pollution – Desdemona Despair

Annual Greenhouse Gas Index (AGGI), 1700-2025. For 2025, the AGGI was a record high 1.56, representing a 56 percent increase in effective radiative forcing from long-lived greenhouse gases since 1990. Time series since 1700 for atmospheric CO2 abundance (black dashed line), CO2-equivalent abundance based on ongoing measurements of all greenhouse gases reported here (black line), and the AGGI (red line, right-hand scale). The measurements of CO2 between the 1950s and 1978 are from C.D. Keeling [Keeling et al., 1958]. Prior to 1978, atmospheric abundances represent values derived from air trapped in ice and snow above glaciers [Machida et al., 1995, Battle et al., 1996, Etheridge et al., 1996; Butler et al., 1999]. The dashed orange lines highlight the AGGI reference year (1990) at which the index is normalized to a value of 1.0. Graphic: NOAA Global Monitoring Laboratory

October 22, 2026

Another record high for NOAA Annual Greenhouse Gas Index in 2025 – Long-lived greenhouse gases trapped 56 percent more heat than in 1990 – Carbon dioxide reached 425.62 ppm, and its rate of increase has accelerated to 2.5 ppm per year

21 October 2026 (NOAA) – The AGGI quantifies radiative forcing from long-lived trace gases and its change over time. The index is derived from NOAA GML’s long-term measurements of greenhouse gas abundances in the remote atmosphere at sites across the globe; it is formulated to provide an understanding of the change in radiative forcing in […]

The carcass of an elephant seal is seen next to plastic garbage on a beach, in Pico Sayago, in the Patagonian province of Chubut, Argentina, 26 September 2024. Photo: Agustin Marcarian / REUTERS

October 5, 2024

Fishing waste chokes marine wildlife, threatens human health in Argentina’s Patagonia – Mountains of plastic waste from the fishing industry cover the coast along the Valdes Peninsula

By Miguel Lo Bianco 4 October 2024 VALDES PENINSULA, Argentina (Reuters) – Mountains of plastic waste from the fishing industry have covered the coast along the Valdes Peninsula in Argentina’s Patagonia, threatening the lives of sea lions, fish, penguins and whales and also endangering human health. The coasts of the peninsula on Argentina’s Atlantic coast, […]

Production of selected salts in Mt/year for (a) the world and (b) the United States. Graphic: Graphic: Kaushal, et al., 2023 / Nature Reviews Earth and Environment

July 28, 2024

Humans are disrupting natural “salt cycle” on a global scale

31 October 2023 (University of Maryland) – The influx of salt in streams and rivers is an ‘existential threat,’ according to a research team led by a UMD geologist. The planet’s demand for salt comes at a cost to the environment and human health, according to a new scientific review led by University of Maryland Geology Professor Sujay Kaushal. Published […]

Myanmar’s rare earth mining industry has become the world’s largest supply, yet the mines’ toxic by-products are poisoning nearby waterways, wildlife, and communities. Photo: Global Witness

July 28, 2024

Transition minerals: A climate solution that could cost the earth – “We need a just, fair, and equitable transition from fossil fuels to renewables”

10 July 2024 (Global Witness) – Renewable energy is often hailed as a panacea for the energy crisis. But without better consultation and regulation, plans to expand mining for minerals central to the energy transition could be disastrous for people and the planet. To tackle the climate crisis, we need to transition away from fossil […]

Glow from Park Fire burns is seen along Cohasset Road near Chico, California, U.S. 25 July 2024. Photo: Fred Greaves / REUTERS

July 27, 2024

A “catastrophic” start to wildfire season in Oregon sparks alarm – Oregon wildfire explodes to half the size of Rhode Island – “This is perhaps the worst I’ve seen in terms of the number of fires on the landscape in the last decade in the state of Oregon”

By Jules Feeney 27 July 2024 LOS ANGELES (The Guardian) – Oregon’s wildfire season is off to an explosive start with more than 1 million acres charred in less than a month, as experts warn that extreme heat and unusual lightning strikes are creating “catastrophic conditions” for fires to ignite and spread. The state is currently […]

Stormwater flows into Biscayne Bay, 1 June 2024 - 18 June 2024. The flows from the Little River exceeded rates of 2000 cubic feet per second, causing very low salinity in the bay, resulting in large-scale fish kills. Graphic: Miami Waterkeeper

July 27, 2024

Record flooding yields massive fish kill in miles-long stretch of Biscayne Bay – “These events are anything but normal”

By Margaret Wong 23 July 2024 (The Cool Down) – Biscayne Bay is reeling from its fourth major fish kill in as many years, triggered by recent record flooding in South Florida. What’s happening? Torrential rains have inundated the region, causing a significant influx of freshwater into the bay, which has led to low salinity […]

Difference between modelled and reported methane intensities by type of company. Modelled emissions are compared with the methane emissions reported by each company in its sustainability reporting or its public communication. The global average ratio on this set of companies is 16.1, with a relative standard deviation of 79.3 percent. Each type of company within this set does not contribute similarly to these global metrics. Integrated companies have the highest average ratio between model and reporting out of all the types of companies, at 19.2 and a relative standard deviation of 64.7 percent, which means that some Integrated companies reporting are much closer to the values for their corresponding model than others. National oil companies (NOCs) have the lowest median ratio with 4.0 but their average is the second highest at 15.2, strongly influenced by one of the companies in the category that has a factor of 51.2, while the remaining 4 have an average of 6.2. Independent companies have the lowest average with 12.6 and a relative standard deviation of 65.2 percent, which shows the importance of the regions of operation in the results of different models. Graphic: Peyle, et al., 2024

July 27, 2024

We used satellite imagery and AI to see who’s keeping their climate pledges – Almost none of the signatories of the Global Methane Pledge are following through on their commitment – On average, companies emit methane intensities 16 times larger than reported

By Antoine Rostand 17 July 2024 (Fortune) – Committing countries or companies to climate pledges doesn’t guarantee that those pledges will be honored. After all, the planet is getting a great deal hotter every year, with the record-breaking temperature in India in May just the latest example. If companies and countries were fully honoring their […]

Neighbors look at a car crushed by a large tree in the wake of Hurricane Irene on 28 August 2011 in Baltimore, Maryland. Photo: Patrick Smith / Getty Images

July 27, 2024

Baltimore judge tosses climate case, hands win to Big Oil – “This decision is the oil companies’ dream. This is what they would love to happen to all those cases.”

By Aman Azhar 13 July 2024 (Inside Climate News) – In a first of its kind decision, a Maryland judge on Wednesday tossed Baltimore City’s climate suit against major oil giants on the grounds that it is not the role of the state courts to address a global issue like climate change. Originally filed in […]

Trump walks onstage to deliver the keynote address at the Faith & Freedom Coalition’s Road to Majority Policy Conference at the Washington Hilton on 22 June 2024 in Washington, D.C. Photo: Samuel Corum / Getty Images

July 15, 2024

What Trump allies’ Project 2025 would mean for the fight against climate change – “Trump would frack the National Mall if he thought it would make a couple of bucks for donors and Big Oil”

By Zack Budryk and Rachel Frazin 13 July 2025 (The Hill) – Project 2025, a controversial conservative roadmap that aims to guide the next Republican administration, calls for the elimination of multiple energy- and environment-related offices and rules — moves that would restrict the government’s ability to combat climate change and pollution. Policies promoted under the plan […]

Summary age-specific annual percent change (i.e., local drift) and birth cohort rate ratios of colorectal cancer incidence rates in the United States. A) Local drift: summary age-specific annual percent change for colon and rectal cancer. B) Incidence rate ratios by birth cohort for colon and rectal cancer (referent cohort = 1949). Shaded bands indicate 95 percent confidence interval. Graphic: Siegel, et al., 2017 / Journal of the National Cancer Institute

July 7, 2024

Cancer is striking more young people, and doctors are alarmed and baffled – “We have to find out why. Otherwise, the progress we have made in the last 50 years may stall or reverse.”

By Brianna Abbott 11 January 2024 (The Wall Street Journal) – Meilin Keen was studying for the bar exam and preparing to move to New York City last June when she started throwing up blood. Keen, 27 years old, learned days later that she has gastric cancer. She postponed the bar exam. Brain fog from […]