SCIENCE [Bad News Issue]
- Sea levels around the world have been underestimated due to inaccurate modelling, with research suggesting
ocean levels are far higher than previously understood. The
finding could significantly affect assessments of the future impacts of
global heating and the effects on coastal settlements. Globally,
the research found ocean levels are an average of 11.8 inches higher than
previously believed, but in some areas of the global south, including
south-east Asia and the Indo-Pacific, they may be 39-59 inches higher than
previously thought. Compared with previous assumptions of coastal sea level, the measured
values suggest that with a hypothetical 39 inches (1 m) of relative sea-level rise,
31–37% more land and 48–68% more people (increasing estimates to 77–132
million) would fall below sea level. [The study itself is much more interesting than this summary.] - Planetary warming has significantly accelerated over the past 10 years, with temperatures rising at a higher rate since 2015 than in any previous decade on record, a new study showed. The Earth warmed around 0.35C (0.62F) in the decade to 2025, compared to just under 0.2C per decade on average between 1970 and 2015, according to a paper published on Friday in the scientific journal Geophysical Research Letters. This is the first statistically significant evidence of an acceleration of global warming, the authors said. Global warming has accelerated and is now happening twice as fast as in previous decades, meaning major climate catastrophes could happen sooner than expected. Earth was warming by about 0.18°C per decade prior to 2013-14. Since
then, it has been heating up by about 0.36°C per decade, according to an
analysis by Stefan Rahmstorf at the University of Potsdam, Germany, and his colleagues. If warming continues at this rate, humanity could breach the Paris Agreement goal of limiting warming to 1.5°C in 2028, even sooner than other research has projected. “Every tenth of a degree matters and makes the impact of global
warming worse in terms of extreme weather events, in terms of ecosystem
impacts, also the risk of crossing tipping points,” says Rahmstorf. “The
world, apart from the US, is trying to halt global warming, reduce it,
and that’s why the fact that it’s now actually doing the opposite,
accelerating, is of great concern.”
GREENING
- In China, solar power generation overtook wind for the first time last year, and the growth of both clean sources helped meet rising demand without the need for more coal burning. (Bloomberg)
- Amazon, Google, JPMorgan Chase and other corporate giants signed onto a $100 million effort to fund projects that cut climate superpollutants such as methane, black carbon, and refrigerant gases. The campaign, called the Superpollutant Action Initiative, is set to supply financing through 2030. For a taste of what it might mean, Axios reported that “Randy Spock, Google’s carbon credits and removals lead, cited potential project areas like cutting landfill methane and stemming the release of refrigerant gases when HVAC systems are replaced.”
- BYD just revealed a new battery that InsideEVs said “makes Western EV tech look ancient.” The second generation of its Blade battery can charge from 10% to 70% in just five minutes and 10% to 97% in 10 minutes.
- Caltrain, the commuter rail line that connects San Francisco with Silicon Valley, recently electrified 51 miles of its tracks. The faster electric trains have increased ridership to the tune of 60 percent — while protecting riders from harmful diesel fumes. Read more.
- Deforestation in the Amazon is finally trending downward, with the last six months representing the lowest on record for this time period since 2014. “There is an expectation that we will reach, in 2026, the lowest deforestation rate in the historical series in the Amazon if we continue with these efforts,” says Brazil’s environment minister Marina Silva, crediting a crackdown on illegal clearings. The satellite imagery used to determine deforestation levels is limited by cloud cover, which can complicate findings during the rainy season, so applause should be held until the year’s data is finalized this summer. Mongabay | 4 min read
CLIMATE DESPOLIATION
- Atlanta has spent decades battling smog and air pollution. Now, state
regulators have cleared the way for a major natural gas expansion at Georgia Power’s
Plant Bowen, a massive coal-fired power plant roughly 40 miles
northwest of downtown that could add hundreds of tons of new air
pollution each year to a region already struggling with unhealthy air. The Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) and the Sierra Club are now challenging the EPD’s approval. - In 2013, 140 countries, including the U.S., joined the Minamata Convention, pledging to learn from the mistakes of the past and to control the release of mercury into the environment. That included, explicitly, mercury in emissions from “coal-fired power plants.” Last month, however, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency retreated from the convention by abandoning the 2024 Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, which had reduced allowable mercury pollution from coal-fired plants by as much as 90%. Nearly all human exposure to methylmercury in the United States comes from eating seafood which are contaminated by the power plant ash.
- The Sistine Chapel got a refresh. The Vatican had to remove a white film of salt from the iconic Renaissance fresco produced by visitors’ sweat, which emits lactic acid and reacts with the calcium carbonate on the wall. The salty chain reaction, amplified by climate change, has upped the tourist schvitz quotient in recent years, according to the scientists overseeing the cleaning.
DARK AGE CLIMATE POLITICS
- A judge upholds her temporary injunction blocking Sable Offshore Corp. from restarting a pipeline network attached to rigs off California’s coast, dealing a blow to the company’s attempt to use the Trump administration to skirt California regulators. (CalMatters, E&E News)
- A poll finds California voters are split down party lines on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed $200-million EV rebate program, with Republicans and Independents generally opposed and Democrats in favor. (E&E News)
- Oil and gas companies are pushing the Trump administration to ease its offshore wind attacks, in part because they hope a wind retreat will allow Congress to undertake permitting reform. (Latitude Media)
- On Wednesday, the Department of the Interior ended the Trump administration’s first Alaskan oil and gas lease sale without a single bidder for more than a million acres of federal waters in the Cook Inlet. In a statement, the Sierra Club called the auction, which it opposed, “a big fat failure.”
- A judge revoked the federal Bureau of Land Management’s approval of the proposed 5,000-well Converse County oil and gas project in Wyoming, saying the agency’s analysis violated environmental laws. (WyoFile)
Take Action!
EPIC alerts us to a need for comment on logging (which worldwide contributes as much to warming as all air travel).
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Our National Forest System includes some of America’s most iconic public lands. Yet a newly proposed rule would limit the public’s ability to track and comment on logging projects on those lands. The proposal would slash public review periods for major federal decisions—from 30–45 days down to just 10 days for Environmental Assessments and 20 days for Environmental Impact Statements—effectively shutting the public out of decisions made on public land.
This rule isn’t about efficiency—it’s about limiting the public’s voice in decisions about our shared lands. Our national forests belong to all of us, and the public deserves a say in how they are managed. Join us in calling for this proposed rule to be withdrawn.
Submit your comment by Monday, March 9 on the proposed rule by visiting:
https://www.regulations.gov/document/FS-2026-0001-0001 and clicking the “Comment” button.
Below is a template letter. It is most effective when letters are personalized, so please add your personal stories and perspectives:
Dear Chief Moore,
I urge the Forest Service to withdraw the proposed rule revising the project-level predecisional administrative review process. National forests support complex ecosystems, safeguard drinking water, and provide irreplaceable habitat for wildlife. Decisions affecting these systems must be informed by meaningful public participation and careful review, not rushed timelines that limit the ability of communities and experts to engage with complex environmental analyses.
The proposed reductions in comment and objection periods, along with changes to the objection review process, would significantly weaken one of the public’s most important opportunities to identify scientific, ecological, and community concerns before projects are finalized. Robust participation improves decisions by bringing local knowledge, scientific expertise, and diverse perspectives into forest management.
Public lands belong to all of us, and the stewardship of these ecosystems depends on transparent and accessible decision-making. I respectfully urge the Forest Service to withdraw this proposal and maintain a public review process that supports thoughtful, science-based management of our national forests.
Sincerely,