Enormous thanks to my anonymous donor for the remainder of April and May, who wishes to call attention to Rob Mielcarski’s thought-provoking un-denial site, also featured in my blogroll, which looks at overshoot and related issues.
“Experiments to dim sunlight to fight global warming will be given the green light by the [UK] Government within weeks.
“Outdoor field trials which could include injecting aerosols into the atmosphere, or brightening clouds to reflect sunshine, are being considered by scientists as a way to prevent runaway climate change.”
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/04/22/experiments-to-dim-the-sun-get-green-light/
“Another month close to 1.6°C! We will soon reach a ‘two-year average global temperature anomaly above 1.6°C in one or more datasets’…
“This fallacy that ‘actions by our governments’ will limit global warming to about 2.7°C is very dangerous. We could experience this level of warming already around 2050.” [Leon Simons]
https://x.com/LeonSimons8/status/1915028322506940838
“Global mean sea surface temperature anomalies (departure from average) so far this year 2nd highest on record.
“Data from NOAA ERSSTv5 averaged over January to March.” [Zack Labe]
https://bsky.app/profile/zacklabe.com/post/3lni42nys622w
“World’s largest bleaching event on record has harmed 84 percent of coral reefs…
“NOAA says the latest global event began on Jan. 1, 2023, and mass bleaching has now been observed across at least 83 countries and territories, threatening marine life from Fiji to the Florida Keys to Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.”
“From boiling hot to freezing cold: Sudden flips in temperature set to increase with climate change…
“Rapid temperature flips are sudden shifts in temperature from extreme warm to extreme cold or vice versa. Due to limited time to adapt to rapid temperature shifts, flips in either direction are likely to amplify the negative consequences of independent warm and cold extremes on societal and natural systems…”
https://phys.org/news/2025-04-hot-cold-sudden-flips-temperature.html
“Another summer day in Eastern Europe, with temperatures >29C [84.2F] in Ukraine and Belarus even north of latitude 50.
“Few thousands km South, zero warm spells in Italy with some coastal areas never exceeding 22C in the whole 2025 and some never exceeded their January records.”
https://x.com/extremetemps/status/1914863092183564749
“Recent snowfall has not changed the worrying situation on Alpine glaciers…” [Melaine Le Roy]
https://x.com/subfossilguy/status/1915103770679108010
“Bad weather emergency, flooding in Catania and province and hailstorm in Biancavilla [Italy]. Firefighters intervene…
“Flooding also in the Ionian area and in particular in Fondachello, S. Antonino, Giarre, in the popular district of Jungo and in San Giovanni Montebello, along the Via Dei Paoli.”
“Greece Weighs Tanker Solution for Drought-Stricken Attica.
“Attica, Greece’s region that encompasses the entire Athens metropolitan area, is seriously threatened by water scarcity and authorities managing the area’s water supply are preparing a series of measures, including an emergency plan to transport water via tanker ships…”
https://greekreporter.com/2025/04/22/greece-tackle-water-shortage-attica-tanker-ship-emergency-plan/
“Towns evacuated, drivers abandon vehicles as intense heat [exceeding record levels for April] and high winds fuel huge brush fires [Israel]…
“Police evacuated several central towns and motorists were forced to abandon their vehicles on Wednesday as a number of brush fires rapidly spread amid soaring temperatures and high winds.”
“Absolute insanity with a Minimum of 30.3C [86.5F] at Cairo EGYPTIAN capital, hottest April night in history.
“Max. >43C at Ras Sadr on the Red Sea, record broken by >4C! Never happened In 145 years of Egyptian climatic history.”
https://x.com/extremetemps/status/1914747973063598243
“BRUTAL HEAT IN NORTH AFRICA:
“45.5 [113.9F] In Niger, 44.2 in Egypt and Chad, 44.0 in Nigeria, 43.9 in Burkina Faso, 43.7 in Algeria, 42.5 in Libya etc.”
https://x.com/extremetemps/status/1914758017142366544
“A severe drought crisis takes over Africa with conditions worsening across the continent…
“A recent report by the Copernicus Global Drought Observatory shows the scale and seriousness of the crisis, which has entered its third consecutive year in some regions.”
“Summer doesn’t want to go away from South Africa…
“South Africa is gonna live an insanity with late autumn heat for days and widespread >35C [95F] even in the highlands and coast with hot berg winds.”
https://x.com/extremetemps/status/1915020330114179102
“Climate change is lifting South Africa out of the ocean, study finds…
“…a study carried out by the University of Bonn now provides another explanation: Droughts and the associated water loss are the main reason for this land uplift. The results have now been published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth.”
https://phys.org/news/2025-04-climate-south-africa-ocean.html
“Flash floods claim 7 lives in Nairobi, Kenya.
“At least 7 people died in flash floods in Nairobi, Kenya, officials reported on Wednesday, April 23, 2025. The flooding displaced more than 500 people and affected over 60 000 across the city.”
https://watchers.news/2025/04/23/flash-floods-claim-7-lives-in-nairobi-kenya/
“Car owners face double whammy after freak hailstorm [Pakistan].
“The recent unprecedented hailstorm in the federal capital has brought a boon not only to the spare parts dealers of Islamabad but also to the dealers in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, since the local markets had run out of stock for windscreens and lights.”
https://www.dawn.com/news/1906171/car-owners-face-double-whammy-after-freak-hailstorm
“What India’s Indus Waters Treaty suspension means for Pakistan.
“The Indus and its tributaries that have sustained civilisations for thousands of years, now test the capacity of two modern nuclear-armed nations to cooperate… This is a potentially historic moment.”
https://www.dawn.com/news/1906274/what-indias-indus-waters-treaty-suspension-means-for-pakistan
“Delhi, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Odisha Face Record-Breaking Temperatures in Ongoing Heatwave…
“The heat is taking a toll on public health, with hospitals across the country reporting a rise in heatstroke cases. Cities like Hyderabad and Patna have become nearly deserted during the midday hours as residents seek refuge in air-conditioned spaces.”
“RECORD HEAT IN BANGLADESH:
“Records of hottest nights pulverized again (it’s being record heat for years!). Minimums close to 30C / 86F. New April records: 28.5 Rajshahi; 28.0 Kumarkhali and Tarash; 27.7 Badalgachhi; 27.2 Dinajpur.”
https://x.com/extremetemps/status/1914952385845203319
“There have been continuous heat waves in southern China recently.
“Yesterday, 15 stations broke the April records and 2 stations tied the records. Today, another 21 stations broke/tied the April records. The highest temperature was 39.3C [102.7F] in Changjiang, Hainan.”
https://x.com/yangyubin1998/status/1914664899856490831
“China’s actions to address climate change will not slow down despite global political developments, President Xi Jinping said on Wednesday…
“Xi made the remarks in a speech to a video summit initiated by the United Nations and Brazil to discuss climate change and the “just energy transition,” Xinhua reported.”
“China’s air pollution controls sped up global warming.
“Cutting lung-damaging—but planet-cooling—sulphur pollution from China’s coal plants, industry, and vehicle exhaust over the past 15 to 20 years has driven much of the faster global warming seen since 2010, finds new research from Norway’s CICERO climate institute.”
https://www.theenergymix.com/chinas-air-pollution-controls-sped-up-global-warming-study-suggests/
“China plans a nuclear power plant on the moon. The International Lunar Research Station, a collaboration with Russia, is due to be built by 2035…
“Beijing has presented the lunar project as an opportunity for collaboration with other nations and says it could be used as the base for manned missions to other planets in the solar system.”
https://www.thetimes.com/world/asia/article/china-moon-nuclear-power-plant-russia-rprwclfb2
“Japan starts operation of heat stroke alert system.
“The move comes two days after Kumamoto and Fukuoka prefectures in southwestern Japan reached 30 degrees Celsius. The “heat stroke alert” is issued for areas where there is a very high risk of heatstroke based on predicted Wet Bulb Globe Temperature.”
https://www.ntv.co.jp/englishnews/articles/20211gt3l44677aqpeok.html
“Thailand Records Scorching Temperatures Amid Climate Concerns.
“On April 22, 2025, the highest temperature recorded in Thailand reached a scorching 40.6 [105.8F] degrees Celsius in A. Thoen, Lampang, as reported by the Meteorological Department. This alarming figure has raised concerns about rising temperatures across the region.”
https://evrimagaci.org/tpg/thailand-records-scorching-temperatures-amid-climate-concerns-335920
“RECORD HEAT IN SE ASIA:
“EXTRAORDINARY record heat is sweeping every single Asian country. HISTORIC: 37.0 [98.6F] Puerto Princesa, PHILIPPINES. Hottest day in history (POR >140 years).”
https://x.com/extremetemps/status/1915045592868536583
“New Zealand’s controlled hydro catchments — the main driver to keep the lights on during winter — have had the driest start to the year in 93 years of historic records…
“At the same time, security of supply risk was elevated. Gas supply was constrained, and some thermal generators were nearing the end of their life and therefore more prone to faults.”
https://www.odt.co.nz/regions/hydro-catchments-driest-93-years
“Patagonia Is Losing Its Glaciers Due to Circulation Shifts Near South Pole…
“Scientists have estimated that since the 1940s, Patagonia’s glaciers have lost more than a quarter of their total volume… This continuous mass loss… is explained by the long-term increase in meltwater runoff to the ocean, a consequence of atmospheric warming in Patagonia.”
“FEMA losing roughly 20% of permanent staff, including longtime leaders, ahead of hurricane season…
“With hurricane season just weeks away, about 20% of FEMA’s permanent full-time staff – roughly 1,000 workers – are expected to take a voluntary buyout as part of the latest staff reduction effort from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency…”
https://edition.cnn.com/2025/04/23/politics/fema-staff-cuts-hurricane-season/index.html
“Inside the desperate rush to save decades of US scientific data from deletion.
“Swathes of scientific data deletions are sweeping across US government websites – with decades of health, climate change and extreme weather research at risk. Now, scientists are racing to save their work before it’s lost.”
“‘Worst one I’ve ever seen’: Western Kentucky grapples with damage from hailstorm…
“The storm has created an unprecedented demand for vehicle inspections and title updates under a new Kentucky law. The Daviess County Sheriff’s Office tried to ease the burden with a remote inspection site.”
https://spectrumnews1.com/ky/louisville/news/2025/04/23/hail-damage-inspections
“More Americans Breathe Unhealthy Air Due to Wildfires, Extreme Heat.
“Around 156 million Americans, nearly half of the US population, now live in areas with unhealthy levels of air pollution, part of a trend toward declining air quality as climate change-related extreme weather events like wildfires occur more frequently.”
“New Jersey wildfire explodes to 13,250 acres, could be largest in nearly 20 years.
“A wildfire in New Jersey exploded to 13,250 acres after igniting Tuesday in Ocean County and threatening more than 1,000 structures, shutting down a major highway and causing thousands of people to flee the flames.”
“Tariffs will raise prices. But the climate crisis is the real inflation risk…
“The climate crisis is already affecting prices. The first driver for this is insurance markets… Prices can only go up. The climate crisis is also having long-term effects on what we eat… Finally, there is the question of how everyone else responds to the US breaking the current global order”
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/apr/22/tariffs-inflation-climate-crisis
“The World Seems to Be Surrendering to Climate Change…
“This month a symposium sponsored by the People’s Forum in New York raised the prospect that just a few years past its much-ballyhooed heyday, we had already reached the end of green capitalism. Perhaps the phrase was always an alibi for business as usual…”
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/23/opinion/climate-trump-world.html
“Avalanches of Microplastics Carry Pollution into the Deep Sea…
“Earth’s oceans are full of plastic. Though the state-sized garbage patches formed by ocean currents are the most visible, just an estimated 1% of ocean plastic lurks on the surface. The other 99% hides elsewhere in the ocean and may be found in the deep sea, mixed in with seafloor sediment.”
https://eos.org/articles/avalanches-of-microplastics-carry-pollution-into-the-deep-sea
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You can read the previous “Climate” thread here. I’ll be back tomorrow with an “Economic” thread.
There is evidence that volcanic and earthquake activity has been rising over the last couple of years. Ice melt and sea level change have been proposed as causes for increased activity as they change the forces at tectonic plates. Even the ENSO cycles have some correlation with seismic activity – this has even been proposed as a previous long term feed back mechanism as more volcanic releases of carbon dioxide led to more warming and more frequent El Ninos and therefore more activity.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5z2GxL_kXxk
Thank you, George. I haven’t had time to watch the video but found this article on the subject:
“The relationship between weather and seismicity is based on various mechanisms, where small variations in stress can be enough to trigger earthquakes. Global warming is intensifying these meteorological phenomena by increasing temperatures at the Earth’s surface, speeding up the melting of glaciers, and accentuating extreme precipitation, cyclones and rising sea levels.”
https://www.polytechnique-insights.com/en/columns/planet/climate-change-will-lead-to-an-increase-in-earthquakes/
Epic round-up.
We’re cooked!
Thank you, Doom Wizard. Quite a few interesting stories in there today. The one about the suspension of the Indus water treaty between Pakistan and India, after the recent terrorist attack in Kashmir, particularly caught my eye.
I hope this is just performative and temporary by India. Roughly 80% of Pakistan’s farmland is watered by the Indus system and Pakistan is already severely water-stressed.
Cooked to a crisp!
I must say that the hand wringing over tariffs is comical. If food costs more, maybe people would stop throwing half of it away. If clothes cost more, maybe people will stop filling closets full of unused clothing for their endorphin rushes. On every front, if things cost more, the consumatronic culture will take a bit of a punch and more controlled and reasonable ways of living could start to creep back into normalization. Oh, dang, I forgot, we are not allowed to consider the possibility that anything done by Trump could even accidentally be good! He is wrong even if he is right! Cheers.
Over consumption is a problem, but faith in tariffs as a solution is misguided. Punishing consumers with higher prices doesn’t address the corporate and systemic drivers of waste, and it risks harming the most vulnerable. Real change requires smarter regulation, not blunt economic instruments wrapped in partisan cheer leading.
The idea that higher prices would lead to “more controlled and reasonable ways of living” has no historical precedence. Historically, price shocks (e.g., during inflation crises) don’t necessarily lead to sustainable behavior shifts; they can just create economic pain.
Tariffs have pros and cons regardless of who implements them. For example, they can protect domestic industries but also trigger trade wars or inflation. Applying them in a hap hazard manner doesn’t seem to be the correct strategy from my point of view, Trump or no Trump.
So higher prices don’t lead to less consumption, just “harm to the most vulnerable”. Hmmm.
We have been using this model that we should get rich quicker by using slave labor on the other side of the planet, where there are no environmental regulations, in order to supply us with all manner of cheap crap to satisfy our egos, before we throw it into our landfills and start new round of pointless consumption. Maybe you are right, that model seems to be delivering stellar results so far!
And wouldn’t some economic pain be a step in the right direction? Wouldn’t it help nudge us to see this Ponzi scheme economy for what it is?
Not that any of this matters, because my best guess is that the Trumpster will likely succeed in leveling the playing field in tariffs that are not in balance, stopping our dependence on China for essentials, returning a level of manufacturing to the US, etc. I don’t know. But I suspect that if this is achieved it will fuel further “good economic conditions”. Uh. which is exactly what is causing the wreckage of our habitat. And if he fails we likely fall back into the status quo, which is causing the wreckage of our habitat.
We can bicker all we want about what happens when tariff this or that. My point was, we have been paying way way too little for everything, because we don’t incorporate the actual long term costs into ANYTHING, and that maybe paying higher costs for things could be a step in the direction for people to stop viewing their world as so easily disposable.
But since I have not mapped out the step by step guide for how to save the world, something tells me you will protest this simple idea. Cheers.
Phillip, I can certainly see the appeal of tariffs taking some of the froth off our reckless consumption but, as Edward says, they will tend to squeeze the poorest hardest. There is also the increased risk of a major financial crisis, which will hurt pretty much everyone.
Gail Tverberg has some interesting things to say about the trade war in her latest:
https://ourfiniteworld.com/2025/04/24/brace-for-rapid-changes-in-the-economy-the-world-economy-is-reaching-limits-to-growth/
Not sure that the word “appeal” applies here. If I have given the impression that I prefer the furniture in one location as to another, sorry for that. But the water is awful cold, and I can see the writing on the wall…………..we are in for a bit of a swim. Uh, which will hurt pretty much everyone. Hmmmmm, financial crisis, will that be avoided? And I cannot help but wonder, will the poorest somehow NOT be the ones hit hardest first as it all plays out? Seems that part is inevitable, but fear not, the “not poor” will most certainly catch up in the end.
Cheers
….we had already reached the end of green capitalism. Perhaps the phrase was always an alibi for business as usual.”
Sigh yes, just another lie sold to us to keep things the same.
I don’t know, but China’s recent “milestone” in thorium reactor tech, (still a long way to go in solving tech problems on the path to rollout) made a very small blip, in the media I follow, but I thought it was interesting anyway. Among a bunch of things, one of the few positives in the tech, is it’s low EROI.. it costs a lot, including time, to build them in the first place, but also to Initiate the reaction, but once operational it works well. It can even burn uranium nuclear fuel waste.
Seems China is also researching such a reactor for its next moon space mission in 2028.
https://discoveryalert.com.au/news/chinas-thorium-molten-salt-reactor-2025/
Rain, apparently thorium-powered ships may also be in the works:
“China has unveiled plans for the “world’s first” nuclear-powered container ship, signaling a significant leap in maritime technology.”
https://www.deassociation.ca/newsfeed/china-has-revealed-the-worlds-largest-nuclear-powered-container-ship