The real energy use of agentic AI • Agents use about 600x more energy than simple AI prompts
The real energy use of agentic AI
Agents use about 600x more energy than simple AI prompts
theclimatebrink.com
The Climate Brink
@theclimatebrink.skystack.xyz
The Choice is Ours: Climate Disaster or a Sustainable Future This is an automated Substack Account of https://theclimatebrink.substack.com Discover more/Create at: @skystack.xyz
Fixing one of climate’s worst plots • the 1930s were hot over the U.S. Midwest, but not that hot
Fixing one of climate’s worst plots
the 1930s were hot over the U.S. Midwest, but not that hot
theclimatebrink.com
Why Hansen may end up being right about 2026 • Whether 2026 sets a new record is increasingly likely to be a split decision between different groups
Why Hansen may end up being right about 2026
Whether 2026 sets a new record is increasingly likely to be a split decision between different groups
theclimatebrink.com
Wildfires are remaking the world • With great sorrow, we watch as the Earth is rebuilt into a different, warmer planet.
Wildfires are remaking the world
With great sorrow, we watch as the Earth is rebuilt into a different, warmer planet.
theclimatebrink.com
Raw Data, Wrong Answers • What happens to the 1930s temperature record after correcting measurement biases and station coverage
Raw Data, Wrong Answers
What happens to the 1930s temperature record after correcting measurement biases and station coverage
theclimatebrink.com
Hot days, cold thermometers • Why a viral graph on US days above 95F is misleading and overstates regional warmth
Hot days, cold thermometers
Why a viral graph on US days above 95F is misleading and overstates regional warmth
theclimatebrink.com
Canada's boreal wildfires aren't just bad forest management • Higher fire season temperatures are strongly correlated with increased area burned
Canada's boreal wildfires aren't just bad forest management
Higher fire season temperatures are strongly correlated with increased area burned
theclimatebrink.com
The Strongest El Niño Ever • With all the July runs in, dynamical models give a ~90% chance of a record-setting event
The Strongest El Niño Ever
With all the July runs in, dynamical models give a ~90% chance of a record-setting event
theclimatebrink.com
What drove the early 20th century warming? • Human activity, natural forcings, and internal variability explain the global temperature rise between 1900 and 1945
What drove the early 20th century warming?
Human activity, natural forcings, and internal variability explain the global temperature rise between 1900 and 1945
theclimatebrink.com
Deadly heat wave in France shows the future of climate risk • Perhaps the victory lap for getting rid of RCP8.5 was premature
Deadly heat wave in France shows the future of climate risk
Perhaps the victory lap for getting rid of RCP8.5 was premature
theclimatebrink.com
From the archive: Anatomy of a heat wave • Sunny days aren't all they're cracked up to be
From the archive: Anatomy of a heat wave
Sunny days aren't all they're cracked up to be
theclimatebrink.com
How climate change influences extreme weather • How science shows us how warming makes heat waves, floods, hurricanes, and wildfires more likely or more severe — and why this science is becoming a major public-policy battleground.
How climate change influences extreme weather
How science shows us how warming makes heat waves, floods, hurricanes, and wildfires more likely or more severe — and why this science is becoming a major public-policy battleground.
theclimatebrink.com
The Merchants of Doubt are coming for Extreme Event Attribution science • Doubt is still their product
The Merchants of Doubt are coming for Extreme Event Attribution science
Doubt is still their product
theclimatebrink.com
Plateauing CO2 emissions have slowed atmospheric growth • CO2 concentrations have continued to increase – but more slowly than they otherwise would have
Plateauing CO2 emissions have slowed atmospheric growth
CO2 concentrations have continued to increase – but more slowly than they otherwise would have
theclimatebrink.com
How Science Works • a talk I gave on the Climate and Weather Livestream
How Science Works
a talk I gave on the Climate and Weather Livestream
theclimatebrink.com
On the death of RCP8.5 • We should celebrate progress, but not overstate it
On the death of RCP8.5
We should celebrate progress, but not overstate it
theclimatebrink.com
Higher warming predictions for 2026 and 2027 • An update to my December estimates of global temperatures over the next two years
Higher warming predictions for 2026 and 2027
An update to my December estimates of global temperatures over the next two years
theclimatebrink.com
Transition risk: The human cost of net zero • stranded assets and ghost factories
Transition risk: The human cost of net zero
stranded assets and ghost factories
theclimatebrink.com
We're scientists. We know the climate's changing. And we know why.
We're scientists. We know the climate's changing. And we know why.
theclimatebrink.com
How many people does heat actually kill? • It depends on how you count it
How many people does heat actually kill?
It depends on how you count it
theclimatebrink.com
Human-caused climate change is unmistakably distinct from Earth’s natural climate variability • Five independent fits across four independent archives and 66 million years — the empirical case in two figures
Human-caused climate change is unmistakably distinct from Earth’s natural climate variability
Five independent fits across four independent archives and 66 million years — the empirical case in two figures
justdean.substack.com
Climate risk explained • a chapter from my upcoming textbook
Climate risk explained
a chapter from my upcoming textbook
theclimatebrink.com
Don’t panic: A field guide to the runaway greenhouse • the Earth may eventually turn into Venus, but not anytime soon
Don’t panic: A field guide to the runaway greenhouse
the Earth may eventually turn into Venus, but not anytime soon
theclimatebrink.com
The El Niño cometh • The latest models show a much greater chance of a strong – or even super – El Nino developing later this year
The El Niño cometh
The latest models show a much greater chance of a strong – or even super – El Nino developing later this year
theclimatebrink.com
When will clean energy spending exceed military spending? • Why I may have been a tad premature in my 2026 prediction.
When will clean energy spending exceed military spending?
Why I may have been a tad premature in my 2026 prediction.
theclimatebrink.com
The war in Iran shows us another cost of our fossil-fuel economy • our reliance on fossil fuels makes us less safe
The war in Iran shows us another cost of our fossil-fuel economy
our reliance on fossil fuels makes us less safe
theclimatebrink.com
OBITUARY: The DOE Climate Working Group Report, 2025–2026 • it died in a footnote
OBITUARY: The DOE Climate Working Group Report, 2025–2026
it died in a footnote
theclimatebrink.com
The AI-Augmented Scientist • The promise and pitfalls of using AI tools to boost my capabilities as a scientist
The AI-Augmented Scientist
The promise and pitfalls of using AI tools to boost my capabilities as a scientist
theclimatebrink.com
Fact check: Climate change is not making extreme cold more common • Sometimes it just gets cold
Fact check: Climate change is not making extreme cold more common
Sometimes it just gets cold
theclimatebrink.com
Keep it in the ground? • When the politics of affordability meet the needs of climate mitigation
Keep it in the ground?
When the politics of affordability meet the needs of climate mitigation
theclimatebrink.com