An original music video.
A father and daughter face life as climate refugees.
“I’m out of superlatives…”*
An enormous marine heatwave off the US west coast has got ocean and atmospheric scientists freaking out, although you’d never know it from the news coverage it isn’t receiving. The extreme temperature anomaly is affecting a vast expanse of the North Pacific in May 2026. The latest data shows intensifying ecological and environmental effects affecting marine life as well as weather patterns across North America.
Coastal waters along the U.S. West Coast have been roughly 3–4°F (≈1.5–2.5°C) above normal in places, while satellite analysis shows localized sea‑surface‑temperature anomalies exceeding +4°C in parts of the North Pacific on early‑May maps.
According to NOAA, the phenomenon is comprised of two distinct temperature events: a persistent coastal heatwave and a separate offshore warm pool. and are monitoring whether they will grow and merge later in summer or fall.
Forecasters are also concerned because a strong El Niño is likely to develop in 2026; if El Niño becomes established it would tend to reinforce and prolong Pacific warming. (NOAA/CPC ENSO outlooks in spring 2026 show elevated odds of El Niño by mid‑ to late‑2026.
The unusual area of warm water has persisted since peaking during September 2025 and still stretches thousands of miles from the California coastline – more than halfway across the Pacific – affecting a vast triangle-shaped region of oceanic habitats from Hawaii to British Columbia and southward to Mexico.
As recently as early April, marine scientists had hoped that the heatwave might diminish and the worst of its effects might be avoided. However, new projections released last week by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) show it is now expected to expand and strengthen in the months to come.
Either of these climate conditions will create severe negative impacts across a wide swath of the planet. Together, the effects may well be catastrophic as the summer rolls on.
* University of Arizona atmospheric scientist Kin Wood
Accelerating global warming effects as systems combine
When a very strong (super) El Niño coincides with a marine heat wave, effects amplify and interact across the climate system and ecosystems. Key consequences:
Climate and weather
- Global temperatures spike: El Niño raises global mean surface temperature; a marine heat wave adds ocean heat storage—together push global and regional temperatures higher than either alone.
- Stronger, more extreme precipitation and flooding in El Niño-favored regions (e.g., western South America, parts of the southern U.S.): heavier storms, landslides, urban flooding.
- Worsened drought in regions that typically dry during El Niño (e.g., parts of Australia, Indonesia, India): agricultural stress, water shortages.
- Tropical cyclone behavior can change: some basins produce fewer storms, others produce more intense storms because of warmer sea surface temperatures and altered wind shear patterns.
- Increased heat waves on land and higher evaporation, raising wildfire risk in vulnerable regions.
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Toll on Marine Life and Birds
Ecologists and bird‑rescue groups are already reporting seabird strandings and shifts in species ranges (e.g., subtropical species moving north). Marine‑heatwave conditions raise risks of harmful algal blooms, reduced productivity for fisheries (affecting salmon and other species), and broader ecosystem stress that can cascade for months or years.
Additional effects
- Severe coral bleaching and large-scale reef mortality due to prolonged high sea surface temperatures.
- Fishery collapse or massive shifts in species distributions as warm-water species move, upwelling weakens, and primary productivity drops.
- Hypoxia events and harmful algal blooms may increase, further stressing marine life.
Harmful algae can ruin your beach vacation…or even kill you
Fouled oceans, lakes and rivers
Toxic seaweed and algae blooms are rapidly becoming a major environmental, economic, and public health problem worldwide. Driven by global warming and industrial agriculture waste, these incursions are comprised of cyanobacteria (“blue-green algae”), seaweed and other invasive aquatic species as they increasingly propagate exponentially and engulf coastal regions.
These noxious aquatic species aren’t new to our planetary habitat. Under normal conditions, they are natural components of aquatic environments. What happened to change thngs is that humans have provided conditions that are warmer and warmer and full of phosphate or nitrogen runoff. Mmmm. That’s good stuff.
In locations from these blooms can: mess up a coastline or beach for extended periods, fouling the area, killing animals and stinking up the place. Some species are so toxic as to be deadly, such as the incident that killed a man in Brittany.
Global warming and agricultural nutrients pollution:
Both drivers of global algae incursions are directly caused by human activity:
Rapidly heating oceans and lakes provide a hothouse environment in which these aggressive organisms thrive. The warming of the oceans – which continues to accelerate – strengthens marine heatwaves, alters ocean circulation, increases heavy rainfall and runoff and (surprisingly) expands stratified warm surface layers where algae thrive.
In addition to the hothouse environment, humans are providing 24/7 dining for cyanobacteria and various seaweed types.
Industrial scale agriculture is not exactly Old McDonald’s farm, as it spews massive amounts of excess nitrogen and phosphorus from fertilizers, livestock waste, sewage and Industrial runoff.
Australia’s unsolvable algae menace driven by unrelenting marine heatwave
A harmful algal bloom (HAB) event that started in March 2025 is ongoing along the coasts of the state of South Australia as of May 2026. It has caused fish kills impacting the marine environment and associated fishing and aquaculture industries, as well as beachgoers and tourism operators along the affected coasts. The extent and duration is unprecedented in both South Australia and Australia, and is probably one of the top ten recorded blooms in the world
Brittany seaweed incursions have killed dozens
The Brittany coastline is famed for its green hills, rugged cliffs and miles of sandy beaches. But over the past few decades, in places, the sand has begun to disappear beneath a carpet of green goo. At certain times of year, when Ulva armoricana, a type of seaweed, blooms, banks of green mass form on the beaches, releasing hydrogen sulphide, a foul-smelling, potentially harmful gas. In recent years, red and yellow warning signs have appeared on stretches of the coastline. And dozens of visitors have died when exposed to the gases emitted by the algae mass.
Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone one of hundreds expanding globally
Every summer, a low-oxygen area, often referred to as a Dead Zone, develops off of the Texas-Louisiana shelf when nutrient-laden fresh water from the Mississippi and Atchafalaya Rivers flows into the Gulf of Mexico.
Dead zones are areas of water bodies where aquatic life cannot survive because of low oxygen levels. Dead zones are generally caused by significant nutrient pollution, and are primarily a problem for bays, lakes and coastal waters since they receive excess nutrients from upstream sources..
Global Hotspots
Baltic Sea
One of the world’s most severe recurring cyanobacterial bloom regions.
Lake Erie
Frequent toxic cyanobacteria outbreaks threaten drinking water for millions.
Caribbean and West Africa
Huge Sargassum invasions have intensified since the 2010s.
East Asia
China, Japan, and South Korea regularly face damaging coastal blooms affecting fisheries and aquaculture.
LET’S CLEAR THIS UP: SOME YEARS, CO₂ LEVELS RISE MORE SLOWLY, BUT THEY ARE STILL RISING. CONCENTRATIONS REMAIN IN THE ATMOSPHERE FOR 300 TO 1,000 YEARS.
Based on the misinformation we are fed, we can be forgiven for thinking levels of CO₂ in the atmosphere are decreasing. They ARE NOT. They are increasing. Some years CO₂ rises more slowly than others, but the overall concentration is still going up. There was a reduction of U.S. emission in 2023 and 2024 but that ended in 2025. A reduction of emissions does not equal a reduction of existing levels. In addition to monstrous and growing AI power demands, the geopolitical situation has reversed the illusion of real progress.
MAY UPDATES: GLOBAL CLIMATE CATASTROPHES
The daily average concentration of atmospheric CO2 at Mauna Loa Observatory first exceeded 400 PPM on 10 May 2013. Now it’s 431 PPM.
The quantity of CO2 in the atmosphere hit a record high in April 2026. Carbon Dioxide levels averaged about 431 PPM (parts per million) over that month, according to data collected at NOAA’s Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii. The Trump administration is about to close the facility. further eroding climate science in the US.
The daily average concentration of atmospheric CO2 at Mauna Loa Observatory first exceeded 400 ppm on 10 May 2013.
In 1958, the observatory reported CO2 levels of 320 PPM.
Feel free to do the math.
Twice the size of Texas, this toxic human-made aberration is worse than previously thought
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch (or Pacific Trash Vortex) is a 620,000 sq mi, partially submerged mass of marine debris in the North Pacific Ocean, bounded by the massive North Pacific Subtropical Gyre.
Micro plastics damage plankton and marine ecosystems
Healthy oceans help cool the planet by absorbing carbon dioxide. Tiny organisms like phytoplankton remove CO₂ through photosynthesis.
Plastic pollution can:
- injure marine life
- transport toxins
- disrupt food webs
- reduce plankton health and productivity
As ocean ecosystems become less effective at storing carbon, more CO₂ stays in the atmosphere, increasing warming.
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* Black Carbon: Or “soot,” is a type of fine particulate air pollution formed by incomplete combustion, for example of wood, waste and fossil fuels. It creates carbon dioxide (CO2), carbon monoxide, and volatile organic compounds, warming the atmosphere because it is very effective at absorbing light. It exacerbates warming of the air and surfaces in regions where it is concentrated, altering weather patterns and ecosystem cycles.
TV cameras can’t see it, so it doesn’t make the news
A new study shows that the massive gyres of plastic waste floating in the Pacific (as in twice the size of Texas) are also contributing to planetary heating. The two floating continents of toxic marine debris are alarming enough in terms of the ecological havoc they wreak. The new research from Fudan University in Shanghai shows that colored microplastics suspended in the atmosphere over the gyres may contribute more to global warming than previously understood, with some regions near ocean garbage patches showing warming effects greater than black carbon.
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch contributes to planetary warming in direct and indirect but ways. It’s not a giant “hot spot” that radiates heat like a power plant, but the plastic pollution inside it affects the climate system by generating greenhouse gases. The amount of ongoing marine ecosystem damage is incalculable.
Sunlight makes plastics release greenhouse gases
As plastics float in the ocean and break down under UV sunlight, they outgas methane (CH4), ethylene and other hydrocarbon gases.
These gases trap heat in the atmosphere. Researchers have shown common plastics like polyethylene emit more gases as they weather in sunlight. The degree of warming from these sites is not as significant as industrial and agricultural sources, but represent yet another contribution factor.
Dark debris changes ocean heating
Large concentrations of floating trash alters how sunlight interacts with the ocean surface, as darker or debris-covered surfaces may absorb more solar energy. The report suggests it may be more damaging than *black carbon events.
Micro plastics are part of the ever growing pollution affecting every phase of our existence
Most of the debris in the patch is plastic derived from oil and natural gas. which releases large amounts of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane. It’s all part of the global fossil-fuel-based plastic economy:
- extracting oil and gas
- transporting them
- manufacturing plastics
- shipping products worldwide
Each stage emits heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere.
Cleanup and degradation releases additional emissions
As plastics fragment into microplastics and nanoplastics:
- cleanup operations use fuel and energy
- degradation processes may release more greenhouse gases over time
- burning collected plastic waste can emit CO₂ if not handled carefully
Rivers of the Arctic run orange with sulfuric acid and other toxins
GLOBAL WARMING IS DEGRADING POLAR PERMAFROST, RELEASING heavy METALS, TOXINS AND METHANE LONG STORED BENEATH THE TUNDRA.
Across Alaska and other parts of the Arctic, dozens of once-clear streams and rivers are turning a nasty rusty orange. As documented by NOAA’s 2025 Arctic Report Card, the new phenomenon was evident in over 200 watersheds in the region. The visual result in similar to the waste water generated in waterways by unregulated mining. Images show
As temperatures rise, permafrost frozen for thousands of years is thawing. The heavy metals, acids and viruses trapped below the tundra are quickly leaching into once pristine waterways. Researchers describe the phenomenon as similar to acid rock drainage that occurs in mining regions. The “rusting” reflects fundamental chemical changes in watersheds systems, as once frozen ground and minerals become exposed to oxygen and water.
This accelerating scenario represents a grave threat to marine life, wildlife and drinking water for the indigenous people of the region. But the thawing of permafrost has any number of additional consequences, including methane blowout craters, release of once frozen methane into the atmosphere, landslides, and collapse of the ground itself. The global warming-triggered increase in violent rain events is causing an increase in river flooding, which is further releasing heavy metals embedded in river banks.
HOW WARMING GENERATES SULFURIC ACID
Once permafrost begins to thaw, oxygen seeps into the groundwater, which often changes direction of flow. Once dormant bacteria become active, oxidizing the sulfide minerals. This process breaks them down into dissolved iron and sulfate, which in turn produces sulfuric acid. The acidified water takes on the color of rust.
Hidden Consequences
Scary Methane feedback cycle as permafrost releases frozen greenhouse gases.
Methane (CH4) is CO2’s meaner older brother, far more destructive but with a shorter attention span. And Methane is indeed a more powerful greenhouse gas (GHG) than carbon dioxide, rated anywhere from 20 to 30 times more potent. Along with Nitrous Oxide and a few others, GHGs trap heat in the atmosphere.
There is a lot of CH4 trapped beneath the surface of the planet, particularly under the permafrost in Siberia, Alaska and other Arctic regions. As the permafrost thaws, the gases trapped below it spew into the atmosphere, creating a fascinating climate feedback cycle with results that are observable in something close to real time.
Megaslump craters transform Arctic terrain as permafrost thaws
Megaslumps blasting out all over: These wild formations (also known as thaw slumps) are not new, but suddenly they are growing and multiplying. Megaslumps are craters formed by methane gases escaping as the permafrost that once capped it disintegrates. We now see footage of grassland wobbling as the substrata terrain becomes wobbly. When the pressure grows to great, there is a blowout. The resulting thermokarst landscape is expanding.
While megaslumps are not new in places like Siberia, the number has been increasing. Megaslumps include land formations such as the ever expanding Hell’s Gate crater in Siberia and thermotarga landscapes.
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Northern infrastructure collapsing as the ground shifts beneath it
In Alaska, Siberia and northern Canada, buildings, highways and pipelines are falling down. Humans constructed these artifacts under the assumption that the land would stay solid, but it is NOT staying solid.
As much as half of Arctic infrastructure is at high risk of damage, with estimates of tens of billions of dollars for repairs and replacement. This estimate does not include the cost of re-locating potentially millions of residents as the area becomes untenable.
Spring 2026 global flood disasters
As new research reveals sea levels are rising faster than predicted, devastating floods and landslides are increasing globally. Read about the three primary drivers of sea level rise.
Hawaii – 1000s evacuated, $1 billion price tag
Angola – 29 dead | Brazil – 59 dead
Dagestan, RU and Chechnya – 6 dead | Botswana – 2,335 displaced
Kenya – 181 dead | Turkey – 2 dead
Afghanistan – 110 dead | Guangdong, China – 4 dead
Yemen – 20 dead | Angola – major railway destruction
Balkans – 90 MPH winds | West Java Indonesia
New Zealand – 9 dead | DR Congo – 2500 evacuated
Tanzania – 20 dead | Kenya (May) – 18 dead
Syria – 20,000 displaced | Turkmenistan – 3 dead
Canary Islands – “uncharted territory”
Kenya (May) – 18 dead | iIdia – 13 dead
Remember when we thought Google was benign?
So much for “Net Zero” commitment.
The search engine and online advertising and AI behemoth with the adorable name is moving ahead to power at least one new AI data center with a 933 MW natural gas plant. This represents a step away from the company’s one time announcement that it would achieve 24/7 carbon free energy,. Of course, there is a difference between announcements and reality. Over the years, Google has managed to seem less evil than many of its tech monster brethren, but that is more or less an illusion. The company has the wherewithal to deploy renewal energy for this and other energy sucking projects, but has chosen not to. The power plant in Texas is the third known gas facility that Google has become involved in over the past few months.
According to the Guardian news platform, the Texas power plant would emit 4.5m tons of carbon dioxide per year, more than that of San Francisco
The new natural gas / methane plant is under construction by Crusoe Energy at Google’s Goodnight Campus in Texas.
Gaslighting at its best: Why not just call it Methane?
Natural gas sounds pretty organic man, but it’s 95% methane, along with smaller molecules of ethane, propane and butane. Natural gas is promoted as not as bad as coal as an energy source, but it is composed primarily of CH4. The increase of methane in the atmosphere over the past ten years has been stunning, with surprising consequences in the Arctic. Methane is about 80 times more powerful than CO2 as a greenhouse gas.
Read the full story in the Guardian.
Will A Crash In Coastal Tourism Make Humans Pay Attention?
Alarming ocean temperatures, climate driven changes in current patterns and a surge in agricultural nutrients are a perfect environment for these nasty organisms
Global warming is playing a major role in the rapid rise of toxic algae blooms across the world’s lakes, rivers, and oceans. As average global temperatures increase, water bodies warm as well—and warmer water creates ideal conditions for algae to grow faster and more aggressively. Many harmful algal species, particularly cyanobacteria (often called blue-green algae), thrive in higher temperatures. This means that even small increases in heat can significantly accelerate their reproduction, turning what might have been minor seasonal infestation into large, persistent, and toxic outbreaks.
In addition to warming, climate change is intensifying weather patterns in ways that further fuel these blooms. Heavier rainfall and more frequent storms wash excess nutrients—especially nitrogen and phosphorus from fertilizers—into waterways. These nutrients act like fuel for algae, allowing them to multiply rapidly. At the same time, droughts and reduced water flow can stagnate bodies of water, creating calm, slow-moving conditions that are perfect for the toxic animals to thrive and spread. This combination of nutrient pollution and climate-driven environmental changes creates a feedback loop that increasingly favors harmful algae over other aquatic life.
Blooms? How language is deployed
In most descriptions of the growing algae crisis, the spread of the organisms is described as a “bloom.” You know: like flowers. Similar to methane rebranded as natural gas or toxic fracking waste renamed “brine.”
Who do you think will win the NCAA (March Madness) basketball tournament?
My long held belief is that most of the species will remain uninterested in global warming emergency until their lives are affected. How do you compete with March Madness or the new baseball season? Interest will begin peaking when the consumerati find their candy bars disappearing, lattes $20 a cup and shellfish no longer on the menu.
Health, Ecosystems and Economies
Many harmful algae produce toxins that can contaminate drinking water, kill fish and wildlife, and cause illness in humans, ranging from skin irritation to serious liver and neurological damage. Coastal economies and fishing industries also suffer when blooms lead to dead zones—areas with little to no oxygen—making it impossible for marine life to survive. As global temperatures continue to rise, scientists expect these blooms to become more frequent, longer-lasting, and more widespread, making them a growing environmental and public health crisis.
Vanishing glaciers on Germany’s highest mountain resulted in demolition of another Alpine ski lift.
Europe is losing hundreds more to global warming.
“The glaciers in Bavaria will inevitably melt away, as they can no longer survive in the face of climate change,“.
A ski slope on Zugspitze mountain has been dismantled because the glacier beneath it melted away
Global warming is reshaping the Alps in a number of ways as the region heats about four times faster than the rest of the planet. Among the most economically painful is the closing of ski runs and entire results. The latest high profile loss is a ski slope down the Schneeferner glacier on the Zugspitze mountain, which has been demolished as the glacier beneath it disappeared for good. The life has been in operation for 50 years. The peak of Zugspitze is 9,700 ft. high, located in the Wetterstein massif along Germany’s border with Austria.
HUNDREDS OF EUROPEAN RESORTS CLOSING OR THREATENED BY CLIMATE CHANGE
Across Europe and especially in France, warming temperatures are forcing ski resorts to close permanently or abandon traditional operations, with 186 resorts in France closing the in the past several years. Up to 98% of European resorts face severe snow shortages. While many are filling in with artificial snow, there is a limit to that process, which also uses huge amounts of energy.
Related: What is a GLOF?
Related: What is a GLOF
Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOF) are not new, but the incidents of these startling events are ramping up as mountain glaciers melt. Several recent incidents have had catastrophic results in Alpine regions around the world.
As glaciers melt at a frenetic pace, new lakes back up behind newly ice dams in the Andes, Alps and Himalayas. When these dams break, massive torrents rush downstream, often in a cataclysmic flood. These floods have become more common as global warming causes rapid melting of glaciers around the world.
Update: 2026 Early Spring Climate Events
Summary of extreme and catastrophic global warming events including record floods, wildfires and droughts, plus alarming trends that are not likely to reverse for thousands of years. Link here.
Related: Himalayas’ glacier loss threatens water supplies for 2 billion
Accelerating glacial retreat in the Himalayas over the past decades is threatening over 2 billion people in the region who depend on meltwater from the “water tower of Asia” for their daily needs. Glaciers in the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) region have been losing ice at twice the rate since 2000, with smaller glaciers shrinking more rapidly than larger ones. New research shows this is not a a future problem, it’s a now problem.