Temperatures are increasing due to human activities, specifically emissions of greenhouse gases, like carbon dioxide and methane.
Heat and the energy it carries are what drive our planet: winds, weather, droughts, floods, and more are expressions of heat. The right amount of heat is even one of the things that makes life on Earth possible. But too much heat is changing the way our planet’s systems act.
My World’s on Fire
Higher temperatures drive longer, more intense fire seasons. As rain and snowfall patterns change, some regions are getting drier and more vulnerable to damage, setting the stage for more fires.
2020 saw several record-breaking fires, both in Australia in the beginning of the year, and in the western U.S. through northern summer and fall. Smoke from fires in both regions reached so high into the atmosphere that it formed clouds and continues to travel around the globetoday.
In the Siberian Arctic, unusually high temperatures helped drive at least 19 fires in the region. More than half of them were burning peat soil – decomposed organic materials – that stores a lot of carbon. Peat fires release vast amounts of carbon into the atmosphere, potentially leading to even more warming.
The Water’s Getting Warm
It wasn’t just fire seasons setting records. 2020 had more named tropical storms in the Atlantic and more storms making landfall in the U.S. than any hurricane season on record.
Hurricanes rely on warm ocean water as fuel, and this year, the Atlantic provided. 30 named storms weren’t the only things that made this year’s hurricane season notable.
Storms like Eta, Delta, and Iota quickly changed from smaller, weaker tropical storms into more destructive hurricanes. This rapid intensification is complicated, but it’s likely that warmer, more humid weather – a result of climate change – helps drive it.
The Ice Is Getting Thin
Add enough heat, and even the biggest chunk of ice will melt. That’s true whether we’re talking about the ice cubes in your glass or the vast sheets of ice at our planet’s poles. Right now, the Arctic region is warming about three times faster than the rest of our planet, which has some major effects both locally and globally.
This year, Arctic sea ice hit a near-record low. Sea ice is actually made of frozen ocean water, and it grows and thaws with the seasons, typically reaching an annual minimum extent in September.
Warmer ocean water led to more ice melting this year, and 2020’s annual minimum extent continued a long trend of shrinking Arctic sea ice extent.
A Long Trend
We study Earth and how it’s changing from the ground, the sky, and space. Using data from sensors all around the planet, we calculate the global average temperature, working with our partners at NOAA.
Many other organizations also track global temperature using their own instruments and methods, and they all match remarkably well. The last seven years were the hottest seven years on record. Earth is getting warmer.
We also study the effects of increasing temperatures, like the melting sea ice and longer fire seasons mentioned above. Additionally, we can study the cause of climate change from space, with a bird’s eye view of increasing carbon in the atmosphere.
The planet is changing because of human activities. We’re working together with other agencies to monitor changes and understand what this means for people in the future.
Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com.
Families live right next to the lagoon or the ocean side of the low-lying Kiribati capital atoll of Tarawa. In preparation for the king tides, coral rocks are used to build temporary walls that break the swell somewhat protecting the homes.
I talk about industrial agriculture a lot. This is why. Industrial agriculture pollutes environments, harms people, fails to provide healthy food equitably, and rewards harmful practices. With ecosia.
For a long time, big agribusiness has dominated our food system, focusing on economic growth and corporate gains while ignoring its long-term environmental impact.
Big agribusiness was introduced during the 1950s and 1960s in the United States, seeking to expand food production from small-scale local farmers to large corporate businesses. Since then, this form of corporate agriculture has contributed to displacing Black and Indigenous farmers and destroying natural ecosystems.
The term Agribusiness was coined in 1957 by scholars John H. Davis and Ray A Goldberg — they argued that privatizing the agriculture industry would create positive change, as opposed to allowing the government to control the sector. Agribusiness is defined as the production of economic growth through the development of farm crops, including the production, processing, distribution, and transportation of food (aka, food as a business).
While small-scale farmers provide 70% of the world’s food, food production in the US is dominated by agribusiness.
Modern commercialized forms of agriculture heavily rely on monocultures, the cultivation of a single crop on a large tract of land. Monocultures initially increase yields but subsequently rely more on pesticides and insecticides, and have higher rates of soil degradation. Unfortunately, the same pesticides and insecticides that were needed to sustain monocultures, end up destroying beneficial insects and bacteria that have promoted plant productivity and leads plants to be more vulnerable to catching diseases and experience sudden crop failures.
On top of that, monocultures require high-intensity water usage for irrigation. Agribusinesses use extractive methods such as collecting water from nearby lakes, rivers, and reservoirs, thereby harming these ecosystems. With the rapid development of agribusinesses across the globe, forests are also being cleared to make room for large monocultures, which alter ecosystems by reducing species diversity.
Our food production system is designed for rapid growth and corporate profits while ignoring environmental impact, thus creating not only an injustice but also a long-term problem for the planet. This practice and relationship with the land is not something that can be sustained.
Seagulls create heat maps in the sky And the wind run its fingers through the grass A december sun feels warmer than it should And I forget the birds Are just circling the dump
The blowing can only hold off the decay for so long The threads begin to show Years of neglect distorting colors Years of use taking them away And all we do is repaint to repay
I can feel the distortion in my skin Nutrients tainted by years of undone I am the parasite As we eat the host alive I standby
I’m writing a poem every day this December. I hope you enjoy some of them. I wrote this one listening to “Nighttime Hunger” by Overcoats. And if you’d like to subscribe to the newsletter, click here.
Through new paper sculptures comprised of delicately fringed sea creatures, Brown (previously) creates a striking visual display of the disastrous impacts of the climate crisis on marine life, showing how issues like coral bleaching can radiate outward into the wider world.
In “Ghost Coral,” two circular reliefs comprised of intricate paper cuttings splay outward, layering the fragile lifeforms sliced from stark, white paper. These monochromatic pieces contrast their vibrant counterparts, which are nestled into the protective center of one of the masses. The other work, titled “Coral Garden,” is Brown’s interpretation of the heat-resistant organisms that scientists grow and plant in deteriorating patches for rejuvenation, and he places bright, healthy creatures, which are enclosed in transparent bubbles, within swaths of spindly, pale creatures. To create both pieces, Brown follows the same meticulous process, which involves drawing the organisms, cutting them out with a laser, and carefully hand-painting and mounting them into their final, sprawling forms.
Donald Trump announced that the United States is withdrawing from the Paris Agreement, and that’s really scary for the future of our planet.But all hope is not lost: Not only are countries around the world recommitting to hitting their Paris goals, but cities and states in the United States are announcing that they still intend to reduce emissions according to the Paris Agreement.
Call your county board members, city council members, and state legislatures to commit to reducing emissions and hit our Paris Agreement commitments!
Your county board, city council or state legislature probably has a different schedule than Congress. For example, many state legislatures are only in session for part of the year. But you can reach out to them any time to ask them to make climate a priority.
Here’s your script: “Hi, my name is [Your Name] and I’m a constituent from [your town or neighborhood]. I’m calling because I’m very concerned about President Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement. Climate change is a serious threat for our community, and I want [your board member, council member or representative] to make reducing [our town/county/state’s] emissions a top priority. Will you support setting an emissions reduction target to make sure our community meets our Paris Agreement commitments even if the federal government won’t?”
In light of the alarming new climate change reportjust released by government scientists, I’m re-upping this post on how to ask your state and local governments to take action on climate change. Remember, even if Trump won’t take action on climate, your state and local leaders can and must!
It is extremely important that networks connect climate change to extreme heat and extreme weather in general. The science linking climate change and extreme heat is very strong, and climate change has increased the frequency, size, and duration of extreme heat events.
Dr. Genevieve Guenther’s got it exactly right: climate change is real and it’s affecting communities around the world. Even one year later, news outlets are not giving climate change the attention it deserves. Media need to stop neglecting to inform the public about how the climate crisis is connected to extreme weather and so much else.
Climate activists are calling on the Democratic National Committee to make climate change the sole focus of at least one of its 12 planned presidential primary debates, and activists will be presenting petition signatures to the DNC headquarters this Wednesday.
I dont want to get too off topic on this blog but since this is a somewhat big platform I want to talk about whats going on as we are facing the climate crisis head on.
Thousands of scientists all over the world are currently on protest in tears. No media is bringing this up. We should be seeing news about NASA scientists being arrested for asking to be heard but instead it is silent. Scientists say we have 3 years left to stop everything, we have the answers, but our governments arent listening. That we need to stop all new projects. Over 110,000+ new fossil fuel projects have been signed off in 2022. That should be concerning. Oil, gas and coal need to be stopped if we want a chance at survival and it needs to be talked about. We have 3 years, we have answers, we have alternatives and we need to government to act now. Theres a man on hunger strike just so the government will read the latest IPCC report. Just to look at a scientific document. They cant even do that.
And so so so so much more from flooding, new oil sign offs, etc.
If you are in a country thats just about to start elections, please look into parties that will do their part for the climate crisis. If you are not signed to vote, enrol asap. If youre in Australia, like me, you can enrol here by TODAY. (And maybe look into our third party system and what the greens have to offer? But i didnt tell you that..)
Look into protest groups like the Extinction Rebellion and see what protests are hapening nearby and what you can do to help. This is quite literally life or death for humanity and we cant risk ignoring it and letting it be ignored. We have to educate ourselves on whats going on, get mad and fight it. Because media is refusing to let us know of the doom were facing if our government continues to support oil, gas and coal the way they are. This isnt to make you feel doom, but encourage you to act to prevent doom.
digital illustration of a large polar bear stranded on an iceberg. In the surrounding ocean there are various pieces of trash including a coke bottle, plastic can rings, a spoon, and a can. The polar bear is looking right at the viewer with a text bubble that reads, ‘what do you want me to say.’
