In ways that proved prescient, Pope Francis was quick to grasp the risks posed by climate change. But his tenure showed humanity’s limits in confronting the peril. My piece on the legacy of the “climate pope.”
wapo.st/42paJdW
Who gets to decide whether African countries can exploit their natural resources?
Activists and oil proponents are in a showdown over a pipeline in Uganda, with both sides claiming the moral high ground.
wapo.st/41X1ktG
The sides depicted in this story have been fighting for years. They both think they have the moral high ground.
This story moves back and forth across the battle lines — and gives a sense of why the future of oil is so emotionally contested. wapo.st/41X1ktG
The consequences of the USAID demolition in Africa:
▪️ The closure of community kitchens amid Sudan’s famine
▪️ Suspended classes at schools in refugee camps
▪️ Aids testing programs halted or in chaos
www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...
An unprecedented year of heat. 1.6 C above pre-industrial levels. Extremes beyond what humans ever experienced.
And yet, in the not-so-distant future, the parameters of 2024 are likely to feel tame.
Our take on (another) unsettling record year.
wapo.st/429PhK6
I used to love this annual list, but it feels kind of tired, no?
I think for the age of overtourism they should have 52 Places NOT to Go and have dystopian dispatches of heat, crowds, bad meals and expensive hotels.
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
“It’s going to burn everything,” one sergeant said.
Read this from Brianna Sacks reporting amid the falling embers. www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...
“The Sudanese people once hoped that gold would lift up their country. Instead, it is turning out to be their downfall.”
An amazing story reported from three countries by @declanwalsh.bsky.social.
www.nytimes.com/2024/12/11/w...
The global cooling that usually follows El Niño still hasn’t arrived. That shifts the odds that other more lasting factors are driving the world’s sustained record heat. @byscottdance.com @bennollweather.bsky.social
www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2024...
Here is your newest Mercedes EV customer.
An astonishing six hours of turmoil that “evoked the military dictatorships that many South Koreans believed had been consigned to the history books.” Read @myhlee.bsky.social. www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/1...
This martial law move would be crazy anywhere, but especially in South Korea, where citizens will happily protest by the millions for weeks… and where oh by the way two of the previous three presidents wound up in prison.
“Most plastics are made from fossil fuels.”
So you can guess that nature of the opposition in marathon talks that failed to forge a global plastics treaty.
www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...
Perhaps it was inevitable that this is how global climate finance talks would end: at a miserable windowless venue that had run out of food, with sleep-deprived delegates agreeing to a deal they didn’t want, just before they left to catch planes.
www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...
Last year’s COP had a controversial president, Sultan Al-Jaber. But he proved to be an undeniably gifted leader — authoritative, and giving the sense that he had a personal stake in the outcome.
This year’s COP has none of that.
I keep hoping Dr. Sultan will arrive at midnight by helicopter.
Even if countries come to a deal at COP29 — which I still think is likely, but not guaranteed — this has been a chaotic stumble toward the finish line. We’re 24 hours into overtime, and several negotiating groups (small islands and least developed countries) just walked out.
Excellent reporting from @chicoharlan.bsky.social: a devastating crisis in Zambia with an ominous warning for global development and the climate transition, i.e. the entire future of humanity.
www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...
