Global warming is changing phytoplankton, and scientists say it’s not good.
Plankton are the food chain’s staple throughout the whole ocean neighborhood.
But they’re losing proteins and nutrients,
Replaced by lipids and carbohydrates.
Just don’t tell Robert Kennedy Jr. we’re turning phytoplankton into junk fish food.
“Right now we are facing a man-made disaster of global scale, our greatest threat in thousands of years: Climate change. If we don’t take action the collapse of our civilizations and the extinction of much of the natural world is on the horizon.”
— David Attenborough, naturalist and broadcaster, sounding a dire warning in a speech Monday to the U.N. climate conference in Poland, NPR reports.
We have record high sea surface temperatures. Illustration from NOAA Climate.gov
2016 was the hottest year in 137 years of record-keeping, and the third in a row to be so noted. That and other omens are confirmed in a new report available from the American Meteorological Society called, “State of the Climate 2016.”
The report, peer-reviewed by international scientists, describes the following “highlights.”
Greenhouse gases highest on record
Global surface temperature highest on record
Sea surface temperatures highest on record
Global sea level highest on record
Extremes in the water cycle and precipitation
Arctic continued to warm, sea ice extent remained low
Barack Obama put out the follow statement on President Trump’s decision to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris climate agreement:
A year and a half ago, the world came together in Paris around the first-ever global agreement to set the world on a low-carbon course and protect the world we leave to our children.
It was steady, principled American leadership on the world stage that made that achievement possible. It was bold American ambition that encouraged dozens of other nations to set their sights higher as well. And what made that leadership and ambition possible was America’s private innovation and public investment in growing industries like wind and solar – industries that created some of the fastest new streams of good-paying jobs in recent years, and contributed to the longest streak of job creation in our history.
I woke up thinking about the disheartening news yesterday that Trump is doing his level best to set back Obama’s efforts to avert climate change. And then I saw this video, and realized that Al Gore is still out there somewhere, plugging away at making it better. As Gore put it in his response to Trump’s announcement:
No matter how discouraging this executive order may be, we must, we can, and we will solve the climate crisis. No one man or group can stop the encouraging and escalating momentum we are experiencing in the fight to protect our planet.
Of Americans say they care a great deal about climate change, according to a new Pew Research poll. “Among them, 72% are Democrats and 24% are Republicans; both numbers include independents who say they generally lean toward one party. … On other questions on climate change, Americans remain starkly divided: Nearly 7 out of 10 Democrats believe climate change is mainly a result of human activity; less than a quarter of Republicans believe that.”
Amount that rising global temperatures could cost the global economy by 2030, according to Quartz. “New research suggests that climbing temperatures will make it harder for workers to do their jobs, particularly in the world’s poorest economies. The situation is worst for those in the lowest paid and most heat-exposed professions, such as construction and farming.”
Of likely U.S. voters say they are not willing to pay anything more in higher taxes and utility costs annually to generate cleaner energy and fight global warming, according to a Rasmussen telephone survey. But that’s down from 48% last August and the lowest level measured since January 2013. However, 56% are willing to pay, with 24% willing to spend $100 more per year, unchanged from earlier surveys, and 26% are ready to spend $300 or more a year, with 6% who are willing to spend at least $1,000 more annually.
In Florida we believe that bad words can be harming,
So we’re extra careful when sentences we are forming.
Phrases must be rearranged
If they would include “climate change,”
And we would never ever use a term like “global warming.”
Pundits say that Trump’s $5,000 midterm bribe was an overreach,
And they agree that if lies were a crime, he’d be impeached.
Despite all the dividend promises he’s made,
The fact is, not one has ever been paid,
So even before the midterms, he already owes us $8,000* each.
*$5000 stimulus checks via “DOGE dividend”; $2000 stimulus checks via a “tariff dividend”; $1000-plus checks via “savings” from expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies
“The man is afraid of the voice of the people and that the people understand and know what he’s doing. He’s trying to stifle the ability of journalists to let the people of America know what’s really going on with their government.”
— “Kamala Harris called President Donald Trump’s ban of CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House ‘absolutely abhorrent,’” The Wrap reports.
“Not one of them is trained in technical skills. Not one research PhD, as opposed to China, where half the cabinet is science and technology PhDs. We’re led by grifters and fools.”
— Columbia professor Jeffrey Sachs, on X, on President Trump’s 35-person cabinet.
“Mr. President, some of your immigration enforcement efforts have gone too far… The same Hispanics who helped you get to the White House in 2024 feel betrayed today.”
— Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL), breaking with President Trump in a direct-to-camera video.
“Donald Trump made over a thousand stock sales and purchases worth between $79m and $270m in July,” The Guardian reports. “His two largest sales were of Amazon and Microsoft stock, selling between $5m and $25m each on 20 July. That same day, he also sold up to $5m worth of Oracle and Costco stock, $500,000 to $1m in Nvidia, and bought up to $5m worth of shares in Intuit and Salesforce, among dozens of other transactions.”
“The unprecedented spate of mid-decade redistricting for the U.S. House has changed the congressional districts for one-tenth of Americans and significantly altered the makeup of at least one-fifth of districts, according to a new study,” the Associated Press reports.
A new Fox News Poll finds 71% of voters think the Trump administration lacks a clear strategy for ending the Iran War, including 95% of Democrats, 83% of independents, and 43% of Republicans. Sixty percent say U.S. military action against Iran was the wrong decision, while just 37% say it was right.
“The Trump administration last year spent $9.5 billion on paid administrative leave for federal workers as part of its plan to shrink the government and save taxpayers money, according to a new estimate by a congressional watchdog,” CNN reports.
Reuters has documented at least 470 targets of retribution under Trump’s leadership – from federal employees and prosecutors to universities and media outlets. The list illuminates the sweeping effort by the president and his administration to punish dissent and reshape the government.