North American summer is always an avalanche of climate news, but this summer in particular feels like all sirens all the time. The Narwhal gets it:
I have seasonal depression in the summer now (The Narwhal, August 20, 2025)
It’s hard to know which section to place first–they all feel urgent.
The fallout of war
Again, just to be clear, what Israel is doing to Gaza is a war crime. It is an extermination. It is cruel. And also it is environmentally disastrous.
An Environmantal Crisis Haunts the Ruins of Gaza (Bloomberg [gift link], July 24, 2025)
In Gaza, water kills too (Al Jazeera, July 26, 2025)
Israeli Forces Bulldoze Palestinian Seed Bank (Yale Environment 360, August 5, 2025)
What the White House is up to
More fallout from the budget reconciliation bill that was passed in July:
‘Big Beautiful Bill’ will have Americans paying higher prices for dirtier energy. (The Conversation, July 9, 2025)
Trump administration halts offshore wind project in Rhode Island (The Hill, August 22, 2025)
Meanwhile, the administration is taking climate denial to the next level: climate change censorship.
The US government has declared war on the very idea of climate change (CNN, August 1, 2025)
US to rewrite its past national climate reports (Phys.org, August 6, 2025)
Duffy says climate science will ‘move aside,’ with NASA only focusing on space exploration (The Hill, August 14, 2025)
And, of course, building actual concentration camps in ecologically sensitive areas.
Federal judge orders two-week construction pause at ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ (Politico, August 7, 2025)
Here are a couple of resources to help you keep all the atrocities straight:
Lest We Forget the Horrors: An Unending Catalog of Trump’s Cruelties, Collusions, Corruptions, and Crimes at McSweeney’s
Trump Action Tracker, maintained by Dr. Christina Pagel
But hey, at least our leaders are also all cartoonishly evil and selfish, right?
JD Vance’s team had water level of Ohio river raised for family’s boating trip (Guardian, August 6, 2025)
Climate impacts
Too much water:
Abbott says megafloods are “just part of nature.” The fossil fuel industry disagrees. (HEATED, July 10, 2025)
Not enough water:
Drought is a big problem in Canada — and it’s getting worse (The Narwhal, August 15, 2025)
As the Colorado River slowly dries up, states angle for influence over future water rights (The Conversation, August 7, 2025)
Far, far too much heat:
Human-Caused Global Warming Spiked the Death Toll of Europe’s Early Summer Heatwave (Inside Climate News, July 9, 2025)
‘Corn Sweat’ Is Making This Heat Wave Even Worse (Scientific American, July 21, 2025)
Why are Europe and the Arctic heating up faster than the rest of the world? (European Commission, July 14, 2025)
‘We’re being cooked alive:’ Europe burns as temperatures soar above 100 degrees (CNN, August 12, 2025)
More than 400 people suspected to have died from extreme heat in Arizona county (Guardian, August 13, 2025)
How hot is too hot for the human body? Our lab found heat + humidity gets dangerous faster than many people realize (The Conversation, July 6, 2025)
Pollution
There are massive chemical dumps in the Gulf we know almost nothing about (Grist, April 26, 2021 [repost])
No one was happy with this year’s plastic treaty talks:
Plastic pollution treaty stalled as Geneva talks end without deal (Reuters, August 15, 2025)
Plastic pollution is toxic and everywhere. Now, legal experts say it’s a human rights violation. (Grist, August 13, 2025)
Plastics Started as a Sustainability Solution. What Went Wrong? (Scientific American, August 19, 2025)
AI, ugh
At Amazon’s Biggest Data Center, Everything Is Supersized for A.I. (New York Times [gift link], June 24, 2025)
He helped Microsoft build AI to help the climate. Then Microsoft sold it to Big Oil. (HEATED, July 17, 2025)
Related: We’re Wrong About AI – Will Alpine (Ignite Seattle, February 24)
As electric bills rise, evidence mounts that data centers share blame. States feel pressure to act (AP News, August 9, 2025)
La. regulators approve Entergy power plants for Meta’s AI data center (KPLC, August 20, 2025)
Key takeaway: “The facility will use roughly three times as much electricity as the entire city of New Orleans annually, according to the Alliance for Affordable Energy.”
Data centers consume massive amounts of water – companies rarely tell the public exactly how much (The Conversation, August 19, 2025)
Big tech’s selective disclosure masks AI’s real climate impact (Ketan Joshi, August 23, 2025)
Some good things
I confess that I haven’t stayed very informed about solar power in the US. I rent, so I figured it was off the table for me. But damn if this interview between Emily Atkin and Bill McKibben didn’t get my all fired up about renewable energy.
Where does the climate movement go from here? (HEATED, July 31, 2025)
Singapore’s regreening is a model for cities everywhere (Mongabay, July 25, 2025)
Tucson City Council rejects Project Blue data center amid intense community pressure (Arizona Luminaria, August 6, 2025)
Sara Davis 