Observations from the Little Bunker
A systematic observation of climate change, extreme weather events, and their cascading effects on society
🌍 Latest Environmental Observations
Arctic endured year of record heat as climate scientists warn of ‘winter being redefined’
Region known as ‘world’s refrigerator’ is heating up as much as four times as quickly as global average, Noaa experts sayThe Arctic endured a year...
Outdated geological data limits Africa’s push to benefit from its mineral wealth
Resource-rich African nations risk missing out on the investment needed to extract and refine their mineral wealth into high-value products for the clean energy transition...
The trauma after the storm: Hurricane Melissa leaves trail of emotional devastation across Jamaica
Experts are calling for the integration of mental health into climate-disaster policy in the Caribbean as studies show that PTSD risks increase after hurricanes and...
Michigan Lawmakers Introduce Bill to Repeal Data Center Tax Incentives
The tax breaks, passed in late 2024, have produced both a flurry of data center projects and surging opposition across the political spectrum as communities...
Defining Sustainable, Affordable and Healthy Diets with European Food System Stakeholders
While our current food system has been effective at delivering food to global markets, it is simultaneously causing significant climate, health and ecological damage. As...
From Baku to Belém and beyond: How we turn a climate finance roadmap into reality
Mukhtar Babayev is COP29 President and Special Representative of the President of Azerbaijan for Climate Issues. COP has entered “late-stage multilateralism”. We have already agreed...
This rare earthquake did everything scientists hoped to see
A rare, ultra-long earthquake in Myanmar revealed that mature faults can deliver their full force directly to the surface. The discovery could mean stronger shaking...
The political psychology of climate denial
Nature Climate Change, Published online: 16 December 2025; doi:10.1038/s41558-025-02523-7Climate denial in political discourse is fuelled by psychological factors such as psychological distance, cognitive dissonance, confirmation...
Hope—and Many Fears—Follow in the Wake of Trump’s Plan to Transform Wildland Firefighting
The Departments of Interior and Agriculture announced a new U.S. Wildland Fire Service. But layoffs, confusion and budget cuts have sparked doubts.By Kiley PriceOne of...
Can a Flood-Prone Coastal City Learn to Live With Water?
Instead of billion-dollar floodwalls and surge barriers, Hampton, Virginia, is relying on rain gardens, plant-lined storage basins, restored marshes and 3D-printed concrete reefs seeded with...
After Hurricane Katrina, a New Orleans Architect Turned to the Dutch to Learn to Live With Water
Before the storm, the city tried to engineer water out of sight. But, David Waggonner says, “you can’t live with water if you can’t see...
The country’s biggest magnesium producer went bankrupt. Who’s going to clean up the $100M mess?
Bill Johnson has witnessed the extent of US Magnesium’s pollution up close. He’s seen the wastewater pond that was so acidic it bubbled like a...
How the Trump administration is fast-tracking logging in Illinois’ only national forest
When the Forest Service approved the sale of nearly 70 acres for commercial logging in southern Illinois’ Shawnee National Forest in late 2024, Sam Stearns...
This is another ‘ozone layer’ moment. Now, we must urgently target methane | Mia Mottley
The oil and gas industry must be legally bound to cut methane emissions. With climate tipping points approaching, time is running out • Mia Mottley...
Tuesday briefing: What polar bear DNA tells us about a warming Arctic
In today’s newsletter: As species across the world struggle to keep pace with global warming, how do we report the rare glimmers of hope without...
A hidden climate shift may have sparked epic Pacific voyages 1,000 years ago
Around 1,000 years ago, a major climate shift reshaped rainfall across the South Pacific, making western islands like Samoa and Tonga drier while eastern islands...
Hack reveals reviewer identities for huge AI conference
Software bug leads to exposure of peer-review records for 10,000 papers
Disaster Survivors Denounce Proposed FEMA Downsizing
A leaked report recommends halving the size of the nation’s disaster response agency, while holding states responsible for a much larger share of response and...
How Trump’s Big Ag bailout is alienating his MAHA base
At a White House roundtable last Monday, president Donald Trump, alongside Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and a handful of other leaders in the government, announced...
Seafloor telecom cable transformed into giant earthquake detector
Dense seismic array more than 4000 kilometers long promises new views of Earth’s interior
NSF pares down grant-review process, reducing influence of outside scientists
Memo cites overburdened staff, but some say move also aims to elevate White House priorities
What's Really Driving Up US Electricity Prices? We Unpack the Numbers.
Since 2010, the average price of electricity across the United States has risen by almost 30% with no signs of slowing down. This year alone,...
Peak glacier extinction in the mid-twenty-first century
Nature Climate Change, Published online: 15 December 2025; doi:10.1038/s41558-025-02513-9Many mountain glaciers will disappear with warming. Here the authors assess how many glaciers will disappear per...
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