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A record warm January

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Americans experienced unusually cold and wintery weather in January.  Places like southern Louisiana and Florida saw appreciable amounts of snow.  For those who experienced January’s Arctic blast, it was a cold January.  But despite that, January was the world’s warmest on record, extending a run of extraordinary heat in which 18 out of the last 19 months saw an average global temperature more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial times.  In fact, the global average temperature in January was 1.75 degrees above the pre-industrial average.

The exceptional warmth was surprising to climate researchers.  It happened despite the emergence of La Niña conditions in the Pacific Ocean, which tend to lower global temperatures, at least for a while.

Researchers are investigating whether there is something beyond the effects of greenhouse gas emissions that is boosting temperatures to an unexpected degree.  It is true that emissions, associated with the burning of coal, gas, and oil, reached record levels in both 2023 and 2024.  But January’s warmth was still something of a surprise.

One prevalent theory is that cutting dangerous pollution is playing a role in causing global warming to accelerate.  As regulators have curbed sulfate pollution to protect people’s lungs, the cooling effect of these particles that help form more and brighter clouds has diminished.

January demonstrates that the global climate system is complex and the weather in any particular region does not necessarily reflect what is happening to the planet as a whole.

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Global Temperatures Shattered Records in January

Photo, posted December 22, 2013, courtesy of SD Anderson via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Megadroughts

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A new study by Swiss and Austrian scientists has found that persistent multi-year droughts have become increasingly common since 1980 and will continue to proliferate as the climate warms.

There are multiple examples in recent years in places ranging from California to Mongolia to Australia.  Fifteen years of persistent megadrought in Chile have nearly dried out the country’s water reserves and even affected Chile’s vital mining output.  These multi-year droughts have triggered acute water crises in vulnerable regions around the world.

Droughts tend to only be noticed when they damage agriculture or visibly affect forests.  An issue explored by the new study is whether megadroughts can be consistently identified and their impact on ecosystems understood.

The researchers analyzed global meteorological data and modeled droughts over a forty-year period beginning in 1980.  They found that multi-year droughts have become longer, more frequent, and more extreme, covering more land.  Every year since 1980, drought-stricken areas have spread by an additional fifty thousand square kilometers on average, an area the size of Vermont and New Hampshire combined. 

The trend of intensifying megadroughts is clearly leading to drier and browner ecosystems.  Tropical forests can offset the effects of drought as long as they have enough water reserves.  However, the long-term effects on the planet and its ecosystems remain largely unknown.  Ultimately, long-term extreme water shortages will result in trees in tropical and boreal regions dying, causing long-term and possibly irreversible damage to these ecosystems.

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The Megadroughts Are upon Us

Photo, posted January 7, 2018, courtesy of Kathleen via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Soaring coffee prices

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Wholesale coffee prices hit record highs in the midst of the Trump administration’s deportation and tariff dispute with Colombia.  But coffee prices have already been trading near 50-year highs for a while as a result of shortages related to extreme weather and increased global demand.

In recent years, repeated droughts and flooding have put pressure on the global supply of coffee.  These climate swings have caused prices to soar, much as they have for other staples like cocoa, olive oil, and orange juice.  All the while, the global demand for coffee has kept rising.

Coffee is one of the world’s most consumed beverages, but it can be grown only under very specific conditions, namely in misty, humid, and tropical climates, and in rich soil free of disease.   The United States imports nearly all of its coffee – there is only a small amount grown in Hawaii.  Otherwise, the US is the world’s largest coffee importer.  With a limited number of sources for the beans, global coffee prices are very susceptible to the effects of extreme weather.

More than half of the world’s coffee production comes from arabica beans, and Brazil is the largest exporter.  A severe drought there this summer devastated the harvest that typically runs from May to September.   In Vietnam, a severe drought followed by heavy rains harmed the world’s largest source of robusta, the second most popular coffee variety.

People tend to think of coffee as a commodity and not so much as an agricultural product, subject to the vagaries of weather and having prices that fluctuate accordingly.  The bottom line is that drinking coffee is likely to become a bigger strain on one’s own bottom line.

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Why Coffee Prices Are Soaring (Again)

Photo, posted October 13, 2023, courtesy of Pete via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

The warmest year on record

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It came as no surprise that 2024 ended up as the warmest year on records. It was the hottest year since record keeping began in 1880.  The global average temperature was 1.28 degrees Celsius (or 2.3 degrees Fahrenheit) above the 20th-century baseline period of 1951-1980.  It was actually 1.47 degrees above the 1850-1900 average.

The Paris Climate Agreement has a goal to keep the global average temperature increase below 1.5 degrees Celsius over the long term.  Long term is specified because for more than half of 2024, average temperatures were more than 1.5 degrees above the baseline.

The temperature of an individual year can be influenced by various natural climate fluctuations, such as the presence of an El Niño or a La Niña condition in the Pacific, or volcanic eruptions.  A strong El Niño began in 2023 and continued throughout much of 2024.  That El Niño has abated, so it is no longer a factor in the global climate condition.

The global temperature is determined using surface air temperature data collected from thousands of meteorological stations as well as sea surface temperature data collected by ships and buoy-based instruments. 

When the climate changes, it is observed first in the global mean temperature.  Then there are changes seen on a continental scale and then at the regional scale.  Finally, changes are observable at the local level.  These changes are becoming more and more common as people’s everyday weather experiences become different from any they had encountered before.

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2024 Was the Warmest Year on Record

Photo, posted August 26, 2015, courtesy of Saskia Madlener / NASA via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Cold spells and global warming

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January saw some major bouts of subfreezing temperatures across much of North America and significant snowfall in places like Pensacola, Florida and New Orleans.  This spate of frigid weather undoubtedly prompted many people to question whether global warming is really happening.  But such cold spells quite likely are not happening in spite of global warming, but actually as a result of it.

The polar jet stream is a slim band of westerly winds that circles the Arctic.  It is formed where cold air from the north meets warmer air to the south.  As the planet warms, the Arctic has been heating up nearly four times faster than the rest of the planet, which narrows the difference in temperature between the northern air and southern air.  The result is that the jet stream is weaker and more meandering, which allows frigid air to reach further south.

The polar vortex is a whirling mass of cold air that extends across the Arctic.  It is stronger in the winter when the Northern Hemisphere leans away from the sun.  The polar jet stream normally holds on to the vortex and keeps it far to the north.  But when the jet stream gets wobbly, this mass of cold air can break out and travel south, even to places like Florida, Louisiana, and Texas.

The planet as a whole is warming, and the Arctic is warming even faster.  But there will still be plenty of ice, snow, and frigid air in the Arctic winter for decades to come.  As the behavior of the polar jet stream gets increasingly erratic, there may well be more frequent episodes of plunging temperatures in areas unaccustomed to them.

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Severe Cold Spells May Persist Because of Warming, Not in Spite of It

Photo, posted January 5, 2025, courtesy of Dermot O’Halloran via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Unexplained heat wave hotspots

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2023 and 2024 have been the hottest years since records have been kept.  But above and beyond the upward march of average temperatures around the globe, there has been the phenomenon of distinct regions across the globe experiencing repeated heatwaves that are so extreme that they cannot be accounted for in any models of global warming.

A new study by Columbia University’s Climate School has provided the first worldwide map of such regions, which have emerged on every continent except Antarctica.  Heatwaves in these regions have killed thousands of people, withered crops and forests, and triggered devastating wildfires.

These recent regional-scale record-breaking temperature extremes have raised questions about whether current climate models can provide adequate estimates of the relationship between global mean temperature changes and regional climate risks.

Some of these regional events in recent years include a nine-day heatwave in the U.S. Pacific Northwest and southwestern Canada in June 2021 that broke daily records in some places by 54 degrees Fahrenheit.  Across Germany, France, the UK, the Netherlands, and other countries, the hottest days of the year are warming twice as fast as the summer mean temperatures. 

There is yet little understanding of the phenomenon.  Some theories related to destabilization of the jet stream don’t really explain all the temperature extremes observed.  But regardless of the underlying causes, the health impacts of these heat waves are severe, as are the effects on agriculture, vegetation, and infrastructure.  Society is not built to quickly adapt to them.

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Unexplained Heat Wave ‘Hotspots’ Are Popping Up Across the Globe

Photo, posted August 16, 2022, courtesy of Alisdare Hickson via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Corals and climate change

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Climate change is a major threat to coral reefs around the world.  Ocean warming triggers coral bleaching – a stress response where corals expel the symbiotic algae essential for their survival.  If coral bleaching is severe, it can lead to coral death.

A new study led by scientists from Newcastle University in England suggests that corals are unlikely to adapt to ocean warming quickly enough to keep pace with global warming, unless there are rapid reductions in global greenhouse gas emissions.

The study, which was recently published in the journal Science, found that coral heat tolerance adaptation via natural selection could keep pace with ocean warming, but only if the climate goals of the Paris Agreement are realized.  In the Paris Agreement, countries agreed to limit global warming by the end of the century to two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.  

However, current climate policies around the world have the globe on track to warm by three degrees Celsius.  According to the research team, this could lead to significant reductions in reef health, elevated risks of local coral extinctions, and considerable uncertainty in the so-called “evolvability” of corals. 

Coral reefs are among the most biologically diverse ecosystems on Earth.  They are often referred to as the “rainforests of the sea” because they support an incredible variety of marine life.  They provide essential ecosystem services, such as protecting coastlines from erosion and storm surges, supporting fisheries, and serving as a source of income through tourism. Coral reef health is vital for the health of the planet.

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Coral adaptation unlikely to keep pace with global warming

Photo, posted June 9, 2012, courtesy of Bokissa Private Island Resort via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Manatees are not Florida natives

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Florida is very proud of its manatees.  It has a county named after them and has pictures of them on license plates.  These gentle creatures are part of Florida culture.  But recent research indicates that manatees – also known as sea cows – might only be relatively recent residents of the Sunshine State.

Manatees have been spotted in Florida waters for several centuries but might have only been tourists visiting briefly before returning to their home waters in the Caribbean in places like Cuba.

The new research suggests that manatees might not have actually taken up residence in Florida until after Europeans colonized the area in the 1500s.  There is a rarity of manatee bones on archaeological sites that date back further.  It was particularly striking that Crystal River, which is an epicenter for modern manatee populations, had little evidence of their presence in earlier times.

Even into the early 1900s, Florida newspaper reports treated manatee sightings as a spectacle rather than a common occurrence.  In the 1920s and 1930s, there started to be more routine sightings in places like yacht basins and canal harbors.  In the 1950s, manatees became more plentiful in Tampa Bay and Crystal River. The warming waters and human activities creating shallow warm water refuges increased manatee populations, particularly near places like power plants.

The current Florida manatee population is between 8,000 and 12,000 and is classified as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, an improvement over its previous endangered status.  But pollution is killing a lot of the seagrass that they eat, and their safety is by no means assured.

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Why manatees are likely not Florida natives

Photo, posted March 25, 2012, courtesy of David Hinkel / USFWS via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

When is a heat wave just a heat wave?

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There are lots of extreme weather events of all kinds these days.  But there have always been extreme weather events.  Climate change results in more extreme weather but not all extreme weather should be attributed to climate change.  So, how do we know if an extreme weather event is a result of the changing climate?  Communities that are affected by extreme weather events need to know whether they are likely to see more such events in the future, or if they are anomalies like a “500-year storm” or such.

Researchers at North Carolina State University, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the University of Colorado, Boulder, and Princeton University developed a routine process for evaluating extreme weather events.

The test case was an extreme heat wave that affected Texas and Louisiana in 2023.  This notable heat wave lasted almost the entire summer. The scientists used a two-step process to determine whether the heat wave was an anomaly or part of a new pattern.  They took historical data from the past 100 years to see how unusual 2023 was.  Then they compared that data with both past and present predictive computer models.  Comparing the predictive models can indicate whether climate change was a factor in the event.

In this case, a similar drought would not have been as hot 50 years earlier, which indicates that the heat wave is related to climate change and that even more intense heat waves are likely to occur in the future.

This sort of information is important for communities to prepare for future events.

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When is a Heat Wave Just a Heat Wave, and When is it Climate Change?

Photo, posted July 22, 2006, courtesy of Saturnism via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Capturing hot carbon dioxide

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Decarbonizing industries like steel and cement is a difficult challenge.  Both involve emitting large amounts of carbon dioxide both from burning fossil fuels and from intrinsic chemical reactions taking place.  A potential solution is to capture the carbon dioxide emissions and either use them or store them away.  But this sort of carbon capture is not easy and can be quite expensive.

The most common method for capturing carbon dioxide emissions from industrial plants uses chemicals called liquid amines which absorb the gas.  But the chemical reaction by which this occurs only works well at temperatures between 100 and 140 degrees Fahrenheit.  Cement manufacturing and steelmaking plants produce exhaust that exceeds 400 degrees and other industrial processes produce exhaust as hot as 930 degrees.

Costly infrastructure is necessary to cool down these exhaust streams so that amine-based carbon capture technology can work. 

Chemists at the University of California, Berkeley, have developed a porous material – a type of metal-organic framework – that can act like a sponge to capture CO2 at temperatures close to those of many industrial exhaust streams.  The molecular metal hydride structures have demonstrated rapid, reversible, high-capacity capture of carbon dioxide that can be accomplished at high temperatures.

Removing carbon dioxide from industrial and power plant emissions is a key strategy for reducing greenhouse gases that are warming the Earth and altering the global climate.  The captured CO2 can be used to produce value-added chemicals or can be stored underground or chemically-reacted into stable substances.

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Breakthrough in capturing ‘hot’ CO2 from industrial exhaust

Photo, posted March 3, 2010, courtesy of Eli Duke via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

October was another hot month

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In a year filled with unusually warm months, October 2024 ranked as the second-warmest October in the 175 years of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s records.  It was just 0.09 degrees Fahrenheit cooler than the previous global record set just last year.

In our part of the world, North America had its warmest October on record.

Year-to-date, the global surface temperature has been 2.3 degrees Fahrenheit above the 20th century average, which is the warmest such period on record.  This record warmth was observed in Africa, Europe, North America, Oceania, and South America.  With only a little of the year to go, predictions are that there is a greater than 99% chance that 2024 will rank as the world’s warmest year on record.

Other aspects of the warming climate were also in full evidence in October.  Global sea ice coverage was the smallest in the 46 years that it has been tracked, about 1.25 million square miles below the 1991-2020 average.  Ice extent in the Arctic was the fourth lowest on record and ice extent in the Antarctic was the second lowest on record.

Global ocean surface temperature was the second warmest for October and is the warmest ever for the period January to October.

The Atlantic basin saw five tropical cyclones during October, including the deadly and destructive Hurricane Milton that made landfall just south of Tampa Bay. 

The monthly climate postings by NOAA continue to report record-breaking temperatures and significant climate anomalies and events.  This pattern is not likely to do anything but continue in the future.

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Planet saw its 2nd-warmest October in 175-year record

Photo, posted August 21, 2018, courtesy of Fabio Achilli via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Generations Z and Alpha and climate change

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People’s views and level of concern about climate change tend to vary according to age, political affiliation, and other demographic categories.  But one clear trend is that young people are overwhelmingly concerned about climate change.  Given that they will ultimately suffer from its effects far more than older generations, this is not really surprising.

A new study investigated the views about climate change of 16,000 young Americans aged 16 to 25.  The study found that about 60% of respondents said they were either very or extremely worried when asked “How worried, if at all, are you about climate change and its impact on people and the planet?”  More than 85% said they experienced at least some level of climate anxiety.

There was similarity in responses across dramatically different geopolitical regions of the country.  Responses never differed by more than 25% across all surveyed populations.  Concern about climate change transcended political identification.  While the Republican group did have a lower level of concern, endorsement of climate issues was still above 50% no matter what group people identified with.

People from Generations Z and Alpha, those with fewer economic resources, people of color, and other vulnerable communities are experiencing the highest levels of climate distress. Research finds that 3% of Americans are experiencing clinically significant climate anxiety. 

The true number of people experiencing climate-triggered anxiety may be much higher as some people are hesitant or reluctant to even acknowledge that climate change is happening.  Some level of climate anxiety is undoubtedly beneficial for climate action.  People who are experiencing distress are the ones most likely to take action. 

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The Depths of Their Discontent: Young Americans Are Distraught Over Climate Change

Photo, posted April 23, 2022, courtesy of Mark Dixon via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Shrinking polar ice

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Arctic sea ice has shrunk to near-historic lows during this Northern Hemisphere summer.  The minimum extent for the year occurred on September 11th.  Ice cover in the Arctic Ocean has been shrinking and thinning for more than 40 years.  The amount of frozen seawater in the Arctic goes up and down during the year as sea ice thaws and regrows between seasons.

This year, the minimal extent of sea ice shrank to 1.65 million square miles.  That’s about 750,000 square miles less than the average for late summer over the years between 1981 and 2010, representing a decrease of more than 30%.  The all-time low of 1.31 million square miles was actually set in 2012.  Sea ice coverage can fluctuate from year to year, but it has trended downward since it has started being tracked in the late 1970s.  The loss of sea ice has averaged about 30,000 square miles per year.

Sea ice extent has not only been shrinking; the ice has been getting younger and thinner.  Presently, the overwhelming majority of ice in the Arctic Ocean is first-year ice, which is thinner and less able to survive the warmer months.  There is far less ice that is three years or older.

Meanwhile, sea ice in the southern polar regions was also low this year.  In the sea around Antarctica, scientists are tracking near record-low sea ice at a time when it should have been growing extensively during the darkest and coldest months in the Southern Hemisphere.

Polar ice loss compounds polar ice loss.  The loss of sea ice increases heat in the polar regions, where temperatures have risen about four times more than the global average.

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Arctic Sea Ice Near Historic Low; Antarctic Ice Continues Decline

Photo, posted September 15, 2016, courtesy of Mario Hoppmann via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Antarctic greening

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The Antarctic Peninsula, like other polar regions, is warming faster than the rest of the world.  Ocean heatwaves and ice loss are becoming more common and more severe.

New research by the universities of Exeter and Hertfordshire in the UK along with the British Antarctic Survey used satellite data to assess how much the Antarctic Peninsula has been greening in response to climate change.  The Antarctic Peninsula is an 800-mile extension of Antarctica toward the southern tip of South America.

The study found that the area of vegetation cover across the Peninsula increased from less than one square kilometer in 1986 to almost 12 square kilometers in 2021.  This greening trend accelerated by more than 30% in the period 2016-2021 relative to the entire 1986-2021 period.

An earlier study also showed that the rates of plant growth on the Antarctic Peninsula has increased dramatically in recent decades.  The landscape is almost entirely dominated by snow, ice, and rock, with only a tiny fraction supporting plant life.  The plants found on the Peninsula – mostly mosses – grow in some of the harshest conditions on earth.  But that tiny fraction has greatly increased, showing that this isolated wilderness is being altered by climate change. 

The sensitivity of the Antarctic Peninsula’s vegetation to the changing climate is evident and as warming continues, there could be fundamental changes to the biology and landscape of this unique and vulnerable region.

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Antarctic ‘greening’ at dramatic rate

Photo, posted June 2, 2018, courtesy of Murray Foubister via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Renegade geoengineering

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As the dangers of climate change continue to grow, so has interest in geoengineering – deliberate tinkering with the earth’s climate system.  In particular, stratospheric solar geoengineering – releasing aerosols into the stratosphere to reduce the amount of heat from the sun reaching the Earth – is attracting increasing interest.  Scientists at Harvard, Cornell, Colorado State, Princeton, and the University of Chicago are all researching the topic.

Actually doing it on a scale that matters is fraught with peril from unintended consequences of disrupting the delicate interactions between the Earth’s atmosphere, ocean, land, and sea ice. 

Meanwhile, a tiny start-up company in Silicon Valley has raised more than a million dollars in venture capital and is busy releasing balloons full of sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere in the name of combatting global warming.  Furthermore, they are selling so-called “cooling credits” to customers who want to offset their personal carbon emissions.

The aerosol being released is on such a small scale that it can’t possibly have a meaningful effect on temperatures.  There really isn’t scientific analysis guiding or accompanying the work. 

There are no laws prohibiting the dispersal of small amounts of sulfur dioxide in California.  Even if there were, these people could go offshore or elsewhere to do their work.  But this renegade geoengineering highlights a serious issue; namely, that there doesn’t have to be scientific, political, or any other kind of consensus for someone to undertake a potentially catastrophic attempt to alter the climate.  It’s a real worry.

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Silicon Valley Renegades Pollute the Sky to Save the Planet

Photo, posted September 24, 2006, courtesy of Doc Searls via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Halloween pumpkins

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According to the National Retail Federation, spending on Halloween festivities this year by the 72% of Americans who plan to celebrate is expected to total $11.6 billion – or about $104 per person.  The annual consumer survey also found that 67% of Americans plan to pass out candy this year, and nearly 50% of Americans plan to carve a pumpkin.

To produce enough pumpkins for Halloween, farmers grow lots of them every year.  In fact, more than two billion were grown in 2020 alone.  But the vast majority of pumpkins are never eaten; instead, most are carved and placed on porches across the country.  This means Americans spend hundreds of millions of dollars on pumpkins annually just to toss them in the trash when Halloween ends. 

When pumpkins are placed in landfills, they produce methane gas.  Methane is a potent greenhouse gas that affects climate change by contributing to increased warming. 

Instead of throwing pumpkins into the landfill, there are several responsible ways to dispose of them. 

If the pumpkin is still in good shape, use the outer, meaty part of the pumpkin to make pumpkin puree.  The pumpkin seeds can also be scooped out, rinsed, seasoned, and then baked in the oven, resulting in a delicious snack.

Pumpkins also have the potential to turn into great soil through composting. Pumpkins can help naturally add moisture to compost piles that need to be damp in order to effectively decompose food waste.   

If eating or composting the pumpkins isn’t an option, consider donating them to a local farm.  Farmers will often collect pumpkins as treats for their pigs, goats, and other animals. 

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Halloween Retail Holiday and Seasonal Trends

Ready to toss out your pumpkins? Here’s how to keep them out of the landfill

US grows over 2 billion pumpkins yearly

Photo, posted November 8, 2014, courtesy of Martin Brigden via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

The impact of climate change on agriculture

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Agriculture is a major part of the climate problem and remains one of the hardest human activities to decarbonize.  Agriculture is responsible for approximately 30% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

On farms around the world, excess fertilizer gets broken down by microbes in the soil, releasing nitrous oxide into the atmosphere.  Nitrous oxide is a greenhouse gas that is 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide.

According to a sweeping global research review recently published in the journal Science, greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture are now 18 times higher than they were in the 1960s. 

The research, which was co-written by professors at the University of Minnesota with more than 20 experts around the world, also reveals the likelihood of an emergent feedback loop between climate and agriculture.  As the changing climate puts more pressure on the global food supply, agriculture will, out of necessity, adopt practices that may exacerbate its environmental impact. Without changes in agriculture, this feedback loop could make it impossible to achieve the Paris Climate Agreement goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. 

The research identifies several agricultural practices that could improve efficiency and stabilize our food supply in the decades to come, including precision farming, perennial crop integration, agrivoltaics, nitrogen fixation, and novel genome editing. 

Finding ways to reduce the warming impact of agriculture while maintaining high crop yields are essential to both mitigating climate change and protecting our food supply from its impacts.

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Impact of Climate Change on Agriculture Suggests Even Greater Challenges to the Environment, Global Food Supply and Public Health

Photo, posted October 16, 2010, courtesy of Timlewisnm via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Canadian wildfires and global emissions

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The wildfires that burned vast amounts of Canada’s boreal forests in 2023 produced enormous amounts of smoke that found its way into American cities, working its way down the eastern seaboard and even producing unsafe air in Florida.

Researchers at Cal Tech and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory analyzed the carbon emissions associated with these fires last year and found that they were greater than those of all but three countries:  China, the US, and India.

Boreal forests have historically been a natural defense against climate change by storing carbon in trees rather than adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.  The fires in Canada, fueled by hot and dry weather, were extraordinary when compared with historical records.  But such fires are likely to be increasingly common as the climate continues to warm.

However, the hot and dry weather that fueled the 2023 fires was exceptional in many ways, involving early snow melt and so-called flash droughts.  This year’s fires in Canada are still bigger than average, but so far have not been as destructive as last year’s. 

Canada has been warming at about twice the global rate.  The extreme temperatures last summer were a major factor in the fueling of the fires, which burned an area almost the size of Florida.

Forests absorb about a quarter of global carbon emissions, but the increasing frequency and intensity of fires are calling into question their ability to continue to do so.  Parts of the Canadian forests are not regrowing after fires as they have in the past, partly because blazes burn trees so frequently and intensely.

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Canada’s Wildfires Were a Top Global Emitter Last Year, Study Says

Photo, posted June 8, 2023, courtesy of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Last chance tourism

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Glaciers around the world are shrinking or disappearing.  Melting glaciers and ice sheets are the biggest contributors to global sea level rise and ice loss rates are continuing to increase.  Even if the world somehow manages to meet the climate goal of limiting warming to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius, the world will still lose a quarter of its glacial mass by the year 2100.  At higher levels of warming, most of the world’s glaciers could be gone.

One result of this situation is that people are rushing to see glaciers before they melt.  Places like Iceland are experiencing a booming tourism economy.  Half a million people now visit Iceland for glacier tours every year.  The shrinking and disappearance of glaciers has popularized a new kind of adventure travel called ‘last chance tourism.’

Like other types of adventure travel, glacier tours are not without dangers.  An American tourist visiting a glacial ice cave in an Icelandic national park in August was killed when a frozen arch collapsed.  Ice caves, formed by glacial meltwater, are known for their brilliant blue walls.  Increasing meltwater can make these formations more prone to collapse. 

Glacial tours in Canada’s Jasper National Park are quite popular.  Tour operators have had to reroute trails to the foot of the Athabasca Glacier several times every season because of glacial melt. 

Glacier tourism is a goldmine for the tourist industry but conducting and managing it is increasingly challenging.  Meanwhile, people feel like it’s important to bring their kids to see glaciers because they may be the last generation that can go stand on a glacier.

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Climate Change Is Making ‘Last Chance Tourism’ More Popular, and Riskier

Photo, posted January 25, 2020, courtesy of Ron Cogswell via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Just say ‘climate change’

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In recent years, climate advocates have pushed for the use of more dramatic language to describe ‘climate change.’  The notion was that phrases like ‘climate crisis’ and ‘climate emergency’ better convey the urgency of the planet’s plight, while terms like ‘climate change’ and ‘global warming’ are too gentle and vague.  However, it turns out that the gentler approach may actually be more effective.

According to a new study led by researchers from the University of Southern California, the terms ‘climate change’ and ‘global warming’ are not only more familiar to people than some of their common synonyms, but they also generate more concern about the warming of the Earth.

In the study, which was recently published in the journal Climatic Change, the research team found that nearly 90% of respondents were familiar with the terms ‘climate change’ and ‘global warming.’  However, familiarity dropped sharply for the other terms, including ‘climate crisis’ and ‘climate emergency.’  In fact, only 33% of respondents recognized the term ‘climate justice.’

The study, which surveyed more than 5,000 randomly selected U.S. residents, examined the degree to which each term generated concern, urgency, willingness to support climate-friendly policies, and willingness to eat less red meat. 

The research team found that the terms ‘climate change’ and ‘global warming’ were most concerning and most urgent.  ‘Climate justice’ was the least, with ‘climate crisis’ and ‘climate emergency’ falling in between.  The support for climate policy and willingness to eat less red meat was roughly the same, regardless of what terms were used. 

The research team hopes its findings will help us communicate more effectively about climate change in the future.

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Just Say “Climate Change” – not “Climate Emergency”

Photo, posted July 1, 2023, courtesy of Sheila Sund via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

WAMC Northeast Public Radio

WAMC/Northeast Public Radio is a regional public radio network serving parts of seven northeastern states (more...)