Our new Nature Comms. paper today: trees halve global urban heat island, but cooling mostly in wealthy areas. Even max. tree planting offsets only ~20% of projected mid-century warming (SSP2-4.5) in urban areas. Trees matter AND we need emissions cuts. doi.org/10.1038/s414... @science.nature.org

Thanks to @mongabay.com and Mike Gaworecki for covering our new paper — asking not just "is it too hot to survive?" but "is it too hot to live?" For a growing fraction of older adults around the globe, the answer is already yes. news.mongabay.com/2026/03/glob... @science.nature.org

Global warming already impacts daily lives around the globe, study finds

As a grueling March heat wave batters the U.S. West with dangerous temperatures, and the world girds itself for what could be another sizzling record-smashing Super El Niño, a team of researchers has ...

news.mongabay.com

Excellent new article in Environmental Research: Health #ERH @iopp-environment.bsky.social iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1... By @lukeparsons.bsky.social et. al

Intensifying global heat threatens livability for younger and older adults

Intensifying global heat threatens livability for younger and older adults, Parsons, L A, Baldwin, J W, Guzman-Echavarria, G, Jay, O, Kalmus, P, Staudmyer, H, Vanos, J K, Wolff, N H

iopscience.iop.org

🚨 Proud to share our new paper in ER:Health, showing heat livability limitations doubled since 1950s Older adults: 600→900 hrs/year of dangerous heat Younger adults: 25→50 hrs/year ~25% of global population in "survivable but not livable" areas DOI: 10.1088/2752-5309/ae3c3a @science.nature.org

We’re handing over the Bluesky mic! 🎙️ TNC scientist Luke Parsons @lukeaparsons.bsky.social is taking over our feed to highlight his research and the science driving conservation forward. Feel free to ask questions and follow along to hear more from Luke!

Big thanks to @justinehausheer.bsky.social for her nice piece on our new @science.org review paper on forests! For Climate Adaptation, Forests Offer More Than Carbon Storage blog.nature.org/science-brie... @science.nature.org

For Climate Adaptation, Forests Offer More Than Carbon Storage

New research finds that forests play a far greater role in protecting people from climate change than previously recognized.

blog.nature.org

New in Science 🌳 Forests aren't just carbon sinks, they protect people from climate extremes. In the tropics, intact forests cool by 6°C. But heat from deforestation could reduce safe work conditions for ~3M people & linked to ~28k deaths/yr. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... @science.nature.org

More than mitigation: The role of forests in climate adaptation

Forests regulate global and local climates in ways that impact human well-being. In this Review, we discuss the scale-dependent mechanisms through which forests regulate climate, highlighting their co...

science.org

Grateful to the @science.nature.org media team—especially Tom Jennings and Robyn Day—for this excellent summary of our new Earth's Future paper on heat inequity in the US. Great to see our science reaching wider audiences! www.nature.org/en-us/newsro...

Global Heating Will Hit Socially Vulnerable U.S. Communities First and Hardest

TNC-led study stresses urgency of directing climate adaptation funding to the places that need it most.

nature.org

NEW paper in @agu.org Earth's Future: Vulnerable US communities already face an extra ~2 weeks/yr of heat (>95°F/35°C). With 2°C warming, this gap widens to nearly 3 weeks/yr. Climate inequity in the US grows with warming. doi.org/10.1029/2025... @dukeenvironment.bsky.social @science.nature.org

Climate Change and Disparities in Extreme Heat Exposure for Socially Vulnerable Areas in the Contiguous United States

We assess geographic disparities in heat exposure for more and less socially vulnerable areas in the contiguous United States (CONUS) High-social vulnerability areas are disproportionately expose...

doi.org

The exec administration announced plans to dismantle NCAR, the backbone of US climate and weather science. As a grad student, I trained at NCAR and was mentored by brilliant, careful scientists. I now rely on their data and expertise. If in the US, contact your reps: agu.quorum.us/campaign/151...

Save NCAR from being dismantled today!

The Trump Administration has vowed to dissolve the center that provides critical extreme weather and climate data for our nation.

agu.quorum.us

🚨 Applications open for the Penn–TNC Sustainability & Conservation Science Postdoc Fellowship! 💰 $70K stipend + research/travel funds 🌍 Climate & conservation projects 📅 Deadline: Jan 30, 2026 🔗 Details: viest.upenn.edu/sustainabili... #ClimateScience #Postdoc

🌡️ NEW RESEARCH: With just 1°C of warming, hundreds of millions already face "survivable but not livable" heat conditions, where you can survive, but can't safely do everyday activities. I'll present this work at #AGU25 Monday Dec 15, 4:16-4:28pm in Room 298-299 (Session GH14A-01) 🧵 1/5

We contributed to a new FAO report on forests & ag Forests cool landscapes, sustain crops, & protect workers. 🌡️ Deforestation raises temps by 3–5 °C → unsafe work hours & potential ~28k heat-related deaths/yr. 🌳 Forest conservation = climate adaptation. openknowledge.fao.org/items/f72aff...

🚨 Funding Alert: Allen Family Philanthropies is offering $10M for projects that accelerate Natural Climate Solutions (NCS) in the U.S. through science & tech innovation. LOIs due Jan 15, 2026. Webinar Dec 9. www.allenphilanthropies.org/accelerating... #ClimateSolutions #NCS #FundingOpportunity

Accelerating NCS RFP | Allen Family Philanthropies

Accelerating NCS in the United States

allenphilanthropies.org

🚨 New paper alert! Migrant workers in India face rising indoor & outdoor heat stress, with labor capacity already down ~10% in key cities. Climate warming + El Niño = even worse risks. Proud to co-author this work in Earth’s Future. 🔗 doi.org/10.1029/10.1...

🚨 AGU talk alert! Presenting at #AGU25 in New Orleans — showing how extreme heat is already limiting safe physical activity for billions, especially older adults. 📅 Dec 15, 4:16PM CST 📍 Room 298-299 #ClimateHealth #ExtremeHeat #Livability

Want to learn more about estimating how heat limits human livability on a warming planet and which locations are experiencing the worst impacts? Come to my talk at AMS in New Orleans on Tuesday, 14 Jan 2025 at 9:00 AM (CT) in the Session "Novel Assessment of Heat Exposure and Risk"!

Thread summarizing our new(ish) paper: 1/ 🌡️ As the globe heats up, tropical outdoor workers are increasingly at risk. Our review in One Earth explores how > billion people face health + productivity challenges from rising humid heat, and how we can adapt. (1/10) doi.org/10.1016/j.on...

How stable are North America's connections to remote ocean regions? 🚨 In a new study led by Xinyue Luo, we investigate the last 1000 years using paleoclimate data assimilation (DA) to understand how climate patterns like ENSO, PDO, and AMO influence U.S. rainfall and drought. 🌧️ #ClimateScience 1/

🚨 NEW STUDY ALERT 🚨 We recently published an article (doi.org/10.1021/acse...) on how decarbonization impacts particulate soiling of solar panels—a unique link between climate change, air pollution, and renewable energy. 🌞💨 Why this matters and what we found 👇 (1/)

The Impact of Decarbonization on Particulate Soiling of Solar Panels

Climate researchers have examined many impacts of climate change on energy supply and demand under various scenarios. However, the effect of changing particulate deposition onto solar panel surfaces on solar power production efficiency (i.e., soiling) has not been studied. We therefore characterize probabilistic outcomes across multiple climate models and scenarios. We find large current regional losses (up to 40% without manual cleaning, up to 20% with monthly cleaning and rain removal) in generation that grow slightly under a high-emission scenario, largely due to regional increases in windblown dust. In contrast, under a low-emissions scenario, potential production increases significantly (2–8% interquartile range with only rain removal) due to reduced soiling, especially in regions of Asia and Africa where anthropogenic aerosols are major contributors to soiling. Projected changes vary widely across models in many dusty areas outside of the Sahara and Arabia. Differences can also be large in regions dominated by anthropogenic aerosols, such as Nigeria, eastern China, and northern India, where the full range across modeled potential power production changes extends from −1 to +11% for the end of the century (without manual cleaning), underscoring the need to consider multiple climate models. With large increases in projected solar power deployment, the relatively small potential production increases reported here could nevertheless represent a large dividend in additional energy production. Hence, reductions in air pollution attributable to decarbonization could provide positive feedback under which a greater deployment of solar power (or other renewables) increases the production of solar power, facilitating the transition to renewable energy.

doi.org

Provided commentary for Kasha Patel's @washingtonpost.com article about factors affecting heat stress. Although fans help us stay cool most of the time, there are limits. Inside, fans combined with A/C use can help reduce the need for energy-intensive A/C. www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...

These small daily actions may affect how your body manages heat

In the face of intense heat, experts say small daily actions — from the food, drinks or medications we ingest to how we attempt to cool down — could affect how our bodies dissipate heat.

washingtonpost.com

Big thanks the the TNC media/communications team for their piece on our new One Earth paper ( tinyurl.com/m7uze3y9 ) in which we highlight future humid heat impacts on outdoor workers in the tropics and promising solutions. www.nature.org/en-us/newsro...

Scientists highlight growing risks from humid heat to ~1 billion outdoor workers in the tropics

1°C of additional warming could pose serious challenges for around one-eighth of the tropical population, but researchers also explore ways to mitigate against these dangers

nature.org