Some Good Climate News, and other stories
Welcome to Ramin’s Space, the newsletter from science writer Ramin Skibba. You can read more about the newsletter here. If you like it, please consider subscribing and sharing this post.
Climate change will be one of our greatest challenges, and we’re already feeling its effects. But every generation has its trials and crises, and people can find ways to at least prevent the worst climate scenarios. I agree with Elizabeth Barber in Harper’s, who writes that it’s OK to be optimistic about the future for our children and for humanity. If we try to work together and develop a long-term perspective, our society will survive this, just as people survived wars and plagues of the past.
Yes, there’s plenty of bad news that we cannot and should not ignore, but let’s consider some positive developments, too. The first thing that comes to mind is the Biden administration’s pause on permit approvals for new liquified natural gas, or LNG, export terminals. That policy didn’t come out of the blue; it came because of pressure from climate activists, who frequently point to the dangerous emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. There are caveats, especially that this is currently just a temporary measure affecting only new terminals, as Emily Atkin points out in her Heated newsletter, but it’s still a good sign.
Last week, the city of Chicago is suing five oil and gas giants (BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil and Shell), becoming the largest US city other than New York to do so, arguing that the companies intentionally misled the public despite clear science that their products are leading to “catastrophic consequences,” including strong storms, flooding, severe heat and shoreline erosion. Climate and environmental justice groups last year backed the progressive mayor, Brandon Johnson, during his narrow election victory. And in Chicago’s South Side, community groups have earned funding to develop a geothermal heating and cooling district, which includes decarbonizing buildings. And while I’m skeptical about how much carbon removal technologies will be able to contribute, I’m watching closely as one of the largest facilities of its kind opens in southern Arkansas.
Whether these kinds of things add up to momentum toward a new climate trajectory remains to be seen. They’re small steps. But we need to remember that, little by little, in their own way, people are making a difference.
That said, as climate change continues, whether gradually or rapidly, more tumult awaits us. Right now I’m writing a book review essay on climate migration, mainly focused on the US, where we’re already seeing millions of people relocating primarily because of natural disasters, according to Census Bureau data. And this book by ProPublica reporter Abrahm Lustgarten is actually the second one I’ve seen lately about climate migration, the first one being The Great Displacement, by Grist staff writer Jake Bittle. Most migration involves other issues, like economics, employment and violence, but climate disruptions could become a significant driver of it, too. Anyway, stay turned for my review later in March.
In other writing…
The Butter Battle Book, an incisive political satire by Dr. Seuss, tells the story of two peoples, the Yooks and the Zooks. They have major differences—they butter opposite sides of their bread—and they’ve built a wall to separate themselves. They develop more and more powerful weapons to be used against each other, and it quickly escalates.
Nobody wins an arms race, especially one with nukes. Sarah Scoles scrutinizes the concept of nuclear deterrence, while invoking Seuss, in her compelling new book, Countdown.
Zoozve
Radiolab host Latif Nasser here explores the limited information available about Venus’s possible moon “Zoozve,” which he spotted on his two-year-old son’s solar system poster. (See also Nasser’s social media thread.) Turns out the object is actually known as “2002VE,” but its mislabeling is just a small part of this fascinating story.
What a Major Solar Storm Could Do to Our Planet
Our sun regularly hurls flaming bubbles of magnetized plasma into space. Some of them happen to careen toward the Earth, threatening satellite systems, orbiting astronauts, and the electricity grid. This is a well-written piece by Kathryn Schulz in the New Yorker. If you’re curious to learn more, I also recommend this WIRED feature by Matt Ribel in 2022 and my Science News magazine cover story a year earlier.
Fire for Water
For Native Californians, fires have always been a part of the Sierra Nevada landscape, until the US Forest Service came along. Now government agencies recognize fire’s crucial role in forest management, and the North Fork Mono Tribe’s working to carefully bring it back. Beautifully written story by Ashley Braun in bioGraphic magazine.
Can Humanity Survive AI?
What risks does generative AI pose today, and what do we have in store for us as AI tools improve? Garrison Lovely gives an excellent overview in this Jacobin magazine cover story. Personally, I’m in the camp arguing Big Tech frequently overhypes its AI products.
More heartfelt climate writing
I recommend this Orion magazine essay by Heidi Lasher about climate anxiety and personal loss, as well as this philosophical piece by Jonathon Keats in Noema magazine.
What I’m reading: Then the Fish Swallowed Him, a novel by Amir Ahmadi Arian, an Iranian journalist and writer. It’s a harrowing tale of a unionized bus driver’s interrogation in Tehran’s infamous Evin Prison.
Looking back: Four years ago, I wrote this essay for Aeon magazine about the psychological and social challenges of long-distance space travel, especially the trouble the isolation would bring to most people. Of course, a couple weeks after publication, the COVID pandemic hit, and we all had to isolate, for a while.
More about me: I’m a science writer and journalist based in the Bay Area. I was WIRED magazine’s space writer until December 2023, and before that I worked as a freelance writer and an astrophysicist. You can find me at my website, raminskibba.net, and on Twitter and Bluesky. I’m also former president of the San Diego Science Writers Association (SANDSWA) and on the board of the National Association of Science Writers (NASW), though the opinions I express are mine alone. If someone has forwarded this email to you, you’re welcome to subscribe too.