Author: Errica Jensen

The thought that one of the planet’s most potent engines—a vast network of ocean currents that has been operating for millennia—might be losing control is subtly unsettling. Not loudly. Not with any discernible warning from the coast. Just a gradual, imperceptible loosening, as determined by sea surface temperatures, ice melt rates, and saltwater density, all of which are monitored by scientists using sensors suspended thousands of feet below the Atlantic’s surface.That engine is called the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, or AMOC. It transports warm surface water from the tropics northward to Greenland and Europe, where it cools, gets heavier with…

Twenty years ago, what yeast cells are doing inside a fermentation tank in a technology park in the Brazilian state of São Paulo’s Ribeirão Preto would have seemed like science fiction. They have been given a copy of the genetic code that instructs a cow’s body on how to produce whey and casein, two types of milk protein, and they are doing so. The same proteins exactly. When added to cheese, yogurt, or a protein shake, they have the same molecular structure, functional characteristics, and taste behavior. There’s no cow involved. Pasture is not necessary. Just tanks, sugar, yeast, and…

When the extent of Pakistan’s devastating floods became evident in September 2022—a third of the country was under water, 33 million people were displaced, crops were destroyed, and entire villages were washed away—Pakistan’s then-climate minister, Sherry Rehman, made a statement that unnerved many comfortable people. She referred to it as “climate injustice.” Rich polluters have to pay, she said. She noted that less than 1% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions come from Pakistan. It was listed as one of the top eight nations in the world for disasters caused by climate change. It was drowning, too. In actuality.She was…

Imagine an eight-hour shift in July 2023 as a traffic warden in Las Vegas stands at his corner. The temperature is close to 106 degrees Fahrenheit, and the asphalt is radiating heat back up through the soles of his shoes. By all accounts, he is working in one of the most hot environments in the industrialized world. Additionally, he belongs to a population that will appear significantly less exceptional by 2050, according to a recent study from the University of Oxford.According to the study, which was published in the journal Nature Sustainability in January 2026, approximately 1.54 billion people, or…

In 2019, the word was ubiquitous throughout major financial conferences, appearing in panel titles, booth signage, and the practiced vocabulary of portfolio managers who were unable to complete a sentence without it. ESG stands for Environmental, Social, and Governance. With a framework that was going to drastically alter how capital was distributed, how businesses were assessed, and how Wall Street viewed risk, it had the vitality of a movement finding its moment. Institutional flows into ESG-labeled funds reached an all-time high by the end of that year. There was a real sense that something was changing.The letters have mostly vanished…

When smoke from an active wildfire spreads hundreds of miles into cities, it has a unique quality. It’s a gray-orange haze that creeps in silently, dimming the afternoon light and giving the air a slightly acrid edge instead of the thick, choking haze you might anticipate. Over the past few summers, people in Denver, Chicago, and New York City have learned to recognize it: the faint sting at the back of the throat, the smell of something burning far away, and the air quality alerts on their phones telling them to stay inside. In a way that no one had…

A fifteen-year-old girl rode her bike to the Swedish parliament building in Stockholm early on August 20, 2018, took a seat on its steps, and displayed a hand-painted sign. Skolstrejkỹ Klimatet, or School Strike for Climate, was written on the sign. On her first day, no one joined her. A few people looked at her. The majority continued. She distributed flyers. She sat from 8:30 in the morning until school hours ended. After that, she left for home and returned the following day and the day after that. Full NameGreta Tintin Eleonora Ernman ThunbergBornJanuary 3, 2003, Stockholm, SwedenNationalitySwedishKnown ForClimate activism,…

When you drive through some Miami Beach neighborhoods on a morning following a significant downpour, or occasionally even without one, right after an exceptionally high tide, you’ll notice water collecting across the street, spilling up through storm drains, and lapping at parked cars’ tires. Not a hurricane. No significant storm. When a city is constructed six feet above the ocean and the water continues to rise, the ocean simply does what oceans do. Sunny-day flooding is what the locals refer to it as. In the same way that other cities use traffic apps to check tide charts, they have learned…

Most people have a mental image of the American wildfire: smoke columns rising above the Cascades in August, ponderosa pines burning orange in Colorado, and drought-baked hillsides in California. Told in desert tones, it is a western tale. That doesn’t apply to New Jersey. The majority of people associate it with the Turnpike and the Shore rather than with smoke warnings and evacuation orders, and it is the most populous state in the nation. Nevertheless, the New Jersey fire department had already responded to 214 fires spanning 514 acres by the start of March this year. 21 acres and 69…

The executive director of the Xerces Society, Scott Black, recalls summertime driving across Nebraska and Iowa with corn growing to the edge of shopping mall parking lots, climbing slopes that once supported trees, and stretching to the horizon in every direction. He also recalls something more subdued and difficult to describe: how spotless his rental car’s windshield was after driving for several hours. No insects smudged. Not even a trace. That absence is instantly apparent to anyone old enough to have driven through the American Midwest forty years ago. Back then, cleaning the glass was a necessary stop on a…