Climate change is at once a slow- and fast-moving story. A Swedish chemist in the 1890s worked out basic physics describing how atmospheric carbon dioxide collects heat. Today, heat records and ominous projections need updating more often than smartphones. Climate stories run the gamut from Earth physics to geopolitics, energy, insurance, investment, technology and behavior. Wherever you live, whatever you do, there’s now a climate angle for you to follow — plus the global one that binds us all.
The Reality of Climate Change
It's the 52nd anniversary of Earth Day, but there's not much to celebrate. Our environment is in serious danger. In this installment of our "Truth Seekers" series, academics, scientists, journalists and activists explore the implications of climate change on Earth, from misinformation to energy usage, sustainability, carbon removal and more. Plus, learn how the next generation is fighting to save the planet.
The State of Climate Change
The Youth Activists Fighting Back
I have linked five articles about topics that are close to my heart: Protecting our planet, protecting people from policing and allowing kindness to yourself. While they may seem to vary vastly in topics, I wanted to highlight the intersections of preserving self, the community and the planet. This collection has helped me to allow myself to grieve and practice hope every day and my hope is that it does the same to another person!
Climate Change Misinformation
Our ability to mitigate the climate crisis is only as good as our ability to get the word out. Over the course of decades, many powerful players — from the fossil fuel industry to social media giants, and from politicians to a major public relations firm — have actively buried information on just how dire things are. That misinformation has delayed necessary climate action. In recent years, intrepid journalists and researchers have begun to uncover the truth about who knew what, and when.
Energy and Global Policy
The cheap energy provided by fossil fuels has been the driver of global economic growth for more than a century. It has also shaped the geopolitical landscape in ways that are only becoming more apparent in an age of renewed great power rivalry, accelerating technological change, and ongoing supply chain disruption. These articles delve into how changing energy dynamics are shaping global politics, from the war in Ukraine to international negotiations over reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Nature and the Changing Environment
The decline of nature — its animal, plants, oceans, forests and soils — is a climate-change problem. Every day, research reveals how we rely on nature for not only combatting the climate crisis but adapting to its relentless impacts. From trees in urban areas to large intact expanses of the tropical rainforests, nature delivers much-needed environmental benefits to all of us. Read on to better understand how we can unlock the power of nature to combat climate change.
Carbon Removal
The world needs to slash emissions over the next few decades and suck out huge amounts of carbon dioxide already in the atmosphere to have a decent shot at preventing the planet from soaring past 2˚C of warming. The problem is we don’t know how to do it at the necessary scales. Our technical solutions are very expensive. And researchers have highlighted numerous issues with the markets forming to incentivize carbon removal using trees, soil, seaweed and other nature-based approaches.
How Climate Change Impacts Biodiversity
Our relationship with nature is broken and the crises of climate change and biodiversity loss are deeply entangled. The warmest seven years have all been since 2015. Since 1970, there has been a 68% decline in the number of birds, amphibians, mammals, fish, and reptiles. There is a path forward if we act now and together. These stories show the scale of the problem we face as well as the new and exciting ways in which people are tackling the climate crisis around the world.
Sustainable Communities
Cities are on the front lines of climate change, facing impacts like heat waves and rising seas. They can also lead the way in solutions that cut greenhouse gas emissions while bringing benefits such as improved quality of life and health, greater social cohesion, and increased resilience to extreme weather. Renewable energy and electric vehicles cut pollution and illnesses, while green space reduces urban heat and flooding. Cities are essential leaders in climate sustainability and resilience.
Sustainable Transportation
The transportation sector accounts for over 20% of global carbon emissions, making it a major driver of climate change. Cities across the globe are rethinking how people move, and making progress in weaning urbanites off cars with various policy and infrastructure changes — from pivoting to electric cars and building bike highways to boosting public transit. These articles explain why a transformation to greener travel is necessary, the innovation around it and why it remains an uphill battle.
Nature-Based Solutions to Climate Change
Healthy ecosystems such as forests, wetlands, and grasslands have an amazing ability to remove planet-warming emissions from the atmosphere and lock them securely underground. Experts call them “nature-based solutions” to climate change. The stories I’ve highlighted below showcase some of these hardworking landscapes. They also explain what we gain when we protect large portions of the Earth, how forests are changing, and where our oceans — two-thirds of our world — fit into the equation.
Technology's Role in Slowing Down Climate Change
To fix the climate, we need to change everything. (Seriously.) Luckily, as the recent United Nations climate report shows, we have so many of the technological tools to do just that. From wind turbines to solar panels and heat pumps to e-bikes, there’s so much we can do right now to reduce carbon pollution and get on a more sustainable path. We’ll also need a little innovation along the way — and policies that ensure everyone has access to climate-saving technology and the good life it provides.
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News about the science and growing dangers of our climate crisis, curated by Flipboard's human editors.