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Climate Breakdown
Ecocide: “unlawful or wanton acts committed with knowledge that there is a substantial likelihood of severe and either widespread or long-term damage to the environment being caused by those acts.”
NOAA: Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Now More Than 50% Higher Than Pre-Industrial Levels - Pre-industrial levels: about 280 ppm. Currently (6/3/22): about 420 and rapidly rising. Scientific concensus: The highest safe level is 350. And Here.
Climate.Gov: Climate Change: Global Temperature - In terms of average global surface temp
1880-1900 avg temp: 56.65 F/13.7 C
2022: 58.55 F/14.75 C
Goal is to stay below: 59 F/15.2 C (+1.5C above 1900 avg)
NPR: USDA Updated Plant Hardiness Zones
NOAA: Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale
9/22/24
Good News Network: Battery Breakthrough Could Give Electric Cars 'Big Range Boost' and Create Longer-Lasting Batteries - Here's the technical article in Science magazine.
9/21/24
NOAA: Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters -
9/20/24
Science: A 485-Millon-Year History of Earth's Surface Temperature - Per Bill McKibben: Over the entire time that humans have walked the earth, there is no time when the earth has warmed as fast as it is currently. The Earth's worst extinction period, the Permian, from warming caused by immense volcanic activity, took place over thousands of years. The Anthropocene extinction, also caused by warming is happening much faster. Humans probably won't survive this one.
Common Dreams: Climate Marches Kick Off Worldwide as Global South Seeks Reparations
9/15/24
Guardian: Six Drown in Europe Amid Heavy Floods
Common Dreams: Deadly Flooding in Europe Shows Dramatic Consequences of Climate Change
DW: Europe Floods: Parts of Vienna Without Power as River Rises - "Since Friday morning, more rain has fallen in Southwest Poland than during the so-called millennium Flood of 1997.
9/12/24
Le Monde: From Guinea to Chad, Floods Affect 3.5 Million People, Killing Nearly 900
9/9/24
Deseret News: Wildfires Rage in California, Nevada, other Western States - From the article: "Last Thursday, Portland registered a temperature of 101 degrees, only the third time the Oregon City hit 100 since records have been kept. Downtown LA hit 112 degrees on Friday, only one degree lower than the all-time record, in one of the most prolonged heat waves with temperatures over 100 degrees the city has seen. Phoenix has now gone over 100 days with temperatures at or above 100 degrees."
9/3/24
Common Dreams: US DOE Approves New Fortress Energy LNG Export Despite Climate Risks - So much for Biden's phony 'pause', a move whose sole purpose was to squeeze more money out of Big Oil. Harris has already come out in favor of fracking, and continuing to arm the genocide in Gaza, something even our staunchest allies are beginning to reconsider. Not my party.
8/30/24
Democracy-Now: Harris Flip-Flops on Support for Fracking
8/26/24
Guardian: US Midwest Braces for Hottest Days This Summer, 55M Under Heat Alerts
8/16/24
Charlotte News: Outer Banks House Sets Sail for France After Ernesto Passed By - ...the seventh time in 4 years a NC home has dropped into the sea...bought in 2019 for $339K...
8/15/24
Guardian: Last Month Marked the World's Hottest July on Record, US Scientists Say - Making July 24 the 15th straight month with that designation. The 10 hottest years in history have all occured in the last 10 years. 2023 was the hottest by a large margin, and 2024 looks like it will surpass even that.
Today CO2 levels in our atmosphere are about 420 ppm. The last time that concentration was reached was during the Pliocene epoch, about 3+ million years ago. Sea levels were about 50 ft. higher then than they are now. So if you live anywhere south of Valdosta, you might want to get some snorkel gear.
Maybe when climate change deniers talk about weather cycles, they are looking at a 3 million year cycle.
Guardian: Survivors of Climate Disasters Demand US Inquiry Into Big Oil's Climate Crimes
8/14/24
Guardian: Unprecedented Number of Heat Records Broken Around World This Year
7/30/24
Guardian: Global Methane Emissions Rising At Fastest Rate in Decades, Scientists Warn
7/29/24
CNN: Park Fire and Other Massive Western Wildfires Rage
7/27/24
CNN: Park Fire Destroys Buildings and Forces Thousands to Flee - Currently covers 480 acres, 2,400 firefighters, 0% contained, advancing 4,000 to 5,000 acres per hour, Butte County, CA evacuated including Paradise, CA the town devastated in 2018 by the Camp Fire.
7/26/24
CBS: Park Fire in N. California More Than Tripled in Size in 24 hours - (7/26)
7/25/24
CBS News: Park Fire in N. California Explodes in its First Day
7/23/24
Common Dreams: Sunday Was Earth's Hottest Day on Record
7/8/24
Guardian: 7+ Million Under Tornado/Flood Watch in Texas
7/7/24
Al Jazeera: Record-Breaking Heatwave Threatens 130 Million People in US
6/26/24
NBC News: Midwest Reels From Devastating Flood Damage, With More Storms Set to Hit
6/25/24
NBC News: Summer's Start: A Deadly Week of Extreme Weather
6/24/24
NBC: Sweltering Heat Wave Puts 44 Million Under Warnings as Midwest Reels From Floods - Are we at 'Biblical Proportions' yet? From the article: "The Associated Press calculated that the U.S. experienced more heat waves in 2023 than in any year since 1936. Excessive heat contributed to more than 2,300 deaths, the highest in 45 years, its study found." And that was last year. When the flood gauge is underwater you know you're in trouble.
6/22/24
6/21/24
Guardian: Elected Officials in Swelteriing US States Prioritizing Fossil Fuel Cash Over People
6/17/24
Guardian: Millions Face Record-High Temperatures as Heat Dome Intensifies Over US
6/15/24
Al Jazeera: Workiing in 'Hell Fire': Gig Workers Bear the Brunt of India's Heatwave - From the article: $7 per day for 10 hours work in 120 degree heat making deliveries on a bicycle.
6/11/24
Guardian: World's Top Banks Greenwashing Their Role in Destruction of the Amazon
6/9/24
Guardian: Big Oil Tells Whore Court to Shield it From Liability for Climate Damage
6/7/24
NBC: Phoenix and Las Vegas Break All-Time Daily Temperature Records at 113 & 111 - Death Valley 122
6/5/24
Guardian: UN Chief Urges Global Fossil-Fuel Advertising Ban
6/4/24
CNN: Heat Dome Will Send Temperatures Into the Triple-Digits Across the West
6/1/24
Boston Globe: The Earth Just Had its Warmest May Ever, the 12th Record-Breaking Month in a Row
5/31/24
The Hill: Vermont Becomes First State to Require Oil Companies to Pay for Climate Change Damage
5/28/24
New Yorker: Images of Climate Change
5/25/24
5/23/24
Yahoo: Hurricane Season: NOAA Makes Highest Storm Forecast on Record
5/9/24
Guardian: 'The Stakes Could Not Be Higher": World is on Edge of Climate Abyss, UN Warns
5/8/24
Guardian: World's Top Climate Scientists Expect Global Heating to Blast Past 1.5 C Target - “The world’s response to date is reprehensible – we live in an age of fools.”
5/7/24
4/30/24
Common Dreams: Biden Restores, Expands Bedrock Environmental Law Gutted by Trump
4/10/24
Newsweek: Big Oil Could Face Homicide Charges
4/8/24
Guardian: Tenth Consecutive Monthly Heat Record Alarms and Confounds Climate Scientists
4/6/24
Guardian: Scientists Confirm Record Highs For Three Most Important Heat Trapping Gases
2023 was the first year that stayed above that mark for the entire year.
3/17/24
AP: South Sudan Shutters All Schools as it Prepares for Extreme Heat Wave
3/10/24
New Republic: The Case for Prosecuting Fossil Fuel Companies for Homocide
3/8/24
BBC: World's First Year-Long Breach of Key 1.5C Limit
3/6/24
BBC: More Climate Records Fall in World's Warmest February
3/1/24
Weather.com: Texas Wildfire Grows to Largest on Record and Here
2/28/24
Guardian: John Kerry: Demagogues Imperilling Global Fight Against Climate Breakdown
2/22/24
Vice: How Do Oil Companies Get Away With...Everything? An Expert Explains
Weather.com: Census Bureau: Weather Disasters Displaced 2.5 Million in US in 2023
2/17/24
NYTimes: Biden Administration Relaxes Timetable for Shift to Electric Cars
2/11/24
Guardian: EPA Again OKs Use of Toxic Herbicide Linked to Parkinson's Disease - Difference?
2/9/24
Guardian: Atlantic Ocean Circulation Nearing Tipping Point, Study Finds
NPR: Climate Scientist Michael Mann Wins Defamation Case Against Conservative Writers
2/5/24
Guardian: Hurricanes Becoming So Strong That a Category 6 is Necessary
1/30/24
1/29/24
New Yorker: The Perverse Policies That Fuel Wildfires
1/26/24
NBC: Biden Hits Pause on Approvals of LNG Exports - ...only to start them right back up 0n 9/3.
1/22/24
Guardian: Why 2024 Will Be the Crucial Year for Climate Litigation
1/12/24
NOAA: 2023 Was the World's Warmest Year on Record, By Far - From the article: "The 10 warmest years since 1850 have all occurred in the past decade...
The 2023 upper ocean heat content...was the highest on record. The five highest values have all occurred in the last five years."
Bill McKibben: Friction is Growing - Big insurance companies are now repeating the same talking points that climate activists have been using for years. Too bad they couldn't have come on board years ago.
1/9/24
Guardian: 2023 Smashes Record for World's Hottest Year by Huge Margin - “Every year for the rest of your life will be one of the hottest [on] record. This in turn means that 2023 will end up being one of the coldest years of this century. Enjoy it while it lasts.”