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Wall Street bails on climate change coalition after Republican pressure

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Tuesday, January 7, 2025

The financial sector appears to be getting cold feet about efforts to curb the effects of climate change. Five of the six largest banks in the United States have pulled out of the Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA) since Dec. 6th, according to a recent report by Reuters. The first bank to do so was Goldman Sachs, which exactly one month ago announced it was leaving the NZBA because their institution had supposedly “made significant progress in recent years on the firm's net zero goals and we look forward to making further progress.” They were swiftly followed by Wells Fargo, Citi, Bank of America and Morgan Stanley. Only JPMorgan remains among the Big Six U.S. banks. The NZBA committed the Big Six banks to zero out greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The overwhelming majority of scientists agree that climate change is caused by burning fossil fuels and other activities that emit greenhouse gases. When present in excessive quantities in the atmosphere, gases like methane and carbon dioxide  trap heat, eventually leading to global heating, which in turns causes droughts and heat waves to become more frequent and more intense, sea levels to rise and hurricanes to become more extreme. Despite the alarm of climate scientists, Reuters reports the Big Six banks are reacting to pressure from Republican politicians who oppose taking climate action on principle. They have argued that the NZBA could be in breach of antitrust laws if they reduced financing to fossil fuel companies. Instead, these same institutions may feel incentivized to move away from environmentally-friendly investment policies. The banks themselves publicly insist that they remain committed to their environmental goals. A Bank of America spokesperson said the financial institution would “continue to work with clients on this issue and meet their needs,” while Morgan Stanley said its “commitment to net-zero remains unchanged.” Because large banks provide fossil fuel companies with the investments they need to do business, climate activists often point to large banks as main culprits in climate change. Speaking with Salon in June, the Sierra Club's Fossil-Free Finance senior campaign strategist Adèle Shraiman explained that “banks can play a key role in driving the climate crisis through their financing activities.” She added, “Many of the world’s largest banks, including the top banks on Wall Street, lend billions of dollars to fossil fuel companies, enabling the buildout of the deadly and destructive industry that is most responsible for the greenhouse gas emissions causing climate change." Read more about this topic

Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley, Citi and Bank of America all left the Net-Zero Banking Alliance

The financial sector appears to be getting cold feet about efforts to curb the effects of climate change. Five of the six largest banks in the United States have pulled out of the Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA) since Dec. 6th, according to a recent report by Reuters.

The first bank to do so was Goldman Sachs, which exactly one month ago announced it was leaving the NZBA because their institution had supposedly “made significant progress in recent years on the firm's net zero goals and we look forward to making further progress.” They were swiftly followed by Wells Fargo, Citi, Bank of America and Morgan Stanley. Only JPMorgan remains among the Big Six U.S. banks.

The NZBA committed the Big Six banks to zero out greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The overwhelming majority of scientists agree that climate change is caused by burning fossil fuels and other activities that emit greenhouse gases. When present in excessive quantities in the atmosphere, gases like methane and carbon dioxide  trap heat, eventually leading to global heating, which in turns causes droughts and heat waves to become more frequent and more intense, sea levels to rise and hurricanes to become more extreme.

Despite the alarm of climate scientists, Reuters reports the Big Six banks are reacting to pressure from Republican politicians who oppose taking climate action on principle. They have argued that the NZBA could be in breach of antitrust laws if they reduced financing to fossil fuel companies. Instead, these same institutions may feel incentivized to move away from environmentally-friendly investment policies.

The banks themselves publicly insist that they remain committed to their environmental goals. A Bank of America spokesperson said the financial institution would “continue to work with clients on this issue and meet their needs,” while Morgan Stanley said its “commitment to net-zero remains unchanged.”

Because large banks provide fossil fuel companies with the investments they need to do business, climate activists often point to large banks as main culprits in climate change. Speaking with Salon in June, the Sierra Club's Fossil-Free Finance senior campaign strategist Adèle Shraiman explained that “banks can play a key role in driving the climate crisis through their financing activities.”

She added, “Many of the world’s largest banks, including the top banks on Wall Street, lend billions of dollars to fossil fuel companies, enabling the buildout of the deadly and destructive industry that is most responsible for the greenhouse gas emissions causing climate change."

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Scarves Over Headscarves, Muslim Women’s Outdoors Group Tackles Snow Tubing in Minnesota

Three years ago, a Somali-American mom in Minneapolis founded a group for Muslim women who want to enjoy the great outdoors

MAPLE GROVE, Minn. (AP) — Ice crystals clung to the eyelashes, parka hood, beanie hat and headscarf of Ruqayah Nasser as she took a break after her first-ever snow tubing runs in a Minnesota park on a subzero (-18 Celsius) January morning.She had joined two dozen other members of a group founded by a Somali-American mother in Minneapolis to promote all-seasons activities among Muslim women, who might otherwise feel singled out in the great outdoors, especially when wearing hijabs.“They understand my lifestyle. I don’t have to explain myself,” said Nasser, who recently moved to the Twin Cities from Chicago and whose family hails from Yemen. “My religion is everything. It’s my survival kit.”As one of the most visible signs of the Muslim faith, hijabs often attract controversy. Within Islam, some women want to wear the headscarves for piety and modesty, while others oppose them as a symbol of oppression. In the sports world, including in the last Olympics, devout athletes have often faced extra hurdles on and off the field in finding accommodations for religious practices.Concerned about safety as a woman — particularly one wearing a head covering — but determined to get outdoors to beat seasonal depression, Nasrieen Habib put out a social media post about creating a hiking group three years ago.From the nine women who responded, her Amanah Rec Project has grown to more than 700 members. There’s a core group for Muslim women only — for “more sisterhood and modesty,” Habib says — as well as a group for families. In addition to weekly outings, they organize longer trips and education on everything from appropriate winter clothing — a challenge for many migrant communities — to health and environmental sustainability from the perspective of Islam.“It’s a way to live your whole life according to a set of beliefs and rules. And part of those beliefs and rules is taking care of creation,” Habib said as her 4-year-old son took a break from tubing in a toasty chalet at Elm Creek Park Reserve near Minneapolis. “How can we be more sustainable in a time where we see the impact of climate change, especially impacting people who look like us in the Global South?”Two sisters, Ruun Mahamud and Nawal Hirsi, moved to the United States from Somalia as children about two decades ago.Even though she feels “safe and accepted” in her hijab, Hirsi joined the group for extra support.“I love being outdoors and joining this group has made me more comfortable to participate,” she said on the tubing hill, where she had convinced Mahamud to come along for the first time.“Oh my gosh, it’s the most amazing thing I’ve ever done,” Mahamud gushed after speeding downhill on a tube attached to her sister’s as their daughters recorded the adventure on their phones.The sisters said it’s important to include love for the outdoors and physical activity in their children’s religious upbringing.“Taking care of one’s health is part of our faith,” Hirsi said.Muslim women who wear hijabs can face multiple barriers to sports participation, said Umer Hussain, a Wilkes University professor who studies religion and sports. They range from activities where genders mix or head coverings pose logistical hurdles to conservative families who might frown on it.Groups like Habib’s tackle empowering women in their communities as well as raising awareness about religious accommodations like single-sex spaces or locations for prayer.“The biggest barrier, for women specifically, is having access to spaces that allow us to practice our religion while keeping our modesty and abiding by the Islamic laws that tell us we are not supposed to be in mixed spaces without covering up,” Habib said.She appears to have tapped into a great demand.“When she told me she was going to start a hiking group to get sisters out in nature … it was like actually something I’ve been looking for for a very long time,” Makiya Amin said as she climbed up the tubing hill in a long white skirt, bright-red headscarf, and heavy winter coat. “I didn’t really have those type of people who were outdoorsy already around me.”Isho Mohamed joined the group for the wide-ranging conversations as much as for the outdoors, which as a self-described “homebody” she had largely avoided since college days.“It’s a safe space that takes me out of my comfort zone,” she said of the group outings. During them, the women share about work experiences but also life as immigrants and, most importantly, their faith.“We also talk about spiritual connection and connecting with God as well, and just say a little prayer here and there when we’re walking,” Mohamed added.Her cheeks glowing above her ski mask after two hours on the hill, Jorida Latifi was with her 7-year-old son among the last to hang up their snow tubes. Originally from Albania, Latifi has gone out with the group almost weekly since joining more than a year ago.“With Muslim sisters … they do understand you, what you go through, even with the clothing and hijabs,” Latifi said. “It feels way, way more like, you know, where you are with family.”Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Photos You Should See - Sept. 2024

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A Texas teenager helped his border community win a $13 million grant to improve the environment

Presidio, northwest of Big Bend National Park, will get dedicated green spaces along bike lanes and pedestrian streets, plant thousands of native trees and establish a high-school run air quality monitoring program.

Subscribe to The Y’all — a weekly dispatch about the people, places and policies defining Texas, produced by Texas Tribune journalists living in communities across the state. ODESSA — When he was 13, Ramon Rodriguez stood before the Presidio City Council. He had a vision for his hometown, a hot, arid border community. He wanted the council to create a department dedicated to preserving the environment. The department would install composting bins around town, and build greenhouses and tree nurseries that collect water. Part of the town would be dedicated green spaces where building would be prohibited. The council, with its shoestring budget, did not adopt his suggestions. That decision in 2018 did not deter Rodriguez, who has looked for ways to put his plan in place piecemeal. Then, late last year, Rodriguez learned the region won a $13 million federal grant he helped write. “We need this, we should have this,” he said. “And now it's becoming a reality. It's such a beautiful moment.” The grant is part of the Infrastructure Reduction Act that President Joe Biden signed in 2022. The law included $2 billion for nationwide environmental and climate justice projects. Texas received about $53 million from the program, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Houston’s Health department received $20 million, in part to reduce pollution. Air Alliance Houston, an environmental advocacy group, won $2.9 million to bolster a program that tracks industrial permits submitted to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. Meanwhile, Waco and other nonprofits got $17.9 million to address pollution and climate change, install charging stations for electric vehicles and establish university programs. The Big Bend Conservation Alliance, a regional group overseeing projects across three counties, will administer the money and spend it on infrastructure to help with heat waves and create green areas. The most important Texas news,sent weekday mornings. They will build dedicated green spaces along bike lanes and pedestrian streets, thousands of native trees for residents, a community garden, solar and battery power to bolster a community center with cooling, an emergency cooling plan during power outages, a high-school run air quality monitoring program and a tool that warns drivers about traffic at a local bridge to reduce congestion and avoid idling cars. The conservation alliance will also help the city build three detention ponds to mitigate flooding, a project the city has in its plans but has not been able to afford. Christina Hernandez, co-director of the conservation alliance, said it worked with Rodriguez, the 19-year-old environmentalist, to choose the programs they wanted to include in the proposal. For the most part, the projects will support already existing infrastructure. Native flora lines the edge of a sidewalk along downtown Presidio. The Big Bend Conservation Alliance plans to build greenbelts along sidewalks and bike paths, establish a high school-run air quality and provide a tool that warns drivers about traffic at Presidio’s international bridge to reduce congestion and avoid idling cars. Credit: Sarah M. Vasquez for The Texas Tribune First: The gym inside the Presidio Activity Center doubles as a community cooling center during power outages in extreme heat. As part of the federal grant, the Big Bend Conservation Alliance plans to install solar panels and a battery backup at the center. Last: Project Homeleaf, in collaboration with the city, revitalized the Presidio Recycling Center by maintaining the space, placing outdoor bins for better material control and spreading awareness with instructional signs. Credit: Sarah M. Vasquez for The Texas Tribune Hernandez said the organization plans to start building by the end of January. They expect the full scale of the proposal to be completed in about three years. “We know that the city is already stretched really thin,” Hernandez said. “But this is work that's really important and needs to be done.” A town of roughly 3,000, Presidio is a border community just steps from Ojinaga, Mexico. It’s also northwest of Big Bend National Park. People have lived there for hundreds of years, according to the Texas State Historical Association. Some records trace its origins to the 15th century. It formally became a city in the 1980s. Presidio relies on property taxes and a landfill it allows other cities to use for its revenue, which amounts to about $4 million. The city stretches that budget to fund its emergency services and police department, said Presidio Mayor John Ferguson. Many of the trails that pass for roads need to be paved. Portions of the city do not have a sewage system. Ferguson said the city functions much like a colonia, impoverished border communities with little to no municipal infrastructure that are predominantly Hispanic. “We’re doing the best we can. It’s frustrating to not be able to do more,” Ferguson said, adding the city will lend a hand to the conservation alliance. Joni Carswell, president and CEO of Texan by Nature, a conservation nonprofit supporting such projects statewide, said cities need to strengthen their infrastructure to withstand hotter temperatures and preserve water sources. Conservation projects across the state have restored ecosystems, including longleaf pines in East Texas and redfish nurseries on the coast, and a watershed on Baffin Bay 50 miles south of Corpus Christi. In a report published last year, the group found that nearly 200 nonprofit organizations in Texas spent $639 million on restoration, education, policy and programs related to environmental conservation. “Presidio has an opportunity to show how beneficial a federal grant at this size can be because we have small rural communities all over the state that are in need of this type of funding,” Caldwell said. Rodriguez first became passionate about the environment in elementary school, after he learned about the town’s first recycling center. He created Project Homeleaf in his school’s cafeteria, named after the place he wanted to improve and the kind of change he wanted to see. Mostly made up of teenage volunteers, the group found neighborhoods with the least shade and helped residents plant trees. They fundraised by selling baked goods. They recruited people to volunteer at the town’s recycling center. It taught elementary school students about conserving the environment with a group of students who called themselves the Climate Crew. A walk and bike path leads through a neighborhood in Presidio. The federal grant will help fund the planting of thousands of native trees that will provide shade along the paths throughout town. Credit: Sarah M. Vasquez for The Texas Tribune Rodriguez began working with the Big Bend Conservation Alliance in high school. One of his first projects with the group was planting more trees. The group has also worked to end light pollution, expand community gardens and preserve tribal land. As of December, he is the conservation alliance’s program manager, overseeing many of the projects funded by the grant. The money the conservation alliance won funds this position. Rodriguez wants his hometown to be lush with green roadways, which he said will bond neighborhoods. “Presidio won't look the same in three years,” he said. “And in a very good way.” Disclosure: Air Alliance Houston and Texas State Historical Association have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

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Dangerously Cold Temperatures Are Way below Normal, but ‘Normal’ Is Getting Warmer

Blasts of Arctic air have brought frigid temperatures that are much colder than normal to parts of the U.S., but that “normal” background is warmer than in the past

January 7, 20254 min readFrigid Temperatures Are Way below Normal This Week, but ‘Normal’ Is Getting WarmerBlasts of Arctic air have brought frigid temperatures that are much colder than normal to parts of the U.S., but that “normal” background is warmer than in the pastBy Richard B. (Ricky) Rood & The Conversation US Firefighters with Louisville Fire Department Quint 9 shovel snow in front of their station on January 5, 2025 in Louisville, Kentucky. Local forecasts called for heavy snowfall followed by significant accumulation of freezing rain and ice. Luke Sharrett/Getty ImagesThe following essay is reprinted with permission from The Conversation, an online publication covering the latest research.An Arctic blast hitting the central and eastern U.S. in early January 2025 is creating fiercely cold conditions in many places. Parts of North Dakota dipped to more than 20 degrees below zero, and people as far south as Texas woke up on Jan. 6 to temperatures in the teens. A snow and ice storm across the middle of the country added to the winter chill.Forecasters warned that temperatures could be “10 to more than 30 degrees below normal” across much of the eastern two-thirds of the country during the first full week of the year.On supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.But what does “normal” actually mean?While temperature forecasts are important to help people stay safe, the comparison to “normal” can be quite misleading. That’s because what qualifies as normal in forecasts has been changing rapidly over the years as the planet warms.Defining normalOne of the most used standards for defining a science-based “normal”is a 30-year average of temperature and precipitation. Every 10 years, the National Center for Environmental Information updates these “normals,” most recently in 2021. The current span considered “normal” is 1991-2020. Five years ago, it was 1981-2010.But temperatures have been rising over the past century, and the trend has accelerated since about 1980. This warming is fueled by the mining and burning of fossil fuels that increase carbon dioxide and methane in the atmosphere. These greenhouse gases trap heat close to the planet’s surface, leading to increasing temperature.How U.S. temperatures considered ‘normal’ have changed over the decades. Each 30-year period is compared to the 20th-century average.Because global temperatures are warming, what’s considered normal is warming, too.So, when a 2025 cold snap is reported as the difference between the actual temperature and “normal,” it will appear to be colder and more extreme than if it were compared to an earlier 30-year average.Thirty years is a significant portion of a human life. For people under age 40 or so, the use of the most recent averaging span might fit with what they have experienced.But it doesn’t speak to how much the Earth has warmed.How cold snaps today compare to the pastTo see how today’s cold snaps – or today’s warming – compare to a time before global warming began to accelerate, NASA scientists use 1951-1980 as a baseline.The reason becomes evident when you compare maps.For example, January 1994 was brutally cold east of the Rocky Mountains. If we compare those 1994 temperatures to today’s “normal” – the 1991-2020 period – the U.S. looks a lot like maps of early January 2025’s temperatures: Large parts of the Midwest and eastern U.S. were more than 7 degrees Fahrenheit (4 degrees Celsius) below “normal,” and some areas were much colder.How temperatures in January 1994 compare to the 1991-2020 average, the current 30-year period used to define ‘normal.’NASA Goddard Institute for Space StudiesBut if we compare January 1994 to the 1951-1980 baseline instead, that cold spot in the eastern U.S. isn’t quite as large or extreme.Where the temperatures in some parts of the country in January 1994 approached 14.2 F (7.9 C) colder than normal when compared to the 1991-2020 average, they only approached 12.4 F (6.9 C) colder than the 1951-1980 average.How temperatures in January 1994 compared to the 1951-1980 average.NASA Goddard Institute for Space StudiesAs a measure of a changing climate, updating the average 30-year baseline every decade makes warming appear smaller than it is, and it makes cold snaps seem more extreme.Conditions for heavy lake-effect snowThe U.S. will continue to see cold air outbreaks in winter, but as the Arctic and the rest of the planet warm, the most frigid temperatures of the past will become less common.That warming trend helps set up a remarkable situation in the Great Lakes that we’re seeing in January 2025: heavy lake-effect snow across a large area.As cold Arctic air encroached from the north in January, it encountered a Great Lakes basin where the water temperature was still above 40 F (4.4 C) in many places. Ice covered less than 2% of the lakes’ surface on Jan. 4.That cold dry air over warmer open water causes evaporation, providing moisture for lake-effect snow. Parts of New York and Ohio along the lakes saw well over a foot of snow in the span of a few days.The accumulation of heat in the Great Lakes, observed year after year, is leading to fundamental changes in winter weather and the winter economy in the states bordering the lakes.It’s also a reminder of the persistent and growing presence of global warming, even in the midst of a cold air outbreak.This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

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New stadiums, airports and oil links: the environmental cost of Saudi Arabia’s 2034 World Cup

The Saudis have won the right to host football’s biggest tournament. But its bid doesn’t seriously address the environmental issues.

Fifa has confirmed Saudi Arabia as the host of the 2034 men’s World Cup, meaning the biggest football event on the planet will return to the Middle East. Throughout the bidding process concerns were raised over issues such as human rights abuses, workers’ rights and LGBTQ+ laws. However, another issue is the environmental implications of hosting a football tournament in a desert petrostate which will need to build new stadiums and airports and has a strong incentive to greenwash its image. The Saudi bid made environmental sustainability “a central theme”, yet states the country is “remaking its landscape” with protecting the environment at the heart of the bid. Sounds good in theory – but at what cost? The World Cup will be played across five cities: Riyadh, Jeddah, Al Khobar, Abha and the sprawling and still-to-be-built megaproject of Neom. Of the 15 stadiums, 11 are either under construction or yet to be built. The plans for these stadiums look and seem impressive, yet there are significant environmental issues that go unnoticed. One of the new venues set to be created in the capital city of Riyadh, the Prince Mohammed Bin Salman Stadium, will contain iridescent glass, LED glass and screens, solar panels and “perforated shimmering metal”. This, the Saudis claim, will “contribute to a futuristic aesthetic”. Meanwhile the Neom stadium “will be run, like the rest of the city, entirely on renewable energy generated primarily from wind and solar sources”. This is a large undertaking that, in theory, will be part of a national plan for renewables to provide 50% of Saudi energy by 2030. Yet renewables currently provide less than 1% of the country’s electricity. Such a rapid switch is not feasible. The new Aramco Stadium in Al Khobar takes its name from the Saudi state-owned oil company, the biggest oil producer in the world. Aramco controversially sponsors Fifa and has been the focus of recent campaigns. In October, more than 100 professional women’s footballers urged Fifa to drop Aramco as a sponsor, calling it a “punch in the stomach”. The close links between big oil and football perhaps contradict the claim that sustainability is a central theme Fifa, and Saudi Arabia’s goal of “environmental stewardship”. National transportation expansion Saudi Arabia already boasts 16 international airports, 13 domestic airports and private jet space across the host cities. However, much of this is being expanded for the event. For instance, the main airport serving Jeddah is increasing its annual capacity from 43 million to 90 million passengers, while the one in Abha will go from 1 million to 10 million. The brand new Neom International Airport will have a capacity for 20 million passengers. This expansion will significantly increase carbon emissions, raising questions about the necessity of such growth for sporting events. Do we really need all these new airports for sporting tournaments every few years? That’s especially true when other countries already have most of the required infrastructure, as is the case for the US, Canada and Mexico who host the next tournament in 2026. These new stadiums could turn into white elephants. Many have planned capacities of over 45,000 – considerably more than any team in the Saudi Pro League has averaged in the 2024-25 season. There are some promising signs that the Saudis will develop better public transport in the host cities. That includes electric or hydrogen bus and rail systems. The World Cup bid also promises to create pedestrian walkways and encourage bike and e-scooter rentals around the stadiums. All the “fan festivals” where supporters are encouraged to gather are described as being in walking distance of hotels. But past research indicates that Saudis are less likely to cycle and walk than people in other countries. This raises questions about the legacy of such projects. If few people use these walkways or cycleways after the tournament, the ecological impact of developing such infrastructure may not be worthwhile. Energy generation As part of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 development plan, the country wants to use the World Cup to assist the transition to renewable energy sources. Various stadiums are expected to be designed and constructed using locally produced materials and sustainable energy technologies. For example, the South Riyadh Stadium will integrate native plants and rainwater harvesting systems. But there is limited detail in the bid documents on how these still unbuilt transport services and venue infrastructure will actually use renewable energy, or how this will ultimately move the country away from its reliance on oil and gas. In recent times, the Saudi government has looked to diversify away from oil to other activities such as mining. Yet the country still doesn’t seem serious abound pursuing key investments in renewable technologies. Saudi Arabia’s actions at the recent Cop29 climate summit, where it was one of the key countries obstructing efforts to transition away from fossil fuels, means we should remain sceptical. Also, past World Cups (most recently Qatar 2022) made bold claims that stadiums would be properly repurposed and supported on an ongoing basis by active energy efficiency features. But that has often not happened. Hosting the World Cup in Saudi Arabia in an ever-warming climate will mean significant environmental threats from stadium construction, travel extensions and increased energy consumption. These have not been fully addressed in the Saudi plans. Concerns over sponsors and greenwashing might stall their aspirations to be a global leader in environmental sustainability. Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like? Get a weekly roundup in your inbox instead. Every Wednesday, The Conversation’s environment editor writes Imagine, a short email that goes a little deeper into just one climate issue. Join the 40,000+ readers who’ve subscribed so far. The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

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Why More Frequent Cold Blasts Could Be Coming From Global Warming

Frigid air that normally stays trapped in the Arctic has escaped, plunging deep into the United States for an extended visit that is expected to provoke teeth-chattering but not be record-shattering

Frigid air that normally stays trapped in the Arctic has escaped, plunging deep into the United States for an extended visit that is expected to provoke teeth-chattering but not be record-shattering.It's a cold air outbreak that some experts say is happening more frequently, and paradoxically, because of a warming world. Such cold air blasts have become known as the polar vortex. It's a long-established weather term that's become mainstream as its technical meaning changed a bit on the way.What it really means to average Americans in areas where the cold air comes: brrrrr. What's happening is the jet stream — that usually west-to-east river of air way above ground that moves weather systems along — has made a roller-coaster like dip from the Pacific Northwest to the Southeast and is stuck on that wavy track. To the west of that plunge, in California, it's hot and dry. But to the east and just above the dip, it's a taste of the North Pole.“We're just getting a lot of cold Canadian and Arctic air that's being just channeled from north to south,” said Dan DePodwin, AccuWeather director of forecast operations. “We really expect this to be more of a prolonged stretch of well below historical average temperatures. We're talking 12 to 25 degrees Fahrenheit (7 to 14 degrees Celsius) across a large portion of the eastern half of the country.”The worst will be in areas that just got hit with heavy snow, from Kansas to Washington, said National Weather Service Weather Prediction Center meteorologist Zack Taylor: “That's where we could see actual overnight lows down well into the single digits, perhaps even below zero in some places across the Ohio Valley and the Plains.”Judah Cohen, seasonal forecast director at the private firm Atmospheric and Environmental Research, called this a polar vortex event. He and DePodwin called it a stretching of the polar vortex, which is cold air normally penned in high above the Arctic that's there year round.“Think of it as like a rubber band at rest, kind of roundish,” Cohen said. “If you start pulling on it, it gets elongated like a hot dog or like pulling on a rubber band. It gets stretched out.”When the polar vortex stretches it can either bring that cold air south to the United States or toward Asia, said Cohen, an expert in winter weather. Other times, when something called sudden stratospheric warming happens, the polar vortex moves away from the Arctic and comes south or even splits. That's not the case this time, Cohen said.Other meteorologists, including Yale Climate Connections' Jeff Masters, along with National Weather Service Climate Prediction Center meteorologist Laura Ciasto, who co-writes the agency's “polar vortex blog, " say the polar vortex term is being misused. Technically, the polar vortex is 20 miles high in the stratosphere. And what's happening right now is down lower.These type of polar vortex disruptions — stretching or moving entirely out of the North Pole — are happening more frequently, according to a study last month by Cohen, Woodwell Climate Research Center scientist Jennifer Francis and others.“There's a climate change signal in that,” Francis said.The Arctic is warming four times faster than the rest of the world, which means the difference between temperatures up north and down south are shrinking, Francis said. Arctic sea ice is shrinking, especially near the Barents Sea in Scandinavia, which releases more heat into atmosphere. That means more energy bouncing off and warping or moving the polar vortex, Cohen said. DePodwin, who was not part of the study, said that makes sense because of these changes in the Arctic “the jet stream seems like in a warming world may be more amplified.”Yet winters globally are on average 1.1 degrees Fahrenheit (0.6 degrees Celsius) warmer than 25 years ago, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration data. There can be more more cold outbreaks and warmer winters at the same time, DePodwin said.“Keep in mind that this is a small part of the whole climate, a couple of weeks of weather in a small part of the Northern Hemisphere,” DePodwin said, noting that climate change is years and decades across the globe. “Climate change does not mean that we will expect to see no more cold weather. It just means that the average temperature overall is going up and we still expect to see colder shots.”The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Photos You Should See - Sept. 2024

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Talking Trees

Yes, trees can talk. They communicate through their roots. Please listen to what they have to say in this short film.

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An academic woman in Texas becomes concerned when a massive red oak in her backyard seems to be ailing, though she isn’t sure why it bothers her so much. At the same time, in her small cottage, her attention to her work is distracted by news reports she sees and hears. They tell in graphic terms of the out-of-control forest fires up and down the West Coast. Her attention is further pulled in the direction of other stories about the worsening conditions of the world’s rainforests which she discovers are disappearing at the astounding rate of 200,000 acres a day. Suddenly such stories are all she seems to hear and see on the radio or television or on her computer. But when she hears/sees a science report about how trees actually communicate with each other, she begins to realize there may be a connection between her tree and what she is learning from the news. She begins to recall a strong connection she herself has with that tree and allows that connection to regrow…..

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Inspirational

Ser Manguezal

Ser Manguezal, created by Eliseu Cavalcante, was inspired by Josué de Castro's book "Of Men and Crabs" from 1967. De Castro was a Brazilian geographer, physician, writer and activist against world hunger. In his book, Castro envisions men as crabs, learning to walk in the mangroves. This relationship between them seems to unify and blend all together making the human being part of that specific biome. This film is part of an ongoing project that examines those who depend on the mangrove ecosystem to survive, and the delicate relationship between humans and this particular ecosystem. It seeks to recognize the hard-working crab hunters of the mangroves and make their work more visible, and to bring awareness about the importance of mangroves to the environment. Worldwide, 3,400 square kilometers (1,300 square miles) of mangrove forests were lost between 2000 and 2016, or about 2% of the global mangrove area (NASA). About 62% of the losses were due to direct human causes such as agriculture and aquaculture. Mangrove degradation is greater than the average for tropical and subtropical forest loss.

Water
Conservation
Plants

Caught in Quicksand

The Dead Sea is disappearing. The documentary, Caught in Quicksand, was made to raise public awareness about the receding of the Dead Sea.

Water
Climate
Documentary

Chicken Soup for the Soil

Chicken Soup for the Soil follows the journey of North Carolina farmers Rachel Herrick and Suzanne Nelson Karreman as they work to rehabilitate farm soil ecosystems one pasture at a time. We learn that animals are not commodities and insects are not pests. They are partners in regenerating the soil. These are grassroots farms working with Nature to help Nature bounce back.

Land Use
Agriculture
Climate

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