“God will ask us if we have cultivated and cared for the world that he created, for the benefit of all and for future generations, and if we have taken care of our brothers and sisters. What will be our answer?” Pope Leo has given his first speech on the climate. He also “noted that some have chosen to deride the increasingly evident signs of climate change, to ridicule those who speak of global warming.”
Meanwhile, the US Energy Department sent an email instructing staff to avoid “terminology that you know to be misaligned with the Administration’s perspectives and priorities”, with a list of banned words that includes climate change, green, carbon and sustainability.
Britain has a target to run on 100% clean energy by 2030, and the grid continues to set new records on the way to that. So far clean energy supply has exceeded demand for 87 hours this year.
Hannah Ritchie points out some positive news that hasn’t made any headlines: record breaking harvests are expected in most parts of the world this year.
Some book news: my online bookshop, Earthbound Books, now has ebooks. I’ve been waiting for this for a while. Fill your eboots.
Latest articles
Book review: Street, Palace, Square, by Jan-Werner Müller
Human lives, both individually and collectively, unfold in a built environment. Generally speaking we don’t get to shape that environment all that much. Most of us don’t get to design our own homes, let alone streets and public spaces. Unless you have a particular interest in architecture or urban design, you might never really think…
What we learned this week
I came across the Missing Lynx Project this week, which is campaigning for the reintroduction of the Lynx to Northumberland and the Scottish borders and is worth commending for the name alone. Carbon in Context is a new comparison tool from Project Drawdown. Tonnes of gas is an unintuitive way of measuring anything, so stick…
Polestar’s progress on a zero carbon car
In 2022 I wrote about how Swedish EV brand Polestar had committed to creating a zero carbon car. Note that this isn’t a ‘net zero’ car, but a truly zero carbon process from start to finish. It was industry-leading in its ambition, and also the kind of thing that some companies make a big noise…
The Earthbound Report 
Am looking at data for Virginia’s crops. We had, between 2023 and 2024, 40 and 47% declines for corn and winter wheat yields, respectively. 12% decrease for tobacco. Increases for soybean yields by 22% and cotton, too. Need references for the past 60 months in order to see a pattern.