To restore coastal marine areas, we need to work across multiple habitats simultaneously – PNAS

California Coastal National Monument at Trinidad (courtesy of the Bureau of Land Management CC BY 2.0 via Flicker).

Restoration of coastal marine habitats—often conducted under the umbrella of “nature-based solutions”—is one of the key actions underpinning global intergovernmental agreements, including the Paris Agreement and the 2021–2030 United Nations (UN) Decade of Restoration. To achieve global biodiversity and restoration targets…we need methods that accelerate and scale up restoration activities in size and impact. Part of the solution is cross-habitat facilitation—positive interactions that occur when processes generated in one habitat benefit another…

Hurricanes push heat deeper into the ocean than scientists realized, boosting long-term ocean warming, new research shows – the Conversation

Thermal (heat) image view of Category 5 Hurricane Maria in 2017, as seen by NASA’s Terra satellite. Yellow and orange are the warm ocean waters, and blue and white are the hurricane’s tall, cool cloud tops (courtesy of NASA, public domain via NASA earth observatory).

Seven years ago an exceptionally strong El Niño took hold in the Pacific Ocean, triggering a cascade of damaging changes to the world’s weather. Indonesia was plunged into a deep drought that fueled exceptional wildfires, while heavy rains inundated villages and farmers’ fields in parts of the Horn of Africa. The event also helped make 2016 the planet’s hottest year on record. Now El Niño is back…

The Atlantification of the Arctic Ocean Is Underway – Hakai Magazine

Illustration of capelin (Mallotus villosus) public domain, via University of Washington's Digital Collection.

In the Fram Strait off Greenland’s west coast, Véronique Merten encountered the foot soldiers of an invasion.

Merten was studying the region’s biodiversity using environmental DNA, a method that allows scientists to figure out which species are living nearby by sampling the tiny pieces of genetic material they shed, like scales, skin, and poop. And here, in a stretch of the Arctic Ocean 400 kilometers north of where they’d ever been seen before: capelin.

And they were everywhere…

El Niño May Break a Record and Reshape Weather around the Globe – Scientific American

Sea surface temperatures in the tropical Pacific Ocean from mid-January through February 2022 compared to the long-term average. East of the International Dateline (180˚), waters remained cooler than average, a sign of La Niña (Graphic courtesy of Climate.gov, based on data from NOAA’s Environmental Visualization Lab)

Seven years ago an exceptionally strong El Niño took hold in the Pacific Ocean, triggering a cascade of damaging changes to the world’s weather. Indonesia was plunged into a deep drought that fueled exceptional wildfires, while heavy rains inundated villages and farmers’ fields in parts of the Horn of Africa. The event also helped make 2016 the planet’s hottest year on record. Now El Niño is back…

California Against the Sea: Visions for our Vanishing Coastline – by Rosanna Xia

Book Cover, California Against the Sea: Visions for our Vanishing Coastline, by Rosanna Xia 2023 via Heyday Press.

Along California’s 1,200-mile coastline, the overheated Pacific Ocean is rising and pressing in, imperiling both wildlife and the maritime towns and cities that 27 million people call home. In California Against the Sea, Los Angeles Times coastal reporter Rosanna Xia asks: As climate chaos threatens the places we love so fiercely, will we finally grasp our collective capacity for change?

Listen: Climate fiction to imagine a better world – the Grist

Outdoor Agriculture in India 2500 (artwork is a supplement to the study "Climate change research and action must look beyond 2100" published in Global Change Biology, Volume 28, Issue 2, John Wiley Online Library, Open Access uploaded by James McKay CC BY 4.0 via Wikimedia).

Imagine 2200, Grist’s climate fiction initiative, invites readers and writers to envision equitable climate progress in futures near and far.

In this audiobook collection, immerse yourself in readings of some of our favorite tales we’ve published so far. They tell of finding climate solutions in one’s heritage, the connections between species facing extinction, and finding ways to survive through the power of community.

Fossil-Fuel Interests Try to Weaken Global Plastics Treaty – Scientific American

Microplastics On The Beach (by Petr Kratochvil CC0 Public Domain).

An international effort to rein in plastic pollution is running into resistance from China, Saudi Arabia and other nations that see a future in plastics amid declining demand for oil, gas and coal. That debate is playing out over the terms of a prospective global treaty that could set limits on plastic production and consumption. Environmentalists last year scored a landmark victory when 175 countries agreed to write a treaty designed to address the problems with plastic…

Dolly Parton’s new song is a climate anthem (if you want it to be) – the Grist

Screenshot from Dolly Parton - World On Fire (From The 58th ACM Awards via youtube).

In the video for her new song, “World On Fire,” Dolly Parton sits atop a burning world. Blond hair piled and coiffed, her black dress glittering, she looks down into a pit of flames burning the earth. The song rocks a little harder than her usual feathery country oeuvre, and over a driving beat, she lets you know she’s about to get political…