Traders are bracing for a record-smashing summer that will shake up commodities
Around the world, people are already living through the havoc brought on by global temperatures that are breaking records. It’s about to get a lot worse.
Odds are growing that 2024 will become the hottest year in history as the Northern Hemisphere barrels into summer. Prices for some of the world’s most vital commodities — natural gas, power and staple crops like wheat and soy — are climbing. The world of shipping, already thrown into chaos from the Red Sea to the Panama Canal, is likely to be rocked again by parched waterways. And the potential for destructive wildfires is increasing.
Read more from the article by Bloomberg News.
The world is ignoring the other kind of deadly carbon
Not only is black carbon terrible for human health, but ever-fiercer wildfires are covering the Arctic with the dark particles, accelerating melting.
Once again, vast expanses of Canadian wilderness are on fire, threatening towns and forcing thousands to flee. It appears to be a breakout of “zombie fires”: wildfires from last year that never actually went out completely but carried on smoldering underground, reigniting ground vegetation again this year. They’ve been pouring smoke—once again—into northern cities in the United States. That haze is loaded with a more obscure form of carbon, compared to its famous cousin CO2: black carbon. By May 16, the fires’ monthly carbon emissions surpassed 15 megatons, soaring above previous years.
Brazil’s Amazon fires off to record 2024 start as green union blames firefighting budget cut
Brazil’s Amazon rainforest has experienced its largest blazes on record in the first four months of the year, with the environmental workers union on Monday placing partial blame on lower government spending on firefighting.
Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has staked his international reputation on protecting the Amazon rainforest and restoring Brazil as a leader on climate policy.
The Amazon, the world’s largest rainforest, is vital to curbing catastrophic global warming because of the vast amount of greenhouse gas it absorbs.
Highfield Hall will present art/science collaboration ‘In Flux’
Highfield Hall & Gardens’ new exhibit “In Flux: Perspectives on Arctic Change,” is scheduled to open on Tuesday, May 21. The exhibition, sponsored by Woodwell Climate Research Center, features selections from four artists who partnered with Woodwell Climate scientists in Arctic field research—installation artist Aaron Dysart, filmmakers Michaela Grill and Karl Lemieux, and photographer Gabrielle Russomagno—as well as Woodwell board member and encaustic painter Georgia Nassikas and Woodwell Climate cartographer Greg Fiske.
Read more on The Falmouth Enterprise.
Massachusetts summer outlook: What seasonal forecasters expect in greater Boston
Weather across Massachusetts and New England always feels like riding a roller-coaster, but some patterns and trends define what type of conditions will be typical for the season to come.
Harvey Leonard, chief meteorologist emeritus, received insight from three forecasting experts to get a picture of what may be to come.
“I think this summer’s going to be a warm one,” Dan Leonard, a long-term weather forecaster at Andover-based The Weather Company said.
Leonard (no relation) thinks this summer may end up as much as one to two degrees above normal.
Heatwave scorches: Kerala burns again, facing multipronged crisis
KSDMA is working with local authorities to assess risks, deploy resources, and implement preventive measures to mitigate the impact of the heat wave on communities.
Kerala, known for its lush greenery and pleasant climate, is grappling with a harsh summer this year.
The state, which witnessed exceptionally high temperatures in 2023 as well, now finds itself in the middle of another scorching summer as it is said to be experiencing an even harsher heat wave this year.
Unrelenting heat has gripped many regions, with temperatures significantly exceeding normal.
Epic blazes threaten Arctic permafrost. Can firefighters save it?
Some scientists argue that it’s time to rethink the blanket policy of letting blazes burn themselves out in northern wildernesses.
Fire season is approaching in the massive Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge in east Alaska, where fires have long been allowed to burn unchecked unless they threaten human life and property. But as climate change increases the frequency of these fires, the land’s overseers are changing course. Working with scientists, refuge managers have designed a pilot programme to parachute elite firefighting teams into remote areas to quash infernos — to protect not people, but permafrost.
The forests and tundra of the Denmark-sized refuge cloak a deep layer of permafrost, frozen ground that holds enormous quantities of carbon across the Northern Hemisphere. After fires remove vegetation and soils, however, that frozen ground often begins to thaw, releasing its stores of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. New research1 suggests that the resulting emissions, from both the fires themselves and the subsequent permafrost thaw, could be on a par with those of a major global economy over the course of this century. This could effectively reduce by up to 20% the amount of carbon dioxide that humanity can emit and still meet its goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 °C above preindustrial levels. The research has not yet been peer reviewed.