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
New York Times (August 13)
“Across the country, a profound shift is taking place that is nearly invisible to most Americans. The nation that burned coal, oil and gas for more than a century to become the richest economy on the planet, as well as historically the most polluting, is rapidly shifting away from fossil fuels.” The energy transition is further along in other places like Europe, but “the United States is catching up, and globally, change is happening at a pace that is surprising even the experts who track it closely.”
Tags: Coal, Economy, Energy transition, Europe, Fossil fuels, Gas, Invisible, Oil, Pace, Planet, Polluting, Profound shift, Richest, Surprising, U.S.
New York Times (October 27)
“Because of soaring deforestation rates under President Jair Bolsonaro, the Amazon ecosystem is on the brink of catastrophe.” For Brazilians, “this will be a painful election between two deeply flawed candidates. But for the future of human life on this planet, there is only one right choice.” Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva “promises to stop the destruction.”
Tags: Amazon, Bolsonaro, Brazil, Candidates, Catastrophe, Deforestation, Destruction, Ecosystem, Election, Flawed, Future, Human life, Lula da Silva, Planet, President, Soaring
USA Today (December 13)
“A devastating tornado outbreak across five states Friday night left dozens of people dead and reduced hundreds of homes to rubble, and some scientists say this may be the harbinger of future tragedies as the planet warms.”
Tags: Dead, Five states, Future, Harbinger, Homes, Outbreak, Planet, Rubble, Scientists, Tornado, Tragedies
Claims Journal (October 26)
The “COP26 climate talks in Glasgow starting next Sunday may be the world’s best last chance to cap global warming at the 1.5-2 degrees Celsius upper limit set out in the 2015 Paris Agreement. The stakes for the planet are huge – among them the impact on economic livelihoods the world over and the future stability of the global financial system.”
Tags: 1.5-2 degrees, Cap, Climate, COP26, Economic livelihoods, Financial system, Glasgow, Global warming, Last chance, Paris Agreement, Planet, Stability, Stakes
New York Times (October 11)
What “will become of all the species the planet stands to lose… if human beings cannot halt the rate at which our climate is heating and our habitats are fragmenting and our whole planet is being poisoned?” While it is “entirely possible that we will lose them all…. It’s also not unthinkable that we will yet find a way to work together to prevent the worst calamities from unfolding.”
Tags: Calamities, Climate, Habitats, Human beings, pecies, Planet, Poisoned, Prevent, Unthinkable, Work together
Scientific American (January 25)
“In the 1990s, the world was losing around 800 billion metric tons of ice each year. Today, that number has risen to around 1.2 trillion tons. Altogether, the planet lost a whopping 28 trillion tons of ice between 1994 and 2017.”
USA Today (August 10)
“The planet recorded its 20 millionth coronavirus case Monday and U.S. lifestyle continues to face changes, restrictions and cancellations.” The real number is probably much higher, “given testing limitations and the fact that as many as 40% of all those who are infected have no symptoms.”
Tags: Cancellations, Coronavirus, Infected, Lifestyle, Limitations, Planet, Restrictions, Symptoms, Testing, U.S.
New York Times (May 21)
“Let us not squander another crisis. We need to take a long, hard look at all the ways the pandemic can push this little planet of ours to further ruin — and then work like crazy, together, to stave off the coming hell.”
