Buckle up, it’s a long one. Summer in the Northern Hemisphere always sees an uptick in climate reportage, almost a climate panic, because the impacts are so visible and inarguable: higher temperatures, more wildfires, more intense storms, floods. Homes are damaged; lives are lost.
We see this every summer. And since summer happens every year, it is our responsibility to remember what this feels like, and to prepare for the next one.
Here’s what’s going on right now. For those who make it to the end, there will be a chunk of good news and lighter topics.
High temperatures
Earth Faces Hottest Day Ever Recorded—Three Days in a Row (Smithsonian Magazine, July 6, 2023)
Summer in the South Is Becoming Unbearable (The Atlantic, July 1, 2023)
Take this as a reminder to stay cool and hydrated during these hot summer days. It opens with an absolutely devasting story about a family on a hike.
‘The Heat Will Kill You First’ is a chilling book — and a warning (Grist, July 11, 2023)
‘Unprecedented’ ocean heat wave could linger through fall (NBC News, June 21, 2023)
#ShowYourStripes generates visual representations of the change in average temperature in your region over the last 100 years.
Wildfires
In June, the East Coast experienced a little of what our West Coast friends deal with every summer.
Don’t blame Canada (HEATED, June 8, 2023)
New York’s Apocalyptic Air Isn’t Deadly for Me. It Can Be for Others. (The New Republic, June 8, 2023)
Asthma ER visits during NYC smoke haze were highest in high-poverty, Black and Latino areas (Gothamist, June 12, 2023)
Water
Rampant Groundwater Pumping Has Changed the Tilt of Earth’s Axis (Scientific American, June 21, 2023)
The places in the U.S. most at risk for extreme rainfall (Washington Post, June 26, 2023)
Good reminder that your virtual tools and digital products must exist in real space somewhere:
AI’s Unsustainable Water Use: How Tech Giants Contribute To Global Water Shortages (Forbes, April 14, 2023)
More environmental impacts
Domestic and feral cats are technically an invasive species, and one that can have an enormous negative impact on their ecosystems. I appreciated this nuanced view of how people who love cats can better take care of them (by ensuring there aren’t so many cats loose outside.
Cat-astrophe (Noema, June 6, 2023)
Sea Ice Is Going, but When Will It Be Gone? (Eos, June 28, 2023)
Three things to know: Climate change’s impact on extreme weather events (Penn Today, July 3, 2023)
Carbon offsets and economic shenanigans:
Climate Fraud on America’s Last Frontier (New Republic, June 15, 2023)
Energy
Renewable Energy Is So Far Passing Its Texas Test (Heatmap, June 29, 2023)
Show this to anyone who says renewables are unreliable (HEATED, June 29, 2023)
It’s more pressing than even to normalize renewable energy, but I appreciated this nuanced look into some of the work it takes to do it safely and well.
Solar sprawl is tearing up the Mojave Desert. Is there a better way? (LA Times, June 27, 2023)
The trash cycle
This month is Plastic Free July, which I will admit I am having mixed results with. Plastic is everywhere! For example, I got 9 out of 10 correct here. If you take the quiz, I’ll tell you which one I got wrong and why.
Can You Identify the Everyday Products That Contain Plastic? (Bloomberg, June 10, 2023. May be behind a paywall.)
To Fight Climate Change, We’ve Got to Quit Making So Much Plastic (Mother Jones, June 3, 2023)
New report finds most US kale samples contain ‘disturbing’ levels of ‘forever chemicals’ (The Guardian, June 30, 2023)
Spoiler: no one really knows yet, but we are starting to gather more information, so it’s worth keeping an eye on.
Microplastics are everywhere. What does that mean for our immune systems? (MIT Technology Review, June 2, 2023)
More of a lyric essay, but one of my favorite poets Allison Cobb has a point:
You are my garbage: The unbearable intimacy of waste (About Place Journal, December 2022)
Climate in culture
Jay-Z and Beyoncé bought a concrete house in Malibu, which is not of much interest to me, but the reporters of HEATED broke down how concrete is made–and why it is such a climate-unfriendly material–in a way that I found very readable and entertaining.
Why Jay-Z’s new $200M house sucks (HEATED, June 22, 2023)
Vienna museum uses tilted paintings to spark climate conversations (Yale Climate Connections, June 12, 2023)
I like this because it calls out a few examples where TV or film actually does include climate issues, instead of minimizing or overly dramatizing them.
Hollywood Has a Climate Problem (Mother Jones, July + August issue)
Why We Need More Climate Change Love Stories (Outside, October 8, 2021)
Some good news
These Western Cities Are Turning to “Extreme” Water Recycling (Mother Jones, June 14, 2023)é
The former dumping ground that became a flourishing food ecosystem (Grist, June 17, 2023)
Black Joy Can Be Found in Nature’s Simplicity (Capital B, June 28, 2023)
I loved reading this–I send my glass bottles to a company that upcycles what they can and turns the rest into cullet, which has many uses–including being turned into lightweight composite for building!
How recycled glass bottles will be used to rebuild I-95 (Philadelphia Inquirer, June 14, 2023)
More fun with upcycling:
National Park Service and Center for Coastal Studies unveil marine debris shark sculpture at Herring Cove Beach (Center for Coastal Studies, May 18, 2023)
Sara Davis 