Decades
  
  

  May 19, 2023 - Global warming raises sea levels in two ways. First, it melts glaciers and ice sheets, adding water to the oceans. Second, higher temperatures make all that water expand, increasing its volume. Sea levels have already risen about 9 inches, or roughly 23 centimeters, since 1880

  How much more will the seas rise? That depends on how much we let global temperatures rise. If climate change is left unchecked, ice sheets in Antarctica and Greenland could eventually shift from gradual melting to collapse. Scientists aren’t sure exactly where that tipping point lies in the future.

• • Jakarta is Sinking, and Indonesia’s
  President has Chosen to Move the Capital

  The City Will be a Model of Environmental Stewardship, Carbon Neutral Within a Few Decades
  
  

  May 17, 2023 - “Jakarta has a lot of problems,” says Hannah Beech, The NY Times’s senior correspondent for Asia, “but its most existential one is that it is sinking in some places by up to a foot a year.”

  Climate change is part of the reason: The Java Sea — which surrounds Jakarta, Indonesia’s capital — is rising. But an even bigger factor is that Jakartans, desperate for access to clean water, have dug thousands of illegal wells that effectively deflate the marshes underneath the city. Today, 40 percent of Jakarta lies below sea level, and flooding is increasingly common.

• • Canada’s Wildfires Have Been Disrupting Lives

  Now, Oil and Gas Take a Hit
  
  

  May 17, 2023 - Wildfires sweeping across western Canada that have driven thousands of people from their homes are also striking the heart of Canadian oil and gas country, forcing companies to curb production.

  As flames bore down on wells and pipelines, major drillers like Chevron and Paramount Resources together shut down the equivalent of at least 240,000 barrels of oil a day, according to the energy consulting firm Rystad Energy.

• • World Likely to Breach
  1.5C Climate Threshold by 2027

  El Niño and Human-Induced Climate Breakdown Could Push Temperatures into ‘Uncharted Territory’
  
  

  May 17, 2023 -The world is almost certain to experience new record temperatures in the next five years, and temperatures are likely to rise by more than 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, scientists have warned.

  The breaching of the crucial 1.5C threshold, which scientists have warned could have dire consequences, should be only temporary, according to research from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

• • A Heat Advisory in the Pacific Northwest

  12 Million People Could be Affected
  
  

  May 16, 2023 - More than 12 million people remained under a heat advisory on Sunday in the Pacific Northwest as temperatures on Saturday soared to more than 20 degrees higher than normal in Oregon and Washington State and toppled records that in some cases had been standing for decades.

• • The North Sea is Coming for their Homes

  Homeowners Along the Eastern Coast of England are Watching the North Sea Swallow their Communities
  
  

  May 16, 2023 - On a stormy day in the spring of 2021, the sea defenses on the beach below Lucy Ansbro’s cliff-top home in Thorpeness, England, washed away. Then, the end of her garden collapsed into the North Sea.

  As she watched the plants tumble over the edge, she feared that her house in this coastal village 110 miles northeast of London would be next.

• • Ukraine Is Planning Its Green Reconstruction

  This Despite the Ongoing War
  
  

  May 15, 2023 - Ukrainian activists, scientists and architects are pushing for a postwar recovery unlike any in history, with a focus on climate resilience and clean energy.

• • Cyclone Mocha's Effects

  It Leaves Thousands Homeless in Bangladesh and Myanmar
  
  

  May 15, 2023 - Hundreds of thousands of people began repairing or rebuilding their homes and livelihoods on Monday after a deadly cyclone hit Myanmar and Bangladesh over the weekend.

• • NYC Skyscrapers Turn to Carbon Capture

  A Way to Meet Climate Goals
  
  

  May 15, 2023 - From the outside, the residential high-rise on Manhattan’s Upper West Side looks pretty much like any other luxury building: A doorman greets visitors in a spacious lobby adorned with tapestry and marble.

  Yet just below in the basement is an unusual set of equipment that no other building in New York City — indeed few in the world — can claim. In an effort to drastically reduce the 30-story building’s emissions, the owners have installed a maze of twisting pipes and tanks that collect carbon dioxide from the massive, gas-fired boilers in the basement before it goes to the chimney and is released into the air.

• • Climate Change Brings
  Warmer, Wetter Weather to Trinidad

  But It Still Refuses
  to Stop Using Fossil Fuels
  
  

  May 15, 2023 - Imtiaz Khan remembers the rains of his childhood as being light and providing welcome relief from the summer heat. A heavy shower, he said, would arrive only about once a month during the rainy season.

  Now 48, and president of the Carli Bay Fishing Association, Mr. Khan said the rains were something to dread. Storms are so regular, he said, there is serious flooding every year. The heavy downpours carry sediment into the bay, turning the sea cloudy and brown. Mangrove nurseries have been washed away. Clams, oysters, mussels and many species of fish are in decline.

• • Cool, Fascinating and Fun Climate Jobs

  You Can Find a Rewarding Climate Career? -You Told Us All About It
  
  

  May 12, 2023 - Two weeks ago, the NY Times asked you to talk about your careers in the field. Nearly everyone who wrote back said they enjoy what they’re doing.

  Many of you had changed careers. Why? Because you cared, you needed meaning, you felt compelled to do something. For some, it meant going back to school to learn new skills. Online communities that post jobs and offer tips have also helped.

• • EPA Proposes Carbon Emission
  Limits on Coal and Gas-Fired Plants

  Almost All the Coal Plants — Along With Large, Frequently Used Gas-Fired Power Plants — Would Have to Cut Or Capture Nearly All Their Carbon Dioxide Emissions by 2038
  
  

  May 11, 2023 - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed new carbon emission standards for U.S. coal and natural gas-fired power plants, its most ambitious effort yet to fight off planet-warming pollution and bring about a carbon-free power sector by 2040.

  The proposed rule leans on hydrogen as a low-carbon fuel that could be used as one strategy to meet the carbon reduction goals.

• • Climate Change, Earthquakes
  and Hydropower in the Himalayas

  Emerging Research Indicates that Climate Change May be Affecting the Frequency of Earthquakes in the Himalayas

  May 11, 2023, (theThirdPole) - The Himalayas are relatively new mountains, created by the Indian tectonic plate being pushed under the Eurasian plate, causing it to buckle. Earthquakes are caused by a release of the pressure that builds when tectonic plates slip against each other, and so as this plate movement continues, the Himalayan region is very prone to earthquakes.

  With climate change impacting weather patterns, melting glaciers and destabilizing mountain slopes, it is already adding to the dangers associated with earthquakes in the Himalayas. Meanwhile, new research suggests that climate change may even be having an effect on the frequency of earthquakes in the region.

• • Wildfire Smoke from Australia
  Affected Climate Events Around the World

  New Research Implicates Emissions from the 2019-2020 Australian Fires in the Emergence of a Three-Year Super La Niña
  
  

  May 10, 2023 -The aerosol fallout from wildfires that burned across more than 70,000 square miles of Australia in 2019 and 2020 was so persistent and widespread that it brightened a vast area of clouds above the subtropical Pacific Ocean.

  Beneath those clouds, the ocean surface and the atmosphere cooled, shifting a key tropical rainfall belt northward and nudging the Equatorial Pacific toward an unexpected and long-lasting cool phase of the La Niña-El Niño cycle, according to research published today in Science Advances.

• • He Could Uncork Trillions to Help Fix the Planet

  What Steps Will Ajay Banga Take When He Becomes World Bank Chief?
  
  

  May 9, 2023 - What if a new world leader came on the scene who could potentially free up trillions to help developing countries cope with climate change?

  That’s essentially what could be happening soon at the World Bank. The bank’s mission is to help countries develop sustainably and reduce poverty. The bank advises countries on what they need to do, lending them money to get projects off the ground and guaranteeing investments from other financial institutions.

• • Mapping Superstorms at Sea

  Filled With Maps Enhancing the Story
  
  

  May 9, 2023 - Throughout history, most sea captains have tried to steer their vessels out of extreme weather, but the whole purpose of SD 1045 was to steer into it. “The goal was not just to get into the hurricane but to get to the strongest quarter,” Jenkins said as we watched a video of the storm, shot from SD 1045’s masthead camera.

  “The big engineering challenge was to create enough sailing power to get in front of the storm, but not so much power that the storm destroys the boat.”

• • Over 5,500 Still Missing in Flood-Hit East Congo

  Shaken Survivors Wait For Food Aid
  
  

  May 9, 2023 -Scores of bodies have been recovered from the villages of Bushushu and Nyamukubi in South Kivu province's Kalehe territory since torrential rain caused landslides and flash floods on Thursday, flattening buildings and sweeping away crops.


• • The New Wold Bank Chief

  He Could Uncork
  Trillions to Help Fix the Planet
  
  

  May 9, 2023 -What if a new world leader came on the scene who could potentially free up trillions to help developing countries cope with climate change?

  That’s essentially what could be happening soon at the World Bank. The bank’s mission is to help countries develop sustainably and reduce poverty. The bank advises countries on what they need to do, lending them money to get projects off the ground and guaranteeing investments from other financial institutions.

• • A Greenland Glacier is Rapid Melting

  It May Signal Faster Sea Level Rise
  
  

  May 8, 2023 -Scientists studying one of Greenland’s largest glaciers say it is melting far faster than expected in its most vulnerable region, a worrying sign that glaciers perched in the ocean could contribute to sea level rise more quickly than currently forecast.

• • Florida’s Climate Resilience Plan Is Real?

  Can It Be True?
  
  

  May 8, 2023 -If enacted, this bill will expand the requirements of Florida’s Sea-Level Impact Projection (SLIP) studies beyond the current coastal construction zone and into all areas threatened by current and projected sea level rise, not just in areas directly on the coast.

  >The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) has come out in favor of Florida’s new legislation that advances the prioritization of climate resilience.

• • Backup Power: A Growing Need, if You Can Afford It

  But Generators and Batteries
  Are Still Out of Reach for Many
  
  

  May 6, 2023 - When frigid weather caused rolling blackouts on Christmas Eve across North Carolina, Eliana and David Mundula quickly grew worried about their 2½-week-old daughter, whom they had brought home days earlier from a neonatal intensive care unit.

  “The temperature was dropping in the house,” said Ms. Mundula, who lives in Matthews, south of Charlotte. “I became angry.”

• • In Parched Arizona, Produce Gardens Bloom

  Gardeners and Small Farmers Grow Produce With a Surprisingly Scant Amount of Water
  
  

  May 6, 2023 - They are converting lawns to forest gardens, and tending urban farms in food deserts around Phoenix.

  And many are drawing on the agricultural knowledge of Native Americans, who thrived in the arid Southwest before colonization.

• • More than 100 Killed in Congo Flooding

  Brought on by Torrential Rains in Eastern Congo’s South Kivu Province
  
  

  May 5, 2023 -Thomas Bakenge, a regional government official gave the estimate after overseeing recovery efforts in the affected territory of Kalehe, calling the scale of destruction “enormous, beyond words ... whole houses were carried away.” He said bodies were still being collected from the shores of the nearby Lake Kivu.

  Two rivers broke their banks after the heavy rains which began on Thursday evening and there have been multiple landslides with scores of homes destroyed, according to Delphin Birimbi, a community leader in the region.

• • Global Food Supply Threatened
  by Rapid Rise in Fungal Attacks

  A Coordinated Effort With Funders, Governments and Farmers is Required
  
  

  May 5, 2023 -Last year, the World Health Organization (WHO)released a ranking of fungal pathogens that can infect humans. Many of these have developed resistance to treatments and are becoming very dangerous. However, fungi pose another, indirect threat to human health. Scientists are now warning that climate change will bring a rise in fungal attacks on crops, threatening global food security.

• • Fungal Attacks Threaten Global Food Supply

  Climate Crisis is Exacerbating Damage Caused by Crop-Destroying Fungi, Risking ‘Global Health Catastrophe’
  
  

  May 3, 2023 - Fast-rising fungal attacks on the world’s most important crops threaten the planet’s future food supply, scientists have said, warning that failing to tackle fungal pathogens could lead to a “global health catastrophe”.

  Fungi are already by far the biggest destroyer of crops. They are highly resilient, travel long distances on the wind and can feast on large fields of a single crop. They are also extremely adaptable and many have developed resistance to common fungicides.

• • Inside Big Beef’s Climate Messaging Machine:

  Confuse, Defend and Downplay
  
  

  May 3, 2023 - The US beef industry is creating an army of influencers and citizen activists to help amplify a message that will be key to its future success: that you shouldn’t be too worried about the growing attention around the environmental impacts of its production.

  In particular, it would like you not to be especially concerned about how meat consumption needs to be reduced if we are to avoid the most violently disruptive forms of planetary heating (even if all fossil fuel use ended tomorrow).

• The National Climate Change Assessment
• 6 Things We Can Do About Climate Change
• Climate Change Positive Thoughts (free e-Book)
• Get the Climate Lab Book
• Interactive Climate Map 2050 (CC Consequences)
• The People's Dosier on Climate Change

• Global Warming Report from NOAA
• Another Good Global Warming Resource
• More Climate Change Resources
• NY Times Climate Forward: (Climate Change Q&A)
• Carbon Fee & Dividend Video
• Interactive Air Pollution Map 2100