Permafrost thawed by climate change threatens remote villages in Alaska
In the Arctic tundra of Alaska, climate change is forcing an Alaska Native village to relocate. Rising temperatures are melting the underground permafrost. The melted ice then mixes with the soil, creating unstable land the Yupʼik people call Alaskan quicksand. Amalia Huot-Marchand and a team from the Medill School of Journalism report.
Woodwell Climate Research Center is thrilled to announce the receipt of a $10 million unrestricted gift from renowned philanthropist MacKenzie Scott. At a time when scientific institutions across the United States are facing unprecedented challenges, this generous gift will support the long-term financial strength of the Center and its critical mission of conducting groundbreaking research to drive science-based solutions to the climate crisis.
Over the past three years, MacKenzie Scott has supported the Center’s Permafrost Pathways initiative through the TED Audacious Project. This new gift builds upon that tremendous support and makes it possible for the Center to leverage critical funds throughout the Center’s work across the globe.
“In a moment where climate science is under attack, this support strengthens our resolve and bolsters our confidence to act boldly and pursue our most innovative ideas,” said Dr. Max Holmes, President and CEO of Woodwell Climate. “An unrestricted gift of this size is extraordinary, and stands as a ringing endorsement of Woodwell’s mission and values from one of the world’s most influential philanthropists. We are deeply inspired by and grateful for this act of generosity and the remarkable trust it shows in our vision and impact.”
For forty years Woodwell Climate has pursued the critical work of scientific research to help leaders and communities across the country—and around the world—curb climate change and cope with the increasingly damaging impacts. With this key investment, Woodwell will continue and accelerate efforts to find climate solutions, intensify its commitment to the highest standard of science, and aspire to ever greater courage and creativity.
To meet pledges to save forests spending must triple, U.N. report says
Four years after a global pledge to end deforestation, the amount of money going toward conserving and restoring forests is not enough, the analysis found.
Nations are not spending enough to ensure that the forests that cover nearly a third of the planet remain healthy, according to a new United Nations report. To meet various international climate, biodiversity and land restoration goals, annual global spending needs to triple to $300 billion by 2030, the report found.
Forests are the “quintessential definition of a public good,” because of the benefits they provide, said Gabriel Labbate, who leads the climate mitigation unit at the U.N. Environmental Program and is one of the lead authors of the analysis.
Read more on The New York Times.
The impacts of climate change on the frequency and severity of physical hazards are putting many communities at risk. As the threat of climate change grows, so too does the need for accessible information, tools, and expertise to support climate-resilient decision making across multiple scales, from communities to countries. Woodwell Climate Research Center believes there is a need to localize and customize climate risk assessments. This information is critical for local government leaders as they make planning decisions, but it is not available to all communities. Woodwell believes that this science should be freely and widely available. To address this gap, Woodwell works with communities across the world, including Louisville, KY, to provide community climate risk assessments, free of charge. This report was generated in partnership with the Louisville Metropolitan Sewer District (Louisville MSD), so we have focused this analysis within the geographic area of Jefferson County, KY.
How can we help scientists tell their stories?
Science has a communication problem. This week on Possibly we’re taking a look at an audio-storytelling organization, called Transom, that’s trying to help fix it.
Welcome to Possibly. Where we take on huge problems, like the future of our planet, and break them down into small questions with unexpected answers. I’m Megan Hall.
Science has a communication problem. It can be hard for everyday people to understand what scientists are saying about their research..
Juliana Merullo and Nat Hardy are here to tell us about a science storytelling workshop trying to help solve this problem.
Read more or listen on Possibly.
Feeding Resilience: Ethiopia
Compound security, hunger, and climate risks
A Crossroads for Conflict, Food, and Climate
Ethiopia sits at the intersection of climate change, food security, and conflict risks that will shape the country’s internal stability, influence on East African security, and geopolitical role for years to come.
In a comment published in Nature Climate Change, Mark Bradford, the E.H. Harriman Professor of Soils and Ecosystem Ecology, and Yale School of the Environment research scientists Sara Kuebbing and Alexander Polussa ’25 PhD, together with colleagues Emily Oldfield ’05, ’11 MESc, ’19 PhD, of Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and Jonathan Sanderman of the Woodwell Climate Research Center, argue that the scientific evidence supporting soil carbon’s role in mitigating climate change remains too weak to meet the standards required for policy and carbon markets.
Read more here.