Why the Guardian is changing the language it uses about the environment | Environment | The Guardian

The Guardian has updated its style guide to introduce terms that more accurately describe the environmental crises facing the world.

Instead of “climate change” the preferred terms are “climate emergency, crisis or breakdown” and “global heating” is favoured over “global warming”, although the original terms are not banned.

“We want to ensure that we are being scientifically precise, while also communicating clearly with readers on this very important issue,” said the editor-in-chief, Katharine Viner. “The phrase ‘climate change’, for example, sounds rather passive and gentle when what scientists are talking about is a catastrophe for humanity.”

“Increasingly, climate scientists and organisations from the UN to the Met Office are changing their terminology, and using stronger language to describe the situation we’re in,” she said.


The destruction of Arctic ecosystems forces animals to search for food on land, such as these polar bears in northern Russia. Photograph: Alexander Grir/AFP/Getty Images

Continue reading at: Why the Guardian is changing the language it uses about the environment | Environment | The Guardian

Our Communities, Our Power: Advancing Resistance and Resilience in Climate Change Adaptation Toolkit | CAKE: Climate Adaptation Knowledge Exchange

The Beloved Community is a vision for our future where all people share equally in the wealth and bounty of the earth, where we protect its abundance, diversity and beauty for future generations. In this vision of liberation, racism, exploitation, and domination are replaced by democracy, cooperation, interdependence, and love. To get there, we pursue transformative, systems-change solutions. What do we mean by this? The root causes of the problems our communities face—like climate change, racism, and economic inequality—are all deeply connected. Since the problems are connected, so are the solutions.

Our Communities, Our Power: Advancing Resistance and Resilience in Climate Change Adaptation Toolkit | CAKE: Climate Adaptation Knowledge Exchange

Levin introduces bill to end sales of gasoline-powered cars in US by 2040

Zero-emission vehicles, or ZEVs, may make up less than 2 percent of the nation’s car sales but a bill introduced on Capitol Hill by Rep. Mike Levin, D-San Juan Capistrano, would require half of all sales of new passenger vehicles in 2030 be ZEVs, with the mandate ramping up 5 percent per year to 100 percent by 2040 — essentially eliminating the sale of gasoline-powered passenger cars in the U.S. in little more than 20 years.

Levin introduces bill to end sales of gasoline-powered cars in US by 2040

CO2 levels: Carbon dioxide hit the highest level in human history - The Washington Post

When will we ever learn...



Over the weekend, the climate system sounded simultaneous alarms. Near the entrance to the Arctic Ocean in northwest Russia, the temperature surged to 84 degrees Fahrenheit (29 Celsius). Meanwhile, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere eclipsed 415 parts per million for the first time in human history.



CO2 levels: Carbon dioxide hit the highest level in human history - The Washington Post

Polluter-pay law introduced in Michigan legislature | Michigan Radio

Michigan lawmakers introduced new bills designed to make polluters pay. It requires that the polluter clean up the pollutant as much as technically possible. Democrats Senator Jeff Irwin and Representative Yousef Rabhi introduced identical bills in the House and Senate Thursday. Irwin says there was a polluter-pay law, but the Engler administration changed them in 1995.

Polluter-pay law introduced in Michigan legislature | Michigan Radio

Microplastics are blowing in the wind | Science News for Students

Not just in the oceans...



A new study offers the first proof that microplastics are traveling long distances by air. These tiny bits of plastic were found raining down in remote places at rates that rival what’s seen in large cities — some 365 bits of plastic trash per square meter (10.7 square feet) per day. Clearly, one author concludes, this “invisible pollution is transporting its way around the world.”



This part of the Pyrenees mountains in Europe looks remote and clean. But tiny bits of plastic fall here every day, scientists are finding.G. LE ROUX

Continue reading at: Microplastics are blowing in the wind | Science News for Students

Saving Ecosystems to Protect the Climate, and Vice Versa: a Global Deal for Nature | InsideClimate News

The Global Deal for Nature (GDN) is a time-bound, science-driven plan to save the diversity and abundance of life on Earth. Pairing the GDN and the Paris Climate Agreement would avoid catastrophic climate change, conserve species, and secure essential ecosystem services. New findings give urgency to this union: Less than half of the terrestrial realm is intact, yet conserving all native ecosystems—coupled with energy transition measures—will be required to remain below a 1.5°C rise in average global temperature.


The Arctic tundra is among several key ecosystems that store large amounts of carbon, keeping it out of the atmosphere, but that are under increasing pressure as global temperatures rise. Credit: Dave Walsh/VW Pics/UIG via Getty Images

Continue reading at: Saving Ecosystems to Protect the Climate, and Vice Versa: a Global Deal for Nature | InsideClimate News

Free full-text paper in Science: https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/5/4/eaaw2869