The Arctic has long filled humans with awe, but there are now profoundly worrying signals coming from the frozen landscape at the top of our planet, and scientists are deeply concerned about its future as the Trump administration pulls the US out of global climate strategy and guts its science agencies.
Last month was extreme: Temperatures in parts of the Arctic spiked 36 degrees Fahrenheit, or 20 Celsius, above normal. By the end of the month, sea ice was at its lowest level ever recorded for February, marking the third straight month of record lows.
Satan's brain child indeed.Yes, this is exactly the right place.
I can just see these climate fix attempts ending in disaster.![]()
What's especially frustrating is that if they used proper science and cooperation, without the usual corruption, then something like this could work. The way things are however, yeah, calamity.Satan's brain child indeed.
Humans meddling with Nature only heralds calamities and disasters of global magnitude.
Sir Tony Blair has called for a major rethink of net zero policies, arguing that limiting energy consumption and fossil fuel production is "doomed to fail".
In a new report, the former Labour prime minister says voters "feel they're being asked to make financial sacrifices and changes in lifestyle when they know the impact on global emissions is minimal".
He does not call for Labour to halt its push to decarbonise the UK economy - but says all governments need to rethink their approach, as it is not working.
The Tories - who have joined Reform UK in opposing net zero emissions by 2050 - urged Labour to end the "mad dash" to this goal - but Downing Street said it would not be changing course.
Banks in the City of London have poured more than $100bn (£75bn) into companies developing “carbon bombs” – huge oil, gas and coal projects that would drive the climate past internationally agreed temperature limits with catastrophic global consequences – according to a study.
Nine London-based banks, including HSBC, NatWest, Barclays and Lloyds are involved in financing companies responsible for at least 117 carbon bomb projects in 28 countries between 2016 – the year after the landmark Paris agreement was signed – and 2023, according to the study.
If the projects go ahead, the study says they will have the potential to produce 420bn tonnes of carbon emissions, equivalent to more than 10 years of current global carbon dioxide emissions.
I live squarely in the black region, somewhat east of the sunniest towns mentioned above.It's not like the UK is a beacon of sunshine.
Notably, four major glaciers in the Wilkes Land–Queen Mary Land region of East Antarctica reversed their previous pattern of accelerated mass loss from 2011 to 2020 and instead showed significant mass gain during the 2021 to 2023 period.
Spatiotemporal mass change rate analysis from 2002 to 2023 over the Antarctic Ice Sheet and four glacier basins in Wilkes-Queen Mary Land – Science China Earth Sciences (2025). Peer-reviewed study by Wang et al. using GRACE/GRACE-FO gravimetry data; it finds that after decades of mass loss, the AIS gained a record ~108 gigatons per year between 2021–2023dds.sciengine.com.
Interesting, but for anyone who thinks that this counters man made climate change, it doesn't. There will still be natural variations like this one, but the overall trend is that the earth is heating up.A recent discovery throws a spanner into the narrative that the Antarctic is losing ice. I stfill haven't made up my mind on whether this is good or bad, but is a good reminder that we are still in an ice age.
What some do not realize is that global warming can result in ice buildup (especially in the Antarctic) because the ice melts and then freezes at lower temps than the salt water does since it is purer water. It is an interesting phenomena.Interesting, but for anyone who thinks that this counters man made climate change, it doesn't. There will still be natural variations like this one, but the overall trend is that the earth is heating up.
Sea level rise will become unmanageable at just 1.5C of global heating and lead to “catastrophic inland migration”, the scientists behind a new study have warned. This scenario may unfold even if the average level of heating over the last decade of 1.2C continues into the future.
The loss of ice from the giant Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets has quadrupled since the 1990s due to the climate crisis and is now the principal driver of sea level rise.
The international target to keep global temperature rise below 1.5C is already almost out of reach. But the new analysis found that even if fossil fuel emissions were rapidly slashed to meet it, sea levels would be rising by 1cm a year by the end of the century, faster than the speed at which nations could build coastal defences.
The world is on track for 2.5C-2.9C of global heating, which would almost certainly be beyond tipping points for the collapse of the Greenland and west Antarctic ice sheets. The melting of those ice sheets would lead to a “really dire” 12 metres of sea level rise.
Electric vehicle batteries struggle in hot weather and pose efficiency concerns, as well as safety woes.
Lithium-ion batteries degrade quicker and break down sooner in temperatures above 35C. This level of heat can also lead to slower charging times, inhibited power output, and “irreversible damage to the batteries”, the report states.
As well as subprime performance, the heat can also cause the batteries in electric vehicles to catch fire and blow up, the report warns.
“Prolonged operation under high temperature can overwhelm [battery energy storage] cooling systems posing safety risks such as thermal runaway and explosions,” the document says.
“Prolonged exposure and operation under extreme heat are expected to pose a significant challenge to their optimum and safe operation.”
Well modern phones have safety mechanisms in place to automatically switch off the phone above a certain temperature to prevent overheating. I hope cars have the same too, although this would render electric care useless in hot weather! However dysfunctional electrical equipment is a preferable outcome than a fire, to say the least.Some more specific ways that climate change is going to cause problems in the UK. How about exploding electric cars among other things?
A lithium battery fire is extremely intense and can't always be put out either, just having to let it burn itself out. Consider that for a moment before buying that electric car in this increasingly hot weather.
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Heatwaves ‘will trigger net zero meltdown’
Net zero technologies will backfire during heatwaves, Ed Miliband has been warned.uk.news.yahoo.com
No but at one point, I nerded out about battery technology and started intensely reading about them lol. But yes I've heard water can't put out Li-on fires!Have you ever seen a lithium fire? Whether it comes from a smartphone, tablet, laptop or a vehicle, it's terrifying. There's loads of YouTube videos out there showing what happens, if you're curious.
I once had a fake iPhone charger - the UK plug was unusually stiff, the touchscreen would go volatile whenever charging with that charger, and I received a warning by iOS that my iPhone charger was not unauthorised and so Apple prevented it from working with my iPhone. Ignorant as I was as a teen, I insisted on attempting to circumvent this warning message, which I finally did, in a series of steps of switching my iPhone off and back on again and plugging in my iPhone in a very particular order - it charged from 0% to 1% prior to the explosion! I was using my iPhone and it then exploded all of a sudden! I ran a few seconds after witnessing smoke - that saved my life! And I was alone in the house as a teen too - how scary is that?! Oh boy, never again!Whenever I charge my iPhone, I'm always mindful of how warm it gets, directly because of the fire risk. Some powerful chargers when it's warm in the room, the battery is low on charge and it's in its case really raise its temperature within a minute or so, hence I immediately stop charging it and let it cool down. I might take it out of its case and will likely try to use a weaker / slower charger. I'd rather the battery go flat than let it get hot and risk that fire, no matter how small the chance. That's such a no no.
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