Climate Change News & Discussions

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[wjfox]

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The Earth System is on the Verge of Irreversible Transition: Chinese Scientists Propose a New Framework for Prediction of Tipping Points
July 4, 2025

Introduction:

(Eurekalert) At present, more than 75% of the world's terrestrial ecosystems are experiencing a critical state of nonlinear shift driven by climate change and human activities. This nonlinear shift is reshaping the Earth's life support system at an unexpected speed. The Global Tipping Points Report released by the United Nations Climate Change Conference assesses 26 climate tipping points. Once these points are crossed, irreversible state transitions will occur in the Earth system.

Traditional models of ecological early warning are like the blind men touching the elephant. They either rely on the fluctuation of the number of a single species or are limited to the monitoring of local environmental parameters. They can only predict gradual changes and are unable to capture the key characteristics during the steady-state transition of the ecosystem. Professor Yanfen Wang’s team from the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences has focused on key issues such as the mechanism of alternative stable of ecosystems and critical point early warning. By integrating graph theory and game theory, they have proposed a framework for the steady-state transition of complex ecosystems based on energy flow networks, breaking through the difficulty of systematically quantifying the steady-state transition of complex systems. This framework relies on the optimization model. By simulating the energy transfer of the food web and based on the minimum resistance of energy transfer, it quantifies the energy distribution efficiency of the ecosystem and predicts the steady-state transition threshold of the system when the energy input fluctuates. Meanwhile, the model shows that when the resistance of energy transfer is higher than the critical threshold, the system will trigger an irreversible state transition. Based on this theoretical model, the research team successfully quantified the steady-state transition process of temperate grasslands in Inner Mongolia, accurately identified the transition threshold, and laid a theoretical foundation for the scientific protection and sustainable utilization of ecosystems.

Read more here: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1090094

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The Texas Flash Flood Is a Preview of the Chaos to Come
By Abrahm Lustgarten
July 9, 2025

Introduction:

(ProPublica) On July 4, the broken remnants of a powerful tropical storm spun off the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico so heavy with moisture that it seemed to stagger under its load. Then, colliding with another soggy system sliding north off the Pacific, the storm wobbled and its clouds tipped, waterboarding south central Texas with an extraordinary 20 inches of rain. In the predawn blackness, the Guadalupe River, which drains from the Hill Country, rose by more than 26 vertical feet in just 45 minutes, jumping its banks and hurtling downstream, killing 109 people, including at least 27 children at a summer camp located inside a federally designated floodway.

Over the days and weeks to come there will be tireless — and warranted — analysis of who is to blame for this heart-wrenching loss. Should Kerr County, where most of the deaths occurred, have installed warning sirens along that stretch of the waterway, and why were children allowed to sleep in an area prone to high-velocity flash flooding? Why were urgent updates apparently only conveyed by cellphone and online in a rural area with limited connectivity? Did the National Weather Service, enduring steep budget cuts under the current administration, adequately forecast this storm?

Those questions are critical. But so is a far larger concern: The rapid onset of disruptive climate change — driven by the burning of oil, gasoline and coal — is making disasters like this one more common, more deadly and far more costly to Americans, even as the federal government is running away from the policies and research that might begin to address it.

President Lyndon B. Johnson was briefed in 1965 that a climate crisis was being caused by burning fossil fuels and was warned that it would create the conditions for intensifying storms and extreme events, and this country — including 10 more presidents — has debated how to respond to that warning ever since.

Read more here: https://www.propublica.org/people/abrahm-lustgarten

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Politicians are Betraying Generation Z on Climate Change By Olabisi Omoniyi-Alake
July 9, 2025

Introduction:

(Other Words) Like many other Gen-Zers, I have an interest in sustainability initiatives. Our rapidly changing climate — and our constant exposure to it on social media — encourages us to be more active in seeking out ways to reduce our environmental impacts.

As more Gen-Zers enter the workforce, 74 percent of us have reported wanting to find a sustainable employer. We also place a strong emphasis on supporting sustainability with our dollars, with Gen-Zers on average willing to spend 10 percent more on sustainable items and brands.

One surprising trend that’s taken off as a result of these concerns? Crafting.

Conclusion:

Unless it’s repealed, Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill will be a disaster for the planet — and my generation. It’s incredibly frustrating as an individual trying to lessen my impact on the environment — spending hours knitting, crocheting, and thrifting — while watching politicians on Capitol Hill greenlight massive polluters.

My actions, and the collective actions of my generation, deserve to be acknowledged. We deserve to have our sustainability concerns reflected in our federal budget. We’re doing our part — don’t erase our progress.

Read more here: https://otherwords.org/politicians-are ... limate/

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[firestar464]

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Trump's EPA now says greenhouse gases don't endanger people

Source: NPR

July 24, 2025 5:00 AM ET

The Trump administration wants to overturn a key 2009 Environmental Protection Agency finding that underpins much of the federal government's actions to rein in climate change. The EPA has crafted a proposal that would undo the government's "endangerment finding," a determination that pollutants from burning fossil fuels, such as carbon dioxide and methane, can be regulated under the Clean Air Act. The finding has long served as the foundation for a host of policies and rules to address climate change.

The EPA's proposal to revoke the finding is currently under review by the White House Office of Management and Budget. Already, environmentalists, climate advocates and others are bracing for what could be a fundamental shift away from trying to address the problem of a hotter climate. And the Trump administration is celebrating the proposal as a potential economic win.

"Today is the greatest day of deregulation our nation has seen," EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in announcing the proposal in March. "We are driving a dagger straight into the heart of the climate change religion to drive down cost of living for American families, unleash American energy, bring auto jobs back to the U.S. and more."

The administration's effort comes in the wake of the hottest year humans have ever recorded on Earth, climate-fueled wildfires that destroyed thousands of homes in Los Angeles and hotter ocean temperatures that made Hurricane Helene stronger and more likely to cause damage inland.

Read more: https://www.npr.org/2025/07/24/nx-s1-53 ... -trump-epa

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“Another Big Lie”: Trump’s EPA Plans to Stop Regulating Greenhouse Gases
By Jackie Flynn Mogensen
July 25, 2025

Introduction:

(Mother Jones) Donald Trump is coming for the “holy grail” of climate regulations. As multiple media outlets reported this week, the administration plans to roll back the “endangerment finding,” an Obama-era Environmental Protection Agency decision at the center of the government’s ability to address climate change.

On paper, the endangerment finding states that greenhouse gases like methane and carbon dioxide pose a risk to the public’s health and well-being. That may sound obvious enough. But in practice, it’s one of the agency’s most important decisions.

That’s thanks to the landmark 2007 Supreme Court ruling in Massachusetts v. EPA, which found that the agency not only has the authority to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act, but the obligation to do so, if it determines the pollutants pose a health hazard. In 2009, backed by an overwhelming body of science, the endangerment finding did just that.

Now, the Trump administration reportedly plans to throw out the finding, stripping the EPA of its central role in regulating emissions from vehicle tailpipes, power plants, and more. If the administration succeeds in court (a big if), experts say it would put the United States’—and the world’s—ability to fight climate change at risk.

Read more here: https://www.motherjones.com/environmen ... -ruling/

[wjfox]

[firestar464]

we have cooked ourselves to the point where we'll have to do risky geoengineering to survive

[wjfox]

we have cooked ourselves to the point where we'll have to do risky geoengineering to survive

I don't think we're quite at that point, but it can't be far off. Once the Arctic sea ice starts to go, we're in really big trouble. The loss of that reflectivity will be a major tipping point.

[wjfox]

[weatheriscool]

[wjfox]

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[wjfox]

Simply evil.


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Energy chief suggests Trump administration is altering previously published climate reports

Aug 7, 2025, 10:08 AM ET

Energy Sec. Chris Wright said Tuesday night the Trump administration is updating the National Climate Assessments that have been previously published, which the administration recently removed from government websites.

“We’re reviewing them, and we will come out with updated reports on those and with comments on those reports,” Wright told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins in an interview on “The Source.”

Wright dismissed the past reports, saying “they weren’t fair in broad-based assessments of climate change.”

“When you get into departments and look at stuff that’s there and you find stuff that’s objectionable, you want to fix it,” he said.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/07/climate/ ... s-updating