it’s hot in the Arctic, global ocean temperature hits record, droughts becoming more severe, Trump tries to prevent judges from understanding climate science, New Mexico energy grid moves quickly to renewables

Scientific American reports that it’s over 90°F in the Arctic. This region is warming four-times faster than the rest of the world, as reflective ice and snow is replaced by sunlight-absorbing water and vegetation. This appears to be changing the jet stream in the northern hemisphere, leading to more stationary high-pressure systems (‟heat domes”). As Arctic soils warm, the vast stores of frozen organic matter will decay, leading to more greenhouse-gas emissions in a feedback loop that will exacerbate climate change.

The New York Times reports that the Trump Administration’s response to this Arctic threat is to stop funding the Arctic Report Card, which has been coordinated by NOAA for the past two decades. The Report Card ‟has provided a checkup on the health of the region, which is heating up at several times the pace of the rest of the globe.” The Administration provided no explanation for this change, but it is consistent with its other attempts to ‟kill the messenger.” The oceanographer who led this effort for NOAA during Biden’s presidency stated that ‟it’s another inane step in this administration’s turning a blind eye to climate change, among other environmental issues.”

Scientific American also notes that global ocean temperatures established a new record in July: ‟Sea surface temperatures, measured at 10 meters deep, averaged 20.96 degrees Celsius (69.7 degrees Fahrenheit) in July. This included all global oceans aside from the polar regions.” Such records are expected, as 90% of the heat being trapped by greenhouse gases is going into the ocean. This breaks the record set in 2023, and is being fueled by the growing El Niño event in the tropical Pacific…

the northern hemisphere is burning, boreal forest fires are different from temperate forest fires, smoke impacts much greater than previously understood, Trump responds to fire threat with U.S. Forest Service cuts, the solar revolution continues to accelerate

Danger Season in the northern hemisphere is reaching a new level of ecological disruption, civic chaos and human suffering. The Washington Post reports that ‟major wildfires and their massive, suffocating plumes of smoke blanketed vast swaths of North America and Europe, in some cases combining with intense heat waves that exacerbated flammable conditions and contributed to human misery.” The smoke lingered for days in densely populated cities, spreading toxins and increasing the risk of asthma attacks, heart disease and strokes. The New York Times notes that, as meteorological records are shattered, Europe feels close to a breaking point. Fires have led to the largest-ever peacetime evacuations in France and Spain, with 300,000 people displaced, villages destroyed and lives disrupted. In France, the Louvre Museum and the Eiffel Tower were closed, the final stage of the Tour de France was curtailed and a conference about coping with extreme heat was canceled. At least 10,000 heat-related deaths have occurred, and in some regions bomb squads were deployed as remnant cold war and WWII munitions were exploding.

As wildfires burned even in the Scottish Highlands, scientists were grimly noting that these conditions will be routine in Europe’s future summers. ‟Far from moderating, some experts say the pace of warming appears to be accelerating. France’s weather and climate service has painted a dystopian picture, saying that by 2050, heat waves could be five times more frequent, while temperatures could hit 118 degrees Fahrenheit.”

There is no doubt that climate change is driving the record-breaking temperatures and wildfires. The Washington Post quotes climate scientist Daniel Swain: ‟The conspicuous overlap between record-breaking warmth, dryness, and/or low snowpack and these fires is simply not a coincidence. The scientific evidence linking increasingly extreme fire weather, as well as increasingly extreme wildfires themselves, to climate warming is clear.” AP reports on scientific studies concluding that climate change made the hot and dry conditions in Spain 20 times more likely. Politico notes that leading Spanish and UK ministers ‟described this summer’s fires and extreme heat as ‘a consequence of the climate crisis.’ They agreed that this summer’s wildfires demonstrated that climate change was now a national security emergency facing Europe and threatening our way of life…”