Hey there. It’s still summer in the northern hemisphere, which means those of us in the US are still seeing a great many climate impacts firsthand. As always, I’ve collected news about a few (hardly all!) because I think it’s important to know and try to understand what climate change looks like in different parts of the world. As always, I have a few notes of hope and action at the end. That’s important too.
Climate disasters
What Will Twitter’s Death Mean for Climate Disaster Information? (The New Republic, July 28, 2023)
The first tropical storm to hit California in 80 years
Tropical Storm Hilary moves on from California, leaving a trail of damage and debris (NPR, August 21, 2023)
Should California expect more tropical storms like Hurricane Hilary? (The Verge, August 21, 2023)
Fires in Maui
Hurricane Dora Is Now A Typhoon But Did It Make The Maui Fires Worse? (Forbes, August 12, 2023)
Lahaina used to be wetland (HEATED, August 13, 2023)
Another HEATED article, but this one offers some intriguing insight into how climate reporting sometimes misreports scientific information–in this case, when ABC News reported that climate change can’t be blamed for the wildfires in Maui, although that is not what their cited expert said.
The real story behind ABC’s Hawaii headline change (HEATED, August 17, 2023)
Record high temperatures
Death Valley Just Had The Hottest Midnight On Record (Popular Mechanics, July 18, 2023)
On the invisible danger of heat:
America’s Deadly Heat Isn’t (Officially) a Major Disaster (New Republic, July 20, 2023)
Warming water destroys corals, which thrive in a pretty narrow temperature range:
With Florida ocean temperatures topping 100, experts warn of damage to marine life (NPR, July 26, 2023)
There’s A Crisis Unfolding In Florida’s Waters. DeSantis Hasn’t Said A Word. (HuffPost, August 4, 2023)
Extreme rainfall
The Problem With Calling Vermont’s Storms a “100-Year-Flood” (Mother Jones, July 21, 2023)
Melting cryosphere
No quick fix to reverse Antarctic sea ice loss as warming intensifies – scientists (Reuters, August 9, 2023)
Trash
Annual Point Reached When Plastic Waste Cannot Be Managed Effectively, Study Finds (Forbes, July 28, 2023)
The Government Is Basically Burning Trash to Pad Its Climate Stats (Mother Jones, July 24, 2023)
Science!
Ground Rules: Understanding soil to understand climate change (JSTOR, July 17, 2023)
Very cool, not horrifying at all: Scientists Just Discovered a ‘Strawberry-Like’ Antarctic Invertebrate With 20 Arms (Gizmodo, August 11, 2023)
Link goes to a sort of .pdf viewer situation:
Carbon dioxide removal is an ineffective time machine (Nature, April 6, 2023)
Hope is necessary
One solution to climate change? Talk about it (Fast Company, July 29, 2023)
We love to see it:
‘Game-changer’: judge rules in favor of young activists in US climate trial (Guardian, August 14, 2023)
Montana Kids Just Won Their Landmark Climate Lawsuit. Here’s Why. (Drilled, August 14, 2023)
Hawaii’s youth-led climate change lawsuit is going to trial next summer (Grist, August 7, 2023)
I’ve been following Future Earth on Instagram, and I was delighted that they released a newsletter to compile their weekly good news. Maybe you need that in your inbox on Tuesdays.
Good climate humor is hard to come by, but…. I loved these:
And, because it would be cruel to put “dog” in the title of this post and not show a picture of a dog, here is a very good pup doing a concern:
Sara Davis 