Climate News: Carter dies and America hands the reins to Donald Trump, what a contradiction

Amy Chozick (pictured) wants someone to take control in Los Angeles, as she writes in her guest essay in The New York Times: "Los Angeles Is Being Crushed Under the Weight of Inaction"; "‘We got our fingers crossed’: residents in limbo after LA fires force evacuations"; "The Eaton Fire Is Now One of California’s Deadliest"; "'We are not in the clear': Dangerous Santa Ana winds forecast to resume in Los Angeles"; "Disinformation reigns as bushfires devastate California": "How the climate crisis fuels devastating wildfires: ‘We have tweaked nature and pissed it off’"; "Middle-Class Dreams Lie in Ruins in Palisades Mobile Home Park"; "L.A.’s wildfires have leaders fighting on two fronts: Nature and politics"; "The Los Angeles fires won’t affect climate denial. They should."; "Can the Coalition turn teal seats back to blue?"; "Are Australia's urban centres prepared for a fire like Los Angeles?".

Bushfire expert, David Bowman, has warned us against "kicking the can down the road" - he asks: "Could what happened in LA occur here? Short answer: Yes"; "Los Angeles prepares for return of strong winds as fire death toll rises to 16"; "Five battles that will define Australia’s climate war election"; "The Last House Standing"; "Gov. Gavin Newsom says he expects death toll will rise"; "'Unimaginable terror and heartbreak' in LA as heightened winds threaten to worsen fires"; "As Los Angeles combusts, 2024 is declared Earth’s hottest on record"; "‘We’re in a New Era’: How Climate Change Is Supercharging Disasters"; "Scientists Say Musk Wrongly Downplays Climate Role in L.A. Fires"; "What it feels like to live in a city on fire"; "Winds will ramp up in coming days, challenging firefighters and keeping evacuees from being able to return"; "U.S. Efforts to Cut Emissions Stalled in 2024 as Power Demand Surged".

Tesla and X owner, billionaire Elon Musk uses his position to spead disinformation about the LA fires and the California Fire Authority using sexist and racist language: "Elon Musk blames female firefighters of colour for LA fires"; "Their homes torched amid a housing crisis, L.A. residents wonder where to go"; "‘We don’t know the half of it’: More deaths feared in ever-expanding LA fires"; "Drones Take Off in the Battle Against the Los Angeles Fires"; "‘It was just dust’: Shocked families return to find their charred homes"; "Los Angeles wildfires already pegged as costliest blaze in U.S. history"; "Why Los Angeles was unprepared for this fire"; "More evacuations as fire changes direction, posing new threat to Los Angeles"; "See how a small fire in L.A. turned into a monster, hour by hour"; "The LA Fires and the Big Bang"; "Los Angeles wildfires already pegged as costliest blaze in U.S. history"; "Coming Soon to Our Musk-Trump Hellscape: AI-Trained Tesla Robotaxis"; "Misinformation Spreads Like Wildfire Online While LA Neighborhoods Burn⁠"; "Global Warming Surges Well Past 1.5-Degree Mark in 2024"; "Another Polar Vortex Is Blasting the U.S. With Harsh Winter Weather. So How Is Climate Change Involved?"; "Caught in a Climate Bind, New York State Is Reconsidering Nuclear Power"; "After Three Hurricanes in 13 Months, Residents of Cedar Key, Florida, Are Considering the Island’s Future—and Their Own".

What's happened in Los Angeles is a portent for what we could see in Australia according to: listen to Greg Mullins - "As California burns, how will Australia respond to this climate-fuelled crisis?"; "Los Angeles residents flee wildfire, firefighters battle blaze in Pacific Palisades"; "Southern California is extremely dry, and that’s fueling fires − maps show just how dry;" "BoM data finds 2024 was Australia’s second-hottest year on record"; "Wade Crowfoot on Building Wildfire Resilience"; "11 killed, 35,000 acres burned by California wildfires"; "‘There was nothing you could do’: The two days when fire swallowed Los Angeles"; "Deadly wildfires surge in size in Southern California and force more evacuations"; "As fires rage, CA fears home insurance collapse"; "You just lived through the hottest year on record. Again."; "LA is on fire. How will Australia cope when bushfires hit Sydney, Melbourne or another major city?"; "The role of climate change in the catastrophic 2025 Los Angeles fires"; "Celebrities kick off fire relief efforts, Jamie Lee Curtis pledges $1.6m"; "Nearly 800 prisoners now helping to battle Los Angeles fires"; "Australia leases US firebombing aircraft in the northern winter. So what happens when LA burns in January?"; "Epic aerial assault to protect homes in Brentwood, Encino as L.A. wildfire death toll rises"; "‘We don’t know the half of it’: More deaths feared in ever-expanding LA fires"; "Wildfires latest: Pacific Palisades fire is most destructive in Los Angeles history"; "‘Like a bomb was dropped’: Devastating before-and-after pictures reveal scale of destruction".

Devastating fires at Palisades in America's California are, in my view from some 12,000 kilometres away, a direct outcome of climate change. "What it was like on the ground as the Pacific Palisades fire spread"; "California wildfires ignite as strong winds fuel flames"; "The A.I. Power Grab"; "The new phantom menace isn’t as bad as you think. Waymo rocks!"; "Fires rage out of control across Los Angeles as officials warn of worse to come"; "Live Updates: California Officials Scramble to Fight Fires With Strained Resources"; "Why the L.A. fires became so bad so quickly"; "Wildfires are raging through the US west. Here’s how to protect yourself"; "World’s climate fight needs fundamental reform, UN expert says: ‘Some states are not acting in good faith’".

Geelong's Climate Cafe meets again this month - "Climate Café launched in Geelong"; "Winter Storm Blankets the East Coast, With Arctic Air on Its Heels"; "Locking up a 77-year-old climate protester is proof of a broken justice system"; "Wind Wars"; "Cost-of-living crisis meets new era of electric cars"; "Biden Bans New Oil and Gas Drilling Along Most U.S. Coasts"; "What Would It Take to Bring Renewable, Reliable Power to Puerto Rico?"; "Polar Vortex’ Got You Baffled? Try This Extreme-Weather Guide"; "Global Water Monitor"; "High Heat Is Preferentially Killing the Young, Not the Old, New Research Finds"; "World Water Film Festival Makes a Splash at Columbia Climate School"; "'He was prescient’: Jimmy Carter, the environment and the road not taken"; "A new solar project in Brooklyn could offer a model for climate justice"; "UK EV sales reached record highs in 2024, SMMT reveals"; "In 2025, let’s make it game on – not game over – for our precious natural world"; "Artefacts from Pacific museums being put at risk"; "UK Electricity Reached a Record 58% From Low-Carbon Sources in 2024"; "All Chicago City Buildings Now Run on Renewable Energy"; "Deep-Sea Mining 101: Everything You Need to Know"; "Arbor Day Foundation to Plant 10 Million Trees to Replace Those Destroyed by Hurricanes Helene and Milton"; "Winter Storm Blair: Millions across North America hit by polar vortex"; "Fuel-hungry utes and SUVs dominate Australian sales, with Corolla the only small car on top 10 list"; "Fully recovering Australia’s threatened species would cost 25% of GDP. We can’t do it all at once – so let’s start here"; "Relentless warming is driving the water cycle to new extremes, the 2024 global water report shows"; "The Renewable Energy Transition Has Residents of a Small Arizona Town on Edge".

Ingrid Robeyns (pictured) has written an amazingly timely book - "Limitarianism: The Case Against Extreme Wealth". You can hear an interview with her by Adam Canover on "Factually - Why Billionaires Should Be Banned". Powerful writing by Adam Knox in the Melbourne Age - "It’s worse than any war or pandemic, so why are our leaders ignoring it?"; "More than 100 water rescues as heatwave sweeps across Victoria"; "The Weather That Changed Us | Heatwave"; "Federal Labor pledges to fund bulk of Bruce Highway upgrade in re-election bid"; "The first major winter storm of the season will bring heavy snow and ice to millions"; "Creating clean hydrogen power is hard. Biden’s new subsidies show why."; "The oldest animal ever found could reveal whether a crucial ocean current will collapse": "Southern Ocean winds to break stifling heatwave baking Australia’s south-east"; "Australia needs better ways of storing renewable electricity for later. That’s where ‘flow batteries’ can help"; "Why drought and a big wind event spell fire trouble for Southern California"; "Several flights cancelled across Germany as extreme winter weather brings widespread disruption"; "After Three Hurricanes in 13 Months, Residents of Cedar Key, Florida, Are Considering the Island’s Future—and Their Own"; "These cities will be hardest hit as winter storm brings snow and ice to many states"; "Trump team takes aim at crown jewel of US climate research"; "What to know about the heavy snow and ice storms soon to hit a swath of the U.S."; "Polar vortex expected to bring snow, ice and brutal cold to most of US"; "Landman Is in Love With the Myths That Oilmen Tell About Themselves"; "Why the Argument That LNG Is Essential to the Energy Transition Is ‘Nonsense’"; "2024 – a dire year for Human Survival"; "Improvements to Electric Vehicles Ease Concerns About Range Loss in Cold Climates"; "Firefighters battle fresh blazes in Victoria as pockets of NSW burn"; "Biden to block oil drilling across 625 million acres of U.S. waters"; "A season of uncertainty for this Helene-stricken Christmas tree farm"; "China records warmest temperature in 2024"; "Weather warnings remain as flooding clean-up starts"; "An economic lifeline: Why Iran opposes production curbs in UN plastics treaty "; "Medical Schools Around the World Are Expanding Their ‘Climate Change Curriculums’"; "World Bank climate funding greens African hotels while fishermen sink"; "Greenhushing’ Is On the Rise as Companies Go Silent on Climate Pledges"; "On beaches of Gaza and Tel Aviv, two tales of one heatwave": "Reckoning With Climate Anxiety in the Wake of the US Election"; "The Earth’s Colors Are Changing—and Climate Change Could Be Partially to Blame"; "Most Costly Climate Disasters of 2024 Killed 2,000 People and Inflicted $229 Billion in Damages"; "Climate-friendly electricity sees big battery projects soar again for 2024"; "Year of deadly weather: Climate change added 41 extra heat days and supercharged disasters"; "‘Ironic’: climate-driven sea level rise will overwhelm major oil ports, study shows"; "Plants Are Becoming Less Nutritious Because of Climate Change, Impacting Herbivores From Insects to Giant Pandas"; "Trump accused of attacking UK energy policies on behalf of fossil fuel industry"; "Creating clean hydrogen power is hard. Biden’s new subsidies show why."; "The first major winter storm of the season will bring heavy snow and ice to millions"; "New York to Charge Biggest Emitters for Climate Damages Under New Law"; "The world’s hope to fight common threats: The U.S. will wake up"; "‘An ecological disaster’: Russia deals with aftermath of massive fuel oil spill"; "<a href="https://www.canarymedia.c

Heat records are tumbling - "Australia just had its second-hottest year on record – and temperatures will rise again"; "The $80 billion question buried in Dutton’s nuclear power plan"; "Victoria braces for weekend heatwave as total fire ban declared in state’s west"; "The key step to making your holiday period more environmentally friendly"; "Drilling could resume where a 1969 oil spill inspired Earth Day"; "Heat Is Claiming Mexico’s Young People"; "The price of batteries has declined by 97% in the last three decades;" "Solar panel prices have fallen by around 20% every time global capacity doubled"; "Why seas are surging"; "Will Trump Cut Short the Biden Clean-Energy Boom? Investors Are Nervous."; "Analysis: Why the $300bn climate-finance goal is even less ambitious than it seems"; "Poverty in Lahaina has doubled after 2023 wildfire: ‘We’re cutting down on what we eat’"; "Well Beyond the U.S., Heat and Climate Extremes Are Hitting Billions"; "50 years ago, Cyclone Tracy flattened Darwin – and Australia’s attitude to disasters changed forever"; "New York aims to fine polluters up to $75 billion with new climate law"; "The Fossil Fuel Industry’s Ceaseless Assault on Climate Policy"; "‘Ambitious’ climate claim against Attorney-General dismissed"; "UK to finish with coal power after 142 years"; "Climate crisis exposed people to extra six weeks of dangerous heat in 2024"; "Environmental-Political Collapse Accelerates"; "The University of Chicago’s new climate initiative"; "The clean energy transition, in 10 charts"; "Revealed: Big Oil Told 70 Years Ago That Fossil Fuel Emissions Could Impact ‘Civilization’"; "New Mexico Lawmakers to Decide Whether Oil and Gas Wastewater Could Be Reused on Wide Scale"; "How to Start a Public University LNG Research Center: An LNG Lobbyist Director and Donations for Research Votes"; "Nigel Farage Helps to Launch U.S. Climate Denial Group in UK"; "AI air pollution takes deadly health toll"; "The oldest animal ever found could reveal whether a crucial ocean current will collapse"; "At Extinction Rebellion, we aimed for UK net zero in 2025. That won’t happen – so here’s what to do instead"; "Amazon wildfires and droughts are ‘ominous indicators’ of a long-feared tipping point"; "Roadmap to COP30 - Climate Action in 2025"; "Here are 12 climate resolutions to take with you into the new year"; "World endures 'decade of deadly heat' as 2024 caps hottest years on record"; "A more common enemy - How climate change spreads diseases and makes them more dangerous";  "Future fizzles: the promises and predictions for 2025 in Australia that came true (or didn’t)"; "Climate change will devastate value of homes, warns Bank of England"; "The facts about a planet facing climate disaster are clear. Why won’t this Labour government face them?"; "Labour under fire over plans for 40 more ‘greenwashing’ waste incinerators"; "The effect of CO2 ramping rate on the transient weakening of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation"; "Americans’ support for climate justice": "To Combat Phoenix’s Extreme Heat, a New Program Provides Sustainable Shade"; "UK weather: amber snow warnings after temperatures hit -8C"; "China and Russia agree to deepen cooperation on Arctic shipping route"; "El Niño and La Niña, Explained

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter (pictured) died a few days ago at 100. Here is Jonathon Altrer, who said that as President, "He peered over the horizon, especially on energy and the environment"; "Canary Media’s top 10 clean energy stories in 2024"; "A Triple Threat to Humanity: Climate Change, Pandemics, and Anti-Science"; "Nuclear power had a strong year in 2024, but uncertainty looms for 2025"; "In 2025, let’s make it game on – not game over – for our precious natural world"; "Sport produces mountains of high-tech waste. We are finding new ways to recycle it"; "Germany and Spain experienced some of the world’s costliest climate disasters in 2024"; "Violence, frayed tempers and hot weather — is mango madness real?"; "AI air pollution takes deadly health toll"; "If popular culture is anything to go by, 2024 is the year we simply gave up"; "These Graphics Help Explain What Climate Change Looked Like in 2024"; "North Carolina’s Climate Activists Brace for Trump’s Return"; "2024: a year of racism and lying to ourselves"; "From the sidelines to the helm: The Global South’s turn to lead climate policy"; "Millions of households in Great Britain face higher energy bills as price cap rises"; "‘Moving to the mountaintops’: rising seas displace tens of thousands in Papua New Guinea".

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres (pictured) looks back, looks ahead and looks for hope. "Podcast: Facing the world at 3-degrees of warming"; "New York to fine fossil fuel companies $75 billion under new climate law"; "Long recovery ahead for wildlife hurt by Grampians fire, ecologist says"; "Is there a new energy future for Australia’s remaining oil refiners?"; "2024’s most costly climate disasters killed 2,000 people and caused $229bn in damages, data shows"; "2025 tipped to be bumper year for EVs as emission laws change and new models arrive"; "The Year in Climate: Record Heat, an Election, a Push for Justice and Reasons for Hope"; "In 2025, let’s make it game on – not game over – for our precious natural world".