Just as humanity harvests only a miniscule fraction of the solar energy continually falling on Earth, we have as yet to make use of the incredible kinetic energy produced by the world’s waters. The Florida-to-North Carolina section of the Gulfstream alone offers an estimated 163 Terawatt hours per year in renewable, carbonless power, and there are prototype turbines already in the water ready to cable that power to shore. There are challenges, certainly, but with oceanic currents touching every inhabited continent, a source of free power is about to be available to all.

Uniquely adapted to low-oxygen, high-saline environments, mangroves have historically populated, and protected, exclusively equatorial and sub-tropical shorelines. But with sea levels beginning to submerge coastal communities and crops around the globe, drastic action is needed to protect as much coastline as possible – including in the temperate zone. Happily, mangroves are already marching northwards, and that march is being encouraged by global warming, which is opening up new areas where mangroves can thrive. Unhappily, they are also under threat from human activities.

Those in what has long been called the ‘temperate zone’ are well-schooled on the impact of wind chill, which measures how cold it feels when cold temperatures and wind are factored together. This February’s historically cold blast brought with it wind chills that broke records across the Northeast and threatened the life of anyone who ventured out without proper gear. But while wind chill is known to most, few are as aware of the Heat Index, a measure not just of hot temperature but of how hot those temperatures feel when humidity and other conditions are factored in. The Heat Index acts as a predictor of physical impacts every bit as deadly as wind chill.   As the planet warms, and heat waves increase in frequency, duration, and intensity, the Heat Index is about to become standard protective equipment for those venturing outdoors.

Photo by Elena Mozhvilo / Unsplash “A thousand times have I sought to find the element that makes thecharm complete… That I may bid them enter […]