Organized Power

09/15/2020

“Once you accept that climate change is fast making large parts of the United States nearly uninhabitable, the future looks like this: With time, the bottom half of the country grows inhospitable, dangerous and hot. Something like a tenth of the people who live in the South and the Southwest — from South Carolina to Alabama to Texas to Southern California — decide to move north in search of a better economy and a more temperate environment. Those who stay behind are disproportionately poor and elderly.”

Wildfires rage in the West. Hurricanes batter the East. Droughts and floods wreak damage throughout the nation. Life has become increasingly untenable in the hardest-hit areas, but if the people there move, where will everyone go?

09/04/2020

The Oregon Forest Resources Institute worked to undercut academic research and acted as a lobbying and public relations arm for the timber industry. Now, the governor has asked for an audit.

08/31/2020

Electric-powered aeroplanes will be in flight by 2035, according to ZeroAvia. This is how it's preparing for takeoff…

08/22/2020

“We consume tens of thousands of microplastic particles every year—but how many of those microplastic particles are staying stuck in our lungs and livers, and what health impacts are they having on our bodies?”

We know we’re ingesting plastic every day. But what happens to it is still a mystery. Scientists are now trying to figure out how much is staying in our organs, and what the long-term health effects might be.

08/22/2020

“If climate action is not a top priority—and one that results in new laws that commit the United States to decarbonization of its economy and allow it to provide global leadership on climate action—no other accomplishment will matter in the long run.”

If the fate of American democracy is on the ballot in November, so too is the future of the planet.

08/18/2020

The Greenland Ice Sheet is losing 500 gigatons of ice each year, and will continue to do so, even if global warming halted instantly.

08/17/2020

“Clean energy has gotten so cheap, the air quality benefits alone are enough to pay for the energy transition. … The effects of air pollution are roughly twice as bad as previously estimated. That is a bombshell — in a sane world, it would be front-page news across the country.”

Ditching fossil fuels would pay for itself through clean air alone.

07/31/2020

“To avoid disaster, we must confront capitalism.”

A short course in planetary time, for planetary survival

07/14/2020

People are planting tiny urban forests to boost biodiversity and fight climate change.
“The idea is simple – take brownfield sites, plant them densely with a wide variety of native seedlings, and let them grow with minimal intervention. The result, according to the method’s proponents, is complex ecosystems perfectly suited to local conditions that improve biodiversity, grow quickly and absorb more CO2.”

Inspired by a Japanese botanist, these fast-growing, mixed-species plantations can absorb more carbon than conifer forests.

07/12/2020

Even while much of life remains in suspended animation, support for climate-friendly transportation is chugging along.

From bike protests to staggered commute times, here’s how things might (literally) go in the future.

07/12/2020

“If fire becomes a regular occurrence on Siberia’s thawing tundra, it could dramatically reshape entire ecosystems, causing new species to take over and, perhaps, priming the land for more fires.”

A relentless, climate change-driven heat wave has caused a rash of fires on land normally too frozen to burn. Scientists fear it may become a regular occurrence.

07/08/2020

Advocates and activists have shared a certain faith: When the impacts get really bad, people will act. … [but] … We might not wake up in time. … [in fact] … We never really wake up at all.

"Shifting baselines syndrome" means we could quickly get used to climate chaos.