by Jeffrey Kluger in Time…By century’s end, up to 20% of all Earth’s land could experience abrupt ecosystem transformation, such as forests becoming grasslands, with attendant extinction and collapse of ecosystems. Farming could suffer too.
A ‘doom loop’ of climate change and geopolitical instability is beginning
by Laurie Laybourn in The Conversation…It is a common refrain to say that geopolitics gets in the way of climate action. From the war in Ukraine to trade tensions, each year seems to bring another immediate priority that diverts focus from the imperative to act on climate change.
Does talking about climate ‘tipping points’ inspire action — or defeat?
by Kate Yoder in Grist…Kopp said that the emphasis on climate tipping points might have made sense as a call to action 20 years ago, when the consequences of climate change weren’t so obvious. But in 2024, the hottest year ever recorded, its effects are apparent, with floods, fires, and heat waves noticeably worse than they used to be.
Global emergence of regional heatwave hotspots outpaces climate model simulations
by Kai Kornhuber, et al. in PNAS…Multiple recent record-shattering weather events raise questions about the adequacy of climate models to effectively predict and prepare for unprecedented climate impacts on human life, infrastructure, and ecosystems. Here, we show that extreme heat in several regions globally is increasing significantly and faster in magnitude than what state-of-the-art climate models have predicted under present warming even after accounting for their regional summer background warming.
Trees as infrastructure
from Dark Matter Laboratories…An open source model to support municipalities in transitioning toward resilient urban forest management practices
Heat-related mortality in Europe during 2023 and the role of adaptation in protecting health
by Eliso Gallo, et al. in Nature…The year of 2023 was the warmest on record globally and the second warmest in Europe. Here we applied epidemiological models to temperature and mortality records in 823 contiguous regions from 35 countries to estimate sex- and age-specific heat-related mortality in Europe during 2023 and to quantify the mortality burden avoided by societal adaptation to rising temperatures since the year 2000.
More in this category
We asked 380 top climate scientists what they felt about the future…
by Damian Carrington in The Guardian…In the face of such colossal danger, why is the world’s response so slow and inadequate? The IPCC experts overwhelmingly pointed to one barrier: lack of political will. Almost three-quarters of the respondents cited this factor, with 60% also blaming vested corporate interests.
America’s climate boomtowns are waiting
by Abrahm Lustgarten in The Atlantic….Rising temperatures could push millions of people north.
Indicators of Global Climate Change 2023: annual update of key indicators of the state of the climate system and human influence
by Piers M. Forster, et al. in Earth System Science Data….This paper tracks some key indicators of global warming through time, from 1850 through to the end of 2023. It is designed to give an authoritative estimate of global warming to-date and its causes.
3ºC Neighbourhood
by Civic Square in Neighbourhood Public Square…..We can ultimately control how much warming the world experiences, based on our choices as a society, and as a planet. Doom is not inevitable.
Southern Africa drought flags dilemma for loss and damage fund
by Joe Lo in Climate Change News….Scientists blame the current drought on El Niño – which could exclude those affected from receiving aid for climate-change damage
North America’s biggest city is running out of water
by Caroline Houck in Vox…..Mexico City is staring down a water crisis. It won’t be the last city to do so.
Scorching heatwave ravages Southeast Asia’s food supplies, imperiling the poor
from Dimsum Daily-Hong Kong….And in a vicious spiral, the compounding nutritional deprivation and socio-economic dislocation unleashed by heatwave-driven price shocks and crop failures create fertile conditions for civil unrest, political upheavals and even armed conflicts – all of which merely deepen humanitarian emergencies.
Here’s what record-breaking temperatures looked like around the globe
by Sueellen Campbell in Yale Climate Connections…..Climate change is affecting every continent and the oceans.
Critical minerals, food crops at risk of climate disruption by 2050, report shows
by Darren Parker in Mining Weekly…More than 70% of critical minerals needed for the transition to net zero emissions will be at risk from climate disruption by 2050, professional services firm PwC says.
European summers will be hotter than predicted because of cleaner air
by Michael Le Page in the New Scientist…By ignoring declining air pollution, regional climate models have greatly underestimated how hot Europe’s summers and heatwaves will become
‘Inside an oven’: sweltering heat ravages crops and takes lives in south-east Asia
by Rebecca Ratcliffe in The Guardian….Governments issue health warnings as schools shut and crops fail, with fears that worse is to come as heatwave tightens grip
The flooding will come “No Matter What”
by Abrahm Lustgarten in Propublica…The complex, contradictory and heartbreaking process of American climate migration is underway.
These century-old stone “Tsunami Stones” dot Japan’s coastline
by Danny Lewis in Smithsonian Magazine….“Remember the calamity of the great tsunamis. Do not build any homes below this point.”
Climate crisis → drought → food deficit → migration
by Mohan Mainali in Nepali Times….Half-century of eastern Nepal’s rainfall data points to a link between chronic drought and depopulation
Tenth consecutive monthly heat record alarms and confounds climate scientists
by Johathan Watts in The Guardian…If the anomaly does not stabilise by August, ‘the world will be in uncharted territory’, says climate expert