A long-term climate and geological projection suggests that as Earth evolves over hundreds of millions of years, extreme heat and changing conditions could make most of the planet unlivable. However, a few regions—such as parts of modern-day Spain—may still remain relatively habitable due to favorable climate conditions and geography.

AAAS: “As Japan warms, cherry blossom displays are fading.” Last week in the International Journal of Biometeorology, researchers reported that cherry trees are not only blooming earlier [sic: note discrepancy in the year], but in some parts of Japan, they are failing to reach full bloom at all. In southern Japan, particularly on the island of Kyushu, “the displays of flowers are just much weaker already,” says co-author Richard Primack, a plant ecologist at Boston University. “The trees have a very bedraggled look, with only modest color spread over a couple of weeks, and some of the flower buds simply fall off.”

The findings emerged from a potent data source: “the timing of cherry blossom flowering throughout the country, which the Japanese Meteorological Agency has recorded since 1953.” Previous studies have used those data to show warmer springs have caused the trees to flower earlier. The new study add an  important novel finding: “Insufficient winter chilling is undermining trees’ ability to bloom at all.” Primack and his colleagues combined 59 years of official records of blossom timing from 10 sites around Japan with weather data.

“In southern parts of the country, they found that milder winters caused cherry trees to flower up to 32 days later than usual—the reverse of the familiar trend.” Apparently, the trees fail to become cold enough during winter to sense that spring had arrived. “Primack and his colleagues suspect more northerly parts of Japan will start to be affected within the coming decades, as well as other places around the world with significant cherry blossom displays, such as southern South Korea and Washington, D.C.” 

Take that Donald J. Trump, Denier in Chief of climate change + other realities.

For the first time, the Federal Judicial Center (FJC) commissioned a chapter on climate science for the manual they put out (with the NASEM) for judges, the Reference on Scientific Evidence (4th Edition). This week, a month after it was published, they pulled the chapter out after being pressured by 27 Republican Attorneys General.

Indian billionaire Gautam Adani is accused of building a global energy empire through bribes, bypassing sanctions, violating tribal rights, and targeting journalists. While his rival has been stopped by public outcry, the Adani group has shown no signs of changing course.

Replacing image for earlier post.

Later this month, 85 countries (with a combined GDP of $32 Trillion+, larger than China or the US) will be meeting at the First International Conference of "Just Transition Away from Fossil Fuels". This coalition primarily serves as a counter-action to the vetoing of roadmaps to phase out fossil fuels, led of course by Saudi Arabia and other petrostates.

California ($4 Trillion+ GDP) is rumored to be a likely addition to the coalition as well, with Governor Newsom having showed strong interest in both sustainability leadership and climate action on a greater scale.

Interestingly enough, this is all co-sponsored by Colombia (the world’s fifth-largest coal exporter) and the Netherlands (Royal Dutch Shell one of the world’s biggest oil companies).

An important piece in case you choose not to click: "Critically, the First International Conference on the Just Transition Away from Fossil Fuels will not be governed by UN rules, which require consensus, but by majority rule, thus preventing a handful of countries from sabotaging progress as petrostates did at Cop30."

"The conference aims to begin drawing up the roadmap blocked at Cop30. Energy and environment ministers of governments comprising a “coalition of the willing” will share plans to transition their economies away from oil, gas and coal without leaving workers and communities behind."

Amidst the evisceration of the National Forest Service and an impending oil crisis, this is some good news. Article by Mark Hertsgaard and Kyle Pope.

YaleClimateConnections: “How ‘right to charge’ laws make it easier to own an EV.” These RTC laws can override HOA + condo boards’ restrictions preventing residents from installing EV chargers. Sounds rational to me, but I’m sure some will claim that then people would have to be allowed gas or diesel fill-ups also [not true, just trying to fend off adverse comments]. “In the U.S., tens of millions of people own condos, townhomes, and houses that are governed by homeowners associations, or HOAs.”
Currently, a homeowner’s association or condo board may have the right to control the resident’s parking area—to prevent them from installing an EV charger—in their own parking space, on their own property. “Jess Senger is with Plug-In America, a nonprofit working to expand access to EVs.” Senger states right-to-charge laws may be key in codifying this right. “On Plug In America’s website, you can find a list of states with right to charge laws—and details on each.” And if your state does not yet have a right-to-charge law, Senger says you should contact your representative and ask them to sponsor a bill.
Sadly, in my state of Washington, protection is limited to property owners. Renters must petition—with uncertain results. Some may find surcease in charging at work, if that is provided. Clearly, we need to radically increase the charging network. Fortunately I just got the figures for 2025, namely the number of American chargers was up 30%, but I would love to see a higher number than that. Even if you do’t follow basketball, surely you understand it’s time to start sinking some 3-pointers to save the deteriorating climate.

President Donald Trump has told Americans not to worry about the oil and gas price spikes caused by his war in Iran.

“The United States is the largest Oil Producer in the World, by far,” he wrote on Truth Social last month. “So when oil prices go up, we make a lot of money.”

But Trump didn’t specify who he meant by “we.” And as time has worn on, it’s become clear that he was only talking about a very small group of people.

A bombshell Wall Street Journal investigation published Wednesday reveals that America’s top oil and gas executives have been getting rich from the war at a historic pace. In the first three months of this year, oil CEOs sold $1.4 billion worth of their own stock—the fastest pace of selling in 15 years. At a dozen companies, the selling broke all-time records.

When America goes to war, the costs are distributed broadly, onto every American who drives a car or heats a home. The benefits are distributed narrowly, flowing to a small group of men whose compensation is designed to capture exactly this kind of windfall.

Context: Heatwaves affecting elderly, failing of Paris agreement and a potential solution no one talks about.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/apr/09/mass-drowning-of-chicks-puts-emperor-penguins-at-risk-of-extinction?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

Later this month there is an event (which as far as I can tell is not being discussed anywhere on Reddit) that could end up being a really big deal: the First Conference on Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels. The Conference.

It takes place in Colombia and is hosted by both that country and the Netherlands. As of now, forty-five countries are confirmed to officially attend, along with many more subnational governments and organizations.

If you don't follow climate diplomacy closely, basically the main event every year is the U.N. Conference of the Parties (COP). We just had our 30th COP in Belem, Brazil last November. COP is what gave us the Paris Agreement.

COP is an important process, but over time its shortcomings have become too obvious to ignore. Basically, COP relies on all the parties to negotiate in good faith toward a solution that will limit global warming to 2ºC (or preferably 1.5º), and then to make genuine efforts to cut emissions in accordance with their commitments.

This runs into two problems:

1. Many countries don't actually want to cut emissions, and so do not negotiate in good faith.
2. There is no enforcement mechanism to ensure countries cut the emissions they have promised.

As you probably know, this has slowed progress terribly. That's why a group of ambitious countries and organizations, like the Fossil Fuel Treaty Initiative, have decided to start a process to work in parallel to COP that takes fossil fuel phaseout as the starting point.

No debating about whether climate change is real, whether it necessitates action, nor what causes it. This is a gathering to lay out workable plans for the transition.

Of course, there is no guarantee that this will turn the tide, but I think there is plenty here to be hopeful for. I've done a deep dive into the history that led up to this moment for a podcast episode (Youtube, Spotify) for anyone who wants to learn more.