The Economist (May 1)
Taiwan is now “the most dangerous place on Earth.” An extreme “exercise of high-calibre ambiguity has kept the peace” for decades, but that’s rapidly disintegrating as positions polarize. “America and China must work harder to avoid war over the future of Taiwan.”
Chicago Tribune (March 6)
“We walk the Earth’s crust, we erect vast cities, we boast of our achievements. We see ourselves as the mistresses and masters of our fate.” With the coronavirus, however, “nature once again reminds us who’s boss.” The “little living form that now roils humanity is a virus” and it does not discriminate “in selecting its victims; great wealth has its privileges, but immunity from epidemics isn’t one of them.”
Tags: Achievements, Boss, Cities, Coronavirus, Earth, Fate, Humanity, Immunity, Nature, Victims, Wealth
1843 (November Issue)
“The ocean floor is the Earth’s last great uncharted region.” Oceans cover “nearly three-quarters of the Earth’s surface yet more than 80% of it remains unexplored. Radar doesn’t penetrate deep water, so accurate depth soundings must be made by ships with high-resolution sonar. It’s slow, boring work. The maps we do have are at best an approximation. New discoveries are common…. We have more accurate maps of Mars than we do of two-thirds of our own planet.”
Tags: Accurate, Approximation, Discoveries, Earth, Ocean floor, Penetrate, Radar, Sonar, Surface, Uncharted, Unexplored
LA Times (October 6)
“The Arctic is transforming more rapidly than anywhere else on Earth, with temperatures rising at twice the rate seen elsewhere.… Nobody can be certain when the Arctic sea ice will be gone, but scientists agree that we are on a precarious downward spiral. The loss of nearly all Arctic sea ice in late summer seems inevitable, and an ice-free Arctic Ocean will probably arrive within decades, if not sooner.”
Tags: Arctic, Downward spiral, Earth, Ice-free, Inevitable, Sea ice, Summer, Temperatures
Scientific American (February 4)
“Even if ambitious climate targets are met, Himalayan glaciers could lose a third of their volume.” The Earth’s “third pole” is in danger of largely melting away. “If greenhouse gas emissions continue at their current levels, the region could lose as much as two-thirds of its ice.”
Tags: "Third pole”, Ambitious, Climate targets, Earth, Emissions, GHG, Glaciers, Himalayas, Ice, Melting
The Economist (October 20)
“Some 4,500 satellites circle Earth, providing communications services and navigational tools, monitoring weather, observing the universe, spying and doing more besides. Getting them there was once the business of the superpowers’ armed forces and space agencies. Now it is mostly done by companies and the governments of developing countries.”
Tags: Communications, Companies, Developing countries, Earth, Governments, Navigational tools, Satellites, Space agencies, Spying, Superpowers, Weather
Chicago Tribune (October 19)
“As genetic engineering continues to advance, playing God has never seemed so easy. Yet humans have never seemed so powerless.” We may finally be able to “create blue roses. But our real talent is destruction.” Collectively, we prefer to ignore this. While our denial continues, “the fish of the sea, the birds of the air and all the creatures that crawl on the Earth will disappear.”
Tags: Blue roses, Creatures, Denial, Destruction, Earth, Engineering, Genetic, Humans, Powerless
LA Times (October 16)
“Scientists believe that Earth is in the throes of a sixth great extinction. Humans are causing it. Ultimately, we could become the victim of our own excesses.”
Tags: Earth, Excesses, Extinction, Humans, Scientists, Throes, Victim
The Economist (August 4)
“Earth is smouldering. From Seattle to Siberia this summer, flames have consumed swathes of the northern hemisphere.” And humanity is not rising to the challenge. Three years following the Paris Accord, “greenhouse-gas emissions are up again. So are investments in oil and gas. In 2017, for the first time in four years, demand for coal rose. Subsidies for renewables, such as wind and solar power, are dwindling.” While “it is tempting to think these are temporary setbacks and that mankind, with its instinct for self-preservation, will muddle through to a victory over global warming. In fact, it is losing the war.”
Tags: Coal, Demand, Earth, Emissions, Gas, GHG, Global warming, Humanity, Oil, Paris accord, Renewables, Self-preservation, Setbacks, Smouldering, Solar power, Wind
The Economist (July 28)
“No consequence of global warming is as self-evident as higher temperatures. Earth is roughly 1°C hotter today than it was before humanity started belching greenhouse gases into the atmosphere during the Industrial Revolution.” This summer the consequences are widespread: “Heat is causing problems across the world.” But if global warming continues, “the toll on human lives is hard to imagine.” The bright spot is that better government response appears to be saving some lives. “If only the world could take in a similar lesson about the importance of stopping climate change in the first place.”
Tags: Climate change, Consequences, Earth, GHG, Global warming, Government, Heat, Human lives, Industrial Revolution, Response, Temperatures
