Huge thanks to this month's donor, who wishes to remain anonymous but has asked me to post a link to this poem by their friend, Arthur L Wood. I'm no great shakes when it comes to literary criticism but I was moved by its tenderness and honesty, and heartily recommend giving it a listen.
"Record fossil fuel emissions in 2025 despite renewables buildout, report says...
""With CO2 emissions still increasing, keeping global warming below 1.5°C [2.7°F] is no longer plausible," Pierre Friedlingstein, a climate scientist at the University of Exeter's Global Systems Institute who led the study, said in a statement."
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/12/record-fossil-fuel-emissions-in-2025-despite-renewables-buildout-report-says/
"Friday ice update - Arctic sea ice extent is currently the *lowest* on record (JAXA data).
* about 500,000 km² below the 2010s mean
* about 1,110,000 km² below the 2000s mean
* about 1,670,000 km² below the 1990s mean
* about 2,000,000 km² below the 1980s mean" [Zack Labe]
https://bsky.app/profile/zacklabe.com/post/3mavlj6af6k2k
"Anomalous Christmas in Iceland: a temperature record of +19.8°C [67.6F] recorded.
"In Iceland, the highest temperature ever recorded in December was registered on Christmas Eve. At 11:00 AM in the town of Seyðisfjörður, thermometers rose to +19.8°C, an unprecedented figure for the Arctic region at this time of year."
https://unn.ua/en/news/anomalous-christmas-in-iceland-a-temperature-record-of-198c-recorded
"Record heat in 2025 will be nothing special in years to come [UK]...
"The five warmest years in the UK have all happened in the past 25 years. And there is every indication that temperatures will carry on rising... And if there was any doubt about Britain's changing climate it is revealing that the five coldest years all happened long ago, in 1892, 1888, 1885, 1963 and 1919 respectively."
https://www.thetimes.com/comment/register/article/record-heat-in-2025-will-be-nothing-special-in-years-to-come-rlm5fsg5w
"'Ghost resorts': as hundreds of ski slopes lie abandoned, will nature reclaim the Alps?
"...The Céüze resort in the southern French Alps had been open for 85 years and was one of the oldest in the country. Today, it is one of scores of ski resorts abandoned across France - part of a new landscape of "ghost stations". More than 186 have been permanently closed already..."
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/dec/27/alps-france-skiing-snow-warming-resorts-closing-ceuze-landscape
"Climate change shrinks Austrian Alps glaciers, threatening tourism and wildlife...
"The region, a cornerstone of Europe's winter tourism, is also seeing altered seasons, diminishing snow at lower altitudes, and water shortages affecting ski operations and mountain huts."
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/environment/climate-change-shrinks-austrian-alps-glaciers-threatening-tourism-and-wildlife/3781075
"Slovenian Alps' Eurasian lynx population faces serious decline risk amid conservation efforts...
"The Eurasian lynx population in the Slovenian Alps, which serves as a refuge for species adapted to high mountain ecosystems and forms an ecological corridor in Europe, faces a serious risk of decline... Slovenia, which encompasses part of the Alps, hosts glacial valleys and high-altitude forests that are home to rare or endangered plant and animal communities."
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/environment/slovenian-alps-eurasian-lynx-population-faces-serious-decline-risk-amid-conservation-efforts/3781742
"From deadly heatwaves to flash floods: How Europe's extreme weather events defined 2025...
"In Europe, flash floods, deadly heatwaves, droughts and record-breaking wildfires became the defining feature of 2025 - a legacy it is still scrambling to recover from. But experts warn these events will likely become the "new normal" unless drastic action is taken..."
https://www.euronews.com/green/2025/12/27/from-deadly-heatwaves-to-flash-floods-how-europes-extreme-weather-events-defined-2025
"Weather: Flooded Streets in Alimos - Collapse of a Building's Wall [Greece]...
"In the Alimos area, specifically on Lysikratous Street, the rushing waters turned the road into a river in just a few minutes, causing a concrete retaining wall of an apartment building to collapse."
https://www.news247.gr/en/weather-flooded-streets-in-alimos-collapse-of-a-buildings-wall/
"Record rainfall in Moroccan city of Salé leaves residential buildings inundated...
"Changing weather patterns and infrastructure issues have seen floods in a several cities in recent years. Heavy rainfall earlier this month killed 37 people in the coastal area of Safi."
https://www.africanews.com/2025/12/25/record-rainfall-in-moroccan-city-of-sale-leaves-residential-buildings-inundated/
"Climate change threatens 'women's gold' shea butter in West Africa...
"Climate change is endangering shea butter production across West Africa's Sahel region, jeopardizing the livelihoods of millions of women. Erratic weather and deforestation are reducing yields, creating shortages for a global market that highly values this natural product."
https://en.yenisafak.com/world/climate-change-threatens-womens-gold-shea-butter-in-west-africa-3712387
"Never ending record heat in Central Africa:
"December records today: 38.8 [101.8F] Magaria and Goure in NIGER... Abnormally hot nights continue relentless with Mins >27C in Ivory Coast, Benin, Ghana and Togo; New December record of Highest Minimum at Dapaong, TOGO: min 26.5C."
https://x.com/extremetemps/status/2004625409816830241
"A 38°C [100.4F] Christmas in Bauchi: Is Nigeria prepared for climate change?
"Perhaps it happened years before I was born. However, I have never witnessed December 25 with a temperature of above 30°C in the evening, not even close to that. This year, I happened to be in Bauchi, my home state, during the time. It was quite surprising how confused people were about the weather."
https://www.thecable.ng/a-38c-christmas-in-bauchi-is-nigeria-prepared-for-climate-change/
"Hailstorm causes extensive damage in Kwakwatsi [South Africa]...
"The hailstorm affected Ward 16 and Ward 17 in Kwakwatsi in the early hours of today at approximately 03:45 in the morning and caused damage to the area, including roofs being blown off, and some houses and windows being broken. This has also caused serious damage to electricity infrastructure."
https://www.citizen.co.za/parys-gazette/news/2025/12/26/hailstorm-causes-extensive-damage-in-kwakwatsi/
"Recent floods kill over 750,000 fish in Erbil's Taq Taq [Kurdistan].
"Recent flash floods have devastated fish farms in the southeastern town of Taq Taq in Erbil province, killing more than 750,000 fish and dealing a heavy blow to local livelihoods. Khalil Salim, a fish farm owner, said the floods have completely destroyed his business..."
https://www.rudaw.net/english/business/27122025
"Iraq plans 50 new dams to boost water reserves, funding pending: Official...
"Iraq's water crisis has been exacerbated by five consecutive years of drought, rising temperatures, and upstream dam construction in Turkey and Iran, which has significantly reduced water inflows."
https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/261220251-amp
"Reservoir supplying Iran capital largely empty despite rain.
"The reservoir of the Amir Kabir dam, one of the largest supplying Iran's capital, is still largely empty despite sporadic winter rainfall following the worst drought in decades, local media reported Wednesday."
https://www.brecorder.com/news/40399259/reservoir-supplying-iran-capital-largely-empty-despite-rain
"In India's desert state, global drinks giants grapple with water scarcity and local anger.
"In the northwestern state of Rajasthan, some of the world's biggest beverage firms face the additional challenge of securing and managing dwindling water supplies while navigating strict government rules and grievances of some local people who only get the resource piped-in once a week."
https://www.malaymail.com/amp/news/money/2025/12/27/in-indias-desert-state-global-drinks-giants-grapple-with-water-scarcity-and-local-anger/203282
"India's AI data centers feared to worsen host community water stress...
"Many of India's nearly 250 data centers are in areas already classified as 'severely water-scarce' by a non-profit think tank Planet Tracker, where groundwater levels have been declining for years. State governments such as Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, however, continue to pitch themselves aggressively as AI investment destinations even as they issue drought warnings..."
https://asia.nikkei.com/business/technology/artificial-intelligence/india-s-ai-data-centers-feared-to-worsen-host-community-water-stress
"Sri Lanka cyclone: More than a million still need aid weeks after Ditwah floods.
"Nearly a month after Cyclone Ditwah tore across Sri Lanka, more than a million people - including over half a million children - remain in urgent need of humanitarian assistance, as floods, landslides and renewed rainfall continue to compound one of the country's worst disasters in decades."
https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/12/1166671
"China launches satellite to aid in early extreme weather detection.
"China launched a new geostationary meteorological satellite on Saturday, aiming to boost the country's ability to monitor extreme weather events and high-impact climate systems with greater precision, according to China Meteorological Administration."
https://global.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202512/27/WS694f7596a310d6866eb30c22.html
"A year under water: Record floods sweep Vietnam from megacities to tourist hubs in 2025.
"Vietnam endured a year of unprecedented meteorological crises in 2025, as record-breaking rainfall and historic tides triggered disasters that overwhelmed infrastructure across the nation."
https://www.msn.com/en-xl/news/other/a-year-under-water-record-floods-sweep-vietnam-from-megacities-to-tourist-hubs-in-2025/ar-AA1T0vnW
"Floods and Landslides Still Threaten Sumatra...
"In Agam Regency, West Sumatra (Sumbar), flash floods again struck Tanjung Raya District. The disaster was caused by the overflowing Batang River. As of yesterday, the impacts of the flooding were still being felt."
https://pontianakpost.jawapos.com/nasional/1467002783/banjir-dan-longsor-masih-mengancam-sumatera-pemerintah-percepat-pembangunan-huntap-korban
"Indonesians raise white flags as anger grows over slow flood aid.
"For weeks now, angry and distressed residents in Indonesia's westernmost province have been raising white flags over the state's slow response to a series of deadly floods... In a sign of just how frustrating managing the crisis has become, the governor of North Aceh broke down publicly earlier this month."
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckgzwqjpzp4o
"BREAKING NEWS! Floods Hit South Kalimantan, Flash Floods in Balangan, One Dead in Tala.
"Flooding has hit several areas in several regencies in South Kalimantan, including Banjar, Tanahlaut, Balangan, Hulu Sungai Selatan, Hulu Sungai Tengah, and others. One example is the water level in the Amandit River in Loksado District..."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVrIg4F7Tz0
"Homes threatened as bushfire rages south-east of Perth and storms hit Queensland and Northern Territory...
"Australians on both sides of the country have been warned to remain vigilant as floods and fires threatened their homes on Boxing Day. A bushfire continued to rage about 200km south-east of Perth on Friday morning, although nearby residents were no longer being urged to leave their homes."
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/dec/26/homes-threatened-as-bushfire-rages-south-east-of-perth-and-storms-hit-queensland-and-northern-territory
"WA Weather: 120 year weather record smashed as WA crowned hottest place on Earth this Christmas.
"Western Australia was officially the hottest place on Earth on Christmas Day, with one corner of the State breaking a 120 year record... "Cape Leeuwin reached a high of 39.6C on Christmas Day -- breaking a 120 year record for the highest maximum temperature in December," meteorologist Sarah Scully told PerthNow."
https://www.perthnow.com.au/wa/wa-weather-120-year-weather-record-smashed-as-wa-crowned-hottest-place-on-earth-this-christmas-c-21122112
"If many Americans feel a touch of summer in winter, some Australians are feeling a touch of winter in summer. Very cold conditions in the SE:
"Only 1.8C [35.2F] in Flinders Island, Tasmania - a cold record for December and 5C below winter average! 5.6C Low Head also record."
https://x.com/extremetemps/status/2004381037493985397
"Hailstorm in summer: Severe thunderstorm warnings hit South Island [NZ]...
"It looked like snow in December. But MetService says the whiteout affecting parts of the South Island was caused by severe hail from summer thunderstorms."
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/hailstorm-in-summer-severe-thunderstorm-warnings-hit-south-island/NZ7LGNU2DSTJ6K2GDUVWXOCPJM/
"EXCEPTIONAL HEAT IN OCEANIA - Oceania is living its most extreme heat wave in history with records broken everywhere every day of the month.
"Temperatures above 35C [95F] in Vanuatu at Port Vila with Minimums of 27C (Vanua Lava). Records are falling in every tropical country in the world."
https://x.com/extremetemps/status/2004730802165481895
"Climate shift warning: São Paulo's 35.9°C on December 25th breaks 64-year heat record, signaling intensifying trends [record then broken again the next day with 36.2C / 97.2F].
"São Paulo experienced an unprecedented heat event this past December, recording a scorching 35.9 degrees Celsius on the 25th. This temperature mark established a new historical high for the month, surpassing a long-standing record that had remained unchallenged for 64 years."
https://www.mixvale.com.br/2025/12/25/climate-shift-warning-sao-paulos-35-9c-on-december-25th-breaks-64-year-heat-record-signaling-intensifying-trends/
"'Cocaine, gold and meat': how Colombia's Amazon became big business for crime networks...
"The report states: "It is a problem of macro-criminality that connects armed groups, gangs and cartels with political intermediaries and business conglomerates that, in addition to taking over natural resources and destroying ecosystems, seek to exercise territorial and population control over the region.""
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2025/dec/26/colombia-amazon-rainforest-cocaine-gold-crime-farc-cattle-cartels
"Pablo Escobar's Chital Deer: The New Biological Crisis Threatening Colombia's Magdalena Medio.
"The exponential increase of Asian deer, illegally introduced four decades ago, jeopardizes the balance of local ecosystems, causing a new biological crisis and challenging environmental authorities in Colombia."
https://noticiasambientales.com/animals/pablo-escobars-chital-deer-the-new-biological-crisis-threatening-colombias-magdalena-medio/
"California Sea Otters Face New Threats As An Ecosystem Shifts...
"Sea otters once flourished along the entire Pacific coast. When European hunters arrived in the 17thcentury, they found abundant populations -- between 150,000 and 300,000 -- from Oregon to Baja California."
https://www.eurasiareview.com/27122025-california-sea-otters-face-new-threats-an-ecosystem-shifts-analysis/
"Southern California recorded its wettest Christmas Eve-Christmas Day ever, with Santa Barbara Airport getting 5.91 inches. More than 17 inches fell in one area of the Ventura County mountains.
"The rainfall marks a dramatic reversal from last year's record drought that preceded the devastating Altadena and Pacific Palisades wildfires."
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-12-26/southern-california-wettest-christmas-extreme-weather-swings
"Mudslides buried cars and homes up to their windows in a California mountain town as a powerful storm system brought the wettest Christmas in decades to the southern part of the state.
"As much as 12in of rain fell across the area on Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service, triggering flooding and washing out roads."
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/26/california-storms-wind-rain-snow
"A powerful widespread zone of fierce winds that whipped through the northern Rocky Mountain states and the Northern Plains the week of Dec. 14-19, is being classified as a record-strong wind event.
"The massive wind scale delivered new record-strong wind gusts throughout the Intermountain West, from Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Utah, Idaho, Washington state, central California and central New Mexico, also in the Dakotas in mid-December."
https://www.thefencepost.com/news/record-strong-winds-walloped-intermountain-west/
"The Christmas Present That Arrived Early And Just Won't Leave: A Continued US Heat Wave...
"Multiple cities reached the milestone of warmest Christmas on record across the U.S., including Oklahoma City; Albuquerque, NM; Tulsa, OK; Salt Lake City, UT; Bozeman, MT and El Paso, TX. The record-breaking heat is concentrating over the Central and Southern Plains and the Southeast for the weekend..." [Graphic Jeff Berardelli X]
https://www.aol.com/articles/santa-sweating-temperatures-soar-warmest-142140660.html
"ABSOLUTE MADNESS:
"Night Minimums up to 64F in Illinois. NIGHT TEMPERATURES TYPICAL OF JULY. Hundreds of records pulverized all over Central States with up to 8F margins. 85F in Arkansas etc."
https://x.com/extremetemps/status/2004600361659797839
"Inside the multi-million dollar race to dim the sun and stop climate change...
"A secretive team of scientists is working on an unprecedented plan to fill the atmosphere with tiny particles that imitate a volcanic eruption and block out the sun. It might save humanity, or it could spiral out of control."
https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/dim-sun-climate-change-b2877722.html
"Declared extinct in 2025: A look back at some of the species we lost...
"Three Australian species of bandicoots -- the marl (Perameles myosuros), southeastern striped bandicoot (Perameles notina) and Nullarbor barred bandicoot (Perameles papillon) -- were also declared extinct on the IUCN Red List this year... All three now-extinct species were likely wiped out by the loss of habitat and the spread of feral cats..."
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/12/declared-extinct-in-2025-a-look-back-at-some-of-the-species-weve-lost/
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