Stay Current with GSS

The GSS google group receives “Stay Current” weekly emails with excerpts and links to articles. To join, email gssmail@berkeley.edu with subject line “Join GSS” and in the body your name, city, state, country, and school (if any).

“Stay Current” links are in the Contents table in each book. If a news source limits the number of articles one person can read for free, try “divide and conquer” with different students reading and reporting to the class on different articles.

See updates from 2025 (Jan-Aug) -|- 2024 -|- 2023 -|- 2022 -|- 2021

RECENT UPDATES (2025)

~~~~~

2025-11-12. Carbon Dioxide Emissions Head for Another Record in 2025. By Brad Plumer, The New York Times. Excerpt: Global fossil fuel emissions are on track to soar to record highs in 2025 and show no signs of declining overall, although there are indications of a recent slowdown in China’s emissions, researchers said on Wednesday. This year, nations are projected to emit roughly 38.1 billion tons of planet-warming carbon dioxide by burning oil, gas and coal for energy and by manufacturing cement, according to data from the Global Carbon Project. Those sources are the largest contributors to human-caused climate change. The total is roughly 1.1 percent more than the world emitted in 2024. Not everywhere saw a large increase. Emissions appear to have stayed nearly flat in China and Europe, but rose significantly in the United States and much of the rest of the world. …A relatively small number of countries account for most of the world’s emissions, with China responsible for 32 percent, the United States at 13 percent, India at 8 percent and the European Union at 6 percent…. Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/12/climate/greenhouse-gas-emissions-china.html. For GSS Climate Change, chapter 6.

2025-11-10. A Flood of Green Tech From China Is Upending Global Climate Politics. By Somini Sengupta and Brad Plumer, The New York Times. Excerpt: As the United States torpedoes climate action and Europe struggles to realize its green ambitions, a surprising shift is taking hold in many large, fast-growing economies where a majority of the world’s people live. Countries like Brazil, India, and Vietnam are rapidly expanding solar and wind power. Poorer countries like Ethiopia and Nepal are leapfrogging over gasoline-burning cars to battery-powered ones. Nigeria, a petrostate, plans to build its first solar-panel manufacturing plant. Morocco is creating a battery hub to supply European automakers. Santiago, the capital of Chile, has electrified more than half of its bus fleet in recent years. Key to this shift is the world’s new renewable energy superpower: China. Having saturated its own market with solar panels, wind turbines and batteries, Chinese companies are now exporting their wares to energy-hungry countries in the developing world. What’s more, they’re investing billions of dollars in factories that make things like solar panels in Vietnam and electric cars in Brazil. In effect, Chinese industrial policy is shaping the development trajectory of some of the world’s fastest-growing economies. …Ethiopia last year took the extraordinary step of banning the import of new gasoline-powered cars. Nepal reduced import duties on electric vehicles so much that they are now cheaper than cars with internal combustion engines. Brazil raised tariffs on all car imports to compel Chinese automakers like BYD and Great Wall Motors to set up plants inside Brazil…. Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/10/climate/cop30-belem-climate-energy-technology-china.html. For GSS Energy Use, chapter 10.

2025-11-10. Why Everyone Wants to Meet the ‘World’s Most Boring Man’. By Max Bearak, The New York Times. Excerpt: …Fatih Birol… has led out of obscurity over the past decade, the International Energy Agency [IEA]. …Mr. Birol likes to joke that he is “the world’s most boring man.” He certainly exudes a kind of bureaucratic plainness. But he has also deftly led the I.E.A. through a decade during which energy has re-emerged as a geopolitical weapon. The debate over how to address climate change is upending economic and diplomatic relations around the world — right as the Trump administration works to reverse a global push for a transition to renewable energy by producing, consuming and exporting as much fossil fuel as it can. Mr. Birol, for his part, has repeatedly offered the fossil fuel industry a kind of “adapt or fail” warning, particularly as solar power grows at a pace that even the I.E.A. underestimated. …The organization’s members, mostly Western countries, have increasingly turned to it for guidance, even if the I.E.A. has occasionally been wrong on some of the biggest questions, like how fast solar power would grow or how quickly coal would decline. Perhaps the biggest question of all — whether or not the world is nearing peak demand for fossil fuels — is one that the I.E.A. has revised its response to numerous times. …A dim view of the I.E.A. is shared by many in the fossil fuel industry. …But Mr. Birol says he is not telling anyone what to do, just what is most likely to happen. …The International Energy Agency was created by Henry Kissinger, then secretary of state, in the 1970s at a time when climate change was not part of the political lexicon. The agency’s original mandate was to monitor global oil supplies and help countries coordinate to prevent energy-price shocks…. Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/10/climate/fatih-birol-iea.html. See also There’s a New Forecast for Peak Oil Demand. It’s Increasingly Cloudy. For GSS Climate Change, chapter 9.

2025-11-07. The top candidate for life beyond Earth just got even better. By Science Advisor. Excerpt: If the space community had to place bets on the most promising candidate for life in the solar system, Enceladus would probably win…a salty liquid ocean, as well as compounds like phosphorus and complex hydrocarbons, all necessary for life as we know it on Earth. But the world had been missing one crucial factor: stability. Since life takes a long time to evolve, a good candidate world should remain stable over many millions or billions of years. Stability is often determined through a world’s heat balance, where the amount of energy it receives from its star equals the amount of energy it radiates outward. Though scientists knew that Enceladus’s southern pole leaked out heat from the forces of Saturn’s gravity stretching and squashing the world, its heat balance was still off. But when researchers used data from NASA’s Cassini mission to study Enceladus’s north pole, they found that the surface was around 7ºC warmer than the models predicted. That missing value puts the world in radiative balance and indicates a stable liquid ocean…. Science paper: Endogenic heat at Enceladus’ north pole
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adx4338. For GSS A Changing Cosmos, chapter 7.

~~~~~

2025-11-. TEMPLATE. By . Excerpt: … Full article at URL. For GSS BOOK, chapter .

2025-11-08. Virtual Observers Guide to COP30. By Alan Gould, GSS. Excerpt: The 30th Conference of the Parties (COP) to United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is an international effort to dramatically reduce human caused climate change. The Quaker Youth UN Ambassadors Program has organized a delegation to COP30 from the US, tropical Africa, and the Middle East. Most of the delegation are credentialed remote observers rather than actually on the ground in Belem, Brazil for COP30 which is November 10 through 21. If you are interested in participating in virtually connecting up with these ambassadors, please contact Frank Granshaw. Here is the portal: A Virtual Observers Guide to COP30, the 2025 UN Climate Conference https://sites.google.com/view/virtualobserversguidetocop30. For GSS Climate Change, chapter 9.

~~~~~

2025-11-06. At a Climate Summit Without the U.S., Allies and Rivals Call for Action. By Somini Sengupta, Brad Plumer and David Gelles, The New York Times. Excerpt: The international climate summit opened on Thursday in Belém, a Brazilian city on the edge of the imperiled Amazon rainforest, with several of America’s global allies and rivals alike making the case that slowing down global warming is today key to economic growth and energy security. It was a sharp counterpoint to President Trump, who has called climate change a “con job” …attacked global efforts to transition away from coal, oil and gas …has launched a full-throated…attack on global efforts to reduce the world’s reliance on fossil fuels. …no senior American government officials are present at the meeting in Belém. …extreme weather events, aggravated by the burning of coal, oil and gas, has heightened human suffering. In the last two weeks alone, storms and hurricanes supersized by climate change clobbered Mexico, Jamaica and Haiti. Globally, 2025 is on track to be the second- or third-hottest year on record, part of a decade that witnessed the hottest 10 years on record, according to the World Meteorological Organization. The cost of extreme weather hazards to the global economy: around $1.4 trillion a year, according to BloombergNEF. …Keir Starmer, the British prime minister, said homegrown energy — wind and nuclear power in Britain’s case — enable countries like his to become energy independent from “dictators like Putin.” …“Investment for climate change is the growth and prosperity plan for this century,” said Finland’s President, Alexander Stubb. …Vice premier Ding Xuexiang of China talked about China’s path of “green and low carbon development” as the means to promote economic growth and new jobs. That was a clear sales pitch to the many countries from Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean assembled here. Chinese companies dominate the global production of clean energy technologies. …the summit’s host, Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva…has embraced Chinese investments in electric vehicles and wind power in Brazil…. Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/06/climate/cop30-speeches-belem-brazil-climate.html. See also New York Times article, Leaders at the Global Climate Summit Highlight the Rising Toll of Warming. For GSS Climate Change, chapter 9.

2025-11-06. Global Warming Made Hurricane Melissa More Damaging, Researchers Say. By Sachi Kitajima Mulkey, The New York Time . Excerpt: Hurricane Melissa’s path through the Caribbean last month was made more violent by climate change, according to a scientific analysis released Thursday. Researchers from the group World Weather Attribution found that the storm had 7 percent stronger wind speeds than a similar one in a world that has not been warmed by the burning of fossil fuels. They also found the rate of rainfall inside the eyewall of the storm was 16 percent more intense. Melissa made landfall as a Category 5 storm in Jamaica on Oct. 28 with wind speeds of 185 miles per hour, collapsing buildings and knocking out internet to most of the island. It continued on to Cuba as a Category 3 storm, forcing hundreds to evacuate, and pummeled Haiti with catastrophic flooding. Dozens of people in hard-hit areas have died. Even a small increase in wind speed can cause substantial damage, said Friederike Otto, one of the group’s founders and a climatologist at Imperial College London. While the economic toll of Melissa is still unfolding, Dr. Otto estimated that the increase in wind speed may have added more than one billion dollars in additional damages…,” she said. …The frequency of hurricanes may actually be decreasing as the climate warms, according to a 2022 study. But those that do form are more likely to become extreme, according to the United Nations’ leading climate report…. Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/06/climate/climate-change-hurricane-melissa.html. For GSS Climate Change, chapter 8.

2025-11-05. This Is What a Vindicated Iguana Looks Like. By Jude Coleman, The New York Times. Excerpt: On a Mexican island in the Pacific Ocean, a reptile with seafaring ancestors has been vindicated. The spiny-tailed iguana has long been assumed to be invasive on Clarion Island. But now, biologists say the lizard actually landed there nearly half a million years ago, long before any humans might have transported them from the mainland. Researchers reported the discovery last month in the journal Ecology and Evolution, and the finding means that the animals should be able to continue living on Clarion Island.… Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/05/science/iguanas-mexico-invasive-species.html. For GSS Ecosystem Change, chapter 6.

2025-11-05. Brewing waste: The solution to sustainable fashion? By Prachi Patel, Chemical and Engineering News. Excerpt: Polyester and cotton fabrics fill today’s wardrobes. But environmental concerns such as water use and microplastics pollution have revived interest in alternative textiles. In the search for sustainable fabrics, researchers at Pennsylvania State University turned to beer. Or rather the yeast used in its brewing. The team extracted proteins from spent beer-brewing yeast and spun them into strong textile fibers that avoid the environmental impact of petroleum-based polymers, and the ethical as well as land- and water-use concerns of cotton and wool (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 2025, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2508931122). The biobased fibers should fully dissolve in soil and oceans, says Melik Demirel, a materials scientist who led the work. They should also be cost competitive with natural and synthetic fibers when made at large scale. “Sustainability is one aspect, but the price is a much more important aspect,” Demirel says. “If you don’t meet the price metric, [that is] the biggest limitation in . . . entering the market.”… Full article at https://cen.acs.org/materials/Brewing-waste-solution-sustainable-fashion/103/web/2025/11. For GSS Ecosystem Change, chapter 7.

2025-11-04. Webb Telescope Spies Io’s Volcanic Activity and Sulfurous Atmosphere. By Sarah Stanley, Eos/AGU. Excerpt: Trapped in a gravitational push and pull between Jupiter and other Jovian moons, Io is constantly being stretched and compressed. Heat generated by these contortions has melted pockets of the moon’s interior so much that Io is our solar system’s most volcanically active body. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) recently opened up new opportunities to get to know Io. Using data from its Near Infrared Spectrograph—which sees wavelengths corresponding to different compositions and temperatures—de Pater et al. have made new discoveries about Io’s volcanoes and atmosphere. The researchers first looked at Io in November 2022 and found an extremely energetic volcanic eruption in the vicinity of the lava flow field Kanehekili Fluctus. These observations revealed, for the first time, that some volcanoes on Io emit an excited form of sulfur monoxide gas, confirming the team’s 2-decade-old hypothesis. JWST also detected an increase in thermal emissions at the massive lava lake in Loki Patera, generated by the lake’s thick, solid surface crust sinking into the molten lava beneath. Nine months later, in August 2023, …lava flows from the 2022 Kanehekili region’s eruption had spread to cover more than 4,300 square kilometers—about 4 times the area they covered in 2022. At Loki Patera, a new crust had formed and cooled, in keeping with the lake’s behavior over the past few decades…. Full article at https://eos.org/research-spotlights/webb-telescope-spies-ios-volcanic-activity-and-sulfurous-atmosphere. For GSS A Changing Cosmos, chapter 7.

2025-11-04. Startup pioneers subscription service for space-based astronomy. By Daniel Clery, Science. Excerpt: Later this month, a diminutive telescope called Mauve will take to space. Unusually, a government space agency is not the owner. Rather, Mauve was built by a startup company that will sell astronomical data to researchers by subscription. With a 13-centimeter telescope squeezed into a satellite smaller than a microwave oven, Mauve is squarely in the little league of astronomical missions. But its creators hope it will set a precedent…. Full article at https://www.science.org/content/article/startup-pioneers-subscription-service-space-based-astronomy. For GSS A Changing Cosmos, chapter 2.

2025-11-04. Forests are migrating up mountain peaks. By Paul Voosen, Science. Excerpt: It’s a hallmark prediction of climate change: As the world warms, trees will migrate not just toward the poles, but also up the slopes of mountains, eating away at fragile alpine ecosystems. Although advancing tree lines have been tracked at individual mountains, a new large-scale study has found something surprising: Over a span of 4 decades, the largest upward movement of these forests has come not near the poles, as one might expect, but instead in the tropics, where monitoring has been far more limited…. Full article at https://www.science.org/content/article/forests-are-migrating-mountain-peaks. For GSS A New World, chapter 5.

2025-11-03. Antarctic glacier shows fastest retreat in modern history. By Hannah Richter, Science. Excerpt: In 2022, something shocking happened to the Hektoria Glacier, a small river of ice that slips into the sea near the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. Over 16 months, it retreated by 25 kilometers, and it lost a whopping 8 kilometers in just two of those months—the fastest glacial retreat in the modern record. Now, after a forensic analysis of the event reported today in Nature Geoscience, researchers say they have identified the worrisome mechanisms behind it: a combination of glacial earthquakes and a swath of thinned ice popping afloat and breaking apart in a geological instant. If the same processes were to occur at larger Antarctic glaciers, they could rapidly accelerate the retreat of ice sheets and raise global sea levels, says Jeremy Bassis, a glaciologist at the University of Michigan. The study is “telling us that those worst-case scenarios are maybe not as implausible as some people might have thought.” …[Jeremy] Bassis wonders whether the same kind of catastrophic calving could occur at the much larger Thwaites Glacier, which is sometimes called the Doomsday Glacier because its retreat could unleash more than 3 meters of global sea level rise…. Full article at https://www.science.org/content/article/antarctic-glacier-shows-fastest-retreat-modern-history. For GSS Climate Change, chapter 8.

2025-10-31. The Role of a Ditch in the Matrix. By Emily Gardner, Eos/AG . Excerpt: …ditches are understudied, particularly in terms of their ecological and environmental implications. I think that’s largely driven by the artificial nature of ditches and the fact that ecologists tend to gravitate towards natural settings, natural ecosystems, natural environments. …ditches do more than just carry water: They can be sources or sinks of nutrients, transport pollutants, host distinct ecosystems, and even emit greenhouse gases. This is why Clifford and dozens of other scientists came together in 2023 for a workshop to raise the profile of ditch research. The group included biogeochemists, ecologists, biologists, and even archaeologists. They published a perspective paper on their work in Communications Earth and Environment [Lines in the Landscape]…. Full article at https://eos.org/articles/the-role-of-a-ditch-in-the-matrix. For GSS Ecosystem Change, chapter 7.

2025-10-31. REDD+ Results and Realities. By Rebecca Owen, Eos/AGU. Excerpt: Tropical forests are biodiversity hot spots; preserving them is a crucial part of global efforts to mitigate the effects of climate change. When these verdant ecosystems are destroyed, they release millions of metric tons of carbon dioxide each year, emissions numbers second only to those driven by fossil fuel consumption. A host of international efforts have emerged to help curb tropical forest loss. The Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries (REDD+) program, established in 2005, is a United Nations–supported initiative for countries to sustainably manage and conserve forested land to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Countries receive financial incentives to preserve and maintain their forests—compensation intended to make forests more valuable intact than cut down. There are more than 350 REDD+ projects worldwide, and in many project locations, habitats have been protected, and deforestation has slowed. Many other projects, however, may not be delivering results as hoped, and their climate benefits may be overstated. A new study from an international team of researchers quantifies these concerns, suggesting that only 19% of REDD+ projects met their emissions targets and even fewer met their deforestation goals. But, the authors suggest, REDD+ shouldn’t be abandoned. Instead, it needs to be fixed…. Full article at https://eos.org/articles/redd-results-and-realities. For GSS A New World View, chapter 6.

2025-10-29. 2025 State of the Climate Report: Our Planet’s Vital Signs are Crashing. By Grace van Deelen, Eos/AGU. Excerpt: A yearly analysis of climate change’s progress and effects shows a “planet on the brink” of ecological breakdown and widespread crisis and suggests that only rapid climate mitigation can avoid the worst consequences. …The sixth annual report, published in BioScience, analyzes global data on Earth’s atmosphere, oceans, energy, ecosystems, food systems, and more. Researchers identified our planet’s so-called vital signs, including ocean temperature, surface temperature, sea ice extent, and carbon pollution. Of the 34 vital signs, 22 were at record levels, indicating a highly stressed Earth system. For example, 2024 surpassed 2023 as the hottest year on record. Ocean heat and wildfire-related tree cover loss are both at all-time highs. Deadly weather disasters surged in 2024 and 2025, with floods, wildfires, and typhoons killing hundreds in the U.S. alone. Atmospheric warming is showing signs of accelerating. Ice at the poles continues to melt, contributing to sea level rise. And the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, a global network of currents critical for circulating heat on Earth, is showing signs of weakening, which could trigger further climate disruptions…. Full article at https://eos.org/research-and-developments/2025-state-of-the-climate-report-our-planets-vital-signs-are-crashing. For GSS Climate Change, chapter 9.

2025-10-28. Martian Dust Devils Reveal Dynamic Surface Winds. By Javier Barbuzano, Eos/AGU. Excerpt: In 2020, the…InSight lander…was performing spectacularly, and it had no end in sight. Then, its power began to fade. Fine Martian dust was relentlessly piling on top of its solar panels, blocking sunlight. Mission operators…hoped that occasional wind gusts or passing dust devils would sweep the panels clean… [as] had prolonged the lives of earlier robotic explorers, such as the Spirit and Opportunity rovers. But for InSight, no such wind ever came, and its batteries slowly ran out of juice. …Researchers still know little about how winds move across the planet’s surface and interact with dust. To help fill this gap, a group of researchers has now reviewed decades of orbital imagery from two European Space Agency (ESA) spacecraft—Mars Express and the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, operational since 2004 and 2016, respectively—looking for dust devils and using them as a proxy for surface winds. …these orbiters have captured thousands of high-resolution images of Mars’s surface. [with] countless sightings of dust devils, which drift with the prevailing winds. …tracking the motion of these vortices provides a rare window into their direction and velocity. …To automate the search, Bickel and colleagues trained a convolutional neural network—a type of artificial intelligence (AI) …to identify the dust devils. After training the algorithm …they let it loose on their full dataset of 50,000 orbital images. “Its only function is to identify dust levels in images; it can’t do anything else. It’s very stupid,” Bickel said. However, it needed only a few hours to scan the entire collection…. Full article at https://eos.org/articles/martian-dust-devils-reveal-dynamic-surface-winds. For GSS A Changing Cosmos, chapter 7.

2025-10-24. Inventing habitats. By Ruxandra Guidi, HighCountry News. Excerpt: In Tucson, Arizona, where I live, a remarkable ecological movement has been slowly and quietly building for decades now. Instead of focusing solely on restoring degraded habitat, it encourages Westerners to reimagine and reconnect with their local landscapes — beginning by accepting them on their own imperfect terms. …instead of using the word “restoration” to discuss an urban stretch of a riparian corridor, we talk about “reconciliation.” “Reconciliation ecology,” a term coined in 2003, aims to increase biodiversity in human-dominated landscapes. Think of it as conservation for the Anthropocene. …Tucson had purchased farmlands west of city limits, retiring them to ease pressure on groundwater pumping. Small water systems were consolidated into the city-run Tucson Water, with its valley-wide structure and a unified agenda focused on stewarding water resources. …the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan, which was finally adopted by the Pima County Board of Supervisors in October 1998. It had two major goals: protecting endangered species and imposing considerable restrictions on development. But over time, it has done even more, from environmental restoration and wildlife crossings to harvesting stormwater…. Full article at https://www.hcn.org/issues/57-10/inventing-habitats/. For GSS Ecosystem Change, chapter 7.

~~~~~

2025-10-30. Chemical additive slashes carbon emissions when creating synthetic fuels. By Robert F. Service, Science. Excerpt: Despite the growing adoption of solar power and other renewables, fossil fuels still rule our energy world. That makes steps to make them cleaner all the more vital. Chemists report today in Science the discovery of an additive that sharply cuts carbon emissions from an industrial process that can convert coal, natural gas, or agricultural biomass to liquid fuels such as diesel or gasoline. …Fischer-Tropsch process …was used by Germany in the 1930s to fuel the Nazi war machine and by South Africa during apartheid to produce fuels from the nation’s abundant coal reserves. Although relatively expensive, the approach is still used today to satisfy strategic fuel security needs or in places with abundant feedstocks such as coal or natural gas. The chemistry is highly polluting, however. …one-third of all the carbon contained in syngas ends up as CO₂ vented into the atmosphere. …Ding Ma, a chemist at Peking University…and his colleagues added trace amounts of compounds called halomethanes to their syngas mixture…the amount of carbon in the syngas that ends up as CO₂ dropped from roughly one-third to less than 1%…. The additive not only makes the process cleaner, but more efficient. By ensuring that nearly all of the syngas carbon is converted to hydrocarbons, “it reduces the cost of production of liquid fuels,” Saeys says…. Full article at https://www.science.org/content/article/chemical-additive-slashes-carbon-emissions-when-creating-synthetic-fuels. For GSS Energy Use, chapter 3.

2025-10-30. Tree rings from ancient coffins offer clues to Earth’s past. By Taylor Mitchell Brown, Science. Excerpt: About 2200 years ago, a wealthy Han soldier was entombed in a hillside grave on the frontier of the expanding Han Dynasty, in what is now western China. His tomb was filled with gold coins and emblazoned with ornate calligraphy. But what most interested Bao Yang at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and head of its Tree-Ring Laboratory was the wood of his coffin. For dendrochronologists like Yang, coffin wood can be a critical source of tree rings, which can help scientists date sites—sometimes to precise calendar years—and offer details about the region’s environment and climate during the tree’s lifetime. The thickness of rings from the Han soldier’s pine coffin and hundreds of others like it, for example, revealed that from 270 B.C.E. to 77 C.E. average humidity levels were 18% to 34% higher than today’s, which may have allowed the western Han to expand westward into what before—and is again today—a barren desert. That insight into China’s climate more than 2000 years ago, reported in December 2024 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is one of many from the burgeoning study of wood in ancient coffins…. Full article at https://www.science.org/content/article/tree-rings-ancient-coffins-offer-clues-earth-s-past. For GSS Climate Change, chapter 7.

2025-10-28. AI hallucinates because it’s trained to fake answers it doesn’t know. By Celina Zhao, Science. Excerpt: …Large language models (LLMs) such as those that underpin OpenAI’s popular ChatGPT platform are prone to confidently spouting factually incorrect statements [or hallucinations]. These blips are often attributed to bad input data, but in a preprint posted last month, a team from OpenAI and the Georgia Institute of Technology proves that even with flawless training data, LLMs can never be all-knowing—in part because some questions are just inherently unanswerable. However, that doesn’t mean hallucinations are inevitable. An AI could just admit three magic words: I don’t know. So why don’t they? The root problem, the researchers say, may lie in how LLMs are trained. They learn to bluff because their performance is ranked using standardized benchmarks that reward confident guesses and penalize honest uncertainty. In response, the team calls for a rehaul of benchmarking so accuracy and self-awareness count as much as confidence. …if ChatGPT admitted “I don’t know” too often, then users would simply seek answers elsewhere. That could be a serious problem for a company that is still trying to grow its user base and achieve profitability. “Fixing hallucinations would kill the product,” says Wei Xing, an AI researcher at the University of Sheffield…. Full article at https://www.science.org/content/article/ai-hallucinates-because-it-s-trained-fake-answers-it-doesn-t-know. [Not for any particular GSS BOOK, but really interesting nonetheless] .

2025-10-28. Renewable energy and EVs have grown so much faster than experts predicted 10 years ago. By Adele Peters, FastCompany. Excerpt: Most climate reports are bleak. Temperatures are soaring. Sea levels are rising. Companies are missing—or abandoning—their emissions targets. But a new report from the nonprofit Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) looks at the surprising amount of progress that’s happened since the Paris climate agreement 10 years ago. Renewable energy has grown faster than every major forecast predicted in 2015. There’s now four times as much solar power as the International Energy Agency (IEA) expected 10 years ago. Last year alone, the world installed 553 gigawatts of solar power…which is 1,500% more than the IEA had projected. Investors are now pouring twice as much into renewables as into fossil fuels. More than 1 in 5 new cars sold worldwide today is an EV; a decade ago, that number was fewer than 1 in 100. …the world is on track to reach 100 million EVs by 2028. Dozens of countries have net-zero goals that are legally mandated under comprehensive climate laws. Out of the world’s largest 2,000 companies, nearly 1,300 now have net-zero goals in place. …Typical climate reports, like the United Nations’ Emissions Gap Report, focus on how far off track the world is. “They say…that we’re not doing enough,” says John Lang, net zero tracker lead at the ECIU. “That’s one side of the coin. The other side of the coin is that we have made unbelievable progress, and we’ve laid the foundations for structural, sustained emissions declines over the next few decades.”… Full article at https://www.fastcompany.com/91430305/renewable-energy-and-evs-have-grown-so-much-faster-than-experts-predicted-10-years-ago. For GSS Energy Use, chapter 10.

2025-10-30. Rocky Mountain National Park wants its beavers back. By Hank Lacey, SFgate. Excerpt: On Rocky Mountain National Park’s less-visited west side, the Kawuneeche Valley looks different than it used to. Where wetlands shimmered, the autumn light now bathes the grassy terrain in a golden hue. Where willows used to thrive, deeply engraved gullies crisscross an empty landscape. Most troubling of all, there are no beavers in sight. The industrious dam-building mammals that fortify wetlands have nearly disappeared from the national park. And as their numbers have declined, so too has the lush and watery ecosystem of the valley. The problem is that large populations of introduced moose and elk are overgrazing the tall willows beavers once used as construction material. But instead of letting nature veer completely off course, the National Park Service has teamed up with a coalition of local government leaders and nonprofit organizations to restore the wetlands that support beavers and myriad other species…. Full article at https://www.sfgate.com/national-parks/article/rocky-mountain-national-park-wants-beavers-back-21118420.php. For GSS Ecosystem Change, chapter 1.

2025-10-27. In the beginning, the Sun blasted us with plasma. By ScienceAdvisor. Excerpt: If you’re into disaster preparedness, space weather might be high on your worry list. Caused by plasma shooting out from the Sun, geomagnetic storms have the potential to disrupt our power grids and shut down global communication. But long before humans built infrastructure, these same plasma blasts, called coronal mass ejections, might have been shaping the early Earth and the life that could evolve here. To find out if the ancient Sun could have been blasting our young planet, [researchers studied a young star, EK Draconis, as an analog https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-025-02691-8]. Using the ultraviolet vision of the Hubble Space Telescope and optical, ground-based telescopes in Japan and Korea, the team successfully studied the hot and cool components of the star’s coronal mass ejections. First, a 100,000 kelvin plasma blast shot out at 300 to 550 kilometers per second. 10 minutes later, a 10,000 kelvin gas swept out at 70 kilometers per second. The observations showed that coronal mass ejections occur in young Sun-like stars, and that they are powerful enough to shape the atmospheres of early planets, potentially sparking biomolecules and greenhouse gases. Such work offers “a unique window into both the evolution of Earth-like atmospheres and the early conditions that may have supported the origin of life,” wrote the authors…. Read the paper https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-025-02691-8. For GSS Energy Flow, chapter 4.

2025-10-27. Building Better Weather Networks. By Grace van Deelen, Eos/AGU. Excerpt: A lack of weather data often leaves African communities vulnerable. Convergent efforts to improve observational networks throughout the continent are slowly filling the gaps. Lake Victoria, Africa’s largest lake, supports a quarter of East Africa’s population with fish, fresh water, and critical transportation routes. It’s also one of the deadliest bodies of water in the world. Storms, high winds, and waves frequently capsize boats, causing thousands of deaths each year. Despite the hazard, Lake Victoria has historically lacked enough weather observation stations to provide a clear picture of weather patterns in the region. …In 2017, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the weather agency of the United Nations, began a multiyear effort to improve weather information for the lake and establish early-warning systems for life-threatening storms. Now, much of the lakeside population uses the program’s tailored forecasts, leading to an estimated 30% reduction in weather-related deaths on the lake. …In 2006, Oregon State University hydrologist John Selker …and his colleague at the Delft University of Technology, Nick van de Giesen, brainstormed a solution: a low-cost weather station that could transmit meteorological and hydrological data over cell networks. They called their new project the Trans-African Hydro-Meteorological Observatory, or TAHMO. … the world should think of improvements in Africa’s observational networks not just as assistance to Africa but as a global public good. The world is dependent on African meteorological agencies for accurate forecasts everywhere…. It’s as much as 20 times more valuable to install a single station in a data-poor area of Africa than to add one to a European network…. Full article at https://eos.org/features/building-better-weather-networks. For GSS Energy Flow, chapter 7.

2025-10-25. Exxon Sues California Over New Climate Disclosure Laws. By Karen Zraick, The New York Times. Excerpt: Exxon Mobil sued California late Friday claiming that two new state laws that aim to fight climate change would violate the oil company’s free speech rights. The two laws, passed in 2023 and known as the California Climate Accountability Package, would require thousands of large companies doing business in the state to calculate and report the greenhouse gas emissions created by the use of their products, along with the business risks that climate change represents for the companies. …In the past, climate regulations have generally required companies to report their own corporate emissions, but not emissions caused by people using the products that they manufacture and sell. For oil companies like Exxon, the new rules, which begin to take effect in 2026, mean calculating and then reporting the emissions caused by activities like the use of gas or diesel in cars and trucks. …Exxon’s lawsuit, filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California, argued that the laws would force the company to use flawed methodology to calculate these emissions and would misrepresent the role that Exxon and its products play in warming the world. The suit asked a judge to block the state from enforcing the laws against it. …The methodology California uses, called the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, was developed by two organizations: The World Resources Institute, a research group in Washington, and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, a network of more than 250 prominent companies including some of Exxon’s competitors, like Chevron and Shell…. Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/25/climate/exxon-california-lawsuit-free-speech.html. For GSS Climate Change, chapter 9.

2025-10-25. An E.P.A. Plan to Kill a Major Climate Rule Is Worrying Business Leaders. By Karen Zraick and Lisa Friedman, The New York Times. Excerpt: Some carmakers and energy executives say the plan would trigger costly litigation and spur individual states to create a patchwork of tighter rules…. Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/25/climate/endangerment-finding-auto-energy-lawsuits.html. For GSS Climate Change, chapter 9.

2025-10-23. 1.5 Million Acres of Alaskan Wildlife Refuge to Open for Drilling. By Emily Gardner, Eos/AGU. Excerpt: A large swath of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) will soon open for drilling, the Trump administration announced today. …The news is the latest in a saga involving the ANWR, which in total spans 19.6 million acres. The 1.5 million acres to be opened for drilling represent the coastal plain of the refuge. …Trump first opened the 1.5 million-acre coastal plain region for drilling in 2020, but the sale of drilling leases in early 2021 generated just $14.4 million in bids, rather than the $1.8 billion his administration had estimated. …Erik Grafe, an attorney for the environmental law nonprofit Earthjustice, in a statement… “The Gwich’in people, most Americans, and even major banks and insurance companies know the Arctic Refuge is no place to drill.” In contrast, Voice of the Arctic Iñupiat (VOICE), a nonprofit dedicated “to preserving and advancing North Slope Iñupiat cultural and economic self-determination,” released a statement on Thursday in favor of the policy shift. “Developing ANWR’s Coastal Plain is vital for Kaktovik’s future,” said Nathan Gordon, Jr., mayor of Kaktovik, an Iñupiat village on the northern edge of ANWR. “Taxation of development infrastructure in our region funds essential services across the North Slope, including water and sewer systems to clinics, roads, and first responders…. Full article at https://eos.org/research-and-developments/1-5-million-acres-of-alaskan-wildlife-refuge-to-open-for-drilling. For GSS Climate Change, chapter 9.

2025-10-23. Dinosaur diversity before the asteroid. By Lindsay Zanno, Science. Excerpt: Paleontologists largely agree that an asteroid dealt the final blow to non-avian dinosaurs, but their susceptibility to annihilation when the asteroid plummeted to Earth remains an open question. …Flynn et al. (1) reveal that a well-known rock layer in northwestern New Mexico captures a rare glimpse into the last days of the dinosaurs. Their findings markedly increase the number of dinosaur species known to have roamed Earth ~400,000 years before the asteroid’s impact, challenging the idea that weakened ecosystems played a role in their demise. …The extinction of non-avian dinosaurs 66 million years ago marked the end of the Maastrichtian, the final age of the Cretaceous Period. Controversy over this extinction event boils down to whether dinosaurs perished catastrophically at the time of the asteroid’s impact …or whether they were already in decline and thus particularly vulnerable to the ensuing fallout…. The answer to this dispute is highly relevant to humanity. Biodiversity on Earth is dropping at an alarming rate …, and studies of living systems suggest that depauperate ecological networks are more liable to collapse…. Yet, a view of life’s fragility that is restricted to the present is myopic. Predicting the future of ecosystems requires data beyond what is directly observable on human timescales. It requires empirical insight derived from Earth’s deep-time fossil archive…. Full article at https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aeb5725. For GSS Life and Climate, chapter 9.

2025-10-23. After centuries of trauma, Montana’s Blackfeet Nation turns to an old friend for food sovereignty: bison. By Aaron Agosto, The Guardian. Excerpt: For the Blackfeet, bison are as much a source of food as they are a part of their cultural identity. Before the bison’s extermination, their movements across the plains shaped the Blackfeet way of life so much that nearly 200 years later, the community is still grappling with the generational trauma resulting from the sudden loss of these animals from the prairie. Recognizing these problems, the tribal government, a variety of non-profits and dedicated community members decided to take action. In 2016, the Blackfeet Nation became one of the first tribal governments to implement a program that would assert tribal management over agricultural resources within the reservation, with the greater goal of establishing food sovereignty and tribal self-determination. Known as an agricultural resource management plan (ARMP), the program created by the Blackfeet was the first in the nation to be built around cultural practices, and centered on the five pillars of Blackfeet values: creating sustainable economic development, strengthening cultural knowledge, increasing organizational development, investing in the Piikani people and promoting health, healing and nutrition…. Full article at https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2025/oct/23/blackfeet-nation-bison-food-sovereignty-montana. For GSS Losing Biodiversity, chapter 2.

~~~~~

2025-10-23. Solar energy is going to power the world much sooner than you think. By Madeleine Cuff, New Scientist. Excerpt: Is solar power going to take over the world? The past few years have seen a frankly astounding acceleration in the rate of its deployment, with total generation capacity doubling between 2022 and 2024 to supply a full 7 per cent of the world’s electricity. Just how high can that figure go? The first six months of 2025 saw wind and solar together pass a historic milestone, generating more power than coal for the first time and making renewables the world’s leading source of electricity. The driving force behind this “crucial turning point” in the energy transition…was the growth of solar. It accounted for 83 per cent of the total increase in the world’s electricity demand in 2025, Ember’s analysis indicates, and has been the largest source of new electricity globally for three years in a row.
Solar’s secret weapon? How cheap it is. It is the world’s lowest-cost electricity, with the cost of installing a solar system dropping in price by 90 per cent over the past 15 years. “Right now, silicon panels themselves are the same cost as plywood,” says Sam Stranks at the University of Cambridge. …
Roadblocks from politics, energy storage and infrastructure will all be cleared out of the way to usher in the green power revolution…. Full article at https://www.newscientist.com/article/2500013-solar-energy-is-going-to-power-the-world-much-sooner-than-you-think/. For GSS Energy Use, chapter 10.

~~~~~

2025-10-24. Ambient noise can track dangerous ocean acidification. By Paul Voosen, Science. Excerpt: Acoustic technique could make it easier to monitor threat to marine life stemming from rising carbon emissions. …The ocean is a noisy place. Ship propellers and whale songs reverberate at the lowest pitches, while at higher tones dolphins click and shrimp snap their claws. Between these frequencies are the sounds of the churning sea itself, generated as waves, wind, and rain roil its surface. Researchers have now used this ambient noise to probe the rising acidity of the ocean. The acoustic technique, published last week in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, could make it easier to measure this key parameter of ocean health across vast distances rather than relying on point measurements…. Full article athttps://www.science.org/content/article/ambient-noise-can-track-dangerous-ocean-acidification. For GSS Losing Biodiversity chapter 7.

2025-10-24. Farewell, Acropora. By Science Advisor. Excerpt: Researchers have declared southern Florida’s Acropora coral colonies functionally extinct. The death knell for two reef-building species, elkhorn and staghorn, was the 2023 marine heatwave that brought temperatures above 31°C for almost 6 weeks. The event was the ninth mass coral mortality event for the region since 1987. “This ecosystem is forever transformed,” lead author Ross Cunning told Nature. Conservation for these species “needs to fundamentally change.” Acropora have made Florida and the Caribbean their home for the past 250,000 to 500,000 years. During the heatwave, they bleached in 98% to 100% of their southern Florida range, a process whereby the corals lose the symbiotic algae that feed them and give them color. Previously, scientists had attempted to reintroduce the corals in areas where they had declined. But with the reintroduced organisms now dead, the authors say that efforts must turn to breeding more heat-resistant variants altogether. Luckily, Acropora is still far from global extinction. The scraggly organisms continue to survive in tanks used to study the species for conservation science. And in Florida’s northern waters, more than 60% of the corals survived…. See Paper in Science. See also Eos article As Seas Rise, Corals Can’t Keep Up. For GSS Losing Biodiversity, chapter 7.

2025-10-23. Warmer waters in the Bering Sea caused snow crabs to crash. Now, scientists are racing to predict the future of the lucrative fishery. By Warren Cornwall, Science. Excerpt: …the recent fate of snow crabs in much of the Bering Sea. An unprecedented underwater heat wave there in 2018 and ’19 set off a chain reaction that led to the disappearance of an estimated 47 billion crabs, one of the largest marine die-offs ever documented. Suddenly, a $150 million fishery mythologized in the Deadliest Catch reality TV show found itself with no catch at all. State regulators for the first time banned Bering Sea snow crab fishing in 2023 and ’24, and the U.S. government declared a federal fishery disaster. The fishery reopened this year. But crabbing boats were only allowed to haul in a tiny fraction of what they had caught previously. The collapse “has had massive impacts,” says Scott Goodman, a fisheries biologist and executive director of the Bering Sea Fisheries Research Foundation, which is funded by the crab industry. …In the early months of 2018 and again in 2019, however, the winds reversed, blowing from the south part of the time and penning the ice in the north. By the end of those winters, sea ice covered just half of its normal area. “It was a pretty big shock,” says NOAA physical oceanographer Phyllis Stabeno. Even with global warming, she didn’t expect ice coverage to drop that low until the middle of the century…. Full article at https://www.science.org/content/article/can-deadliest-catch-crab-fishery-survive-warming-seas. For GSS Losing Biodiversity, chapter 7.

2025-10-22. Iceland Announces an Unfortunate First: Mosquitoes. By Amelia Nierenberg, The New York Times. Excerpt: Iceland lost the distinction this month of being one of the last places in the world without a confirmed sighting of wild mosquitoes. And their presence was discovered only because of a rope in a garden doused in sugary red wine. …The question for Icelandic scientists is whether they will be short-lived tourists or the beginning of a new, native population. But either way, mosquito experts say the discovery is a sign of how rapid climate change and globalization are changing Iceland. “We should not be surprised that we see mosquitoes popping up in very strange localities,” said Bart Knols, a Dutch mosquito expert and a founder of MalariaWorld, which gathers and shares malaria research. Iceland has seen a spike in insect life over the past four decades…. Recently, that growth has coincided with the skyrocketing number of international travelers visiting the geographically isolated nation. The torrent of planes, cruise ships and cargo boats gives insects more chances to hitch a ride, Dr. Gislason said. At the same time, climate change has transformed the country. One Icelandic glacier, Okjokull, has completely melted away while some native plants are at risk of extinction as temperatures rise and invasive species arrive…. Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/22/world/europe/iceland-mosquito-discovery.html. For GSS Climate Change, chapter 8.

2025-10-20. How Soon Will the Seas Rise? By Evan Howell, Quanta Magazine. Excerpt: In May 2014, NASA announced(opens a new tab) at a press conference that a portion of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet appeared to have reached a point of irreversible retreat. Glaciers flowing toward the sea at the periphery of the 2-kilometer-thick sheet of ice were losing ice faster than snowfall could replenish them, causing their edges to recede inland. With that, the question was no longer whether the West Antarctic Ice Sheet would disappear, but when. When those glaciers go, sea levels will rise by more than a meter, inundating land currently inhabited by 230 million people(opens a new tab). And that would be just the first act before the collapse of the entire ice sheet, which could raise seas 5 meters(opens a new tab) and redraw the world’s coastlines. …If greenhouse gas emissions continue unabated, seas would rise a staggering 15 meters(opens a new tab) by 2300. …not all scientists are convinced by the runaway scenario. Thus, a tension has emerged over how long we have until West Antarctica’s huge glaciers vanish. If their retreat unfolds over centuries, humanity may have time to adapt. But if rapid destabilization begins in the coming decades through the controversial runaway process, the consequences could outpace our ability to respond. Scientists warn that major population centers — New York City, New Orleans, Miami and Houston — may not be ready…. Full article at https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-soon-will-the-seas-rise-20251020/. For GSS Climate Change, chapter 8.

2025-10-15. Panama’s Coastal Waters Missed Their Annual Cooldown This Year. By Katherine Bourzac, Eos/AGU. Excerpt: From January to April, strong winds blowing south from the Atlantic side of Panama through gaps in the Cordillera mountain range typically travel over the country and push warm water away from Panama’s Pacific coast. This displacement allows cold, nutrient-rich water to flow up from the depths, a process called upwelling. The Panama Pacific upwelling keeps corals cool and nourishes the complex marine food webs that support Panama’s fishing industry and economy. In 2025, for the first time on record, this upwelling didn’t occur, according to research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. During the upwelling period early in the year, ocean temperatures near the coast typically fall to a low of about 19°C, said Andrew Sellers, a marine ecologist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama. This year, the coastal waters reached just 23.3°C at their coolest. …Some models have predicted that climate change will cause upwelling in temperate zones such as California to strengthen, but the dynamics in the tropics are more of a mystery. The Panama Pacific upwelling is strongly influenced by the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO). Sellers says changes in ENSO might be affecting local dynamics in Panama…. Full article at https://eos.org/articles/panamas-coastal-waters-missed-their-annual-cooldown-this-year. For GSS Energy Flow, chapter 8.

~~~~~

2025-10-16. Carbon Dioxide Levels Jumped by a Record Amount, U.N. Says. By Raymond Zhong and Sachi Kitajima Mulkey, The New York Times. Excerpt: The average level of carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere climbed by the largest amount on record between 2023 and 2024, the World Meteorological Organization said on Thursday. …Last year was Earth’s hottest year in recorded history. …In 2024, the atmosphere’s average concentration of the gas reached 423.9 parts per million, an increase of 3.5 parts per million from the year before. That edged out a 3.3 parts per million increase in 2016 that was previously the largest ever measured. Year-to-year rises in carbon dioxide concentrations have accelerated since the 1960s, when the average pace of increase was 0.8 parts per million…. Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/16/climate/carbon-dioxide-emissions-record-jump.html. For GSS Climate Change, chapter 6.

2025-10-17. UN announces $1.6 trillion investment in crucial project: ‘How future generations experience prosperity’. By Kate Saxton, The Cool Down. Excerpt: The United Nations recently announced that more than $1 trillion has been invested in its Energy Compact…an initiative by countries, companies, and organizations under the UN to invest in clean energy, improve electricity access, and promote clean cooking. The latest Energy Compacts Annual Progress Report showed that $1.6 trillion has been invested, with $284 billion put to action since 2021, according to Power Technology.  The report revealed that approximately 285 million people have benefited from the agreement, with better access to clean energy. …Additionally, 2.8 million electric vehicles were added, along with more than 300,000 EV charging stations. However, the report also stated that more than $4 trillion is needed annually to cover global needs for electricity and clean cooking. It showed that 660 million people have no access to electricity and that more than 2 billion rely on polluting cooking methods. Experts say that increasing the investment is more likely to help the UN meet its goal of achieving net zero carbon pollution by 2050…. Full article at https://www.thecooldown.com/green-business/united-nations-energy-compact-investments-climate/. For GSS Energy Use, chapter 10.

2025-10-17. Gravity battery could power tall buildings using elevator-style energy storage system. By Prabhat Ranjan Mishra, Interesting Engineering. Excerpt: A new energy storage system for high-rise buildings has been introduced in Canada. Designed by University of Waterloo researchers, the solid gravity energy storage system is claimed to be suitable for storing renewable energy. The system combines façade-mounted PV panels, small rooftop wind turbines, Li-Ion batteries, and a rope-hoist-based gravity energy storage (GS)…. Full article at https://interestingengineering.com/energy/canada-solid-gravity-energy-storage-buildings. For GSS Energy Use, chapter 10.

2025-10-16. ‘World’s largest’ industrial heat battery is online and solar-powered. By Michelle Lewis, Elektrek. Excerpt: Rondo Energy has begun commercial operations of what it says is the world’s largest industrial heat battery – a 100 MWh system now operating at a Holmes Western Oil facility in California. Powered entirely by an onsite solar array, the system supplies constant high-pressure steam and heat to the plant, demonstrating how renewable energy can directly power heavy industry. …During the day, the off-grid solar array charges the Rondo Heat Battery, and the battery delivers stored heat 24/7. After 10 weeks of daily operation, Rondo says the system has met every performance target, achieving over 97% round-trip efficiency and operating at temperatures above 1,000 °C (1,832 °F). The 100 MWh unit provides the same volume of heat as 10,000 household heating systems…. Full article at https://electrek.co/2025/10/16/worlds-largest-industrial-heat-battery-is-online-and-solar-powered/. For GSS Energy Use, chapter 10.

2025-10-15. New York Is Going to Flood. Here’s What the City Can Do to Survive. By John Surico and Nick Underwood, The New York Times. Excerpt: The waters surrounding New York allowed it to grow into an economic powerhouse. But what has been a blessing is increasingly a threat, as flooding becomes one of the city’s greatest challenges. Projections that model future flooding in the city show that it will only get worse. By 2080, many areas will face an increased risk of tidal flooding because of rising sea levels. At the same time, more neighborhoods will become vulnerable to extreme rainfall. And wide swaths of the city face increasing peril in the event of storm surge from a hurricane. By 2080, nearly 30 percent of the city’s land mass could be at risk of significant flooding. Some 1.4 million New Yorkers currently live in these areas — 17 percent of the city’s population. New York’s adaptation is a matter of survival. Climate experts have recommended several strategies. The city could increase its ability to absorb water, converting wide areas of asphalt and concrete to green space. It could fortify by building barriers along its shores, possibly even a gate around the harbor. Or it could retreat, relocating people out of the most hazardous regions. The city will most likely have to embrace all three approaches in some form…. Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/10/15/nyregion/new-york-climate-flooding-solutions.html. For GSS Climate Change, chapter 8.

2025-10-14. ‘Our new reality’. By Science Advisor. Excerpt: According to 160 researchers from around the world, the planet has reached the first climate ‘tipping point’: Warmed waters have resulted in mass coral bleaching. “Already … coral reefs are crossing their thermal tipping point and experiencing unprecedented dieback,” the authors of the report noted. “We can no longer talk about tipping points as a future risk,” said one of the report’s lead authors. “This is our new reality.”… See GLOBAL TIPPING POINTS REPORT  |  READ MORE AT NATURE. See also Eos article, As Seas Rise, Corals Can’t Keep Up. For GSS Losing Bodiversity, chapter 7.

2025-10-15. Polluted weapons factory begins locking up nuclear waste in glass. By Science Insider. Excerpt: Work to clean up long-lived radioactive waste at one of the world’s most polluted places took a big step forward this week, when a facility at a former nuclear weapons site in eastern Washington state began to entomb radioactive waste in glass. …The new development meets the legal deadline to demonstrate that the plant can successfully process waste, Hanford Site Manager Ray Geimer said in a statement. The factory, which has already cost more than $10 billion to build, is part of a broader cleanup project expected to take another $200 billion to $350 billion to complete. The goal is to find a permanent solution for 325 million liters of liquid waste left from the manufacturing of plutonium pits for nuclear weapons from World War II until the end of the Cold War era in 1989. Most of the waste is stored in 177 massive carbon steel tanks. Some of the tanks have corroded and leaked waste into the soil not far from the Columbia River, the largest river on the West Coast…. Full article at https://www.science.org/content/article/polluted-weapons-factory-begins-locking-nuclear-waste-glass. For GSS Energy Use, chapter 4.

2025-10-15. Poisonous sacs helped toads conquer the world. By Phie Jacobs, Science. Excerpt: …the poisonous sacs, known as parotoid glands, don’t just allow toads to wreak havoc as invasive species. They may also have helped toads spread across large parts of the planet millions of years ago, according to research published yesterday in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B. …hundreds of species thriving in a variety of terrestrial, arboreal, and burrowing habitats on every continent except Antarctica. The group’s evolutionary history, however, is somewhat mysterious. …toads got their start in South America…. …To find out more about how toads conquered the world, scientists analyzed DNA from 124 species across six continents, representing all major Bufonidae clades. Their reconstructed evolutionary history confirmed that toads originated in South America approximately 61 million years ago, but it also uncovered something unexpected: Instead of dispersing into Asia from North America via the land bridge, early toads appear to have crossed directly from South America to Africa. …The amphibians could have migrated in a stepwise fashion through Antarctica, which once had a much warmer climate than it does today and may have been intermittently connected to South America until about 30 million years ago. The discovery of frog fossils in Antarctica in 2020 would seem to support this theory. It’s also possible that toads sailed across the Atlantic Ocean on floating mats of vegetation—a type of dispersal known as rafting. …toads evolved their parotoid glands, which ward off predators by secreting milky white alkaloid substances called bufotoxins. …Once you evolve this antipredator strategy, you can imagine, it gives you a tremendous edge over other amphibians…. Full article at https://www.science.org/content/article/poisonous-sacs-helped-toads-conquer-world. For GSS Losing Biodiversity, chapter 3.

2025-10-10. Zircon Crystals Could Reveal Earth’s Path Among the Stars. By Tom Metcalfe, Eos/AGU. Excerpt: Tiny crystals in Earth’s crust may have recorded meteorite and comet impacts as our planet traveled through the spiral arms of the Milky Way over more than 4 billion years, according to new research. …The key to the latest research was in the ratios of isotopes—forms of the same chemical element that have different numbers of neutrons—in the oxygen atoms of zircon’s silicate group. The relative levels of oxygen isotopes in samples of zircon crystals can tell geologists whether the crystals formed high in the crust, perhaps while interacting with water and sediments, or deeper within Earth’s mantle. …The scientists evaluated the data’s “kurtosis,” or the measure of how flat or peaked a distribution is. …The researchers determined that periods of high oxygen isotope kurtosis corresponded to times when our solar system was crossing the dense spiral arms of the Milky Way galaxy. Such crossings occurred roughly every 187 million years on average during our solar system’s 748-million-year orbit around the galactic center at a speed of about 240 kilometers per second. The study is one of the first to suggest that galactic-scale processes can affect Earth’s geology. …Some other experts suggest the new study is notable for outlining the concept that galactic processes could have left geological traces, but it is not yet conclusive proof…. Full article at https://eos.org/articles/zircon-crystals-could-reveal-earths-path-among-the-stars. For GSS A Changing Cosmos, chapter 9.

2025-10-08. Magnetic “Switchback” Detected near Earth for First Time. By Sarah Stanley, Eos/AGU. Excerpt: In recent years, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has given us a close-up look at the Sun. Among the probe’s revelations was the presence of numerous kinks, or “switchbacks,” in magnetic field lines in the Sun’s outer atmosphere. These switchbacks are thought to form when solar magnetic field lines that point in opposite directions break and then snap together, or “reconnect,” in a new arrangement, leaving telltale zigzag kinks in the reconfigured lines. McDougall and Argall now report observations of a switchback-shaped structure in Earth’s magnetic field, suggesting that switchbacks can also form near planets. The researchers discovered the switchback while analyzing data from NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale mission, which uses four Earth-orbiting satellites to study Earth’s magnetic field. …The findings suggest that switchbacks can occur not only close to the Sun, but also where the solar wind collides with a planetary magnetic field. This could have key implications for space weather…. Full article at https://eos.org/research-spotlights/magnetic-switchback-detected-near-earth-for-first-time. For GSS Energy Flow, chapter 5.

~~~~~

2025-10-10. Trump officials cancel major solar project in latest hit to renewable energy. By Dharna Noor, The Guardian. Excerpt: The Trump administration has killed a massive proposed solar power project in Nevada that would have been one of the largest in the world, indicating that the White House plans to attack not only wind power but all renewable energy. On Thursday, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) changed the status of the Esmeralda 7 project to say its environmental review has been “cancelled”, …. The super project in southern Nevada was set to cover set to cover 185 sq miles – a footprint close to the size of Las Vegas …the network of solar panels and batteries was set to produce 6.2 gigawatts of energy, or enough to power nearly 2m homes…. Full article at https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/10/trump-officials-drop-major-solar-power-project-in-another-renewable-energy-attack. Related article from Los Angeles Times has this headline: “Leaked list shows Trump administration considering $15 billion in additional clean energy cuts.” For GSS Energy Use, chapter 10.

2025-10-09. More than 40 Trump administration picks tied directly to oil, gas and coal, analysis shows. By Dharna Noor, The Guardian. Excerpt: Donald Trump has placed dozens of people with ties to the fossil fuel sector in his administration, including more than 40 who have directly worked for oil, gas or coal companies, according to a new analysis. The report from Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy and ethics non-profit that has been critical of the Trump administration, alongside the Revolving Door Project, a corporate watchdog, analyzed the backgrounds of nominees and appointees within the White House and eight agencies dictating energy, environmental and climate policy. That includes the Environmental Protection Agency, the interior and energy departments and others…. Full article at https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/08/trump-administration-fossil-fuels-climate. For GSS Climate Change, chapter 9.

2025-10-08. UC Berkeley’s Omar Yaghi shares 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. By Robert Sanders, UC Berkeley News. Excerpt: Omar Yaghi, a Jordanian-American chemist at the University of California, Berkeley, was awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry today, sharing it with Richard Robson of the University of Melbourne, Australia, and Susumu Kitagawa of Kyoto University, Japan. The scientists were cited for creating “molecular constructions with large spaces through which gases and other chemicals can flow. These constructions, metal-organic frameworks, can be used to harvest water from desert air, capture carbon dioxide, store toxic gases or catalyze chemical reactions.”… Full article at https://news.berkeley.edu/2025/10/08/uc-berkeleys-omar-yaghi-shares-2025-nobel-prize-in-chemistry/. For GSS Climate Change, chapter 10.

2025-10-06. The Very Hungry Microbes That Could, Just Maybe, Cool the Planet. By Raymond Zhong, The New York Times. Excerpt: Fifty miles off the Tuscan coast, in a sparkling blue expanse broken only by rocky, forbidding islets, including the real-life Island of Montecristo, ancient creatures are roosting beneath the waves. They spend their days feasting on an unlikely source of nourishment: methane, a potent greenhouse gas that leaks out of cracks in the seafloor. Lately, researchers have been trying to put these microorganisms to work on an urgent task. If their appetites can be redirected to other sources of their favorite gas — namely, the hundreds of millions of tons of planet-warming methane emitted each year from oil and gas sites, livestock and wetlands — then they might just help slow climate change. First, though, researchers need to better understand these microbes, which have been on this planet for billions of years but remain enigmatic in many ways…. Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/06/climate/methane-eating-microbes-bacteria.html. For GSS Climate Change, chapter 3.

2025-10-06. ‘Communities will not survive’: Insurance nightmares could empty small California towns. By Shelby Conn, SFGate. Excerpt: …11% of Siskiyou County households [are] on the California FAIR Plan — a fire-only insurance policy no homeowner wants to turn to. …the reality for many residents and business owners living in California’s rural, high-fire risk areas, where costly insurance rates are forcing homeowners who own their properties outright to forgo insurance altogether. …“The FAIR Plan is not intended to compete with or replace insurers in the voluntary market.” Rather, it is meant to provide “basic fire insurance coverage for high-risk properties when traditional insurance companies will not,” she said.  The state’s escalating wildfire risk has driven more and more insurers out of the market in California. A study funded by the National Integrated Drought Information System estimated that, between 1971 and 2021, the number of acres burned in California rose by 172%. That number is only expected to grow, with California’s Fourth Climate Change Assessment projecting a 77% increase in the average area burned across the state by 2100…. Full article at https://www.sfgate.com/northcoast/article/insurance-costs-push-residents-leave-rural-21078768.php. For GSS Climate Change, chapter 8.

2025-10-02. Old Forests in the Tropics Are Getting Younger and Losing Carbon. By Kaja Šeruga, Eos/AGU. Excerpt: The towering trees of old forests store massive amounts of carbon in their trunks, branches, and leaves. When these ancient giants are replaced by a younger cohort after logging, wildfire, or other disturbances, much of this carbon stock is lost. …The resulting study, published in Nature Ecology and Evolution, measured the regional net aging of forests around the world across all age classes between 2010 and 2020, as well as the impact of these changes on aboveground carbon.
…On average, forests that are at least 200 years old store 77.8 tons of carbon per hectare, compared to 23.8 tons per hectare in the case of forests younger than 20 years old. The implications for carbon sequestration are more nuanced, however. Fast-growing young forests, for instance, can absorb carbon much more quickly than old ones, especially in the tropics, where the difference is 20-fold. But even this rate of sequestration is not enough to replace the old forests’ carbon stock…. Full article at https://eos.org/articles/old-forests-in-the-tropics-are-getting-younger-and-losing-carbon. For GSS A New World View, chapter 5.

2025-10-01. Scientists May Have Finally Detected a Solid Inner Core on Mars. By Javier Barbuzano, Eos/AGU. Excerpt: Almost a decade after NASA’s InSight mission put the first working seismometer on the Martian surface, …scientists reported seismic evidence that Mars has a solid inner core, an unexpected finding that challenges earlier studies that suggested the planet’s core was entirely molten. …the interior of Mars has layers… [with] different densities and can be solid or liquid. As seismic waves move through the layers, they are bent or reflected, especially at boundaries where density changes sharply. …Previous analyses of InSight data had already mapped the structure of the Martian crust and mantle and also revealed that the planet has a surprisingly large molten metallic core, spanning nearly half its radius. …the new finding caught InSight scientists off guard…. Full article at https://eos.org/articles/scientists-may-have-finally-detected-a-solid-inner-core-on-mars. See also Dust devil migration patterns reveal strong near-surface winds across Mars. For GSS A Changing Cosmos, chapter 7.

2025-10-01. Exoplanet without a sun found gobbling up 6 billion tons of gas and dust per second. By Victoria Corless, Space.com. Excerpt: Scientists have identified a lone planet with a ferocious appetite. Located in the Chamaeleon constellation roughly 620 light-years away, the rogue planet, named Cha 1107-7626, exists in the vast emptiness of space, far from the warmth of any star. …Using the European Southern Observatory‘s (ESO) Very Large Telescope (VLT), astronomers have caught it pulling in gas and dust at an astonishing rate: six billion tons every single second. Never before has a rogue planet, or any planet, been observed growing this fast. “This is the strongest accretion episode ever recorded for a planetary-mass object,” Almendros-Abad said. With a mass equivalent to between five and 10 Jupiters, Cha 1107-7626 is one of the lowest-mass free-floating planets known to host a disk and show active accretion. Observations from ESO’s VLT and NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) reveal telltale signs of a rich, evolving system …silicate features…similar to those in stars and brown dwarfs…hydrocarbon emission lines pointing to a carbon-rich disk, and multiple signatures of ongoing accretion…. Full article at https://www.space.com/astronomy/exoplanets/exoplanet-without-a-sun-found-gobbling-up-6-billion-tons-of-gas-and-dust-per-second. For GSS A Changing Cosmos, chapter 8.

~~~~~

2025-10-04. Fears of massive battery fires spark local opposition to energy storage projects. By  MICHAEL HILL. Associated Press (AP). Excerpt: …Battery energy storage systems that suck up cheap power during periods of low demand, then discharge it at a profit during periods of high demand, are considered critical with the rise of intermittent energy sources such as wind and solar. …the systems can make grids more reliable and have been credited with reducing blackouts. …China and the United States lead the world in rapidly adding battery storage energy systems. …In the U.S., California and Texas have been leaders in battery storage. …While the Trump administration has been unsupportive or even hostile to renewable energy, key tax credits for energy storage projects were maintained in the recently approved federal budget…. Developers added 4,908 megawatts of battery storage capacity in the second quarter of 2025, with Arizona, California and Texas accounting for about three-quarters of that new capacity, according to a report from American Clean Power Association…. That’s enough to power nearly 1.7 million households. New York has an ambitious goal to add 6,000 megawatts of energy storage by 2030, half of it large-scale systems. …Opposition to the storage systems usually focuses on the possibility of thermal runaway, a chain reaction of uncontrolled heating that can lead to fire or an explosion. …Ofodike Ezekoye, …professor of mechanical engineering at The University of Texas at Austin, notes that failures are relatively infrequent…. “This is a relatively immature technology that is maturing quickly…” …. Full article at https://apnews.com/article/battery-storage-grid-new-york-a84b8c7621c474c9ee9339b1d809a629. For GSS Energy Use, chapter 5.

2025-10-03. Trump administration slashes $550 million in Colorado clean energy grants. Democrats call it revenge. By Michael Booth and Mark Jaffe, The Colorado Sun. Excerpt: Colorado is losing $550 million in federal clean energy grants as Trump administration officials slash awards to primarily Democratic-controlled states during the budget shutdown, including a highly-touted $326 million block to Colorado State University intended to create methane-cutting technologies to combat climate change.  The Colorado Energy Office struggled Thursday to understand the magnitude of the cuts, which are part of a $7.5 billion reversal of Biden-era clean energy grants announced Wednesday night by the U.S. Department of Energy.  …The Department of Energy list that emerged Thursday “specifically targets states where a majority of Americans cast their votes in favor of the Democratic nominee for President,” a Colorado Energy Office statement said…. Full article at https://coloradosun.com/2025/10/03/colorado-federal-energy-grant-cancellation-550-million/. For GSS Climate Change, chapter 9.

2025-10-03. In the Arctic, the U.S. Shifts Focus From Climate Research to Security. By Sachi Kitajima Mulkey, The New York Times. Excerpt: The Trump administration is emphasizing defense concerns instead of climate research in the rapidly warming Arctic region. …The Arctic is warming nearly four times faster than the rest of the planet and is one of the most rapidly changing places on Earth…. Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/03/climate/arctic-research-security.html. For GSS Climate Change, chapter 9.

2025-10-03. China Is Leading the World in the Clean Energy Transition. Here’s What That Looks Like. By Antonio Piemontese, Wired. Excerpt: Speaking by video at the UN Climate Summit in New York last week, China’s president Xi Jinping laid out his country’s climate ambitions. While the stated goals may not have been aggressive as some environmentalists would like, Xi at least reaffirmed China’s green commitment. “Despite some countries going against the trend, the international community should stay on the right track, maintain unwavering confidence, unwavering action, and undiminished efforts,” he said. Any reference to Donald Trump and the United States was surely intended (though not explicit). …Xi Jinping’s speech included a commitment to reach 3,600 gigawatts (GW) of installed wind and solar capacity by 2035, six times the country’s 2020 figures. This is already the leading country in terms of installed renewable power, and a giant on the technology front as well, with universities churning out environmental and climate tech research at full speed, and attracting scientists from abroad across numerous fields. He also announced a commitment to an energy mix with more than 30 percent renewables. …The government has in recent years given a strong boost to electric mobility: At the Climate Summit it announced plans to make EVs “mainstream,” that is, prevalent in sales. …the country hosts giant automotive companies like BYD and Catl, which supplies batteries to some 50 global brands including Tesla and Volkswagen…. Full article at https://www.wired.com/story/china-clean-energy-un-climate-summit-goals/. For GSS Climate Change, chapter 9.

2025-10-03. Science teachers scramble as U.S. climate resources vanish. By Gaea Cabico, Science. Excerpt: As government websites go dark, some nonprofits are trying to fill the void. When news broke that climate.gov was about to go dark in June, Jeffrey Grant scrambled to download as many graphs and data tables from the website as he could. The high school biology teacher had relied heavily on the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) website to teach students about climate change, showing data on carbon dioxide levels and asking the students to analyze trends and make connections like real climatologists…. Full article at https://www.science.org/content/article/science-teachers-scramble-u-s-climate-resources-vanish. For GSS Climate Change, chapter 1.

2025-09-03. United States downgraded to ‘critically insufficient’ in major international rating: ‘The US is being left behind’. By Daniel Gala, The Cool Down (TCD). Excerpt: An initiative that tracks progress in the fight against rising global temperatures has downgraded the United States from “insufficient” to “critically insufficient” based on a new report. The Climate Action Tracker… announced in late September that it had downgraded the U.S. in light of the current administration’s drastic U-turn on climate policy.  “The Trump administration’s massive support for expanding fossil fuels and unwinding clean energy rollout means the U.S. is being left behind, particularly as China ramps up production of renewable energy, electric vehicles and other clean technology,” Bill Hare, the chief executive officer of Climate Analytics, a nonprofit partnering on the Climate Action Tracker, said in a CAT press release…. Full article at https://www.thecooldown.com/green-business/climate-action-tracker-us-carbon-emission-reduction/. For GSS Climate Change, chapter 9.

2025-10-02. Climate-linked escalation of societally disastrous wildfires. By Calum X. Cunningham et al, Science. Excerpt: As climate warms and humans build in more undeveloped environments, the threat of costly wildfire disasters is thought to be increasing. Cunningham et al. examined data about the global distribution, frequency, and associated climate conditions of the most lethal and costly wildfire disasters from 1980 to 2023, finding that disaster risk was highest in regions near relatively affluent, populated areas, and that the frequency of economically disastrous wildfires increased sharply after 2015. They also found that major disasters coincided with extreme climatic conditions. —Jesse Smith… Full article at https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adr5127. For GSS Climate Change, chapter 8.

2025-10-02. Trump officials cancel $7.6 billion in clean energy projects. By Nicolás Rivero and Jake Spring, Washington Post. Excerpt: The Energy Department on Wednesday canceled $7.56 billion in funding for 223 projects aimed at research and deployment of clean energy and other climate-friendly technology mainly in Democratic-led states. The cuts are the latest in President Donald Trump’s efforts to undercut renewable energy and other efforts to reduce the emissions driving climate change. The administration has already sought to claw back funding allotted under President Joe Biden’s signature climate law, the Inflation Reduction Act. That includes $20 billion from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, which supported investments in green technology like heat pumps and electric vehicles, and $7 billion in the Solar for All program to help low- and middle-income families install rooftop solar. The latest cuts include a $1.2 billion award for ARCHES H2, …aimed at kick-starting the hydrogen industry in California…. Another project would have spent more than $400 million in federal money to add 28 gigawatts of new energy generation to the power grid in Minnesota, mostly from wind and solar. Another had received at least $15 million aimed at installing battery storage and electricity grid upgrades serving Indigenous communities in New Mexico…. Full article at https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2025/10/02/clean-energy-grants-canceled/. For GSS Climate Change, chapter 9.

2025-10-02. Renowned U.S. climate center trims staff ahead of expected budget cuts. By effrey Mervis, Science. Excerpt: NSF-funded National Center for Atmospheric Research fears worse in coming months. …Anticipating steep cuts to its budget, the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), one of the world’s leading climate research centers, this week laid off 29 employees and decided not to fill 21 vacant positions. The job actions…coincide with the start of a partial U.S. government shutdown. NCAR, which is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), has so far been able to maintain normal operations and avoid furloughs of its 830 employees. But NCAR officials fear what could happen next: a $50 million cut to the center’s current $123 million budget…. Full article at https://www.science.org/content/article/renowned-u-s-climate-center-trims-staff-ahead-expected-budget-cuts. For GSS Climate Change, chapter 9.

2025-09-29. ‘Mine, Baby, Mine’: Trump Officials Offer $625 Million to Rescue Coal. By Brad Plumer and Lisa Friedman, The New York Times. Excerpt: The Trump administration on Monday outlined a coordinated plan to revive the mining and burning of coal, the largest contributor to climate change worldwide. Coal use has been declining sharply in the United States since 2005, displaced in many cases by cheaper and cleaner natural gas, wind and solar power. But in a series of steps aimed at improving the economics of coal, the Interior Department said it would open 13.1 million acres of federal land for coal mining and reduce the royalty rates that companies would need to pay to extract coal. The Energy Department said it would offer $625 million to upgrade existing coal plants around the country, which have been closing at a fast clip, in order to extend their life spans. The Environmental Protection Agency said it would repeal dozens of regulations set by the Biden administration to curb carbon dioxide, mercury and other pollutants from coal plants. The agency would also revise a regulation limiting wastewater pollution from power plants that the industry considers costly…. Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/29/climate/trump-coal-revival.html. For GSS Energy Use, chapter 3.

2025-09-29. Winding up for planet formation. By ScienceAdviser. Excerpt: Understanding how planets form in the disks of dust and gas around newborn planets is a work in progress. Only recently have astronomers spied planets carving out rings in the disks by scooping up material. But some disks have a spiral structure. Is that the result of gravitational interactions in the disk itself, before planets form, or are newborn planets themselves warping the disk into a spiral? A team of astronomers say they’ve resolved this chicken-and-egg puzzle using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), a collection of 66 dish antennas high up in the Chilean Andes which can see dust in disks but not the planets themselves. If the spiral arms formed in the disk spontaneously, over time they would wind tighter, like the spring in a wind-up clock. Arms formed by planets would keep their shape as they move around the nascent star. The team used archival and new images taken over 7 years of the young star IM Lup to make a stop-motion video of the spiral disk around it. The video shows the spiral winding tighter as it turns which, the team says in Nature Astronomy on 24 September, shows it is a disk on the cusp of forming planets…. Full article at https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-025-02639-y. For GSS A Changing Cosmos, chapter 8.

2025-09-29. Forget the future—crystals help look to the past. By Hannah Richter, Science. Excerpt: …The egg-shaped stone …is a time capsule to a period more than 1 billion years ago. On the outside, the iron oxide stone appears as unremarkable as a grain of sand. But it actually forms more like a snowball, its crystal structure growing in layers as waves slosh the stone around the seafloor. Each layer traps carbon pulled from the surrounding water, in turn creating an isotopic record of the ocean throughout geologic history. Researchers analyzed the carbon in 26 of the snowball-like stones, called ooids, and found that the oceans between 1 billion and 541 million years ago contained 90 to 99 percent less dissolved organic carbon than oceans today. “Our results contradict all previous assumptions,” the authors say in a press release, since paleoclimatologists previously thought oceanic carbon boomed in that time period. Now, scientists have to adjust their explanation for the evolution of complex life. Before, they thought that as single-celled and tiny multicellular photosynthetic organisms flourished, they added oxygen to the air and carbon to the seas upon sinking and dissolving. Both elements then helped larger-bodied animals grow. Instead, suggest the ooids, the photosynthetic organisms sank without dissolving because of existing low oxygen levels in the deep ocean (meaning microbes couldn’t digest carbon-rich matter efficiently). It wasn’t until the amount of oxygen in the deep oceans caught up closer to 541 million years ago that dissolved carbon spiked and larger-bodied animals grew…. See the Nature article at https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09383-3. For GSS Life and Climate, chapter 4.

2025-09-27. Is This L.A. Home the Solution to America’s Growing Energy Crisis? By Ivan Penn and Malika Khurana, The New York Times. Excerpt: U.S. electric grids are increasingly under strain and utility companies are spending tens of billions of dollars on upgrades — expenses that are driving up electric bills. At the same time, power-hungry data centers, electric vehicles and heat pumps are increasing demand for electricity. …One solution is to install more rooftop solar panels and batteries. Each such system is small, but collections of them can act like small power plants by supplying electricity to the grid when demand surges on, say, summer afternoons. …“Putting on solar without a battery, does almost nothing to help” the energy system, Mr. Borenstein, the Berkeley professor, said…. Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/09/27/business/energy-environment/rooftop-solar-panels.html. For GSS Energy Use, chapter 10.

2025-09-27. From shale to steam: Fossil fuel technology boosts clean geothermal energy. By Callie Patteson, Washington Examiner. Excerpt: Just below the Earth’s surface, there is an abundant source of heat that can be used to generate highly reliable and emissions-free geothermal energy. …technology developed by the oil and gas industries over the past two decades is now making it possible to tap into geothermal energy all across the globe. …Geothermal energy can provide electricity, heating, and cooling, and store excess energy under the surface, just from extracting heat from underground reservoirs of hot, typically porous, rocks saturated with water. To generate energy, the heat is used to produce steam, which travels through piping and turbines to create electricity. …Roughly 20 years ago, the United States saw what is most commonly described as the “shale boom” or “shale revolution.” This was driven by technological developments in hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling, which made it easier for producers to drill deeper and pump more oil and gas.  Hydraulic fracturing, better known as fracking, involves a high-pressure drill and perforating gun system to create cracks in shale rock thousands of feet underground. Millions of gallons of water, chemicals, and sand are then pumped into these fissures, causing crude oil and gas to flow back to the surface.  …Drilling for geothermal energy is not the same as the process in traditional fracking, as geothermal producers are not using chemicals and sand to bring oil and gas hydrocarbons back to the surface…. Full article at https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/3824237/shale-steam-fossil-fuel-technology-boosts-clean-geothermal-energy/. For GSS Energy Use, chapter 4.

2025-09-26. Next generation gene editors engineered to significantly reduce error rate. By Julia Robinson, Chemistry World. Excerpt: The error rate of a promising gene-editing tool can be reduced up to 60-fold by introducing mutations that change where the system’s enzyme cuts the DNA strand. The researchers say this ‘next generation’ prime editor could form the basis for a range of advanced tools and applications. Based on Crispr, prime editing is one of the newest types of genome-editing tools and, in contrast to conventional gene editing, only cuts one strand of DNA, which should mean fewer unexpected deletions or insertions. However, a key remaining challenge with this approach is its error rate. In this study, researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), US, set out to see if they could find a way to engineer the errors out of prime-editing systems…. Full article at https://www.chemistryworld.com/news/next-generation-gene-editors-engineered-to-significantly-reduce-error-rate/4022206.article. For GSS Losing Biodiversity, chapter 4.

2025-09-19. The ‘blob’ is back — except this time it stretches across the entire North Pacific. By Andrew Freedman, CNN. Excerpt: A record-breaking and astonishingly expansive marine heat wave is underway in the Pacific Ocean, stretching about 5,000 miles from the water around Japan to the West Coast of the United States. The abnormally warm “blob” of ocean water, which is getting a significant boost from human-caused global warming, is affecting the weather on land and could have ripple effects on marine life. …The sea surface temperature difference from average across the entire North Pacific smashed an all-time record for the month of August, with reliable data stretching back to the late 19th century. What worries scientists is the repetitive nature of these events. As climate change causes more heat to be stored in the oceans, ocean temperatures are reaching new heights that could lead to more significant impacts from these heat waves like this. …Past Northeast Pacific Ocean blobs led to a historic die-off of seabirds in coastal Alaska, and affected fish species along with sea lions and other creatures that call this region home…. Full article at https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/19/climate/pacific-ocean-blob-hot-water-global-warming. For GSS Climate Change, chapter 8.

~~~~~

2025-09-24. A ‘solar bump’ could help data centers recover wasted energy. By Hannah Richter, Science. Excerpt: Every time people ask ChatGPT for help, their request percolates through a whirring farm of computers kept cool inside a windowless warehouse. These facilities, known as data centers, gobbled up more than 4% of U.S. electricity in 2023. …researchers reported online earlier this month in Solar Energy that they had come up with a clever efficiency boost. By using the Sun’s warmth to raise the temperature of vented waste heat, data center operators can generate a significant fraction of the electricity they need while recycling some power…. Full article at https://www.science.org/content/article/solar-bump-could-help-data-centers-recover-wasted-energy. For GSS Energy Use, chapter 10.

2025-09-23. Capturing carbon with plastic waste. By ScienceAdviser. Excerpt: Polyethylene terephthalate or PET is one of the most widely used plastics, and therefore, a big contributor to plastic waste. But a team of researchers has an idea for how to beat the trash—and help tackle climate change at the same time. In a recent paper, they described a simple process that turns PET into bis-aminoamide (BAETA), a compound that chemically binds carbon dioxide (CO₂), effectively pulling it from the air. “Any useful carbon capture material needs to be made in the millions of tons per year from cheap and abundant sources,” co-author Ji-Woong Lee told Chemical & Engineering News. “Plastic waste is a cheap and abundant source.” Lee and colleagues detailed how, simply by mixing PET with 1,2-ethylenediamine (EN) at 60°C for 24 hours or room temperature for 2 weeks, they could turn the plastic into CO₂ -absorbing BAETA. …“The beauty of this method is that we solve a problem without creating a new one,” lead author Margarita Poderyte said in a statement. “By turning waste into a raw material that can actively reduce greenhouse gases, we make an environmental issue part of the solution to the climate crisis.”… Full article at https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adv5906. For GSS Climate Change, chapter 10.

2025-09-22. Even subzero parts of the Arctic are thawing. Ancient salt is the culprit. By Tim Appenzeller, Science. Excerpt: …In 2018, [Ben] Jones, a polar scientist at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, was drilling into the frozen soil outside of Utqiaġvik, the largest town on Alaska’s North Slope, to extract a core sample. …Inspecting the hard-won core, researchers found that an unsuspected layer of salt had thawed the permafrost. Jones and other investigators now believe such saline permafrost is an accomplice to climate change, which is warming the Arctic four times faster than the rest of the planet and turning frozen landscapes into boggy morasses. Like salt sprinkled on an icy sidewalk, the buried salt layers seem to be accelerating the thaw and, with it, the vast transformation of the landscape. “It just seems like things are happening a little faster now than you might anticipate if you’re assuming permafrost thaws at 0°C,” Jones says…. Full article at https://www.science.org/content/article/even-subzero-parts-arctic-are-thawing-ancient-salt-culprit. For GSS Climate Change, chapter 8.

2025-09-20. Suit Challenges Illegal EV Funding Freeze. By Nature’s Voice – Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). Excerpt: Nearly $1 billion in funds unlawfully frozen by the Trump administration to support the transition to cleaner vehicles have been restored, following a lawsuit filed by a coalition of states and joined by NRDC and our allies. A federal district court issued a preliminary injunction that unfroze the funds for 14 states that had been apportioned funding under the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program, a 5 billion bipartisan program that seeks to build electric-vehicle charging stations every 50 miles on major highways across all 50 states. The transformative program will deliver good jobs while ensuring that drivers—from urban to rural areas, in every corner of the country—have access to high-quality charging stations. …“The administration’s halt in funding has thrown state efforts to build charging stations into turmoil, and it will mean workers and drivers suffer,” says Atid Kimelman, NRDC clean vehicles attorney…. Full article at https://issuu.com/nrdc/docs/nature_s_voice_fall_2025. For GSS Energy Use, chapter 9.

2025-09-20. “Power Your Community” Powers Up to Deliver Clean Energy Jobs. By Nature’s Voice – Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). Excerpt: America’s clean energy revolution not only stands to combat the climate crisis and drive down harmful pollution, it has the potential to reinvigorate rural communities that have been hit hard by economic disinvestment. That’s the goal of Power Your Community, a new paradigm-shifting project launched as part of a ground-breaking partnership between NRDC and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW)…. Full article at https://issuu.com/nrdc/docs/nature_s_voice_fall_2025. For GSS Energy Use, chapter 10.

2025-09-18. What Makes Beaver Ponds Bigger? By Mack Baysinger, Eos/AGU. Excerpt: For the first time, researchers are able to add hydrologic estimates to find where reintroducing beavers could best benefit a watershed and the humans who live within it. In recent years, the North American beaver (Castor canadensis) has been increasingly recognized as a valuable on-site engineer to help communities meet water management goals. Beavers are famously “eager” to build dams, which slow the flow of streams and allow wetland areas to grow. …In a study published last month in Communications Earth and Environment, researchers from Stanford University and the University of Minnesota were able to link the amount of surface water in beaver ponds across the western United States to the features in those landscapes that make beaver ponds bigger…. Full article at https://eos.org/articles/what-makes-beaver-ponds-bigger. For GSS Energy Flow, chapter 6.

2025-09-18. Droughts Sync Up as the Climate Changes. By Rebecca Owen, Eos/AGU. Excerpt: A new study reconstructs roughly 800 years of streamflow history in India’s major rivers, showing an increase in synchronous drought linked to anthropogenic climate change. …Recent observations and modeling suggest that on the Indian subcontinent, where major rivers support more than 2 billion people, the likelihood of synchronous drought is increasing as summer monsoons weaken, the Indian Ocean warms, and anthropogenic emissions and excessive groundwater pumping continue. However, little is known about the long-term patterns of synchronous drought in India, in part because streamflow data don’t offer information about the distant past. By combining several decades of streamflow measurements from 45 gauge stations along India’s major rivers with high-resolution temperature and precipitation data and data from a range of paleoclimate proxies, Chuphal and Mishra have now reconstructed streamflow records across more than 800 years…. Full article at https://eos.org/research-spotlights/droughts-sync-up-as-the-climate-changes. For GSS Climate Change, chapter 8.

~~~~~

2025-09-19. Hard-Fought Treaty to Protect Ocean Life Clears a Final Hurdle. By Max Bearak, The New York Times. Excerpt: The high seas, the vast waters beyond any one country’s jurisdiction, cover nearly half the planet. On Friday, a hard-fought global treaty to protect the “cornucopia of biodiversity” living there cleared a final hurdle and will become international law. The High Seas Treaty, as it is known, was ratified by a 60th nation, Morocco, crossing the threshold for United Nations treaties to go into effect. …it allows for the establishment of enormous conservation zones in international waters. …The treaty states a goal of giving 30 percent of the high seas some kind of protected status by 2030. …The United States signed the treaty under the Biden administration, and Ms. Speer said American negotiators played a “very important role in drafting” it, but that since President Trump took office “the U.S. has kind of checked out.” …In April, President Trump issued an executive order that would allow NOAA to issue permits for deep sea mining in international waters, a move that dozens of other countries said breached the terms of an earlier U.N. treaty, commonly known as the Law of the Sea…. Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/19/climate/high-seas-treaty-ocean-biodiversity-ratified.html. For GSS Losing Biodiversity, chapter 7.

2025-09-17. Southern California lakes suddenly ‘infested’ with invasive species. By Erin Rode, SFGate. Excerpt: A fast-spreading invasive species has been spotted in a pair of prominent Southern California lakes, raising grave concerns for the state’s ability to keep the tiny creature at bay. Last fall, the invasive golden mussel was identified in the Port of Stockton in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, representing the very first time the species had been found in North America — and now it’s come to two well-known lakes around greater Los Angeles. …The golden mussel is native to China and Southeast Asia and “is known for its rapid reproduction and ability to clog water infrastructures, disrupt ecosystems, and outcompete native species,” according to a news release from the state’s Department of Water Resources. … Full article at https://www.sfgate.com/la/article/southern-california-invasive-mussel-21051356.php. For GSS Ecosystem Change, chapter 6.

2025-09-15. Experts fired by President Trump revive popular climate website. By Stuart Braun, DW. Excerpt: US President Donald Trump is an avowed climate science skeptic who during his second term …gutted agencies that produce climate information used by millions of Americans. In February, only weeks after taking office, around 800 people were dismissed from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which monitors ocean and climate conditions and issues weather forecasts and warnings via its National Weather Service. The firings also impacted the agency’s climate.gov website, the premier platform for climate information in the US that informs readers about extreme weather, sea level and temperature rise, and much else. …Trump administration-appointed officials at NOAA not only terminated climate.gov staff, they redirected the homepage to a site controlled by political appointees, noted Rebecca Lindsey, the former manager of climate.gov who was also sacked in February. …But Lindsey is now leading an effort to relaunch climate.gov independently under the climate.us URL. …The effort to reestablish a trusted source of climate information comes after much was purged from climate.gov because it referenced so-called “diversity, equity and inclusion,” or DEI — a policy that was labelled “immoral” and “illegal discrimination” under a Trump executive order in January. …Information mentioning the “Gulf of Mexico” that wasn’t updated to “Gulf of America” was also erased after Trump signed another executive order — “Restoring Names That Honor American Greatness” — decreeing the name be changed in all federal agency documents…. Full article at https://uk.news.yahoo.com/experts-fired-president-donald-trump-072500441.html. For GSS Climate Change, chapter 9.

2025-09-13. Used E.V. Sales Take Off as Prices Plummet. By Jack Ewing, The New York Times. Excerpt: New electric vehicles cost thousands more than similar models that run on gasoline. But a growing number of shoppers are discovering that for used cars, often the opposite is true. Used battery-powered vehicles often sell for less than comparable cars with internal combustion engines, making them a good deal even before calculating savings in maintenance costs and fuel. That is expanding the number of people who can afford to buy such models. Sales of used electric vehicles rose 40 percent in July from a year earlier, according to Cox Automotive, a research firm…. Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/13/business/used-electric-vehicles.html. For GSS Energy Use, chapter 9.

~~~~~

2025-09-12. US environment agency could end reporting of greenhouse gas emissions. By Reuters. Excerpt: The US Environmental Protection Agency proposed on Friday a rule to end a mandatory program requiring 8,000 facilities to report their greenhouse gas emissions – an effort the agency said was burdensome to business, but which leaves the public without transparency around the environmental impact of those sources. The agency said mandatory collection of GHG emissions data was unnecessary because it is “not directly related to a potential regulation and has no material impact on improving human health and the environment”. “The Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program is nothing more than bureaucratic red tape that does nothing to improve air quality,” said Lee Zeldin, the EPA administrator. The rule responds to a day-one executive order issued by Donald Trump aimed at removing barriers to unleashing more US energy, particularly fossil fuels. …The Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program requires 47 source categories covering 8,000 facilities and suppliers to calculate and submit their greenhouse gas emissions annually. The agency will still require submission of methane emissions data for large oil and gas operations for companies subject to a waste emissions charge…. Full article at https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/12/environment-greenhouse-gas-reporting-end. For GSS Climate Change, chapter 9.

2025-09-11. Best Evidence Yet for Past Life on Mars? By David L. Chandler, Sky & Telescope. Excerpt: The Perseverance has found compounds associated with life on Earth. But whether they indicate life on Mars awaits sample return. …One rock,…is dotted with colored spots, …The leopard spots, it turns out, appear to be reaction fronts — areas of contact between an expanding chemical reaction and surrounding rock. The material in the rings is composed of two different iron-rich minerals: vivianite (iron phosphate) and greigite (iron sulfide). Both of these minerals, on Earth, are usually associated with decaying plant matter or are products of microbial activity. …The team cautions, however, that a non-biological formation process has not been ruled out. Full article at https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/best-evidence-yet-for-past-life-on-mars/. See also New York Times article. For GSS A Changing Cosmos, chapter 7.

2025-09-11. Is Idaho the future of a new clean energy source? This company hopes so. By Nicole Blanchard, Idaho Statesman. Excerpt: Idaho could be the next frontier in clean energy, according to a startup that recently got approval to move forward in its exploration for the commodity. Koloma, a natural hydrogen company that does business in Idaho as Cascade Exploration, is looking for naturally occurring underground hydrogen gas in Canyon County. It has submitted applications for two test well locations near Notus. Sharla Arledge, a spokesperson for the Idaho Department of Lands said if the applications are approved, the company would then need to submit applications for drilling permits. …Underground hydrogen was discovered by chance when crews were digging a well in Mali in the 1980s, according to reporting from Science. Kristen Delano, a spokesperson for Koloma, told the Idaho Statesman in an interview that the discovery shocked scientists, many of whom thought hydrogen molecules were too small to collect underground. …Proponents say it could be a breakthrough renewable energy source that replaces carbon-based energy for uses like aviation fuel, manufacturing, and energy production and storage. …The type of hydrogen the company is searching for is created by water that seeps through the earth’s surface or rises through the core and interacts with iron-rich rock — like basalt — underground, creating gas that collects there. Unlike carbon-based energy sources, hydrogen regenerates much more quickly. The industry is still in its infancy. …Delano said the search for hydrogen is “the new gold rush.”… Full article at https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/business/article312034571.html. For GSS Energy Use, chapter 10.

2025-09-10. First onshore wave energy project in the U.S. launches in Los Angeles. By Hayley Smith, Los Angeles Times. Excerpt: Along a rocky wharf at the Port of Los Angeles on Tuesday, seven blue steel structures bobbed in the gentle wake of a Catalina Island ferry. The bouncing floaters marked a moment for clean energy — the first onshore wave power project in the country. The floaters belong to Eco Wave Power, a Swedish company behind the pilot project located at AltaSea, a nonprofit ocean institute at the port. They harness the natural rise and fall of the ocean to create clean electricity 24 hours a day. The pilot project can generate up to a modest 100 kilowatts of power — enough for about 100 homes — but company officials said the ultimate goal is to install steel floaters along the port’s 8-mile breakwater to generate about 60 megawatts of power, or enough for about 60,000 homes. Such an achievement could be replicated along other parts of the U.S. coastline, according to Inna Braverman, Eco Wave Power’s co-founder and chief executive. She noted that the U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates that wave power has the potential to provide more than 60% of the country’s energy needs. …The technology uses the bobbing floaters to compress pistons, which push hydraulic fluid into storage tanks located nearby on land. As the pressure increases inside the tanks, it spins a motor, which turns a generator that makes clean electricity. …unlike other renewables such as wind and solar power, which cannot produce electricity around the clock unless accompanied by batteries, wave energy is 24/7…. Full article at https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2025-09-10/the-first-onshore-wave-energy-project-in-the-u-s-launches-in-los-angeles. For GSS Energy Use, chapter 10.

2025-09-09. How an Interstellar Interloper Spurred Astronomers into Action. By Kimberly M. S. Cartier, Eos/AGU. Excerpt: On 1 July 2025, astronomers detected a visitor from the deep reaches of space. At the time of discovery, the object was just inside Jupiter’s orbit and was zipping across our solar system 4 times faster than the New Horizons probe sped past Pluto. It was first spotted by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) in Chile, which was specifically designed to spot small, fast-moving objects like this. ATLAS sent out a public, automated alert, and when astronomers saw it, they quickly went to work calculating the object’s orbit and trajectory…. Full article at https://eos.org/features/how-an-interstellar-interloper-spurred-astronomers-into-action. For GSS A Changing Cosmos, chapter 1.

2025-09-09. A mean, green, ethylene machine. By Science Adviser. Excerpt: The chemicals industry is one of the most carbon-intensive industries on the planet, consuming vast amounts of energy to operate production facilities and stoke necessary chemical reactions. Making the industry greener may rely on changing some of the chemistry itself. Hydrogenation, the process that splits apart molecular hydrogen (H₂) and adds it to other compounds, is found in a quarter of all chemical industry processes. Since it typically requires energy-intensive high heat and pressure, researchers wanted to probe a more natural energy source: light. Titanium dioxide, a common photocatalyst, was already known to absorb ultraviolet light, so the team tried irradiating it with such light to peel hydrogen molecules apart. …The researchers used their method to produce ethylene, the world’s most-produced organic chemical and a key component of manufacturing fuels, plastics, fertilizers, and pharmaceuticals. In a related Perspective, nanochemist Emiliano Cortés envisions using solar cells to power the production of green hydrogen and the light source for hydrogenation, combined with carbon capture to supply the necessary carbon dioxide. While the kinks in using light instead of heat still need to be worked out, the process may one day “circumvent the fossil economy entirely,” he writes…. Full article at https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aea6759. For GSS Energy Use, chapter 10.

2025-09-09. Fossil-fuel firms receive US subsidies worth $31bn each year, study finds. By Dharna Noor, The Guardian. Excerpt: The US currently subsidizes the fossil-fuel industry to the tune of nearly $31bn per year, according to a new analysis. That figure, calculated by the environmental campaign group Oil Change International, has more than doubled since 2017. And it is likely a vast understatement, due to the difficulty of quantifying the financial gains from some government supports, and to a lack of transparency and reliable data from government sources, the group says. These handouts pose a massive barrier to decarbonization, says the new report, which experts have long warned is urgently necessary to avert the worst consequences of the climate crisis. …Another major support measure is a tax credit for capturing carbon, which is often framed as a climate solution but is primarily used to extract hard-to-reach reserves in a practice known as enhanced oil recovery…. Full article at https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/sep/09/fossil-fuels-subisidies-study. For GSS Climate Change, chapter 9.

2025-09-08. Thawing permafrost is turning Arctic rivers orange—spelling trouble for fish. By Warren Cornwall, Science. Excerpt: The Salmon River, in remote northwestern Alaska, …has become a symbol of Arctic climate change—and its waters are no longer clear or pure. Beginning in 2019, the river turned orange and yellow, reminiscent of acidic runoff from mining waste. It’s not just the color that’s troubling. The river and many of its tributaries are now laced with toxic metals, leached from thawing permafrost, at levels that can harm aquatic life, scientists report today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences…. Full article at https://www.science.org/content/article/thawing-permafrost-turning-arctic-rivers-orange-spelling-trouble-fish. For GSS Climate Change, chapter 8.

2025-09-07. Patagonia Changed the Apparel Business. Can It Change Food, Too? By David Gelles, The New York Times. Excerpt: …Paul Lightfoot …general manager of Patagonia Provisions, ..believes that Kernza, a type of wheatgrass that can be used for baking and brewing, has the potential to change the food system. [Deep] roots are what makes Kernza so unusual, allowing it to absorb more carbon dioxide than many crops, and turning it into a theoretical ally in the fight against climate change. And because Kernza is a perennial grain and doesn’t need to be replanted each year, it requires less water and fertilizer than traditional wheat, making it a boon for cost-conscious farmers…. Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/07/business/patagonia-provisions-dirtbag-billionaire.html. For GSS Population Growth, chapter 5.

2025-09-06. Throwaway Plastic Has Corrupted Us. By Saabira Chaudhuri, The New York Times Opinion. Excerpt: In 1957, 92 percent of American children were potty-trained by 18 months of age. Four decades later, that number had dropped to just 4 percent. …In large part because of disposable diapers. …more than 18 billion diapers are discarded every year, creating an enormous drain on natural resources. …Plastic has unleashed a tidal wave of waste, most of which flows to landfills and incinerators or ends up as litter harming biodiversity, the climate and human health. We are saddled with an addiction to disposability so deep that tackling it will require a wholesale rewriting of the rules that have governed business and consumption for the past 70 years. …Plastic packaging …also turned coffee from a drink into a habit. …By the 1950s, hot coffee was one of America’s best-selling beverages, and 3.4 billion disposable cups of coffee a year were sold through vending machines. …Today, coffee chains worldwide rely on single-use cups — even for customers dining in. An estimated 250 billion are tossed each year, and because the plastic liner so tightly adheres to the paper, hardly any are recycled. …We could, however, take a different approach. Large French retailers have eliminated plastic for a wide range of fruit and vegetables without causing a discernible spike in food waste and the country has forced chains like McDonald’s to switch to washable dishes and cups for people dining in. The Danish city of Aarhus has signed dozens of cafes and other venues up for a reusable cup system that’s prevented over a million cups from being thrown away since its inception early last year. Europe is embedding reuse and reduction into law and infrastructure…. Full article athttps://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/06/opinion/plastic-trash-disposable.html. For GSS Ecosystem Change, chapter 7.

~~~~~

2025-09-04. Can the global drone revolution make agriculture more sustainable? By Ben Belton et al, Science. Excerpt: Use of drones has increased considerably over the past decade, reshaping activities as diverse as warfare, entertainment, delivery services, and disease control. One of the most consequential uses of drones—in agriculture—has taken off globally within only the past 5 years. This is upending expectations and may help to reconcile a fundamental sustainability dilemma—how to produce more food by using fewer inputs—but is also inducing trade-offs. This rapid change has been largely unnoticed by researchers outside of the specialized technical worlds of aeronautical engineering and precision agriculture. …We explored evidence and hypotheses about global agricultural drone diffusion and its implications for sustainability and set out an agenda for future policy and science…. Full article at https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ady1791. For GSS Digital Earth Watch, chapter 4.

2025-09-03. Earth’s capacity to store carbon could max out surprisingly soon. By Mohana Basu, Nature. Excerpt: The planet’s capacity to store carbon-dioxide emissions in rock formations is much smaller than previous estimates suggest, and it could run out as early as 2200, according to a study¹ published in Nature today. To meet the goal of the 2015 Paris agreement — limiting global warming to 1.5–2 °C above pre-industrial temperatures — vast amounts of CO₂ will need to be removed from the atmosphere. One way to do that is to capture CO₂ produced by industry and store it deep underground. Researchers report that Earth can safely store around 1,460 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide (GtCO₂) — a number much lower than the 10,000–40,000 GtCO₂ often cited in previous studies². At present, carbon capture and storage technologies remove only 49 million tonnes of CO₂ annually, with a further 416 million tonnes per year in planned capacity, say the authors of the study. But to stay within the Paris target, annual carbon storage would need to rise to 8.7 GtCO₂ by mid-century — a 175-fold increase over the next three decades…. Full article at https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-02790-6. For GSS Climate Change, chapter 10.

2025-09-04. Where the buffalo roam. By ScienceAdviser. Excerpt: Bison are … not the free-roaming furry beasts they once were; today they live mostly in conservation herds and as livestock following 19th-century U.S. policies to target bison and Indigenous communities. Researchers wanted to examine the ecological consequences of restricting these usually gentle giants. They turned to Yellowstone, the last North American area where bison are able to migrate across tens of thousands of square kilometers. From 2015 to 2022, researchers monitored migrating bison across 16 sites, finding that the beasts kept carbon levels stable while enhancing nitrogen turnover, stoking plant growth and carbon sequestration. Grazing increased the presence of helpful microbes and bacteria, and created many little pockets for nutrient levels to flourish and support other wildlife. …When kept on smaller ranches or reserves, bison don’t achieve such diverse effects. “The ecological function of migratory herbivores depends fundamentally on their ability to move across landscapes,” conclude the authors. “Restoring bison at this scale is not only possible—it works.”… Paper at https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adu0703. See also New York Times article, In Yellowstone, Migratory Bison Reawaken a Landscape. For GSS Losing Biodiversity, chapter 2.

2025-05-00. TEMPLATE. By . Excerpt: … Full article at URL. For GSS BOOK, chapter .

See updates from 2025 (Jan-Aug)-|- 2024 -|- 2023 -|- 2022 -|- 2021