Wildlife wins: Around the world, rewilding efforts are bringing ecosystems back to life. Along coastlines and rivers, wetlands are buffering floods. In North America, large mammals like wolves and bison are returning to their former habitats. In Bangladesh and India, communities are restoring forests and rebuilding wildlife corridors after conflict and deforestation. Even forests in Brazil that were fragmented by agriculture and urban infrastructure are recovering through careful reforestation efforts using private lands.

Greening efforts: Cities and states are going greener. Today, green space makes up nearly a third of Berlin’s area. I’ve written before about MedellÍn’s green corridors that are keeping the city cool even as global temperatures rise. And when New York state’s ambitious push to plant 25 million trees stateside couldn’t find enough trees, The Nature Conservancy stepped up to create a tree nursery incubation program.

Around the world, “pocket forests” and urban rewilding efforts are turning small spaces into high-impact ecosystems. When I wrote about tiny forests two years ago, so many of you wrote in to tell me about efforts in your own community that I had to write a full update the next week! And these projects don’t just look nice—they cool neighborhoods, filter pollution, and even create wildlife corridors in cities.

Waste and pollution cleanup: Global efforts to tackle waste are gaining momentum. Last year, The Ocean Cleanup removed 25 million kilograms of trash from oceans and rivers—the result of coordinated volunteer events spanning coastlines around the world. At the same time, policy and advocacy efforts are targeting pollution at the source, like stopping plastic pellet spills before they reach waterways. Together, cleanup plus advocating for policies to reduce plastic use in the first place can make a big difference.

Youth-powered action: Across the globe, community-led restoration efforts are scaling up, in many places with young people blazing the trail. Youth-led groups are organizing tree-planting and restoration campaigns across Asia, Africa, and beyond, working directly with local communities to rebuild ecosystems. These five young “ecosystem champions” are leading grassroots projects across drylands, mountains, oceans, forests, and wetlands—working with local communities from Brazil to Indonesia to restore ecosystems and strengthen livelihoods.

The UN Environment Program’s Young Champions of the Earth supports young people turning local environmental ideas into scalable solutions (I’m one of their “old” champions!). Since 2017, the program has recognized innovators from around the world tackling everything from waste to water access.

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The Earth is our perfect home. From the air to breathe to the soil we need to grow our food, it gives us everything we need to survive and thrive. But each year, there comes a point when we’ve used more of the Earth than it can regenerate. That day is known as Earth Overshoot Day.

Last year, that date fell on July 24—meaning we used up a full year’s worth of resources in less than seven months. Not only that, but this date is trending in the wrong direction as we continue to add pressure to the planet year after year. Earth Overshoot Day used to be August 9 in 2020, and in 1990 it was all the way back on October 16.

This must be because Earth is home to too many people, you might think, right? Actually, no: that’s not the main reason. We have plenty of resources to go around—but only if we live sustainably. And we do not.

We waste almost one-third of the food produced for human consumption worldwide: that’s enough to give 2 billion people who currently lack food one square, nutritious meal a day. We destroy and fail to restore ecosystems that filter our air and water. We live in inefficient cities and deplete and waste nonrenewable resources despite having renewable options. For example, did you know that nearly a third of the polluting energy we get from coal, gas and oil is just used to extract, process and transport coal, gas, and oil?

Right now, we are using resources as if we live on a flat, infinite Earth. Yes, you read that right – our entire economic model is designed for a flat Earth. The reality, though, is that we live on a round planet. And as we learned last week, there truly is no Planet B. It is time to stop taking for granted the amazing gifts our home provides and treat it with the care it needs to continue to support our lives and those of all other living things that share our home.

If everyone on the planet lived like the average North American, we would need multiple Earths to sustain us. Want to know how many Earths we would need if everyone lived like you? Take the ecological footprint quiz here.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. The good news is that many of the solutions already exist, and I share at least one example a week in this newsletter! Plus, the Earth Overshoot Day website provides an easy-to-read breakdown of five key areas that would make it possible to #movethedate.

Did you notice anything different about today’s good news and not-so-good news? I didn’t mention climate change once—even though it’s woven through every story.

This week’s What You Can Do might sound a little unusual coming from me, but having read the above, I think you’ll understand: if people in your life are resistant to talking about “climate change”—maybe because it’s too depressing, or stressful; too political, or too contentious—then just call it something else!

Talk about solutions that make our air cleaner, our water safer, and our communities healthier. That’s good news – and who doesn’t care about that? We see people’s interest in solutions each year on April 22nd when almost 1 billion people worldwide participate in an Earth Day event, such as picking up litter in their neighborhoods, teaching their children about nature, or planting trees in the park.

Of course, understanding the science matters. But if we all agree on solutions that will fix this crisis, then accepting that climate change is real and human-caused and we need to do something about it becomes a secondary no-brainer. Just check out the story about John’s dad I share here!

So, if leaving out a phrase that puts people on the defensive opens the door to a better conversation, this Earth Day is a perfect time to start.

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IF YOU’RE IN NORTH CAROLINA, THERE’S 2 MORE CHANCES TO SEE ME IN PERSON TONIGHT AND TOMORROW

• Wed April 22 at 7pm ET - Earth Week Keynote with Elon University - in person at McKinnon Hall, Moseley Center; open to EU students, faculty, and staff

• Thurs April 23 at 5pm ET – Climate Solutions at Duke University – in person at Goodson Chapel, Duke Divinity School

ONCE IN TEXAS

• Tues April 28 at 2pm CT - Connecting Global Change to Local Impacts with Angelo State University; in-person in San Angelo, TX

AND SEVERAL IN THE UK/IRELAND

• Tues May 5 at 10am IST - ICARUS seminar at Maynooth University (location TBD)

• Wed May 6 at 2.30pm IST - McCosh Lecture on Finding Hope in the Climate Crisis - in person at Queen’s University Belfast

• Fri May 8 - seminar at UCL in London (time and location TBD)

These days it seems like each news headline is worse than the last. That’s why I think so many of us were glued to the spectacular images and feeds from the Artemis II mission and its four joyful, intrepid astronauts the last few weeks.

The Apollo program ended the year I was born. This was the first time humans have ventured to the moon since then, and the ten-day lunar flyby mission was rich with historic firsts: Christina Koch became the first woman to orbit the moon; Victor Glover, the first Black man; and Jeremy Hansen, the first Canadian. This mission also set a new distance record, eclipsing the distance logged by Apollo 13 astronauts by some 4,100 miles. That’s farther away from Earth than any humans have ever traveled.

Who didn’t have a tear in their eye watching the astronauts call Mission Control to request an unnamed, bright crater be named for Carroll Wiseman, Commander Reid Wiseman’s late wife, who died of cancer in 2020? And you had to laugh at the floating Nutella container (and Nutella’s response!), the temperamental space toilet, and the maple cream cookies the Canadian astronaut brought to snack on while on the far side of the moon.

Above all, though, I keep returning to what the astronauts said about looking back at Earth from the darkness of space. “I found myself noticing not only the beauty of the Earth, but how much blackness there was around it, and how it just made it even more special,” Christina Koch reflected. “It truly emphasized how alike we are, how the same thing keeps every single person on planet Earth alive.”

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And just before the spacecraft passed behind the moon and lost contact with Mission Control, Victor Glover said something that gave me goosebumps, it is so close to what I say about why we need climate action: “As we continue to unlock the mysteries of the cosmos, I would like to remind you of one of the most important mysteries there on Earth, and that’s love,” he said, his voice crackling as the signal weakened. “To all of you down there on Earth and around Earth, we love you from the moon. We will see you on the other side.”

That view from the moon has a way of putting things in perspective. As Dr. David Baker, co-director of Adams Observatory at Austin College, explained in Talking Climate last year, scientists have discovered more than 6,000 confirmed exoplanets -- but we have yet to find another one like Earth. The biggest reason we have to take care of our home and everyone who shares it with us is simple: there is no planet B.

The Earth’s climate system is “more out of balance than at any time in observed history,” according to the State of the Global Climate 2025 report. The report tracks 8 key indicators of climate change, including atmospheric carbon dioxide, global mean near-surface temperature, ocean heat content, global mean sea level, ocean pH, glacier mass balance, sea-ice extent, and one new indicator - Earth’s energy imbalance.

You might not be familiar with this last one. In my opinion, though, it’s the most comprehensive measure of how humans are changing climate: or, as we scientists would say, altering the radiative balance of the atmosphere. Here’s what it measures.

Every day the sun’s energy hits the Earth. The Earth absorbs that energy and, when climate isn’t changing much, it releases about the same amount of heat energy back to space. That’s how the climate system stays balanced.

But that changes whenever we burn coal, gas, or oil – or burn down trees. Why? Because these activities release massive amounts of heat-trapping gases that build in the atmosphere, effectively wrapping an extra blanket around the planet. And just like a real blanket would, this extra blanket of heat-trapping gases is trapping more heat inside the Earth’s climate system that would otherwise escape to space.

How much heat? That’s what the Earth’s energy imbalance measures. The extra heat averages about 5 Hiroshima bombs’ worth of energy every second -- and only 1 percent of that remains in the atmosphere. About 90 percent is going into the ocean (and the rest to melting ice and warming land).

In fact, as I write in Scientific American here, “Climate change’s impacts on the ocean are so massive that when I’m asked why we aren’t talking about it more, the only answer I can think of is, ‘Because we aren’t polar bears or corals.’ If we all lived on or in the ocean, the changes we’re seeing there would dominate our daily headlines.

As we begin to understand the vast impact our choices have on the ocean and, consequently, on us, the need for urgent action becomes even more apparent. It’s still possible to shape a future where people and the ocean can thrive together; but to do so, we must act now.”

A group of nuns in the southeastern Nigerian city of Aga have made care for creation central to their ministry. The Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Mother of Christ have planted trees across the campus of the local nursing college. Across from their convent, the sisters have turned a plot of land into a “modest farm” dotted with fruit trees including pear, orange, avocado, and coconut, as well as a host of other plants.

Nigeria has been experiencing increased heat and shifting rainfall patterns from climate change, exacerbating existing problems from deforestation to water scarcity. “This is the area where we are promoting protection of the environment, doing many things that will help sustain our mother Earth, the planet that God has given us,” said Sr. Maria Obiomachukwu Osuji, one of the nuns leading the organic farming efforts. And she talks about it too, encouraging others to plant trees and plants where they can near their homes, and sharing her work online.

“The sisters see their work as a moral duty rooted in their religious calling to care for creation,” explained Nigerian journalist John Chukwu. “These sisters are not waiting for someone else to act. They are planting trees that reduce flooding, provide shade during brutal heat, and shield their community from destructive winds. They are modeling, with their own hands, what it looks like to care for creation.”

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IF YOU’RE IN NORTH CAROLINA, THERE’S 3 CHANCES TO SEE ME IN PERSON NEXT WEEK

• Tues April 21 at 7pm ET- Mitigate, Adapt, or Suffer with Wake Forest University - in person in Winston-Salem, NC; registration required

• Weds April 22 at 7pm ET - Earth Week Keynote with Elon University - in person at McKinnon Hall, Moseley Center; open to EU students, faculty, and staff

• Thurs April 23 at 5pm ET – Climate Solutions at Duke University – in person at Goodson Chapel, Duke Divinity School

TWO CHANCES IN TEXAS - THIS WEEK AND NEXT

• Sat April 18 at 10am CT - DFW Youth Climate Conference - in person at the UT Dallas Jindal School of Management

• Tues April 28 at 2pm CT - Connecting Global Change to Local Impacts with Angelo State University; in-person in San Angelo, TX

AND ONE NORTHERN IRELAND + TWO MORE IN IRELAND COMING SOON

• Wed May 6 at 2.30pm IST - McCosh Lecture on Finding Hope in the Climate Crisis - in person at Queen’s University Belfast

He shares how Indigenous-led approaches reshape climate solutions from finance and …

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Leslie wrote in to tell me about Bluedot Living, founded by Californian Victoria Riskin after she lost her home in a mudslide that followed devastating wildfires. Instead of rebuilding, Victoria chose a different path: working with her community to restore their local ecosystems… and founding a practical, solutions-based news source showing what climate action looks like in everyday life.

Ralf from Germany shared his newsletter, ClimateBash: Good News Only. As you’d guess from its name, it’s a steady stream of positive climate stories! And Lara emailed to recommend Anthropocene Magazine, an international, science-focused publication that translates research into accessible stories on climate solutions, from clean energy to food systems and urban design.

Patti from Canada is a lawyer, a journalist who writes for the National Observer, and a dedicated climate communicator. She collects inspiring stories about people taking action - many of them young people, like 23-year-old Jashan Gill from Green Mind Canada that equips youth with the tools they need to process what is happening and take meaningful action - and shares them on her website Awesome Climate Stories.

Last but not least, Ben from France reminded me of one of my own long-time favourites: Nick Hedley’s The Progress Playbook. From tracking which countries are leading on renewables to spotlighting scalable solutions like cycling infrastructure and regenerative agriculture, Nick is a font of information on how much progress is already underway. And, he’s based in South Africa.

Around the world, people are already putting climate solutions into action. The more we share their stories, the faster the solutions spread!

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Studies show that misinformation about climate change—especially when amplified by news outlets and trusted voices—has real and dangerous consequences. It delays action and worsens impacts. And Christian communities are often specifically targeted by these types of disinformation campaigns.

That is why it is so important that more than 100 U.K. church leaders (including the former Archbishop of Canterbury) recently signed an open letter calling out GB News for spreading climate misinformation. They make it clear that false climate narratives aren’t just a difference of opinion; they’re a matter of public harm.

When the GB News co-owner doubled down on rejecting climate action, the trustees of Operation Noah, a U.K. Christian charity working to inspire climate action in the church, responded with a pointed question: “As our dependence on expensive and volatile fossil fuels continues to lead to dangerous climate tipping points and wild spikes in energy prices, [Paul Marshall] and GB News appear so dedicated to keeping our unsustainable status quo intact. Why?”

I’ve written before about how the vast majority of Christian leaders agree that climate change is real, but they just aren’t talking about it enough. Why does that matter? Because “revealing the moral implications of fossil fuels” has been identified by scientists as a key societal tipping point that, when recognized by enough people, can rapidly tip the scales in the direction of climate action.

And who better to make this argument than religious leaders? Initiatives like these help people of faith connect what they care about and why climate action matters, giving them the clarity and confidence to speak up themselves.

I’ve talked before about how climate change is already pushing some species past their limits: like amphibians, which can’t tolerate higher temperatures and often can’t move to cooler places fast enough. In contrast, many snakes can move – and they are!

Venomous snakebites are already a major but often overlooked public health issue. They kill an estimated 138,000 people and cause hundreds of thousands of disabilities every year, primarily in vulnerable communities. As the climate warms, some snakes are being pushed out of their current habitats and into places where more people live.

A new global study finds that rising temperatures will drive many species away from arid interiors and toward densely populated coastlines. This will increase the risk of dangerous encounters. Specifically, researchers project that hundreds of snake species will move toward higher latitudes and more heavily populated regions in the coming decades, bringing them into closer contact with millions more people.

Across the Netherlands, people are taking climate action into their own hands—literally pulling it up from the ground.

It’s called NK Tegelwippen, or “National Tile Flipping Competition”: a lighthearted, nationwide effort where cities and neighbours compete to remove concrete slabs from yards, sidewalks, and public spaces and replace them with plants. You can see which cities are in the lead here. The last time I checked, Maastricht and Utrecht were battling it out for first place!

So far, nearly 13 million tiles have been removed. That’s the equivalent of hundreds of soccer fields’ worth of restored ground. And participants say the impact is immediate. In one Rotterdam neighborhood, residents transformed an entire stretch of sidewalk in a single day, turning a hot, flood-prone street into a cooler, greener space filled with flowers.

As climate change brings heavier rainfall and more intense heat, these kinds of small changes can make a real difference. When pavement is replaced with soil and plants, temperatures drop; rainwater can soak in; and it creates habitat for bees, birds, and insects.

What stands out about this effort isn’t just the scale—it’s how accessible it is. If you have pavement, tile, or brick outside your home, consider removing a strip and planting something in its place. For shared or public spaces, policies vary; but your city’s public works or planning department can usually tell you what’s allowed.

This movement shows how quickly small, practical changes can add up. It’s a great reminder of how climate solutions can start at your home; and when you talk about it with friends, family, and neighbors, they can spread!

In light of Easter Sunday being this past weekend, here is an additional recommended “read” and “watch.”

WATCH: Christians are wrong about God’s creation

READ: An evangelical take on climate science

Sun April 12 at 11:15am PT – Faith Conversation with Westwood Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles, CA – an in-person watch party of a virtual presentation (livestream tbd)

Weds April 22 at 7pm ET - Earth Week Keynote with Elon University - in person at McKinnon Hall, Moseley Center; open to EU students, faculty, and staff

Thurs April 23 at 5pm ET – Climate solutions at Duke University – in person at Goodson Chapel, Duke Divinity School

But did you know that you can actually measure how walkable your own community is? Geographer & Talking Climate reader Joseph Kerski Phd GISP sent me a crowdsourced map and survey where anyone can rate their neighborhood, upload photos, and contribute to a growing global dataset.

This useful tool offers a simple but powerful way to see your surroundings through a new lens and help build a bigger picture of what walkability looks like around the world.

Click here to participate!

You know that one of the best things you can do about climate change is talk about it. Back in Talking Climate’s first year, I shared the story of hairdresser Paloma Rose Garcia, who started a program she called “Brush With Climate” and invited two local climate scientists to teach classes on climate change to fellow hairdressers in Sydney, Australia.

Then last year, I was encouraged to see the program spreading. “Brush With Climate” reached Ireland, where a new initiative at University College Cork is implementing it in four towns across the country.

Now, a new U.K. study confirms what this effort has been showing all along: hairdressers are uniquely positioned to be effective climate messengers. They build trust with their clients over months and years, creating natural opportunities to weave climate and sustainability into regular conversations. The opportunity is there – but so far, it’s barely been tapped.

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When it comes to climate messengers, “we’re used to thinking of people in the public eye, such as celebrities, as influencers,” said Dr. Briony Latter, an author based Cardiff University. “But what about the people you actually talk to on a regular basis who know you and who you trust with your appearance and sometimes more personal aspects of your life? Hairdressers have an untapped ability to weave climate change into everyday conversations and actions.”

Just do a quick back of the envelope calculation with me. In the U.S. alone, it’s estimated there are over half a million hair dressers and hair stylists. The average number of clients seen per day is 12. Imagine if just 10% of them were having climate conversations with half the people they saw. That could add up to nearly 75 MILLION CONVERSATIONS a year!

Pair that with data from Yale Program on Climate Change Communication showing that 64% of Americans rarely or never hear anyone talk about climate change. That’s about 210 million people. So if only those 10% of hairdressers keep it up for a few years, that could nearly wipe out climate silence across an entire country!

Reality check - of course they can’t talk to everyone, and many of their clients would be repeats. But those clients would go on to have their own conversations, too. So I don’t think there’s any question this program has the potential to visibly change the number of climate conversations at a national scale.

And that’s not all these conversations could change. For the U.K. study, conversation starters were placed on salon mirrors to spark conversations. Almost 73% of clients who participated in conversations prompted by the “Mirror Talkers” intervention said they would adopt more eco-friendly habits. Could hairdressers be some of the best climate influencers there are?!

War is horrible for myriad reasons: above all, its toll on human life. One often overlooked impact, though, is that modern warfare is incredibly carbon intensive. The first two weeks of the Iran war have released some 5 million tonnes of carbon pollution. That’s more than the nation of Iceland emits in an entire year, according to this analysis from the Climate & Community Institute.

To calculate the carbon costs of the Iran war, the researchers looked at “direct ‘tailpipe’ emissions, indirect supply chain emissions, and conflict emissions—including destroyed equipment, missiles and drones used, destroyed fuel in storage and oil tankers, fuel used in combat operations, and destroyed civilian infrastructure.” And the cost of rebuilding infrastructure damaged by warfare is even more carbon-intensive than the war itself, the analysts found. That’s not even included here yet!

This is true of other recent conflicts, too. The Gaza war has resulted in more than 33 million tons of carbon emissions, one analysis found. Another assessment conducted by the Initiative on GHG Accounting of War found the first three years of Russia’s full-scale war on Ukraine created 237 million tonnes of carbon pollution (equivalent to the annual emissions of Austria, Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia combined), causing over $43 billion in damage.

And war, of course, makes existing environmental problems harder to address and climate goals harder to hit. In a nutshell, no matter who “wins,” we all lose.

When I first started this newsletter in April 2022, there were hardly any news sources that focused on good news other than Upworthy. But now, there are a lot of places dedicated to sharing uplifting stories of positive solutions and people making a difference, both about climate and in general.

This is so important, because behavioural science research finds that although “doom and gloom messaging is highly effective for stimulating climate change information sharing, like posting on the internet or social media, where negativity reigns… it is the absolute worst for motivating action and among the worst for changing climate change beliefs or support for climate change policies.”

So where can you find these stories? Here are a few places to start. Your to-do this week is to choose at least one of them and follow their content, so you have even more regular positive input to help you build efficacy and create hope.

Positive News offers solutions-focused reporting both online and with a quarterly print magazine. Recent stories include one about a British company aiming to turn energy from foot traffic into electricity, another about teens working together to stop child marriage in Bangladesh, and one about microgrid solar power coming to England.

The Anti-Doom Initiative from Crooked Ideas highlights “the projects already moving towards solving the climate crisis, and those in the pipeline that we need to get over the finish line.” They curate hopeful stories, like this one about the world’s largest wildlife crossing about the open in LA, this regular roundup of the week’s good climate news, and this one on environmental groups calling for a moratorium on new data center construction. I recommend following them on Instagram.

On Instagram you can also find Future Earth, which shares a roundup of good news stories every Tuesday; , aka The Garbage Queen and the “good climate news lady” who shares uplifting videos, news stories from around the world all while calling for climate action; and Sam Bentley, who narratives videos about good news from around the world every week.

Do you have a favourite source of good climate news? Let me know what it is, and I’ll share an update next week!

Sun April 12 at 11:15am PT – Faith Conversation with Westwood Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles, CA – an in-person watch party of a virtual presentation (livestream tbd)

Weds April 22 at 7pm ET - Earth Week Keynote with Elon University - in person at McKinnon Hall, Moseley Center; open to EU students, faculty, and staff

Thurs April 23 at 5pm ET – Climate solutions at Duke University – in person at Goodson Chapel, Duke Divinity School

Right to Grow advocates are pushing for people to have access to unused public land to grow food, restore nature, and build stronger communities. What a great example of how local action can lead to systemic change!

A few weeks ago, I highlighted the success of London’s Ultra Low Emissions Zone in cleaning up the city’s air. But that’s not the only good news out of London. Last month, Mayor Khan approved a plan to pedestrianize a one-kilometre stretch of Oxford Street’s shopping district. Work will begin this summer to turn it into a traffic-free haven.

And London isn’t alone. In Paris, leaders have spent years replacing car lanes with bike lanes, adding green space, and removing tens of thousands of parking spots. The results are striking: maps of Paris’ air pollution over time show pollution levels dropping dramatically (pictured above).

Barcelona is using a different approach: the city’s “superblocks” limit traffic within groups of streets, creating space for walking, biking, play, and community life. Residents report quieter streets, cleaner air, and more opportunities to connect with their neighbors.

When cities are re-designed for people instead of cars, it doesn’t just reduce emissions: it materially improves people’s health and everyday lives. Research shows that walkable neighborhoods reduce pollution, lower the cost of transportation, support local businesses, prevent hundreds of premature deaths each year, and make it easier for us to stay active and connect with others.

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As global temperatures rise, new research shows that heat is increasingly disrupting sleep around the world. This is especially true for older adults, women, and people in lower-income regions.

That matters more than we might think. Sleep is critical for how we think, learn, and function day to day. Even small increases in nighttime temperatures can make it harder for our bodies to rest and recover; and over time, widespread sleep loss can ripple outward, affecting everything from our memory, mood, and health to educational outcomes and economic productivity.

If you’re interested in learning more about just how comprehensively sleep -- and, even worse, lack thereof -- affects every aspect of our lives, Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker, PhD is a startling read.

Do you live somewhere where heat is a problem—even if it’s just in summer? In Texas, we already had our first 100°F/38°C day in late February!

Here are three practical ways to keep your home cool and save money at the same time:

Add window film. A lot of heat comes straight through our windows. Window films act like sunscreen for your glass – and one study found that, when installed on the outside of windows, they can reduce bird collisions as well.

Choose a reflective roof. The next time your roof needs replacing, opt for a white or reflective metal roof. “Cool” roofs reflect up to 90% of the sun’s energy, cutting energy bills and reducing your local urban heat island effect. One analysis found that switching to light-colored roofing worldwide could prevent the equivalent carbon emissions of up to 15 million cars per year.

Plant a tree. One of the most effective ways to cool a neighborhood is also one of the simplest: add shade. Trees can lower surrounding temperatures, reduce air pollution, and even cut energy use by reducing the need for air conditioning – and a recent study shows that living near trees can even reduce your chance of heart disease!

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You’ll never believe the troll comments I get on social media – oh wait, now you will!

In my latest Cold Facts, Hot Takes episode, I tackle common Christianity-and-climate troll comments and separate truth from ideology.

To support this newsletter and the video series and access the full video, upgrade your subscription on Patreon or Substack.

Tues March 31 at 1:30pm ET - ACA Climate Symposium with American Camp Association – virtual, $75 for members, $110 for nonmember

Sun April 12 at 11:15am PT – Faith Conversation with Westwood Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles, CA – an in-person watch party of a virtual presentation (livestream tbd)

But when you look cl…

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The Great Bear Sea is one of the most biodiverse cold-water marine ecosystems in the world. It’s home to kelp forests, whales, sea otters, and five species of Pacific salmon—but industrial activity, climate change, and habitat loss have been degrading its wildlife and fisheries for decades. Until now, that is!

In June 2024, 17 First Nations partnered with Nature United (that’s what The Nature Conservancy is called in Canada) and the governments of Canada and British Columbia to establish a vast network of marine protected areas across the Great Bear Sea.

The result was Canada’s first marine protected area network, and the largest Indigenous-co-governed ocean conservation initiative in the world. Together, these protected areas make up 10 million hectares (that’s nearly 25 million acres) of ocean, an area larger than Portugal!

The goal of this partnership is to restore the region’s unique marine ecosystems while supporting local communities whose cultures and livelihoods have depended on these waters for millennia. Backed by $335 million in funding, the initiative is already supporting Indigenous Guardians who monitor ecosystems and enforce protections. It ultimately aims to create thousands of jobs in sustainable fisheries, tourism, conservation, and renewable energy.

Over the last two years, conservation progress has continued. Areas in the Kishkosh and Kitkiata inlets, key habitats for humpback whales and wild salmon, were protected in July 2025. Then in October 2025, two new marine refuges, G̱aw Ḵáahlii and X̲aana K̲aahlii, were established the waters off Haida Gwaii as part of the Great Bear Sea protected area. The regions were identified by traditional Haida knowledge as “areas of high ecological and cultural importance.”

How does this relate to climate change? First, protecting coastal ecosystems on land and in the ocean builds climate resilience for both people and nature. Second, the Great Bear Rainforest is one of the world’s largest carbon sinks, with old-growth trees that store and absorb much more carbon than younger trees would. Safeguarding the forest from development while supporting local, ecosystem-based economies keeps its carbon stores intact. That’s a double win!

If you enjoyed this story, upgrade your subscription on Patreon or Substack to watch next month’s What’s the Latest episode. I’ll be catching up with past guest editor James Rattling Leaf, Sr., a geospatial expert and member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe who works to combine Indigenous knowledge and Western science to tackle climate change.

Last week, I talked about how climate change is affecting our mental health. This week, a new study highlights its impact on our physical health.

Combining over 70 years of global climate data with a physiological heat tolerance model, my Nature Conservancy colleagues Luke Parsons, Nicholas Wolff, and their co-authors found that a full 35% of the world’s population already lives in areas where outdoor activities are severely limited during the hottest time of the year. “Climate change isn’t just making heat more intense—it’s shrinking the amount of time people can safely go about their daily lives,” Luke says.

Even light activity like walking outside, climbing stairs, or doing household chores can become dangerous when temperatures and humidity climb too high. Older adults are especially vulnerable: people over 65 now experience roughly 900 hours each year when heat severely restricts safe outdoor activity, compared to about 600 hours in 1950.

And while the worst conditions are often associated with poorer regions, the study found that dangerous heat already affects parts of wealthier countries too. Access to cooling, infrastructure, and workplace protections are resources that aren’t available to everyone – yet that’s what’s needed to keep people safe in a warming world.

Have you ever walked past an empty patch of dirt, a cracked sidewalk, or a neglected roadside planter and thought it could use a little life?

That instinct is behind guerrilla gardening—a grassroots movement where people plant flowers or native plants in overlooked urban spaces. How does this help with climate change? Even small patches of greenery can cool overheated streets, soak up stormwater, and create habitat for other urban wildlife.

People are experimenting with this idea in creative ways. Last week in Toronto, I met a student who was planting clay “seed bombs” in nature-deprived public areas around the city. In Los Angeles, artist Doug Rosenberg built a temporary wetland in the concrete channel of the LA River, creating a small patch of habitat that quickly attracted birds and other wildlife. In the UK, gardener Harry Smith-Haggett used plants to highlight local problems in Horsham. He filled potholes with flowers, drawing attention to dangerous roads and prompting repairs.

In London, environmental activist Ellen Miles has been transforming overlooked corners of her neighborhood into mini-oases filled with pollinator-friendly plants. After sharing her adventures online, she has inspired others to do the same! She says part of the appeal is the immediate impact: “A lot of activism can feel intangible. With guerrilla gardening, you see the results. It’s empowering.”

Planting in public spaces can sometimes fall into a legal gray area. As this article explains, “authorities often turn a blind eye—so long as it doesn’t cause damage, obstruction or a public nuisance.” So the safest way to participate is by supporting local greening efforts: planting native species in your own yard or apartment balcony, volunteering with a community garden, or working with local groups to add pollinator habitat in your neighborhood.

With the first day of Northern Hemisphere spring arriving this Friday, now is the perfect time to get started. Don’t forget to talk about what you’re doing with others, and get your community involved too!

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Weds March 18 at 5:30pm CT - Spencer Lecture at the University of Michigan - in person, free

Tues March 24 at 6:30 pm ET - Keynote address at the 2026 AGM with CAFES Ottawa - virtual, free

Tues March 31 at 1:30pm ET - ACA Climate Symposium with American Camp Association – virtual, $75 for members, $110 for nonmember

Sun April 12 at 11:15am PT – Faith Conversation with Westwood Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles, CA – an in-person watch party of a virtual presentation (livestream tbd)

As you can imagine, a lot has happened since then. So in this month’s episode of What’s the Latest?, where I catch up with past guest editors, Christiana joins me to discuss how the U.S. is doubling down on fossil fuels and canceling clean energy projects. These moves won’t stop the clean energy transition, she explains—but they could leave the United States dangerously behind.

Watch the highlights from our conversation here, and subscribe to access the full video on Substack or on Patreon (Tier 2).

Why subscribe? You don’t just unlock access to my three video series (Hot Takes, Cold Facts where I respond to troll comments; Tea with Katharine where I share what I’m thinking about this month; and What’s the Latest? where I catch up with former Talking Climate guest editors) — you’re also supporting the small but mighty outreach team behind Talking Climate. This newsletter and my video series aren’t funded by my academic or nonprofit roles. They can only continue if readers like you choose to make it possible.

What if you could pull water out of thin air? Thanks to an invention from Omar Yaghi, a U.C. Berkeley chemistry professor and Nobel laureate, this may soon be viable and affordable at scale.

Yaghi has founded a company called Atoco, which is developing a new kind of Atmospheric Water Generator. This generator is the size of a 20 foot shipping container and uses reticular materials—ultra-porous structures that act like high-tech sponges—to capture invisible moisture from the air and release it as clean water. Powered by sunlight alone, these generators could produce up to 1,000 liters of fresh water a day, even in areas impacted by drought or natural disaster – and Atoco is also developing a form of carbon capture using the same materials.

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Affordable, scalable water generators could prove invaluable in a warming world. A U.N. report published in January minced no words about the precarious position billions find themselves in when it comes to water: “The planet has entered the Global Water Bankruptcy era,” the report stated plainly. “Nearly three-quarters of the world’s population lives in countries classified as water-insecure or critically water insecure. Around 2.2 billion people still lack safely managed drinking water, 3.5 billion lack safely managed sanitation, and about 4 billion experience severe water scarcity for at least one month a year.” For reference, that number represents half the people on the planet.

Yaghi understands the stakes himself acutely: born in Jordan to Palestinian refugees, he grew up in a home that lacked both running water and electricity. “I remember the whisper through our neighbourhood, ‘the water is coming’, and the urgency as I rushed to fill every container I could find before the flow stopped,” he said in his Nobel prize speech.

He added, “On climate, the hour for collective action has already arrived. The science is here. What we need now is courage—courage scaled to the enormity of the task—so we may gift the next generation not only carbon capture, but a planet worthy of their hopes.” I couldn’t agree more.

Around the world, climate change is affecting people’s mental health. A 2021 global survey published in The Lancet Planetary Health found that 75% of young people describe the future as “frightening,” and 45% say climate concerns negatively affect their daily lives.

In some places, the impacts are already immediate. A 2025 study found that climate change is harming the mental health of young people in southern Madagascar, where chronic climate stress, including crop losses, drought, and economic hardship, affects everyday life. As one child told researchers, “I have no idea what I can do to be happy,” while another said simply, “Life is a misery.”

“Young people in southern Madagascar are the unwilling pioneers of the mental health impacts of climate change,” said the study’s lead author Dr. Kristin Hadfield of Trinity College Dublin. “Climate change is not just an environmental issue—it is a mental health issue as well. In higher-income countries, climate anxiety often focuses on future risks, but in Madagascar, young people are already living the reality.”

Now, a 2026 study suggests the United States will increasingly face similar challenges as temperatures rise. Researchers estimate that by the end of the century, acute heat exposure could lead adults in the U.S. to experience between 329 million and 1.4 billion additional days of self-reported anxiety and depression each year compared with today.

These extra days of anxiety and depression could cost the U.S. anywhere between $24 to $104 billion per year. And the heaviest burden is projected to fall on lower-income communities and regions such as Appalachia. (For a first-person perspective on how people in Appalachia are already being harmed by climate change, I strongly recommend following scientist and sustainability communicator , aka The Garbage Queen, on Instagram, TikTok, or here on Substack.)

Climate anxiety is a logical response to a real and growing threat. But there’s an antidote to anxiety and despair: agency! Find community, support solutions, and take action ourselves. That’s why this newsletter always includes good news, bad news, and either something we can do or something others have done that can inspire us to act.

Last month, three members of New Mexico Interfaith Power and Light completed a 320-mile, 25-day pilgrimage from the heart of New Mexico’s oil and gas territory in the Permian Basin to the State Capitol building in Santa Fe.

They arrived at the Capitol on the legislature’s Climate Action Day to stand in witness for meaningful climate action. “We have walked to express active hope in the family of humanity and pray for our elected leaders to have the political courage to meet the moment,” Desirée Bernard, the organization’s director, told Source NM.

As they walked, Bernard and her fellow pilgrims spoke to those they encountered about climate change. Bernard even asked people to write down their prayers and messages, sharing one anonymous letter she received from someone in Albuquerque when she reached the Capitol: ”Dear legislators, my hope for you is that you look into the faces of children, yours and others, and decide to leave them a future,” she read.

Why did they set out on this trek? “This pilgrimage is both confessional and prophetic—a call to act with courage, integrity, and love for our shared home. It is a journey of hope, learning, and community—witnessing that a more just and sustainable future is already taking root,” they wrote on the website. For more, see this series of blog posts they penned on their journey.

Compelled by their faith and a deep concern for our shared future, these modern pilgrims transformed their private concern into a visible, public witness you could see unfolding mile by mile. And they aren’t done yet! Later this month, they are hosting an immersive pilgrimage experience, starting in Carlsbad, NM. Learn more and register here; registration closes March 16th.

Thank you to Talking Climate reader Dana Loy for sending me this inspiring story!

READ: “Nature Report, Killed by Trump, Is Released Independently”

WATCH: My talk with Green is Health

Tues March 17 at 4:30pm CT - HMEI Taplin Environmental Lecture with High Meadows Environmental Institute - in person, free. Also recorded (I’ll share a link here when it’s available)

Weds March 18 at 5:30pm CT - Spencer Lecture at the University of Michigan - in person, free

International sports can produce a lot of emissions, and yet people involved in them often make excuses for climate inaction in sports. Pascal and Manuel interviewed 28 European elite athletes and sports federation employees to better understand why. They identified five main narratives: the people they interviewed would blame others, downplay the urgency of the problem, claim the system can’t change, focus only on the downsides of climate action, and/or simply say they didn’t have the resources to act. Sound familiar? I bet we’ve all heard those justifications!

The researchers conclude with recommendations for how to turn this tide, including encouraging narratives that highlight collective responsibility rather than personal solutions. And research from Planet Reimagined (founded by past Talking Climate guest editor, Adam Met) says fans will support this! In a 2025 survey of nearly 900 U.S. sports fans, 92% said they would not oppose their favorite teams or athletes using their platforms to call for climate action.

For more, I highly recommend giving Pascal and Manuel’s article a read yourself. Many scientific articles are behind journal paywalls, but this one is open access: which means the authors had to pay extra (yes, scientists have to pay journals to publish their papers) to make it open for everyone to read. Thank you, Manuel and Pascal!

Air quality in London, England, has always been a concern. In fact, the very first air quality legislation was enacted by King Edward I.

In 1307, he issued a royal proclamation stating that the burning of sea coal within the city limits was prohibited due to the “intolerable smell which diffuses itself throughout the neighboring places and the air is greatly infected, to the annoyance of the magnates, citizens and others there dwelling and to the injury of their bodily health.” The penalty? Hefty fines, destruction of furnaces, and even death!

Despite this early effort, London’s air quality remained at dangerous levels for many centuries. It began to decline at the turn of the 20th century, but it wasn’t until the Great Smog event, responsible for thousands of deaths, finally led to the Clean Air Act of 1956. Even still, the city’s air quality regularly exceeded legal limits, and researchers at King’s College London forecast that it would take 193 years to bring London’s air quality within legal limits… until recently. What changed?

In 2019, London Mayor Sadiq Khan introduced the Ultra Low Emissions Zone in central London, requiring non-compliant vehicles to pay a £12.50 daily fee to reduce nitrogen dioxide pollution and improve air quality. In 2023, he expanded the ULEZ to include all 32 London boroughs, making it the world’s largest clean air zone! Thanks to the ULEZ, London air complied with legal limits in 2025, a full 184 years earlier than forecast.

“Since the introduction of the ULEZ, nitrogen dioxide levels in central London have halved and millions of Londoners are breathing cleaner air,” Mayor Khan said. “It also supports a broader shift towards green and sustainable transport, with growing investment in active travel and zero-emission buses. Climate action in London is not just environmental. It’s a public health emergency and a social justice issue too.”

While London’s air quality still has room to improve, this system has been a great success. Air pollution causes an absolute myriad of health impacts including more than 8 million deaths worldwide each year; so this clean air zone is a huge win for one of the world’s biggest cities. For more, check out this short video from one of my favourite UK science communicators, Simon Clark.

If the planet’s warming, shouldn’t we see less snow? Shouldn’t we be getting a break from winter dangers such as avalanches and massive snowstorms? Unfortunately, depending on where we live, the answer can be no. In fact, in some places, climate change is increasing these risks.

It’s true that in a warmer world, more precipitation is falling as rain and less as snow, on average. The average snowline is moving upward and poleward. Glaciers are melting. Many mountain areas are experiencing both long-term declines in snow as well as increasing risk of snow droughts, particularly early in the season, and rain-on-snow events later in the season: the western U.S. this year, and the Alps three years ago.

In a warmer world, however, the atmosphere also holds more moisture. And this means that, when it’s below freezing, there can be more snow, not less. Here are three places that’s happening.

On the west coast of North America, atmospheric rivers stream in from the Pacific. When they hit the coastal mountains they rise, dumping massive amounts of precipitation. As climate changes and the ocean warms, these naturally-occurring features are strengthening and picking up more moisture than ever. This is a factor in why California’s Sierra Nevada mountains has seen extremely heavy snowfall events this year.

At elevations where temperatures remain below freezing, heavy snowfall can accumulate rapidly. This rapid loading of slopes increases avalanche risk, particularly when new snow overlies weaker layers: the exact conditions that led to the devastating avalanche that happened in the Sierra Nevada last month, the deadliest in modern California history.

In the Great Lakes region, downwind cities like Buffalo can get massive amounts of lake effect snow, when frigid air sweeps across lakes that are still relatively warm and ice-free. This creates powerful snow bands capable of dropping several inches or up to 10cm in a single hour. As lakes warm and ice cover decreases, the number of days when it’s still cold enough to snow but not cold enough for the lakes to freeze have been going up, increasing lake effect snow... for now.

Then, on the east coast of North America, there’s a particular type of winter storm that comes in from the ocean, known locally as a “nor’easter” (and a “bomb cyclone” elsewhere). The other week, Nor’easter Hernando dumped more than two feet of snow across parts of Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. Here too, warmer ocean temperatures are strengthening these storms as well as increasing the amount of water vapour they can turn into record snowfall. My colleague Michael Mann has studied how climate change affects these storms, and explains the science here.

In short, climate change isn’t eliminating winter. In fact, in some places, it’s intensifying its most dangerous and damaging extremes.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by global warming, you’re truly not alone. Climate change is such a vast, global challenge that many people share the same sense of uncertainty—wanting to help, but unsure where to begin. That’s why I love sharing action items from this list of the six most impactful climate actions individuals can take.

Joining a climate action group is one of the most effective ways we can turn concern into impact, while simultaneously helping us feel more connected to others and aware of how many others care, too. Social science research consistently shows that collective action is one of the most effective ways individuals can help drive meaningful climate progress.

Don’t know where to start? On Bluesky I’ve created a starter pack of national and global climate action organizations, and a second starter pack featuring the local (city + country) chapters. I also have a list of organizations on my website by category, including groups for parents, grandparents and young people; nature-lovers, athletes, artists, and people of faith.

So this week, your to do is this: find a group and join it! Sign up for their email list, follow them on social media, and find out if they have events online or in your area that you can attend. Then tell someone you’ve joined a climate group and encourage them to do the same! It’s hard to go it alone; only together is it possible to truly build collective strength and drive the systemic change we need.

Mon March 9 from 4-6pm ET - Your Career in Climate with Catherine McKenna the Lawson Climate Institute at University of Toronto - in person, registration required, free. Also recorded (I’ll share a link here when it’s available)

Tues March 17 at 4:30pm CT - HMEI Taplin Environmental Lecture with High Meadows Environmental Institute - in person, free. Also recorded (I’ll share a link here when it’s available)

Weds March 18 at 5:30pm CT - Spencer Lecture at the University of Michigan - in person, free

We talked about the recent decision by the U.S. administration to withdraw not only from the Paris Agreement but from the UN…

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The United States remains the world’s largest source of cumulative carbon emissions, responsible for about 25% of the total. Cumulative emissions are the most relevant metric when it comes to assessing national responsibility for climate change, as climate responds to the total build-up of heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere, not just what is added in a specific year.

On an annual basis, however, China’s emissions passed those of the U.S. in 2006 and have grown substantially since then. If this trend continued, China would eventually overtake the U.S. as the largest cumulative emitter. That is why a recent CarbonBrief analysis showing that, over the last two years, China’s emissions have flattened out—and may even have begun to decline!—is such encouraging news.

In 2025, most sectors in China saw a decline in emissions, with transport down 3%, power generation falling 1.5%, and building materials dropping 7% compared with the previous year. Why did that happen? Mostly because of clean energy. Compared to 2024, in 2025 China produced 43% more solar, 14% more wind, and 8% more nuclear energy, with coal power generation dropping by 2%.

To put this in comparative terms, in both 2024 and 2025 China added more new solar capacity in one year than the United States has installed over its entire history; and they’re not slowing down. This is also having an impact on the world. As I mentioned last August, China’s exports of clean-energy technologies are estimated to have slashed global carbon emissions by 1 percent in 2024 alone. Other countries have been picking up as well - as I reported last April, the country of Pakistan installed more solar in 2024 alone than Canada has in its entire history as well.

None of this means the job is done ... far from it. To stabilize climate, emissions don’t just have to decrease: they have to reach net zero, the point at which humans are only producing as much heat-trapping gas emissions as nature is able to take up. But what this does show is that when countries scale clean energy quickly, emissions start moving in the right direction. That’s cause for hope.

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As the U.S. doubles down on fossil fuels and blocks construction of new wind and solar installations, its emissions are ticking up. And a new decision just gave fossil fuels an even bigger boost.

Since 2009, the Endangerment Finding has provided the legislative basis for regulating heat-trapping gas emissions in the U.S. It’s an official determination, based on science and law, that emissions of carbon dioxide, methane, and other greenhouse gases threaten public health. This connection between health and climate, which I discuss in this Global Weirding episode, is what gives the U.S. federal government authority to regulate fossil fuel emissions under the Clean Air Act. Gave, I should say: because this month, this finding was rescinded.

This decision was not unexpected: Project 2025 explicitly called for reversing it, and the current U.S. administration has largely followed that agenda. However, there is no scientific justification for this action. In fact, in the sixteen years since the finding was issued, there has been much more groundbreaking scientific work done and we now know so much more about how fossil fuel emissions and global warming impact human health.

As I often discuss in Talking Climate, research now ties fossil fuel pollution and rising temperatures to increased risks of allergies, ADHD, dementia, cardiovascular disease, infertility, and premature death... just to name a few. And that’s just tip of the iceberg in terms of all the risks climate change poses to our food, water, infrastructure, and the nature our own lives depend on.

Reversing the Endangerment Finding doesn’t diminish the risks. It makes them worse! When long-standing climate policies are reversed or thrown into uncertainty, it becomes harder for communities, businesses, and governments to make informed decisions that keep people safe.

Thankfully, the first lawsuit on the rollback was filed this week by Earthjustice and six other organizations, and it is likely to end up before the Supreme Court. In the meantime, however, U.S. heat-trapping gas emissions continue to grow and so too do their impacts. Policy may shift; the underlying reality does not.

Banks and large financial institutions play an outsized role in shaping our future. The projects they finance—and those they choose not to support—help determine whether capital flows toward fossil fuel expansion or toward clean energy and climate solutions. Together, the 65 banks in the latest “Banking on Climate Chaos“ fossil fuel finance report have committed $7.9 trillion in fossil fuel financing since the Paris Accord was signed ten years ago.

Because banks invest on behalf of their customers, individuals and organizations alike have real influence. By asking questions, choosing climate-aligned institutions, and making clear that investment decisions matter to you, you can help shift the financial system toward a safer, more sustainable future. That’s why “where you keep your money” ranks as one of the top six climate actions you can take in your own life.

Want to see how your bank is doing in this regard? Check out Bank Green and see where your bank lands on the carbon scales. Then, look for a new bank using Bank for Good. But be warned, most of the greenest options do not have brick-and-mortar locations. If you need in-person service, it’s best to find a local credit union.

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Fri Feb 27 - 2026 Climate of H.O.P.E. Conference - Round 2 at Downers Grove North High School - designed for science teachers, a virtual presentation at an in-person event in Downers Grove, IL, $40

Mon March 9 from 4-6pm ET - Your Career in Climate with Catherine McKenna the Lawson Climate Institute at University of Toronto - in person, registration required, free. Also recorded (I’ll share a link here when it’s available)

Tues March 17 at 4:30pm CT - HMEI Taplin Environmental Lecture with High Meadows Environmental Institute - in person, free. Also recorded (I’ll share a link here when it’s available)

Weds March 18 at 5:30pm CT - Spencer Lecture at the University of Michigan - in person, free

Sammy’s writing has been on my must-read list for a long time: first as the energy reporter at the Desert Sun, then the climate columnist at the Los Angeles Times. All told, Sammy has spent a dozen years writing about clean energy, water, public lands and more, and his stories are inspiring – and often surprising, too! He’s covered everything from car shows and conspiracies to how men obsessed with protecting their masculinity are more likely to reject the need for climate action.

On Substack, he’s highlighting climate solutions in pop culture, media and sports. “The more climate storytelling, the better!” he says – and I agree.

Take it away, Sammy!

With the Winter Olympics in full swing, athletes are using their platforms to encourage action on the climate crisis. As the Associated Press reports, a coalition of Winter Olympians and other athletes delivered a petition with 21,000 signatures to the International Olympic Committee, urging the IOC to consider ending fossil fuel sponsorships.

Earlier this month I also wrote about EcoAthletes Champion Jacquie Pierri, a member of the underdog Italian women’s ice hockey team in Milan-Cortina. She’s a sustainable energy engineer who makes hockey rinks more energy efficient and helps convince her teammates to eat less meat. She improbably advanced to the Olympic quarterfinals after two early victories! Before losing Friday to Team USA.

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Across sports and other cultural arenas, climate heroes like Pierri are showing that climate change isn’t just a partisan battleground — it’s a powerful story for everybody. In Hollywood, “Grey’s Anatomy” spotlighted the health dangers of supercharged heat waves. NBCUniversal’s team ran a “Wicked: For Good” promo campaign that saw green-skinned Elphaba encourage fans to consider green technologies such as rooftop solar and induction stoves.

Examples abound of creatives leaning into climate and the energy transition. Just last weekend, Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show drew attention to Puerto Rico’s ailing power grid, which has been battered by climate-fueled hurricanes. Later this year, Disneyland will shut down Autopia so it can replace the 71-year-old ride’s gas-guzzling cars with electric vehicles.

It’s amazing to see so many cultural influencers — people who do not work on climate change for a living! — making an effort to keep climate accessible and front of mind.

As many examples as I could cite of cultural influencers telling powerful stories about climate, the numbers show there’s a long way to go.

A first-of-its-kind analysis of films and TV episodes from 2016 through 2020 found that just 2.8% mentioned climate change, or even a long list of related keywords. The most popular energy TV show right now is almost certainly “Landman,” which glorifies oil and gas production. Big-name actors continue to appear in ads for gas-guzzling SUVs.

Similarly, dozens of U.S. men’s sports teams have sponsorship deals with fossil fuel companies or fossil-heavy utilities. In Los Angeles, my hometown, the Dodgers won’t even comment on a petition with nearly 30,000 signatures urging the team to drop oil industry sponsor Phillips 66.

Meanwhile, in the U.S. media world, support for climate storytelling keeps dropping. Earlier this month, the Washington Post’s legendary climate team — which won a Pulitzer Prize in 2020 — was gutted amid sweeping layoffs at the paper. Last year, CBS News laid off most of its climate journalists. Globally, climate coverage at major newspapers and TV networks has trended downward for the last several years.

Large majorities in the U.S. and around the world say they worry about global warming and support clean energy. But without a steady stream of stories reminding them to demand action — with many stories glorifying fossil fuels, in fact — it’s no wonder climate action rarely becomes a political priority.

Support the culture and media you want to see in the world!

I’m not much of a hockey fan, but I closely followed the Olympic women’s tournament to cheer on Team Italy and Jacquie Pierri. I didn’t care about the Super Bowl, but I made a point of watching Bad Bunny’s halftime performance (even before I knew there was a power grid subplot!) because I appreciated how the artist has stood up to the current U.S. administration.

If you hear about a climate-themed comedy show or art exhibit, consider checking it out. Listen to Jon Batiste’s climate anthem. If you visit Disneyland, ride the EVs of Autopia.

If you have the means, support climate journalism financially. Journalists can’t labor for free. Nonprofit newsrooms like Canary Media, Grist, Inside Climate News, and Floodlight do invaluable work. So do independent reporters such as , , and . Help them keep doing their jobs by subscribing if you can.

Also, just like in politics, collective action matters. Disney only committed to electrify Autopia after activists banded together and insisted they do so. Earlier this week, activists staged the first simultaneous nationwide protest against fossil fuel and utility sponsorships at 10 pro sports venues across the U.S., including Dodger Stadium.

Entertainment companies, sports franchises, media outlets and other cultural institutions won’t prioritize climate unless consumers demand it. So, demand it.

Thank you Sammy Roth for guest-editing this edition! You’ve reminded us just how powerful culture can be in shaping what we notice and what we value—and how important our voices can be in catalyzing change.

Sammy’s work makes clear that climate action doesn’t belong only in big marches or scientific reports. It lives in stadiums, storylines, songs, and shared moments. I hope you’ll check out Climate-Colored Goggles to learn more about how culture can help move climate from the margins to the mainstream. You can also follow Sammy on LinkedIn and Bluesky.

Thurs Feb 19 at 6pm MT - Climate Change, Colorado, and the Power of Collective Action with Colorado Mountain College; in person, free. Also recorded (I’ll share a link here when it’s available)

Mon March 9 from 4-6pm ET - Your Career in Climate with Catherine McKenna the Lawson Climate Institute at University of Toronto - in person, registration required, free. Also recorded (I’ll share a link here when it’s available)

Tues March 17 at 4:30pm CT - HMEI Taplin Environmental Lecture with High Meadows Environmental Institute - in person, free. Also recorded (I’ll share a link here when it’s available) Weds March 18 at 5:30pm CT - Spencer Lecture at the University of Michigan - in person, free

In this Tea with Katharine, I explain how climate targets were created, what the Paris Agreement actually says, and why scientists view warming not as a sudden switch, but as a scale. The impacts of climate change (and even the risk of tipping points) increase with temperature, much like the effects of smoking (and the risk of lung cancer) increase with every cigarette.

The science doesn’t say “1.5°C or bust.” It says every bit of warming matters. And the progress made in the last decade—slowing projected warming from the 4-5°C by 2100 we were headed to just ten years ago to the trajectory of 2.7°C by 2100 we’re on now - shows that ambitious goals can result in real-world action.

So if we miss 1.5°C, that’s not a reason to quit. It’s a reason to accelerate. Because staying below 1.6°C instead of 1.7°C—or even 2°C instead of 2.1°C—will still protect lives, food systems, coastlines, and health.

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Snow and cold temperatures are essential for nearly every winter sport, and as the world warms, many athletes and Olympians are experiencing climate change firsthand. This is motivating some of them to become very effective advocates for climate action.

Protect Our Winters (POW), founded by professional U.S. snowboarder Jeremy Jones, is now active in 15 countries and includes everyone from Olympians to fans. Members regularly meet with elected officials to advocate for climate action and pressure sports’ governing bodies to cut emissions. This 2023 letter from Austrian POW member Julian Schütter, signed by more than 200 ski professionals, called out the International Ski and Snowboard Federation’s climate policies as inadequate and recommended concrete actions, including redesigning race schedules to reduce emissions from air travel.

Bea Kim, a 19-year-old snowboarder and Olympian from California, is another member of POW. She competes in the same places every year and has noticed firsthand the changing amount of snow on the slopes. “I couldn’t watch it happen and not say anything about it,” Kim explained on an episode of NBC Local’s “My New Favorite Olympian.”

Bea was 17 when she spoke at the United Nations about the need for climate action during the International Day of Sport. “Through my travels as a professional snowboarder, I’ve gone around the world and I’ve seen one common theme throughout,” she said. “The world is changing. The glaciers are melting that we’re actually riding on. Our winters are starting later. The weather patterns are becoming erratic. Each year we wonder if there will even be enough snow for us to compete and do what we love.”

Climate change shouldn’t be politically polarizing, she says. “It’s an issue of the human race and a battle that we should all be fighting together because the world doesn’t care what side of the aisle you sit on, and the world doesn’t care which way you vote, and climate change does not care about that. It’s going to change either way.” I couldn’t agree more!

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The irony of fossil fuel companies like BP and Eni sponsoring the Olympics is not lost on athletes. Two days before the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics began, Norwegian skier and filmmaker Nikolai Schirmer hand delivered a “Ski Fossil Free“ petition with more than 21,000 signatures to the International Olympic Committee’s head of sustainability. The petition calls on the IOC and the International Ski and Snowboard Federation to write a report that considers the ethical, environmental, and health implications of fossil fuel sponsorships in winter sports.

Nikolai is a freeride skier whose style of skiing is not currently in the Olympics. But he was also inspired to launch his petition, as he sees climate change imperiling the sport he loves. “The show goes on while the things you depend on to do your job—winter—is disappearing in front of your very eyes,” he said. “Not dealing with the climate crisis and not having skiing be a force for change just felt insane. We’re on the front lines.”

For more on the power of athlete’s voices in climate advocacy, check out this past issue of Talking Climate edited by Lew Blaustein from EcoAthletes.

The future of Winter Games on a warming planet is becoming increasingly uncertain. A study led by the University of Waterloo’s Daniel Scott last year found that of the 93 locations that have hosted the Winter Olympics, only 52 are projected to remain viable in 25 years—and that’s under moderate climate change and average conditions. “By the middle of the century, we will probably have around 10 to 12 countries to have a cold enough climate to host Olympic snow sports,” said Karl Stoss, chairman of the IOC’s host commission.

It gets worse, though. Just four of those cities would have enough natural snow to host those events: Niseko, Japan; Terskol, Russia; and Val d’Isère and Courchevel in France. The others would depend on artificial snow to host the games, as was the case for the 2022 Beijing Games. Record low snowpack in Utah right now, future home to the 2034 Games, offer a glimpse of what that future might look like.

In Cortina d’Ampezzo, where this year’s skiing events are being held, average February temperatures are already 3.6C warmer than when the city last hosted the Games in 1956. In fact, all 19 cities that have hosted the Winter Olympics since 1950 are now, on average, more than 2.5C (nearly 5F) warmer.

The IOC is exploring whether to establish a permanent set of viable Winter Olympics locations and shift the Games to January, when it would be colder. But that won’t save them long term. “What are we doing to ensure the long-term viability of the Games?” asked POW’s Erin Sprague. “That comes down to solving climate change.”

Dr. Heïdi Sevestre is a French glaciologist, National Geographic explorer, climate communicator, and renaissance woman who just kite-skiied 4,000 kilometers across Antarctica! Her teammate on this UNESCO expedition, dubbed Under Antarctica, was French explorer Matthieu Tordeur.

Over 80 days, they trekked from Russian research station Novolazarevskaya to Union Glacier via both the Pole of Inaccessibility (the furthest inland location in Antarctica, which features an abandoned Soviet research station and a snow-covered bust of Lenin) and the South Pole. During their journey, Heidi and Matthieu towed ground-penetrating radar to measure snow accumulation and ice layers, gathering data that will deepen scientific understanding of Antarctica’s response to a warming climate.

This journey marked the first kite-ski expedition dedicated solely to polar science, as well as the first-ever French crossing of the Antarctic interior by kite-ski. For her accomplishments, Heïdi was awarded the first-ever Shackleton Medal for the Protection of the Polar Regions.

Renewables, including solar, onshore wind, and battery storage “have reached a price point where they are virtually unstoppable,“ Al-Karim Govindji writes at Climate Home News. Wind and solar alone “are projected to account for 32% of global power by 2030, surging to over half of the world’s electricity by 2040.”

What about the United States, you may be thinking? Well, despite the current US administration’s active opposition to clean energy which is stalling hundreds of new wind and energy projects, EIA data is still forecasting that renewable energy will supply 99 percent of new US generating capacity this year. Last year, together wind and solar produced 28% of US electricity, more than coal.

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Meanwhile in the UK, where coal was phased out entirely in 2024, renewables supplied 47% of all electricity last year. And Australia hit a new milestone in the last quarter of 2025, with renewables making up a full half of the national grid’s power mix.

By 2060, global projections currently estimate that fossil fuels will account for only 4% of the power sector, down from 59% today. Renewables just make economic sense, and despite efforts to slow it down, it’s clear the transition is already underway.

Where we build clean energy matters: and when wind, solar, or storage options are poorly sited, they can cause more harm than good.

You’re probably familiar with stories about the negative impacts of wind turbines sited in bat migration pathways or how solar farms are being built on valuable ecological land. That’s why The Nature Conservancy developed the Site Renewables Right tool, which is currently informing renewable energy development and conserving important wildlife habitats and natural areas in the US, the Balkans, and India.

But this can happen with energy storage, as well. Take the example of a new pumped hydro storage facility currently being proposed in Washington state. Pumped hydro is a highly effective way of storing energy that’s been around for over a hundred years. When electricity is plentiful, water is pumped uphill from a lower reservoir to a higher one. When electricity is needed, that water is released downhill, where it turns turbines to generate power - essentially like a giant water battery. That sounds like good news, right? Not so fast.

Construction of the Rye project would permanently alter Pushpum, a sacred site of deep cultural and spiritual significance to the Yakama Nation. As this article explains, the project would require drilling large tunnels and constructing reservoirs through the hillside—damage that my colleague Max Lambert, PhD described as “tantamount to levelling Notre Dame or the Vatican.” That harm arises in large part because the project moved forward without typical Tribal consultation.

This is a reminder that even well-intentioned climate solutions can repeat past harms when Indigenous sovereignty and community voices are sidelined, and when development is imposed rather than co-created. It’s true that we can’t wait for perfection. But good climate action requires us to listen to all concerned and minimize harm wherever possible. If we’re serious about building a better world, we have to do it better.

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In the case of pumped storage projects, re-using already-disturbed or abandoned industrial sites makes much more sense. In Wales, for example, the Dinorwig Power Station repurposed an abandoned slate quarry into pumped storage by connecting existing pits and lakes. Because it can respond quickly during demand spikes, Dinorwig has already reduced the need for fossil fuel-powered peaking plants and additional hydropower, such as large dams that fragment rivers and disrupt aquatic life.

Examples like Dinorwig show how energy storage don’t just store variable renewable energy: they can also deliver many of the grid benefits traditionally associated with dams, without fragmenting rivers or flooding ecosystems. That’s a double win!

As political winds have shifted in the United States and elsewhere over the past year, “climate hushing” has become a real thing: and that’s bad news. “When leaders don’t talk about something, enthusiasm falls among voters,” Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island writes here. “In politics, you can often make your own wind, or you can make your own doldrums.”

Unfortunately, climate hushing is going global. This year, when world leaders spoke at the World Economic Forum’s meeting in January, nearly every single one of them avoided the topic—even Prime Minister Mark Carney, a former UN Special Envoy for Climate Action and Finance. Why is this? “In today’s deeply polarizing U.S. political stance, climate discussion has come to feel so radioactive that many leaders would rather avoid it,” sustainable business professor Anjali Chaudhry writes.

The only major leader to break the silence was Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, who used his speech to press for collaborative climate action. ”We invite enterprises from all over the world to embrace the opportunities from the green and low-carbon transition, and work closely with China in such areas as green infrastructure, green energy, green minerals and green finance,” he said.

The organization We Don’t Have Time hosted an alternative WEF speech, held on a pile of snow and featuring several of my colleagues and leading systems thinkers, including Dr. Johan Rockström, Sandrine Dixson-Declève, and former Unilever CEO Paul Polman, who said,

“We know what needs to be done [about climate change]. It is not a failure of resources. Global capital has never been more abundant. It is a failure of collaboration and collective action. A failure of governments to align around shared interests rather than narrow advantage; of businesses to act as system-shapers rather than short-term competitors; and of leaders across sectors to share risk, and act in service of a common good.”

Watch the whole event here.

In this time of “climate hushing,” having conversations about climate change is more important than ever. That’s why I feel my TED talk on how the most important thing you can do about climate change is talk about it is more relevant than ever -- and why I’ve doubled down on my own efforts by adding new Talking Climate video series: because our voice is the most powerful climate solution we have.

So this week, here’s a short guide to having effective climate conversations with people in your life.

I always recommend starting off with common ground - rather than where we typically begin our conversations, with something we disagree with them about, or something we’re worried about and we don’t think they are (but they should be). Those types of conversations rarely go well. Instead, a great place to begin is by focusing on how climate change is affecting a place you both live in, care about, or visit often. Shared experiences make the issue feel real and relevant.

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You can mention one of the crazy weather events that happened this year, such as last week’s extreme cold, snow, and ice storm that paralyzed central and eastern North America for days, or the record-breaking heatwave that scorched Australia the very same week. Then bring in some of the other changes that have been happening in your area, and how they are affecting people’s homes, livelihoods, or health.

Where can you find this information? If you live in the U.S., you can turn to this archived copy of the Fifth U.S. National Climate Assessment and find the chapter that describes your region. In Canada, we have the Climate Atlas of Canada that illustrates local impacts. For Australia, you can look to the National Climate Risk Assessment; in the U.K., see this page from the Met Office; and for the E.U., there’s this risk assessment by the European Environment Agency.

Don’t forget to also bring up positive solutions that will get people excited about climate action. Even though they might not say it out loud, most people are worried about climate change but don’t know what to do about it. Talking Climate’s archives are full of solutions, such as the edition last month on climate-friendly travel. Spread the word!

For more tips about how to navigate climate conversations—yes, even at the dinner table—check out my TED talk, watch this webinar I hosted on this very topic, or my interview with Jimmy Kimmel where he asked me the same question.

Give talking a try, and let me know how it goes!

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Tues Feb 10 at 3.30pm CT - From Climate Science to Societal Impact with the Department of Climate, Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Illinois, 1301 W. Green Street Urbana, IL; in person, free

Thurs Feb 19 at 6pm MT - Climate Change, Colorado, and the Power of Collective Action with Colorado Mountain College; in person, free. Also recorded (I’ll share a link here when it’s available)

Mon March 9 from 4-6pm ET - Your Career in Climate with Catherine McKenna the Lawson Climate Institute at University of Toronto - in person, registration required, free. Also recorded (I’ll share a link here when it’s available)

Tues March 17 at 4:30pm CT - HMEI Taplin Environmental Lecture with High Meadows Environmental Institute - in person, free. Also recorded (I’ll share a link here when it’s available)

Unchecked, climate change and biodiversity loss are projected to lead to what many scientists are calling the “sixth extinction.” But we’re increasingly realizing that wildlife is part of the solution to climate change, as well. Wild animals help sequester carbon, cycle nutrients, support ecosystems, and can even directly mitigate global warming. How? Read on!

In Africa, forest elephants—the smallest of the world’s three elephant species—help forests sequester nearly 2500 tonnes of carbon during their lifetime thanks to the way they forage. One study found that forests in the Congo Basin that are home to elephants store 7% more carbon than forests that lack these “Gardeners of the Congo.”

In the oceans, kelp forests tended by sea otters can sequester up to 12 times more carbon than forests not tended by them. That’s because sea otters love to eat sea urchins, who can chow down on entire strands of kelp if left unchecked.

And whales are like “giant redwoods of the ocean.” Over their lifetimes, they sequester atmospheric carbon in their bodies which falls to the sea floor when they die. In addition, by feeding deep in the ocean and expelling waste near the surface, whales stimulate phytoplankton growth, which takes up even more carbon.

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In Antarctica, penguins help keep things cool. The ammonia particles in their guano aid in the formation of low clouds, which reflects some sunlight back out into space.

And I’ve written before about how beavers, if left to their own devices, can create new wetlands that sequester carbon and provide critical habitat for other creatures.

These are just a few of the many examples showing how healthy wildlife helps regulate carbon and climate. That’s why it’s such great news that, at the meeting I attended in Abu Dhabi last October, the IUCN (that’s the International Union for Conservation of Nature) adopted a resolution that recognized the role wild animals play in climate mitigation.

Animals are amazing: if we protect them, they can protect us.

The faster the planet warms, the more it’s harming wildlife. Risks like habitat loss or heat stress are more obvious; but scientists are also detecting subtle but equally worrisome impacts on biological mechanisms that determine reproduction, food availability, and even sex.

The sex of many lizards, snakes, crocodiles and more is determined by temperature: and each species is impacted differently by warmer temperatures. Hotter temperatures mean more female turtles, but more male alligators and crocodiles. As this article explains, in a warming world, “entire generations of sexually reproducing reptiles will be dramatically skewed male or female… [with one study] predicting nearly single-sex generations of alligators by the year 2100.”

Climate change has also shifted breeding season for Antarctic penguins forward by almost three weeks, according to a new decade-long study. “We are very concerned because penguins are now breeding earlier than in any known records,” the report’s lead author, Dr. Ignacio Juarez, says. “Penguins could end up breeding at times when their prey is not available yet. This could result in a lack of food for the penguin chicks in the first weeks of their life, which could be fatal. Even if the penguins could match their prey’s behaviour, we can’t expect them to keep this pace up much longer.”

These examples show how profoundly climate change is reshaping life itself. From skewed sex ratios to mistimed breeding and vanishing food supplies, the unprecedented rate of human-caused warming is unraveling relationships that species have depended on for millennia.

When we take climate-positive actions, those choices can ripple beyond our own lives. What we do changes us: and what we say and show changes others around us, too.

That’s the biggest reason why personal actions matter: not because any one behavior will solve climate change on its own, but because, as I explain here, they help shift social norms, build collective efficacy, and inspire others to act as well. Each choice we make, big or small, can be a catalyst for broader change.

That’s why, every year, I adopt one or two new climate-friendly habits. Some have been small: like installing a smart thermostat to save energy, finding new plant-based recipes to add to my regular cooking rotation, or swapping out laundry and dish soap for plastic-free and petrochemical-free alternatives. (Yes, did you know that most commercial detergents are petroleum-based?!)

Some changes have been bigger: like selling the freezer and changing my shopping habits to cut our food waste, signing up for a wind-energy plan after we sold our home with the solar panels, or going car-free for nearly three years. The biggest change I’ve made was to completely re-think how I travel. Over a decade ago I decided to shift well over 80% of the talks I give to virtual talks and only travel in person when I have a bundle of events in the same place, to make the time and carbon worth it. I admit this can get a bit crazy sometimes: at Climate Week in NYC this year, I racked up a combination of 48 meetings, panels, talks, and other events! If you’re interested in more of my thoughts specifically about travel, I talked to National Geographic about this recently.

Overall, though, I know that the most important thing any of us can do about climate change has nothing to do with our personal carbon footprint. Rather, it’s sharing with others why climate change matters and what we can do about it. So this year, my goal is to systematically re-think and re-work how I do climate communication. I want to ensure it is as effective and collaborative as possible.

Pulling plugs is never easy, but I’ve already exited one project that was taking up time and energy without results, and identified two new ones to lean into that I hope will have greater impact—one of which is adding three new video series to Talking Climate. I’m catching up with past guest editors in What’s The Latest, sharing my thoughts with Tea With Katharine, and responding to troll posts with Hot Takes, Cold Facts. If you haven’t seen them yet, please check them out and let me know what you think!

Many of the actions that help address climate change also make our day-to-day lives better, healthier, more affordable, and more connected. So your action this week is to find a resolution that makes sense with your own life and combine your personal resolutions with climate actions.

Want to get healthier? Choose plant-based recipes or switch to biking or walking whenever possible. Want to make this the year of financial responsibility? Move your money to a bank that invests in green energy and divests from fossil fuels. Want to read more and scroll less? Make (at least) one book you pick up this year be about climate action.

Want to cut your doom-scrolling short and instead focus on change that catalyzes action? (Don’t we all need this?!) Seek out climate solutions by following this newsletter or any of the creators I mention here, and share them with people you know. Want to make new friends or be more social? Consider joining a climate action group to amplify your voice.

Need more inspiration? Take a look at the 6 most impactful actions you can take and check out this newsletter archive. There are so many different ways to engage in climate action. But don’t forget:

The most important thing you can do about climate change is something, anything: and talk about it!

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Thurs., Jan. 29th at 8pm ET - A special webinar with OMA Green is Health - virtual, free, registration required

Thurs., Feb. 19th at 6pm MT - Climate Change, Colorado, and the Power of Collective Action with Colorado Mountain College; in person, free

Climate change isn’t driven by CO₂ alone. Methane, nitrous oxide, and other heat-trapping gases all play a role. But when scientists look at what’s actually causing the warming we’re seeing today, carbon dioxide is responsible for roughly 65% of it.

So why do we keep seeing claims that carbon is plant food, that humans breathe out CO₂ so it doesn’t matter, or that it would take ten times more of it to warm the planet as much as we’ve seen?

In this video, I break down what CO₂ actually does in the atmosphere, why the planet has a heat-release “window,” how burning fossil fuels disrupts the carbon cycle, and why these hot takes keep showing up in the comments—despite decades of clear science.

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This is the topic of this week’s newsletter - but before I dive in, I want to be clear about what this is and what it isn’t. I am not qualified to offer a comprehensive judgment on AI as a whole. For that, I encourage you to follow the work of experts such as or independent research efforts on digital ethics at Yale, Oxford, Leverhulme, or many others. Here, I’m focusing on what I can speak to: how AI intersects with climate change, and what the science tells us there.

It’s not possible to cover every issue, risk, or ethical question surrounding AI in a single newsletter. The same is true for problems and solutions more broadly: highlighting one doesn’t mean others don’t exist. Complex systems are best understood by learning from many perspectives over time, rather than expecting completeness from a single source. Similarly, AI also isn’t a single technology—different approaches are used for different purposes, with very different implications. For a breakdown of the differences and uses, click here.

Finally, it’s important to note that AI is not the same thing as data centres. About a third of current data centre capacity is used for AI: the rest supports the many other ways we also use data every day, from accessing our household bills online to watching our favourite show. I discuss both below.

With that context, read on!

Did you know that artificial intelligence and machine learning are helping scientists process massive amounts of data to make better decisions for climate and nature?

Over a decade ago, back when these tools were called “machine learning” rather than AI, I was already working with computer scientists to use them to identify ice storms in atmospheric data. At the time, the only U.S. record of ice storms came from on-the-ground damage reports. That meant storms that occurred where no damage was reported were effectively invisible.We wanted to understand how climate change might affect ice-storm risk in the U.S. Northeast, but combing through decades of hourly weather data by hand was impossible. So we successfully trained machine learning algorithms to do what humans couldn’t: systematically scan massive datasets and identify storms that would otherwise have gone unrecorded.

Today, practical and useful applications for AI abound. The Land & Carbon Lab is working to develop a comprehensive global monitoring system by combining AI and satellite data to help “restore degraded landscapes, protect forests and nature, and produce food and other land-intensive commodities more sustainably.” TELUS is helping protect forests from wildfires in Canada by deploying small, internet-connected sensors in the forest that act like smoke detectors, sending alerts when they detect smoke or heat, catching fires even before flames are visible. And after wildfires, TELUS has also partnered with another Canadian startup called Flash Forest, which uses drones to plant seed pods in burnt areas with the help of AI.

I’ve shared earlier about how engaging with an AI chatbot on the topic of climate change shifted people’s views towards the scientific consensus. AI can also be used to help people access dense scientific and policy content and even translate it into a language they’re more familiar with. A few years ago, Markus Leippold and his team trained a chatbot on the latest IPCC reports. Now, instead of wading through the three volumes and thousands of pages, you can just ask ChatClimate a question - and get an accurate answer!Then, just this week, Talking Climate reader Jamie Wylie wrote in to share how his team at Climate Policy Radar is building open databases of climate documents (>30,000 documents so far!) and using AI to make these documents searchable and accessible.

Today, as this Nature Climate Action perspective explains in detail, there are numerous ways that AI can help accelerate the low-carbon transition, if used wisely and well. This includes optimizing power grids, catalyzing behavioural change, and improving climate and policy modeling. In fact, the authors calculate that emissions reductions in just three sectors—power, meat, and dairy—would “more than offset” all AI emissions even if they were powered by the same fuel mix as they are today.

Obviously, though, it would be much better for all our data and AI needs need to be powered by renewable energy: and a brand new report by the Union of Concerned Scientists shows how smart policy could put that goal within reach. Specifically, they argue that utilities should be required “to meet the growth in electricity demand from data centers with new low-carbon or zero-carbon generation” ... and doing so would deliver between $8 to 13 trillion USD in savings on health and climate impacts in the U.S. alone.

For more examples of how AI can be used well and for good causes, from improving climate decisions and protecting nature, I highly recommend this article. And for a vision of what smarter, transparent, and more efficient AI could look like, I highly recommend this TED Talk by computer scientist and AI sustainability expert Dr. Sasha Luccioni. For example, she compares today’s LLMs to “turning on all the lights in a stadium just to find a pair of keys.” In contrast, she shows that small language models can deliver similar performance for many uses at a fraction of the energy cost, while also reducing privacy risks.

As you were reading the good news above, I bet you were thinking: “But what about the terrible energy and water footprint of AI? Is Katharine unaware of that?”

Oh, believe me—I am aware. I also know how many LLMs were trained on pirated content (this legal settlement includes books written by my husband and my aunt!), that AI tools and systems are accelerating the spread of misinformation and disinformation, and that lack of AI oversight is contributing to real mental health and other societal harms.

But there’s a lot more to the story.

Our society has been building data centres for a long time, to meet our insatiable appetite for digital content. As this MIT analysis explains, though, for a long time the centres’ energy use stayed constant, as efficiency improved with demand. AI changed that.

Although AI only accounts for about a third of current data centre usage, it’s much less efficient: and rather than increasing its efficiency, companies are just building more. Not only is this driving a massive increase in electricity demand, but the energy the data centres are relying on is mostly fossil fuels. In the U.S., for example, data centres’ energy is nearly 50% more carbon-intensive than the grid. And of course these servers, infrastructure, and cooling systems require large amounts of fresh water as well.

That’s not all—as with many forms of pollution, new fossil fuel-powered facilities are being built near urban and low-income communities, concentrating environmental and health burdens where people already face the greatest risks. For example, the “Colossus” datacenter that powers Elon Musk’s Grok chatbot built 33 gas turbines without EPA approval. This alone increased smog levels over poor Memphis neighbourhoods by 30-60%.

The environmental and social costs of today’s AI systems are not hypothetical, and they aren’t evenly shared, either. Once again, those who are benefitting the least from this development are bearing the brunt of the impacts: and that’s very bad news.

You can see why avoiding AI has become an identity marker for many people who care about climate change. But when we focus solely on not choosing to use an LLM, we miss the bigger picture.

First, our lives are already completely entwined with energy and data. We use enormous amounts of it, constantly. And, although it’s a rapidly growing piece, AI is still just the tip of that iceberg -- and a very small contributor to our own personal carbon footprint.

In fact, this MIT analysis estimates that a single LLM search (like asking ChatGPT to answer a question) consumes the equivalent energy of running a microwave for a few seconds. In contrast, my back of the envelope estimate, using this CarbonBrief analysis, is that streaming an hour of Netflix takes as much energy as running the microwave for the one or two minutes you need to make the popcorn. And I haven’t heard of too many people boycotting their favourite show—or their popcorn—for climate reasons lately, have you?

Second, massive amounts of data and AI are already being incorporated into our lives without our permission or, even worse, our knowledge, in a host of ways. Our society’s growing dependence on all kinds of privately-sourced data—and the largely unregulated models and data centers that support it—are creating dangerous risks for everything from privacy to democracy to public institutions.

The real environmental issue with all of this is not that we use energy, data, and even AI. They aren’t inherently bad in and of themselves. What determines their impact is how they’re created, how they’re used, and what powers them. And right now, there’s no question that much new AI technology is using energy inefficiently and operating with no transparency or oversight, and with no regard to its harmful side effects.

Yes, we can make individual choices to boycott unethical products and reduce the number of “microwave minutes” we use. However, lacking public pressure, there is no incentive for companies to even disclose what they are doing, let alone behave ethically or reduce AI waste. Right now, the environmental costs of water, pollution, climate and justice aren’t directly priced in: even worse, they can even be deliberately priced out.

The bottom line of this exhaustive MIT analysis of AI’s environmental footprint is this: we don’t even know for sure what the energy and water costs of AI are, let alone what’s going into their algorithms. Why not? Because the companies aren’t required to provide that information, let alone adhere to any sensible policies to prevent harm.

History shows that safety, fairness, and accountability follow only when the public demands them. Tech companies won’t regulate themselves. That role belongs to governments, and governments respond to citizens.

So if we want our energy-hungry and data-driven society to meet the requirements of a livable climate, our voices have to be part of the solution. In fact, they are the most powerful lever we have to effect change.

And if you want to know how to do that? Read last week’s newsletter!

Thurs., Feb. 19th at 6pm MT - Climate Change, Colorado, and the Power of Collective Action with Colorado Mountain College; in person, free

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