Ashleigh Keelean, M.C.E., M.A.

A photograph of geologic strata shown alongside a 3D visualization in GIS of similar strata where the user can slice through the strata horizontally, vertically, or at various angles.

Advancing Earth Sciences: Find out how GIS enables geologists and climate scientists to tackle real-world challenges. Discover stories and resources: esri.social/coUr50Um5l1
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A man couldn't find a tiny home he loved, so he built one. Now almost anyone can buy one of his sleek ADUs from $59,000. MyCabin's Scandinavian-style prefab homes were initially only available in Europe, but now Americans can pick from five minimalist units. Take a look.

MyCabin's Scandinavian-style prefab homes were initially only available in Europe, but now Americans can pick from five minimalist units. Take a look.

Global economy could face 50% loss in GDP between 2070 and 2090 from climate shocks, say actuaries Exclusive: Report by risk experts says previous assessments ignored severe effects of climate crisis

You know who understands risk? Actuaries. And guess what they're saying: "... the plausible worst-case hit to global economies would be 50% in the two decades before 2090."

I'm bad at budgeting, can someone tell me whether 50% is a lot?

Air monitoring station records biggest ever jump in atmospheric CO2 Wildfires and fossil fuel burning in 2024 contributed to the biggest annual rise in atmospheric CO2 levels ever recorded at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii

Air monitoring station records biggest ever jump in atmospheric CO2

a colourful blue, orange, red and purple chart showing a light and dar kblue history for temperatures, recent shifts upwards through orange and light red, and two futures: one of light and dark red (1.5c), and one of deep purple (3c and more)

I think this is one of my favourite colourful climate chart type things, because it depicts two things at once:

- Things are going to get worse, no matter what

- The degree to which they get worse depends on decisions made today

theconversation.com/my-new-dark-... by @edhawkins.org

Change in Paris air quality between 2007 and 2023 using visuals

Air pollution has dropped significantly in #Paris in the last 15 years. Mayor @annehidalgo.bsky.social’s leadership has traded car space for green space, safe bike space, kid space.. and traded pollution for people.

Good trade.

A computer screen with a display showing output from an xray diffraction spectrometer.

Close up view showing fraction of metals. Fun stuff.

Just had a sample of the Eaton Fire ash that is in my driveway run on the department XRF. Is there titanium (new house paint)? Yup. Lead (old house paint)? You betcha. Heavy metals? Check. Treat that ash like it's toxic folks (because it is)

Climate Change A Factor In Unprecedented LA Fires

UCLA study reveals that climate change was a major factor in the LA wildfires.

Two unusually wet winters primed the landscape by creating more vegetation, which then dried out due to an unusually hot summer, creating a tinderbox ripe for fire.

sustainablela.ucla.edu/2025lawildfi...

Hydroclimate volatility on a warming Earth Nature Reviews Earth & Environment - Rapid transitions between extreme wet and extreme dry conditions — ‘hydroclimate whiplash’ — have marked environmental and societal...

Our recent review on "Hydroclimate Volatility on a warming Earth" will be in front of the journal paywall for all to read/download freely for 14 days (until 1/23). Thereafter, this specific (ReadCube) link will grant read-only access to all: https://rdcu.be/d6ceH

New Study Highlights Disconnect Between AMA's Stance on Climate Change and Political Contributions | Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health A new study finds a disconnect between the American Medical Association's climate advocacy and their political donations.

Count the American Medical Association among groups that says positive things about the fight against climate change but then funnels money to politicians who are fighting solutions.

Warming climate created 'perfect storm' for catastrophic fires, NASA researcher says Prolonged drought and powerful Santa Ana winds set up extreme conditions that have fueled the devastating wildfires in the Los Angeles area. Those conditions were compounded by climate change. Accordi...

Prolonged drought and Santa Ana winds set up extreme conditions compounded by climate change that have fueled LA area wildfires. New report from NOAA and NASA that 2024 was the hottest in almost 200 years underlines the point. @climateofgavin.bsky.social explains. Via @pbsnews.bsky.social.

Signal on seismic station IU.MAJO Japan from earthquake magnitude 6.8 2025-01-13

Magnitude 6.8 #earthquake #Kyushu #Japan about 40 minutes ago (2025-01-13Z12:19) Signal on station IU.MAJO (Matsushiro, Japan) displayed using free #obspy software. Further info from USGS on
earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/...

How Two Words from a 24-Year-Old Pasadena Climate Specialist Saved Hundreds of Lives - Local News Pasadena Edgar McGregor’s timely Eaton Fire alert: ‘Get out!’

What a wonderful story about @edgarmcgregor.bsky.social

In One of L.A.’s Richest ZIP codes, Food Service Workers Also Lost Their Homes In addition to pricey mansions, the homes of working-class people were also lost, including a mobile home park on Pacific Coast Highway.

In addition to pricey mansions, the homes of working-class people were also lost in the Palisades fire, including a mobile home park on Pacific Coast Highway. “It was rent controlled,” one resident said. “I had been there for 10 years in this trailer with an ocean view. I was so lucky.”

For the thousands of people asking "How do we fix this #wildfire problem?", @michaelwara.bsky.social wrote an excellent white paper 3 years ago that neatly lays out the basics of the multipronged approach. It still holds. @stanfordwoods.bsky.social hosted a discussion panel as well.

US towns limit new buildings in floodplains more than you think - and can do better U.S.

2 new papers out - US towns limit new buildings in floodplains more than you think - and can do better, using routine local tools

Brief write up: udel.edu/0012471

The nexus between agroforestry landscapes and dietary diversity: insights from Myanmar’s Central Dry Zone - Landscape Ecology Context Agroforestry plays a crucial role in increasing tree-based food production for healthy and sustainable food systems. However, the potential of farm trees to contribute to farmers' dietary dive...

When we diversify our farms with trees we create myriad benefits for food, income, and seasonal stability.

Cool new paper showing the conservation of change in action

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

No ‘water system in the world’ could have handled the LA fires. How the region could have minimized the damage | CNN Widespread destruction from the L.A. fires was inevitable, given the drought and winds. Still, the region could have been better prepared.

CNN interviewed more than a dozen experts, and they said that no fire hydrants would have been able to stop the LA wildfires with the high winds. “I don’t know a water system in the world that is that prepared for this type of event,” said one expert.

L.A. Fires Show Limits of America’s Efforts to Cope With Climate Change California has focused on fortifying communities against wildfires. But with growing threats, that may not be enough.

California’s building code for wildfires is among the most protective in the nation. Yet the destruction in Los Angeles demonstrates the limits of those efforts, raising uncomfortable questions about whether any part of the U.S. can truly adapt to wildfires made worse by a hotter climate.

Why wildfires are becoming faster and more furious With the risk factors increasing, is it still safe to live in areas prone to these disasters - and can fireproofing ever work?

NEW: In light of the LA wildfires, I've put together a special in-depth report about how climate change is increasing the risk of such fires escalating quickly.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Pink Fire Retardant, a Dramatic Wildfire Weapon, Poses Its Own Dangers It’s widely used because it can slow flames in ways that water can’t. But it also contains heavy metals and other harmful compounds.

Pink fire retardant is widely used to tame wildfires each year because it can slow flames in ways that water can’t. But it also comes with a toxic burden, because they contain heavy metals and other chemicals that are harmful to human health and the environment.

Hydroclimate volatility on a warming Earth Nature Reviews Earth & Environment - Rapid transitions between extreme wet and extreme dry conditions — ‘hydroclimate whiplash’ — have marked environmental and societal...

Our paper on "Hydroclimate volatility on a Warming Earth" is out in Nature Reviews Earth & Environment. We assess existing scientific literature & conduct new analysis--concluding that "#HydroclimateWhiplash" is increasing due to #ClimateChange. [Thread] www.nature.com/artic...

No ‘water system in the world’ could have handled the LA fires. How the region could have minimized the damage | CNN Widespread destruction from the L.A. fires was inevitable, given the drought and winds. Still, the region could have been better prepared.

As flames in Southern California continue to carve a destructive path, a larger question looms: could this level of devastation somehow have been minimized, or is this simply the new normal in an era of climate-related calamities?

Supreme Court to review Obamacare’s no-cost coverage of cancer screenings, heart statins and HIV drugs | CNN Politics The Supreme Court said Friday it will review the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act’s no-cost coverage mandates for certain preventive care services, putting the landmark health care law in ...

The Supreme Court will review Obamacare's no-cost coverage for some preventive care services including cancer screenings, heart statins and HIV drugs.

Opinion | As a Climate Scientist, I Knew It Was Time to Leave Los Angeles After the Bobcat fire, the area no longer felt safe.

It is entirely logical to be furious at the fossil fuel industry, whose decades-long campaign of corrupting politicians, crafting fake science, sowing false doubt, and lying at an industrial scale has brought us to this moment. www.nytimes.com/2025/01/10/o...

Ridgeline chart showing the distribution of global daily air temperature differences from the pre-industrial reference period (1850-1900), for every year between 1940 and 2024. Each individual year resembles a hill, shaded in a darker shade of red and further to the right for warmer years. The trend is clearly towards warmer years, with 2024 standing out as first year above 1.5C.

NEW: 2024 has just been confirmed as the warmest year on record, and the first to breach the 1.5C threshold.

We used a ridgeline (Joy Division inspired) chart to visualise daily temperature anomalies since 1940.

2024 clearly stands out with 100% of its days above 1.3C and 75% above 1.5C.

World's darkest and clearest skies at risk from industrial megaproject On December 24th, AES Andes, a subsidiary of the US power company AES Corporation, submitted a project for a massive industrial complex for environmental impact assessment. This complex threatens the pristine skies above ESO’s Paranal Observatory in Chile’s Atacama Desert, the darkest and clearest of any astronomical observatory in the world [1]. The industrial megaproject is planned to be located just 5 to 11 kilometres from telescopes at Paranal, which would cause irreparable damage to astronomical observations, in particular due to light pollution emitted throughout the project’s operational life. Relocating the complex would save one of Earth's last truly pristine dark skies.

The skies above Paranal are at risk from a proposed industrial megaproject. 

This would be located in the vicinity of ESO's Observatory. If constructed, it would irreparably impact astronomical observations.

Read more: https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso2501/
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📷 ESO/P. Horálek

Multi-million dollar mansions in Malibu have vanished entirely, seemingly swept into the Pacific ocean by the force of the Palisades Fire (JOSH EDELSON). The image shows the destruction of houses in a very narrow stretch between the hills/road and the ocean, vulnerable to fire from land and sea-level rise from the ocean.

This photo of some of the fire devastation is also a clear picture of exactly the sort of place where there should be NO rebuilding. Any structures here will be uninsurable in the future precisely because of #climate change risks from fires from land and sea-level rise from the oceans.

Nominations Sought For The Habitable Worlds Observatory Community Science and Instrument Team - Astrobiology NASA is soliciting self-nominations from interested individuals to participate as members of the Habitable Worlds Observatory Community Science and Instrument Team.

Nominations Sought For The Habitable Worlds Observatory Community Science and Instrument Team
astrobiology.com/2025/01/nomi... #astrobiology #astronomy #exoplanet

World’s richest use up their fair share of 2025 carbon budget in 10 days Emissions caused by wealthiest 1% so far this year would take someone from poorest 50% three years to create

We know better than to expect the richest 1% to prioritize fairness, but this is still pretty egregious!