The Economist (July 18)
“It is too darn hot. On July 14th the surface temperature of Earth’s tropical and mid-latitude oceans was higher than on any other July 14th in modern records. The same was true for every other day in July, and for almost all of the days in June, too. Europe has gone through three heatwaves since May, and though the continent is better prepared for such things than it used to be, tens of thousands will have died as a result.”
Tags: Continent, Earth, Europe, Heatwaves, Higher, Hot, Oceans, Prepared, Records, Surface temperature, Tropical
Popular Mechanics (July 26)
Researchers have concluded that “the pumping of as much as 2,150 gigatons of groundwater has caused a change in the Earth’s tilt of roughly 31.5 inches. The pumping is largely for irrigation and human use, with the groundwater eventually relocating to the oceans.” The findings may “help conservationists understand how to work toward staving off continued sea level rise and other climate issues.”
Tags: 31.5 inches, Climate issues, Conservationists, Earth, Groundwater, Human use, Irrigation, Oceans, Pumping, Researchers, Sea level rise, Tilt
CNN (August 3)
“A record-breaking heat wave unfolding at what should be the coldest time in Earth’s coldest place has scientists concerned about what it could mean for the future health of the Antarctic continent, and the consequences it could inflict for millions of people across the globe.” Since mid-July temperatures have been up to 50°Fahrenheit hotter than usual “over parts of Antarctica and unseasonable warmth could continue through the first half of August.”
Tags: Antarctica, Coldest, Consequences, Earth, Future, Heat wave, Inflict, July, Record breaking, Scientists, Temperatures, Unfolding, Unseasonable
Washington Post (April 19)
“Earth’s record hot streak might be a sign of a new climate era.” Existing models are coming up short as scientists struggle “to explain how the planet could have exceeded previous temperature records by as much as half a degree Celsius (0.9 degrees Fahrenheit) last fall.” Efforts over the next quarter or so may determine “whether Earth’s climate has undergone a fundamental shift — a quantum leap in warming that is confounding climate models and stoking ever more dangerous weather extremes.”
Tags: Climate, Climate models, Confounding, Dangerous, Earth, Era, Existing models, Hot streak, Quantum leap, Records, Scientists, Struggle, Temperature, Warming, Weather extremes
The Guardian (April 6)
“An unprecedented leap of 38.5C in the coldest place on Earth is a harbinger of a disaster for humans and the local ecosystem.” The record-setting leap at documented Concordia research station, along with other “events have raised fears that the Antarctic, once thought to be too cold to experience the early impacts of global warming, is now succumbing dramatically and rapidly to the swelling levels of greenhouse gases that humans continue to pump into the atmosphere.”
Tags: 38.5C, Antarctic, Atmosphere, Coldest, Concordia, Disaster, Earth, Ecosystem, GHG, Global warming, Harbinger, Humans, Impacts, Succumbing, Unprecedented
Washington Post (April 1)
“Earth has a long-running fever that shows little signs of easing. The planet has set high temperature records in each of the last nine months, and March is poised to become the 10th. Multiple locations around the world observed unprecedented heat on the month’s final weekend, as if to put an exclamation mark on this exceptional run of warmth.”
Tags: Earth, Exceptional, Fever, Heat, High, March, Planet, Records, Temperature, Unprecedented, Weekend, World
Associated Press (January 10)
“Earth last year shattered global annual heat records, flirted with the world’s agreed-upon warming threshold and showed more signs of a feverish planet…. The European climate agency Copernicus said the year was 1.48 degrees Celsius (2.66 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial times.”
Tags: 1.48°C, Climate, Copernicus, Earth, Europe, Feverish, Heat records, Planet, Shattered, Threshold, Warming
Washington Post (November 19)
“In 1798, British economist Thomas Malthus forecast that an increasing population would soon outstrip, disastrously, nature’s capacity to feed so many people…. And yet here we are: The world’s population has octupled since Malthus’s day, more than doubled since 1968, and living standards around the world have vastly, though unevenly, improved during that time.” It is worth celebrating November 15, the day “Planet Earth welcomed its eight-billionth living inhabitant.”
Tags: 1798, Celebrating, Earth, Economist, Forecast, Inhabitant, Living standards, Malthus, Nature’s capacity, Octupled, Outstrip, Population
Washington Post (April 28)
“Not since an asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs—along with at least half of all other beings on Earth—has life in the ocean been so at risk. Warming waters are cooking creatures in their own habitats…. If humanity’s greenhouse gas emissions continue to increase…roughly a third of all marine animals could vanish within 300 years.”
Tags: Asteroid, Dinosaurs, Earth, Emissions, GHG, Habitats, Humanity, Life, Marine animals, Ocean, Risk, Vanish, Warming waters
AP News (January 13)
“Earth simmered to the sixth hottest year on record in 2021.” This “did not represent a cooling off of human-caused climate change” as La Nina lowered temperatures. Indeed, 2021 was the hottest La Nina year ever and “part of a long-term warming trend that shows hints of accelerating.” Data from both NASA and NOAA show “the last eight years have been the eight hottest on record.”
Tags: 2021, Accelerating, Climate change, Cooling, Earth, Hottest, Human, La Nina, NASA, NOAA, Record, Temperatures, Warming trend
