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David Roberts@volts.wtf · 24h ago

Don't look now, but the world has now installed 3TW of solar. Took 10 years to get from 100GW to 1TW. Less than 3 years to get to 2TW. Less than 2 years to get to 3TW. Analysts expect *9TW* by 2036.

A trove of quotes lamenting the ongoing spoilage of quintessential summer from @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social in this @theguardian.com piece: "Summer was the sweet season celebrated in poetry and song, often pictured as a gentle goddess; now it is too often a threat and a misery."

We launched a war on nature. Now we are in a climate warzone | Rebecca Solnit

Summer is not what it once was. We have been robbed of one of life’s great joys

theguardian.com

#GlobalHeating greatly increases #wildfire risk. That‘s been established scientifically for a long time (see IPCC reports) but has now been shown again for the current fires 🔥 in France and Spain in a new World Weather Attribution study. www.worldweatherattribution.org/climate-chan...

Apropos of my last post about the wildfires in Bordeaux, here's a visualization of record high temps that drive evaporation of moisture from vegetation and soil and increase the risk of wildfires. H/t @wxnb.bsky.social for sharing this chart.

Nahel Belgherze@wxnb.bsky.social · 5d ago

Bordeaux, France, has now recorded more days above 40°C in 2026 alone than during the entire 105-year period from 1920 (when observations began) to 2025. This is deeply shocking.

Fascinating chart in today's Bloomberg Green newsletter on the role of climate change in the Bordeaux wildfires. Deviations from 30-year precipitation patterns increased likelihood (summer dryness = increased threat of ignition) and power (>rainfall in the spring = >organic fuel to burn) of fires.

I'm pleased to see that the merits of foreign assistance and soft power in general persist and this bipartisan commission to "recommend policies to help us move past partisan gridlock and offer a detailed approach to fundamentally reform foreign assistance" is a good thing. However...

A new path to leadership for US foreign aid

We must connect the work to our national interests.

thehill.com

A concise and IMO irrefutable argument for the rapid state- and market-sponsored buildout of solar energy, delivered as only @billmckibben.bsky.social can. The climate, economic, geopolitical, and health benefits are clear. "Energy from heaven, not from hell" is the key to a stable future.

Bill McKibben@billmckibben.bsky.social · last wk.

So, I finally did a TED talk, and it got released today. I seem to have been quite intense, but I'm grateful they left in my Trump joke. www.ted.com/talks/bill_m...

1/Southern Europe is burning — 20,000+ evacuated in France, fires across Spain, Portugal & Greece, temps near 45°C. Last summer I wrote that we're now, quite literally, "at war" with wildfires. Are our militaries prepared? The question's only gotten sharper 🧵

Thousands flee wildfires in France and Spain as temperatures reach extreme levels in southern Europe

France asks EU for help while Spain declares national emergency around Madrid, as marine heatwave sees parts of Mediterranean Sea 5C hotter than normal

theguardian.com

If anyone knows someone (or knows someone who knows someone) who can get this distributed on this side of the Atlantic, that'd be awesome, thx. Not only a (video/artisitc) balm for our time, but literally an intervention against climate destruction.

Eoghan Daltun 🌍@irishrainforest.bsky.social · 2w ago

Watch this gorgeous short trailer for An Irish Atlantic Rainforest, and you'll be ravenous for the rest. One reviewer captured it: "With its endlessly alluring imagery, this [film] is an invitation to fall in love." vimeo.com/1211649058/7...

Feels a little surreal to say this given the recent extreme heat events and continent-spanning wildfire smoke but, government/corporate/institutional leaders, you have a moral responsibility to shut everything down when the weather is this nice to let us play and hang outside.

Today is the first day after my @washingtonpost.com annual subscription - which I have maintained for virtually my entire DMV residency - expired. It’s sad that it means effectively zero change in my day-to-day. All bc of the intentional systematic dismantling of a former pillar of the 4th estate.

Can’t believe we’ve reached the end of the #FIFAWorldCup and nobody has come through on this. 😔

Packy Griffin@packygriffin.bsky.social · last mo.

Maybe this is too deep of a cut but can someone please superimpose @anginedepoitrine.bsky.social KEXP performance onto the screen during the pre-match shot of the World Cup VAR room?

Attribution science - a critical, emerging field of science that will help calculate the degree to which weather catastrophes were driven by climate change and drive accountability. “It should be the job of the politicians to use all this science that is out there.” Dr. @davifaranda.bsky.social

National Academies Report Backs Climate Change Attribution Science

Attribution science is advancing quickly, researchers said. That could support lawsuits seeking damages for severe events worsened by global warming.

nytimes.com

“Canada is burning. Europe is on fire. 1/3rd of the U.S. sky is smoke (pollution). Texas is flooding. The oceans are boiling. The heat is lethal. If you are still denying climate change you are denying the longevity of Earth.” Scott Barney on Facebook

i love when a press release headline sounds like it was written by an aggrieved fish

An interview worth your time from one of the administrators leading USAID before if was needlessly dismantled. This discussion is a rare, seemingly unfiltered look into the near and long-term implications of the U.S. surrendering its leadership on global humanitarian aid. Please read.

The Human Cost of DOGE’s War on U.S.A.I.D.

Elon Musk, Donald Trump, and the “public man-made death” that they’ve caused.

newyorker.com

The narrative is that data centres support renewables growth, but renewables are not an end in themselves. Renewables don't bring decarbonisation, energy security and affordability if they are directed to support an isolated sector rather than to replace fossil fuels across our entire economy.

Maybe this is too deep of a cut but can someone please superimpose @anginedepoitrine.bsky.social KEXP performance onto the screen during the pre-match shot of the World Cup VAR room?

Their event is shut down due to climate change but they still won’t believe in it www.mediaite.com/media/news/j...

JUST IN: Trump’s Great American State Fair Closes Due to Extreme Heat

CNN's Derek Van Dam reported live from the National Mall State Fair on Friday where temperatures hovered around 99 degrees and felt more like 111.

mediaite.com

The WC hosted by N. America is everything intl. sport should be. It's a joy being among the Americans "discovering" jogo bonito. So while between matches - if I may - set your calendars for the men's and women's Rugby World Cup in 2031 and 2033, respectively, which the US will host.

Yes it’s climate change, stop asking

Some relateable ruminations from @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social on what to make of the American identity three days before we (should) celebrate the 250th anniversary of it's founding. If you look past the seemingly daily scandals, there is much to still celebrate.

What is the United States of America now? | Rebecca Solnit

The United States of America is … so many things, horrific and magnificent, good and evil, promising and cursed

theguardian.com

"Climate Shift Index (CSI) levels of 5 — the highest possible — are forecast across the eastern U.S., meaning human-caused climate change made this extreme heat at least 5x more likely. This signals an exceptional climate-influenced event." 🔥 ➡️ Learn more: www.climatecentral.org/climate-shif...

A different type of "blue wave" thank the one usually discussed and a welcome sight at that.

John Bistline@bistline.bsky.social · last mo.

Texas has no clean energy mandate. It just beat fossil fuels with wind, solar, nuclear, and hydro on 62% of days this year. Nobody told the grid to do this, just the market.

Reminder from @jasonhickel.bsky.social "For ages, economists told us that once renewables became cheaper than fossil fuels, the transition would occur automatically. But it’s not happening. Why? Because while renewables are cheaper than fossil fuels, fossil fuels are around 3 times more profitable."

Climate socialism

I am writing this message to the millions of people who have been involved in the climate movement over the past several years.

jasonhickel.substack.com

This episode of Zero is provocative and - if we accept the suggestion that we've never actually navigated an energy transition - we'd do well to critically examine what has enabled legacy fuels to remain within the macro energy mix. Policy & financing, sure, but we have many levers these days.

This episode of The Daily is required listening. Two exec decisions - dismantling the foreign aid system and launching the war in Iran - converge to aggravate humanitarian crises afflicting the most vulnerable populations on earth. At best these choices were profoundly miscalculated. At worst...

The Iran War's Devastating Butterfly Effect

Podcast Episode · The Daily · June 10 · 27m

podcasts.apple.com

Every day, I wish the headlines would stop being so microcosmically on-the-nose.

30 gallons of fuel spilled on National Mall after event for America’s 250th birthday

Cleanup efforts are underway as Freedom 250, a group created by the Trump administration that organized the event, blames “vandalism.”

nbcnews.com

Agree strongly with this quote from @willoremus.com piece in @theatlantic.com about AI's place in writing: "We lose something essential when we outsource to machines the hard work of discovering the truth and interpreting the world around us (or, in the case of fiction, the worlds within us)."

AI-Writing Scandals Are Getting Very Confusing

What counts as an acceptable use of AI has never been fuzzier.

theatlantic.com

If we're serious about the energy transition we need to rid politics of the influence of the fossil fuel industry. Meaning accepting contributions from O&G giants should seal the fate of the campaign.

Leah Stokes@leahstokes.bsky.social · 3mo ago

California gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra just took half a million dollars from the fossil fuel industry. This on top of the max contribution from Chevron. When someone shows you who they are, believe them.