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Climate Change

The Hope Files: Could the Sahara Ever Be Green Again?

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Sometime between 11,000 and 5,000 years ago, after the last ice age ended, the Sahara Desert transformed. Green vegetation grew atop the sandy dunes and increased rainfall turned arid caverns into lakes. About 3.5 million square miles (9 million square kilometers) of Northern Africa turned green, drawing in animals such as hippos, antelopes, elephants and aurochs (wild ancestors of domesticated cattle), who feasted on its thriving grasses and shrubs. This lush paradise is long gone, but could it ever return? In short, the answer is yes. The Green Sahara, also known as the African Humid Period, was caused by the … Read more

Now We Have Zombie Storms. Thanks 2020!

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Wildfires are burning the West Coast, hurricanes are flooding the Southeast — and some of those storms are rising from the dead. “Zombie storms,” which regain strength after initially petering out, are the newest addition to the year 2020. And these undead weather anomalies are becoming more common thanks to climate change. “Because 2020, we now have Zombie Tropical Storms. Welcome back to the land of the living, Tropical Storm #Paulette,” the National Weather Service wrote on Twitter on Tuesday (Sept. 22). Earlier this month, Tropical storm Paulette formed in the Atlantic Ocean and made landfall in Bermuda as a … Read more

Climate Change Watch: Climate Clock, Zombie Fires, Melting Glaciers & More

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Even during these multiple crises, climate change continues apace: Massive ‘Climate Clock’ Urging Governments to Act Is Unveiled in New York City:Some advocates kicked off next week’s Climate Week NYC early Saturday by repurposing the Metronome, a famous art installation in Union Square that used to display the time of day, as a massive “Climate Clock” in an effort to pressure governments worldwide to take swift, bold action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and rein in human-caused global heating.https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-clock-nyc-2020-2647728828.html Melting Ice Sheets Will Add Over 15 Inches to Global Sea Level Rise By 2100:If humans continue emitting greenhouse gases at … Read more

Yes, Climate Change Is Still Happening

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…and it seems to be accelerating: Half of Antarctic Ice Shelves Could Collapse In a FlashAntarctic ice shelves can disappear astonishingly fast — sometimes in minutes or hours — as meltwater surges through cracks in their surface. And as the atmosphere warms, this phenomenon may become more commonplace; at least half of the ice shelves on the continent are vulnerable to this process, a new study suggests.More Info Scientists Discover the Fastest-Melting Spot in East AntarcticaResearchers have discovered a deep underwater trough in Antarctica that could spell doom for one of the continent’s vulnerable ice shelves.More Info Greenland’s Ice Sheet … Read more

What If Humans Went Extinct?

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Deep within Guatemala’s rainforest sits one of the most famous remnants of the Maya civilization: a roughly 2,000-year-old citadel turned to ruins called Tikal. When Alan Weisman hiked through the surrounding region, he discovered something fascinating along the way: “You’re walking through this really dense rainforest, and you’re walking over hills,” said Weisman, author and journalist. “And the archaeologists are explaining to you that what you’re really walking over are pyramids and cities that haven’t been excavated.” In other words, we know about sites like Tikal because humans have gone to great efforts to dig up and restore their remains. … Read more

What Will Drive Us to Extinction First?

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The scene opens on a sparse, gray landscape, a gnarled tree in the foreground, bits of ash slowly drifting down from the sky. On the horizon, a few huddled figures stumble forward and into a bleak future. If this sounds familiar, it’s because it’s a common visual trope in many post-apocalyptic films. Usually, these films tell the story of a catastrophe — an asteroid strike perhaps, or a nuclear war — that causes humanity’s demise, and then follows the challenges that the remaining humans face as they try to save their species from extinction. Such films grip the public imagination. … Read more

Climate Change Updates

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Yes, it’s still going on in the background as we struggle with covid and racism. Global carbon emissions dropped an unprecedented 17% during the coronavirus lockdown — and it changes nothingAs the coronavirus pandemic forced much of the world into lockdown by early April, daily global carbon dioxide emissions fell by 17% compared with 2019 levels, a new study published May 19 in the journal Nature Climate Change found.https://www.livescience.com/carbon-dioxide-reduction-coronavirus-lockdown.html Hurricanes really are getting stronger, just like climate models predictedHurricanes are getting stronger as the world gets warmer, according to a new analysis. Studying how hurricanes have changed over time is … Read more

Climate Change Updates: Melting; Heat Zones; Farmers Coming Around

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Haven’t done one of these in a bit, but climate change continues even amidst the Covid19 crisis: New Satellite Maps Show Massive Ice Melt in Antarctica and Greenland: Two new satellite images remind us that Earth’s ice sheets are losing so much mass it’s becoming obvious from space. In the vivid new maps published as part of an April 30 study in the journal Science, researchers illustrated 16 years of ice loss in Greenland and Antarctica as seen by a laser-emitting NASA satellite. The images paint a picture of rapid melt around the coasts of both regions (shown in red … Read more

Climate Change: Blood Snow; Bezos Billions; Ancient Microbes, More

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Bezos Commits $10 Billion To Battle Climate ChangeToday, I’m thrilled to announce I am launching the Bezos Earth Fund.⁣⁣⁣ Climate change is the biggest threat to our planet. I want to work alongside others both to amplify known ways and to explore new ways of fighting the devastating impact of climate change on this planet we all share.https://www.joemygod.com/2020/02/bezos-commits-10-billion-to-battle-climate-change/ Ancient Microbes Could Help Save Coastal Cities From Rising SeasThanks to anthropogenic climate change, sea level is rising at an alarming clip, threatening to swamp iconic metropolises like New York, Mumbai and Shanghai in the not-too-distant future. But residents of these and … Read more

Climate Change Updates

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One of Antarctica’s Glaciers Lost an Iceberg Twice the Size of Washington, D.C.Pine Island Glacier, one of the fastest-shrinking glaciers in Antarctica, has just lost another huge chunk of ice to the sea, continuing a troubling trend that has become a near-annual occurrence in the last decade. Scientists at Copernicus, the European Union’s Earth observation program, have been closely monitoring the glacier since large cracks appeared near its edge in October 2019. Yesterday, those cracks finally cut a chunk of the glacier away (a process known as calving), releasing a giant jigsaw puzzle of fresh icebergs into the nearby Amundsen … Read more