Climate Action Now: Heat Batteries Are Spreading Around the World
Heat batteries are growing fast in the U.S. MIT spin-off startup Electrified Thermal Solutions, recently unveiled the Joule Hive system, a superhot industrial heat battery which uses custom-designed metal oxide firebricks to convert grid surpluses into storable heat…
PV Magazine: Google to deploy world’s largest iron-air battery for Minnesota data center
A massive 300 MW / 30 GWh iron-air battery system in Minnesota, utilizing technology from Form Energy, is set to become the largest battery system by energy capacity announced globally, providing a blueprint for how Big Tech intends to firm up intermittent renewables to meet the relentless power demands of the AI era….
Happy Eco News: Scientists Create Durable Biodegradable Bamboo Plastic Superior To Petroleum-Based Materials
Chinese researchers have developed a biodegradable bamboo plastic that not only rivals but surpasses traditional petroleum-based plastics in strength and thermal stability while decomposing naturally within 50 days. The breakthrough….. could revolutionize manufacturing by offering a fully biodegradable, renewable, recyclable, and high-performance alternative
Inside Climate News: Earth’s Greatest Underwater Migrations Are Disappearing
Beneath the surface of the planet’s rivers and lakes, the historically heaving migrations of freshwater fish are thinning out. The blubbery-lipped Siamese giant carp of Asia’s Mekong River, the mottled brown goonch of India’s Ganges and the ancient-in-appearance beluga sturgeon of Europe’s Danube River are declining…
Seymour Marine Discovery Center Studio: The 12-Kilometer Whisper: Protecting the Soundscapes of Monterey Bay
Marine scientist Caroline Casey explains how underwater noise from ships and industry disrupts communication among seals, whales, and dolphins. Sound travels vast distances in the ocean, but human noise shrinks this range, impacting survival. Using data and initiatives like Blue Whales Blue Skies, researchers work to reduce noise and protect marine ecosystems.
UN Environment Program: Investing in planetary health would deliver higher GDP, fewer deaths, less poverty
A sweeping new report from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) lays out an ambitious, but achievable, economic transformation: investing in the health of the planet could generate at least $20 trillion in annual benefits by 2070…
PHYS.org: How a shift in the Gulf Stream could signal the collapse of a major ocean current system
Changes in the Gulf Stream, a strong ocean current in the Atlantic, could serve as an early warning of the imminent collapse of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). The AMOC is a massive system of ocean currents that acts as a conveyor belt, moving heat from the tropics to the North Atlantic….
Climate Action Now: Kestrels Aid Cherry Farmers
Scientists have discovered that American kestrels (Falco sparverius, North America’s smallest falcons) provide substantial benefits to commercial cherry growers in the state of Michigan by eating, scaring off, and generally reducing the local population density of cherry-eating birds like grackles in orchards.
Grist: How electrifying a Bay Area rail system made trains faster, cleaner, and more frequent
Caltrain successfully electrified 51 miles of track in the Bay Area in 2024. The new electric trains cut 23 minutes off the travel time from San Francisco to San Jose, which has allowed new stops to be added and reduced the time interval between trains at any given station. Overall ridership grew by 60% last year…
Sand: Kato - Dreams of Dark Earth, March 18 - 20
Join us for the global film premiere of Katô: Dreams of Dark Earth. This is the fifth film in the Wisdom of the Ancestors series and is set in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon rainforest.
Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics: Federal Judge Protects Tongass Old Growth
March 18 - A federal judge in Alaska dismissed a timber-industry lawsuit seeking to allow old-growth logging on the Tongass National Forest, the world’s largest temperate old-growth rainforest. Viking Lumber, Alcan Timber, and the Alaska Forest Association sued the Department of Agriculture in an effort to overturn an Obama-era forest management plan for the Tongass…
The Crucial Years, Bill McKibben: Now Comes The Heat
March 15 …Phoenix, Arizona, obliterated its previous (winter) record (a record set last year) by almost 3 degrees, a pummeling of a record in the realm of three-month temperature data. (When a record is broken) for a three-month stretch.... it should be by a tenth of a degree. That’s how statistics (used to) work on a stable planet. Three degrees is insane.
Climate Action NOW: Plug-In Solar Surging
As of March 1, 2026, 28 states plus DC are considering Utah-style plug-in solar bills as this newsletter long advocated! After months of hard work, a nationwide wave is building to make 2026 the year when plug-in solar becomes accessible in states across America!…
Lookout: UCSC Innovation Impact Awards: Innovator of the Year - Mike Beck
Mike Beck is being honored as the 2025 Innovator of the Year for advancing nature-based solutions that protect coastlines and communities from climate-driven storms and flooding. As director of the Center for Coastal Climate Resilience, Beck has emerged as a global leader in quantifying how ecosystems such as mangroves, coral reefs, and wetlands reduce storm damage and flood risk….
Lookout: Westside startup’s innovative, self-serve soap dispensers aim to reduce single-use plastics
Santa Cruz startup Wonderfil has set its sights on helping reduce reliance on single-use plastic bottles by making it easier for consumers to refill bottles for products like shampoo, laundry detergent and hand soap. The solution: special refill stations that allow users to use the containers of their choice…
Heatmap: Washington State Just Outmaneuvered Trump’s Coal Order
March 11 - Trump may have ordered Washington’s last coal-fired power plant to stay open, but it’s unlikely ever to operate ever again thanks to a crafty bit of policy the Evergreen state just passed. Washington’s Governor Bob Ferguson is expected to sign a bill today that accomplishes one very narrow goal: It taxes the hell out of any electricity generated by the TransAlta Centralia coal plant, effectively pricing it out of the market
Inside Climate News: EPA Hits 40-Year Lows in Staffing After Trump Targets Its Public Health Experts
The EPA lost more than 4,000 employees in the first year of Trump’s second term, bringing its staffing down to a total of 12,849 — a level not seen since the Reagan administration. That represents a reduction of 24 percent, more than double the rate of losses across the entire federal workforce…
Inside Climate News: Accelerated Global Warming Could Lock Earth Into a Hothouse Future
Scientists say warming is increasing faster than at any time in at least 3 million years. There is no guide for what comes next. If humans keep heating the planet with greenhouse gas pollution, the climate swing could lock Earth into a hothouse trajectory, as parts of the system feed on their own momentum, even if emissions are reduced later….
NY Times: Nature Report, Killed by Trump, Is Released Independently
March 5 - Scientists and other experts were preparing a first-of-its-kind assessment of the health of nature in the United States when President Trump returned to the White House. He canceled the report. The researchers went ahead and compiled it on their own and just released a 868-page draft for public comment and scientific review. Many of the preliminary findings are grim…
Midpen Regional Open Space: New Genetics Study Reveals Rarity of Santa Cruz Kangaroo Rats
March 5 - Following the exciting rediscovery of the Santa Cruz kangaroo rat (Dipodomys venustus venustus) in Sierra Azul Open Space Preserve in 2019, Midpen and collaborators at UC Davis, UC Santa Cruz and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo launched a five-year genetics research project to learn more about kangaroo rat populations in Central California….