Climate Change: Simple, Serious, Solvable

Readings: Climate Change in the News

Articles I share with my students, newest first, each with a one-line note. Some are behind paywalls; many libraries and universities give free access.

Updated November 9, 2026 · 67 articles

November 2026

• What to expect as world leaders gather for COP31 Grist · November 9

  Here we go: COP31

• Global Science Panel Hits Roadblocks Ahead of COP31 Climate Summit Inside Climate News · November 7

  The political struggles of the IPCC in the run up to COP

• Ten years of the Paris Agreement: Has the world kept its climate promises? Al Jazeera · November 5

  A Paris agreement scorecard

• We Need To Talk More About Air Conditioning And its Energy Use Forbes · November 5

  Global electricity demand is driven much harder by installation of air conditioning than by the growth of AI data centers

• Data centers are turning to old jet engines as the wait for power grows TechCrunch · November 3

  You know you’ve chronically underinvested in modern grid infrastructure when …

• Brazil Puts Forward Global Plan to Wean World Off Fossil Fuels Bloomberg · November 3

  COP-level negotiations still haven’t agreed on the need to stop setting carbon on fire. But Brazil is leading a planning effort to adopt the goal anyway

• Ethiopia’s Improbable Leap to Electric Vehicles Bloomberg · November 2

  Ethiopia is surging ahead with vehicle electrification

• Nobel Winner Nordhaus Broke New Ground Fusing Economics and Climate Bloomberg · November 2

  Founding climate economist William Nordhaus died last week

October 2026

• This giant iron-air battery can store renewable energy for 100 hours using rust Interesting Engineering · October 31

  Rust never sleeps: cheap, long duration electricity storage is one of the most important components of the energy transition

• Europe’s Fossil-Fuel Problem Has an Electric Solution Bloomberg · October 31

  Electrification for geopolitical advantage

• ‘This Is a Knife Fight:’ Inside China’s Ruthless EV Blitz Upending the World Barron’s · October 30

  Will US car companies ever be able to compete in the big leagues again?

• It might not look like it, but a motoring miracle has now happened The New World · October 29

  The switch to EVs hasn’t slowed since 2024. It’s accelerating.

• New satellites see thousands of methane leaks. Governments shrug. POLITICO · October 28

  Methane leaks are low hanging fruit for near term climate mitigation

• America Risks Losing The Electric Advantage To China Forbes · October 27

  Geopolitics of electrification

• The Rise of Electrostates Could Redraw The Global Economy TIME · October 27

  A new chapter in geopolitical history: electrostates change the balance of economic and political power

• Satellites show some of the strongest evidence the AMOC is weakening New Scientist · October 26

  New measurements of ocean heat flux show pronounced declines in the strength of the ocean’s overturning circulation. Bad news.

• 'It's offensively cheap': How solar power is quietly becoming bigger than nuclear BBC News · October 26

  Solar power is bigger than nuclear worldwide. An amazing 10x increase in a decade

• Ice sheet expansion may have started 2,000 years ago, but we canceled that Ars Technica · October 24

  New details on the interaction between Milankovitch forcing and modern global warming explain a lot about the last 8000 years!

• Three things you should know about permafrost MIT Technology Review · October 22

  Thawing permafrost, boreal warming, and carbon cycle feedback

• UN says we're going to blow past 1.5º warming, offers a "now what?" answer Ars Technica · October 22

  What happens now that we’re missing our 1.5 C warming cap?

• First Cars, Now Trains: Batteries Are Coming For Everything Bloomberg · October 22

  Freight trains don’t sound awesome, but they are crucial to cleaning up supply chains for almost everything

• How the biggest renewable energy project in US history finally got built Vox · October 22

  It turns out the US actually CAN build useful things! If only we can learn to do it faster.

• California just showed how home batteries will radically remake the grid Grist · October 22

  Home and EV batteries connected to the power grid smooth demand spikes and improve reliability for everybody

• El Niño Stresses China’s Power Market With Return to Costly Gas Bloomberg · October 21

  21st century power grids burn gas if they must, but it kills profits compared to clean electricity

• What to do if you feel so, so angry at the state of the world Vox · October 21

  Beneath your anger is your broken heart. Acknowledging that can unleash purposeful action

• UN Warns Major Emissions Cuts Needed to Limit Warming Overshoot Bloomberg · October 21

  Calculating the daunting emission cuts required to return to 1.5 C warming after passing that threshold

• Batteries help reduce emissions, but how do we reduce their emissions? Ars Technica · October 19

  Supply chain, manufacturing improvements, and demand reduction could cut emissions

• Computer Chips Are the Most Magnificent Things Humanity Has Ever Made The New Yorker · October 19

  History of computers

• The problem with telling people the world is ending The Guardian · October 18

  Doom is the new denial

• The Climate Story Hiding in Plain Sight in the Global Economy TIME · October 17

  Climate policy, economic policy, and geopolitics

• Pacific nations await climate billions, as fossil fuel divide looms over Cop31 RFI English · October 17

  Low-lying island nations are ground zero for loss and damage negotiations

• This startup wants to make clean energy the default for data centers Fast Company · October 16

  Clean, reliable power for data centers can accelerate the shift away from burning carbon

• Opinion | Petrostates Are Trying to Hijack Climate Science Again Bloomberg · October 14

  Political shenanigans at the intersection of IPCC, COP, and geopolitics

• America’s Energy Affordability Crisis Just Got A Trillion Dollars Worse Forbes · October 4

September 2026

• Mass Heat Wave Deaths in Europe Show Climate Extremes Are Outpacing Adaptation Efforts Inside Climate News · September 30

  Mass deaths due to extreme heat even in rich countries

• Top US Electric Grid Didn’t Go All-In on Batteries and Strain Is Showing Bloomberg · September 29

  Buying batteries prevents blackouts. More and more important in the late 2020s

• Opinion | Trump’s New Fuel Standards Put US Autos in Reverse Bloomberg · September 29

  Ending US competitiveness in automobiles

• How to Build an Electrostate Bloomberg · September 24

  Clean up electricity AND electrify everything!

• We Have a Climate Imagination Problem TIME · September 21

  Imagination is more important than knowledge

• On Wall Street, Frustration Is Mounting That AI Will Hijack the Climate Debate Bloomberg · September 20

  Worried about the wrong thing! Massive data center buildout projected to reach just 3% of US emissions by 2030

• The Hormuz crisis just did what climate summits couldn't TheStreet · September 19

  Sure enough, the gigantic carbon tax of 2026 is driving down fossil fuel consumption

• For Climate-Vulnerable Countries, Debt Costs 25 Times More Than Climate Action Inside Climate News · September 19

  Climate Justice: Billions of vulnerable people suffering the worst climate impacts can’t access solutions

• What Happens When Earth Passes 1.5 Degrees of Warming? Inside Climate News · September 19

  Interview with Michael Mann on current state of climate change

• The Ocean Current That Feeds the World Is Collapsing. The Results Could Be Catastrophic. Popular Mechanics · September 18

  Collapsing is too strong a word for this title, but the impacts on food production are big

• The wildfire danger we're only just beginning to understand Vox · September 18

  Warming -> Drying -> Wildfire -> Smoke -> public health: a causal chain reaction of climate consequences!

• The New Clean Tech Meta and Google Are Turning to Power AI Bloomberg · September 18

  Data centers need long-duration energy storage. That’s stimulating an important part of the energy transition

• Costs take center stage at New York's Climate Week Axios · September 17

  It’s not about “Planet versus Prosperity.” Ensuring prosperity requires a rapid transformation off of expensive and inefficient fossil fuels

• How hotter weather is making us poorer DW · September 16

  Climate change imposes large and rapidly rising costs to households

• Speeding glaciers drive half a century of polar ice loss Phys.org · September 16

  Glaciers don’t melt in place, they flow. Faster and faster!

• Is Donald 'drill, baby, drill' Trump helping the world transition away from oil? CBC News · September 16

  Global acceleration of economic decarbonization as a consequence of US policies

• ‘Environmental racism.’ That’s what a Georgia advocacy group calls this EPA decision Columbus Ledger-Enquirer · September 15

  Toxic air pollution is a public health scourge whose impacts fall disproportionately on poor communities

• China Is Ditching Touchscreens For Essential Controls In New Cars BGR · September 13
• The EV boom that excites Prince William isn’t Teslas: it’s tuk-tuks The Times and The Sunday Times · September 12

  Tuk-Tuks, not Teslas are likely to move fossil fuel emissions more

• ‘Recovery becomes self-propelling’: Five positive tipping points that can save the world Euronews · September 12

  How climate solutions can become self-amplifying.

• World must reject climate culture wars or face economic ruin, says UN’s Stiell The Guardian · September 10

  Planet vs Prosperity is a false choice!

• The world’s biggest carbon sink may start emitting CO2 after net zero New Scientist · September 10

  Carbon sinks can become sources after net zero emissions

• Almost Anyone Can Make Money Selling Electricity With AI and Batteries Bloomberg · September 3

  Home battery storage is already profitable in 2026

August 2026

• A massive clean energy IPO made enhanced geothermal the hot renewable. What has to happen next for it to succeed Fast Company · August 25

  Enhanced geothermal power uses the technology of fracking to make “clean firm” electricity

• This Century’s Growth Story Is Climate Action More Than AI, Stern Says Bloomberg · August 20

  Solving the climate problem will be more lucrative than AI, suggests economist Nicholas Stern

• Home batteries are suddenly cheap and everywhere. Here’s why. TechCrunch · August 19

  The economics of home batteries have changed dramatically in the past couple of years

• Data Center Gas Plants to Boost US Power Emissions by 20% Bloomberg · August 18

  In the near term, the rush to build data centers leads to perverse incentives for expensive gas powered electricity

• These 4 bold projects could actually change our clean-energy future Scientific American · August 18

  Thinking big on clean energy technology

• The Cost of Extreme Heat Is Displacement TIME · August 4

  Displaced people lead to huge costs of fossil fuel combustion

July 2026

• This stunning map shows the world’s electric grid in detail Fast Company · July 28

  Great interactive mapping tool to see power grids at all spatial scales

• The Adaptation Trap: Why Renewables Cannot Help Clean Up AI Forbes · July 24

  Trade offs between AI power demand and electrification for decarbonization

Date not verified

• China’s Emissions Fall Most Since Covid on High Fuel Costs, CREA Report Finds Bloomberg

  CO₂ emissions are falling in China

• Opinion | Diesel Is Coming for Trucking, Your Home — and the Midterms Bloomberg

  Diesel and heating oil supply problems arising from war highlight the unreliable aspects of fossil energy