Selected articles or reports which I find particularly noteworthy or that have been referenced in episodes of Aquarian Diary. Please note that I do not necessarily feel the need to point out events or developments that are (or should be) commonly known to anyone that routinely follows current affairs.

This page will be updated fairly frequently. I initiated this archive in September 2023 but I should have started curating this here much sooner.

Note: “Positive” climatic feedbacks are self-reinforcing and thus negative from our perspective. They are not beneficial, in other words, on the contrary.

How melting Arctic ice leads to European drought and heatwaves
Fresh, cold water from Greenland ice melting upsets North Atlantic currents.

Ars Technica • Mar 3, 2024
Switzerland calls on UN to explore possibility of solar geoengineering
Switzerland has initiated a global debate on whether the “risks, benefits and uncertainties” of dimming the sun should be studied by a United Nations expert group.

The Guardian • Feb 22, 2024

“Collapse in system of currents that helps regulate global climate would be at such speed that adaptation would be impossible"

Atlantic Ocean circulation nearing ‘devastating’ tipping point, study finds
The circulation of the Atlantic Ocean is heading towards a tipping point that is “bad news for the climate system and humanity”, a study has found.... They found Amoc is already on track towards an abrupt shift, which has not happened for more than 10,000 years and would have dire implications for large parts of the world.

The Guardian • Feb 9, 2024

“It is a significant milestone to see the global mean temperature for a 12-month period exceed 1.5C above pre-industrial temperatures for the first time." – Matt Patterson, atmospheric physicist at the University of Oxford.

Record January heat caps world's first 12-month spell above 1.5C
The world just experienced its warmest January on record, marking the first 12-month period in which temperatures averaged more than 1.5C (2.7F) above pre-industrial times, the European Union's climate change monitoring service said on Thursday.

Reuters • Feb 8, 2024
‘Smoking gun proof’: fossil fuel industry knew of climate danger as early as 1954, documents show
Documents show industry-backed Air Pollution Foundation uncovered the severe harm climate change would wreak. The fossil fuel industry funded some of the world’s most foundational climate science as early as 1954, newly unearthed documents have shown, including the early research of Charles Keeling, famous for the so-called ‘Keeling curve’ that has charted the upward march of the Earth’s carbon dioxide levels.

The Guardian • Jan 30, 2024

“...the 1.5C global warming ceiling has been passed for all practical purposes... Passing through the 1.5C world is a significant milestone because it shows that the story being told by the United Nations, with the acquiescence of its scientific advisory body, the IPCC, is a load of bullshit...” - Prof James Hansen

Global heating will pass 1.5C threshold this year, top ex-Nasa scientist says
The internationally agreed threshold to prevent the Earth from spiraling into a new superheated era will be “passed for all practical purposes” during 2024, the man known as the godfather of climate science has warned.

The Guardian • Jan 8, 2024

This article describes early stages of practical research for the use of solar radiation management (geoengineering). In my opinion this represents an act of desperation and should be cause for very serious concern. The situation must be very serious if this is being seriously considered or prepared for.

Opinion: We’re very far off course in meeting global climate goals. Get ready for Plan B
Scientists are starting to do research on “climate intervention” in case we don’t cut fossil fuel use and global warming catastrophes worsen. But geoengineering carries huge risks, including destabilizing the climate.

Los Angeles Times • Sept 10, 2023

“In the U.S., nearly 130 million American adults read below a sixth-grade level — that number represents more than half the adult US population, according to the Department of Education.”

In my opinion this explains the chaotic state and dysfunction of American politics and astonishing gullibility of a large segment of the population, propensity for conspiratorial ideation, etc. By contrast:

“In 2021, the share of adults in Canada with at least a minimum of high school education was around 94 percent.” – Source: Statista, Education in Canada

1 in 5 Americans have low-literacy skills: These charts explain reading levels in the US
The youth literacy rate has been steadily increasing since 1975, UNESCO data shows but women worldwide and US Southerners are still lagging.

USA Today • Sept 9, 2023

The following report, which describes a study from Oxford University, validates claims I have made in numerous episodes about some regions becoming too hot to tolerate:

Risk of mass deaths as heatwaves start to pass survivability threshold
Between 1.5 and 2°C of global warming will lead to heatwaves so extreme that healthy people can’t survive outdoors for long, in areas where people aren’t used to extreme heat.

New Scientist • Sept 8, 2023

Another positive climatic feedback occurring sooner than expected (podcast):

Quotes: “… the magnitude of these emissions has now reached about three times the emissions from all other sectors of the Canadian economy combined.”

“So as the world gets warmer, we create more conditions that are conducive to more forest fires and these forest fires are adding more greenhouse gases to the atmosphere which then will further accelerate the warming.”

Canada’s wildfires dwarf emissions from all other industries
This year, Canada’s wildfires have emitted more greenhouse gases than all Canadian industries combined.

The Globe and Mail Decibel podcast • Sept 7, 2023
Pace of increase in CO2 concentration has increased three-fold: report
The pace at which the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere is increasing—due mostly to the burning of fossil fuels—has jumped three-fold in five decades, an international report said Wednesday.

Phys.org • Sept 6, 2023

Developed countries are nowhere near meeting their Paris Climate Accord emissions reduction pledges, not even close.

Experts warn ‘green growth’ in high income countries is not happening, call for ‘post-growth’ climate policies
The emission reductions in the 11 high-income countries that have “decoupled” CO2 emissions from Gross Domestic Product (GDP) fall far short of the reductions that are necessary to limit global warming to 1.5°C or even just to “well below 2°C” and comply with international fairness principles…

Phys.org / The Lancet • Sept 4, 2023
Extreme El Niño weather saw South America’s forest carbon sink switch off
Tropical forests in South America lose their ability to absorb carbon from the atmosphere when conditions become exceptionally hot and dry, according to new research. For a long time, tropical forests have acted as a carbon sink, taking more carbon out of the air than they release into it, a process…

Science Daily • Sept 4, 2023

Exxon made stunningly accurate predictions for global warming back in the 1970’s and 1980’s (see below, Jan 12, 2023). Therefore these dire forecasts should be taken seriously.

Exxon Sees Global Warming Exceeding 2C Limit as Economies Grow
Exxon Mobil Corp. sees the world failing to reduce emissions fast enough to limit global warming to 2C (3.6F) above pre-industrial norms by 2050 due to soaring economic growth, particularly in developing countries.

Bloomberg News • Aug 28, 2023

This report suggests that a primary carbon sink may be much more vulnerable than previously believed and therefore could function as a positive climatic feedback or tipping point sooner than expected.

The tropics could get so hot that all leaves on rainforest trees die
Satellite sensing reveals tropical forests are much closer to a major tipping point than previously thought, but are only likely to pass it in worst-case warming scenarios.

New Scientist • Aug 23, 2023
We Are Witnessing the First Stages of Civilization’s Collapse
Will our own elites perform any better than the rulers of Chaco Canyon, the Mayan heartland, and Viking Greenland?

The Nation • Aug 22, 2023
Population ecologist warns that humanity is on the verge of massive population correction
Population ecologist William Rees, with the University of British Columbia’s School of Community and Regional Planning, is reminding denizens of Earth that the planet can only support so many people. In his paper published in the journal World…

Phys.org • Aug 22, 2023
Ocean heat record broken, with grim implications for the planet
The oceans are a vital regulator for the climate and our weather but are rapidly heating up.

BBC • Aug 4, 2023

This multipart podcast takes a disturbing dive into conspiracism and exposes how even formerly well-adjusted people can be vulnerable to this phenomenon.

BBC Radio 4 – Marianna in Conspiracyland, Introducing Marianna in Conspiracyland
What happened to the people who fell into a world of conspiracy theories?

BBC • June 1, 2023
Revealed: Exxon made ‘breathtakingly’ accurate climate predictions in 1970s and 80s
Oil company drove some of the leading science of the era only to publicly dismiss global heating.

The Guardian • Jan 12, 2023