amanda willet’s research sits at the center of a high-stakes equation: predicting how fast sea levels will rise — and how coastal cities can defend themselves. an overestimate could waste billions. an underestimate could leave cities facing devastation on the scale of hurricane katrina.

willet, a graduate student at penn state, attended the 2025 comer climate conference in the fall to present her upcoming research completed with professors sridhar anandakrishnan and veteran glaciologist richard alley, titled “seismic stories from earth’s frozen frontiers: thwaites glacier, antarctica.” alley teaches at penn state and is the emcee for the annual comer conference held in southwestern wisconsin.

what lies beneath the surface?

one reason sea level rise models remain uncertain, willet said, is that scientists don’t yet know what lies beneath glaciers. her team, in partnership with the british antarctic survey, is studying thwaites — a glacier larger than pennsylvania — because if it melts entirely, it could add 3 meters to global sea levels. that’s 9 feet, 10 inches of sea level rise, enough to inundate vast coastal areas and many islands. thwaites is part of the west antarctic ice sheet, which a dartmouth study (combining data from 16 ice sheet models) concluded may disappear by 2300. 

“depending on what the bottoms of these glaciers look like in big places like antarctica depends on how much sea level rise we actually get,” willet said. “if we want to understand sea level rise, we need to know what the bottoms of glaciers look like.”

alley said that model predictions for antarctica vary so widely that “nobody can reliably say what will happen.” the single biggest uncertainty, he added, is how glaciers move across the materials beneath them. once glaciers slide beyond a bedrock foundation, tongues in the water melt much faster. 

the thwaites glacier is the ice shelf of the much larger west antarctic ice sheet (wais). thwaites is considered the “doomsday glacier” because if it collapsed completely it could raise sea levels by 10 feet. according to the international thwaites glacier collaboration (itgc),the massive glacier will face accelerated retreat in the 21st and 22nd centuries, with much of the glacier gone by the 23rd century. full collapse may take hundreds to a few thousand years according to recent models. 

to study that hidden world two miles below the surface, willet and her team use highly sensitive seismometers to listen to tiny earthquakes that can indicate cracks or breaks in the ice.

“they listen to the earthquakes and can tell where they are, how big the spot is that breaks, and how much energy it releases,” alley said. “those little spots are really important — they inform how glaciers move, and how the ice sheets behave. that’s what will let us build better models for what antarctica will do.”

willet said thwaites’ bed is far more complex than most models suggest, with both hard and soft patches beneath the ice. that mixed environment is difficult to simulate — and potentially dangerous.

“if we have both, that’s the worst-case scenario,” willet said. “it’s drawing down ice from inland and breaking off at the front — doing everything we wouldn’t want it to be doing. the data show the most likely scenario is this mixed environment. we want to get that information to modelers so they can make more informed decisions.”

all hands on deck

elizabeth case, a ph.d. researcher at columbia university who also studies thwaites glacier, said the glacier may already be undergoing irreversible retreat. the bed beneath it — whether granite, sand, or clay — determines how easily it can slide or flow into the ocean. 

“what happens at the bed affects crystal structure throughout the ice, influencing how fast thwaites may disappear,” case said. “this has serious implications for sea level rise, and the impacts will be felt around the world — directly along coastlines, and indirectly as displacement and migration follow rising seas.”

willet said that improving the accuracy of those projections is essential. most glaciologists, she believes, see current sea level predictions as overly optimistic. alley agreed, emphasizing the urgency and value of the work.

“the costs of getting it wrong are flabbergastingly high,” alley said. “supporting amanda’s research is saving you money. the cost is trivial compared to the value of what comes out.”

though she calls herself an environmentalist — even a “tree hugger” — willet said her motivation goes beyond nature.

“i want to protect this planet that we live on,” she said. “but more importantly, i want to protect people. sea level rise doesn’t matter if there are no humans on the coast — but there are. we’re the ones who will struggle to live with that reality.”

israel ceballos stands outside his condo in university village with a tupperware container full of orange peels and a handful of breadcrumbs. his husband, paul matylonek, sits inside, surrounded by eight día de los muertos ofrendas and two leather suitcases from his polish immigrant parents.

“i feed 50 birds right here, and six squirrels,” ceballos says. “when i whistle, they all show up.”

ceballos isn’t exaggerating. with one whistle, dozens of house sparrows creep out from tree branches to snack on ceballos’s offerings. above, a squirrel nest overlooks the couple’s newly completed project, nearly two decades in the making: the morgan street community garden.

a dream takes root

lifelong midwesterners, ceballos and matylonek met at church on father’s day, 28 years ago. ceballos recalls seeing “a handsome man” light a candle for his recently deceased father, and the rest was history. before transforming this patch of land into a thriving space, the pair spent years cultivating life in their own backyard. they planted milkweed to attract and raise monarch butterflies — a quiet practice that would later echo through their larger work, bringing nature and meaning to their neighborhood.

inspiration for the garden came after the pair realized that the land behind their home, owned by the burlington-norfolk and santa fe (bnsf) railway company, had served as a dumping ground for debris for years. after the railway failed to respond to their emails seeking permission to clean up the plot, ceballos and matylonek went ahead on their own in may, enlisting neighbors and friends to help. 

once they had hauled away about 40 industrial trash bags of debris, the pair invested $1,000 of their own funds to build a small, raised garden bed on the plot. they also sent a request to community members asking for donations of pots for the garden, as the soil was likely unsuitable for growth.

this simple community act led to what is now chicago native garden projects, a nonprofit organization dedicated to restoring and maintaining native plant habitats in chicago.

“i just wanted something that the community could enjoy,” ceballos said. “nothing makes me happier than walking by and seeing people sitting here.”

ceballos said that many people wanted to help, but couldn’t deliver equipment, so the pair changed their request and asked for monetary donations. over the past six months, ceballos estimates that over 60 donors have raised around $13,000 in donations and materials for the community garden. the chicago department of streets and sanitation donated paint and a city garbage can to the cause, while 25th ward alderman byron sigcho lopez attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the garden in september.

“it’s opened up my eyes to the community itself, dealing with people who don’t live in my building, but have donated and have helped,” university village resident and volunteer jesus palacios said. “you turn from a neighbor into a friend.”

under ceballos and matylonek’s leadership, what was once a patch of waste transformed into a neighborhood effort that now includes over 300 native plants across 90 species.

community efforts bear fruit

nearly 60% of the world’s population now resides in urban environments, and increased urbanization has caused a substantial loss in native biodiversity. as a result, planting native species offers benefits that extend beyond neighborhood aesthetics, helping to repair some of the ecological damage caused by urban infrastructure. within city landscapes, native species have proven to outperform non-native species, providing critical habitat and food sources for pollinators, arthropods, and other local wildlife. 

in addition to ecological benefits, expanding access to urban green spaces enhances climate resilience while benefiting human wellbeing. a 2016 world health organization report synthesizing multiple studies found, among other things, that urban green spaces may be linked to improved immune system function, enhanced mental health and cognitive performance, reduced exposure to air pollution, and an increase in pro-environmental behaviors. together, these benefits illustrate how small-scale urban gardening efforts can connect people to the planet. 

for ceballos and matylonek, however, they see that growth less as an achievement in horticulture and more as proof of what trust, kindness, and transparency can build.

“you don’t know until you put yourself out there,” ceballos said. “what i’ve learned is you’ve got to let the fear go.”

although ceballos and matylonek seem stunned at the community’s outpouring of support, secretary of cgnp danielle orihuela said that it isn’t surprising at all.

“[israel] has always been the person to be able to talk to anybody. he’s captivating,” orihuela said. “i think those are the most important things that make a leader: do you actually care about the people sitting next to you? do you want to get to know them? you level with them as an equal, and i think both of them are like that.”

their approach to fundraising reflects that same ethos. instead of chasing publicity, they invite people to participate through dedicated containers, which often honor loved ones.

one pilsen resident dedicated her garden container to her recently deceased brother and stops by once a month to honor his memory. nearby, another container holds soil mixed with the ashes of a neighbor’s son. to ceballos and matylonek, these aren’t just plants: they’re reminders that what they’ve cultivated goes beyond the garden boundaries.

“it was these two that i realized, we’re really doing something right,” ceballos said. “people want to memorialize; they want to remember their loved ones. they don’t know how or where, so people found solace in that. it goes to show that you just don’t know how you’re going to impact people.”

this fall, ceballos and matylonek opened their home during día de los muertos as part of their expanded fundraising efforts. in exchange for a small donation, ceballos guided visitors through their many ofrendas – traditional memorials for dia de los muertos, or the day of the dead — and explained the holiday’s history. monarchs, once fluttering through their backyard, reappeared as symbols of the season, woven throughout the altars to represent the souls of ancestors returning home.

matylonek also offered visitors insight into his family history, explaining how his parents immigrated to the united states from eastern poland.

with the end of the gardening season, volunteers will continue to maintain the grounds and prepare for spring.

“i think we’re living in a society where it’s a little dark,” palacios said. “working together and seeing the different colors and shapes and sizes of people helps so much and brings the community together.”

palacios said he’s come to understand why the garden keeps growing, not just with plants, but with people.

“[israel and paul] have such a beautiful view … they’re so kind, i think that’s also why people want to help,” he said. “you just become one, and i think they are the glue to everything.”

tulsi basil, “wizard of oz” dahlias, cherry tomatoes, antoinette tulips, “jessica’s sweet pear” mint – the list goes on. the roof crop urban agriculture initiative supports farms yielding a vast range of eclectic flowers, produce, and apothecary crop varieties across chicago.

the roof crop promotes sustainability, ecological engagement, and community development through its support of 14 rooftop farms across the chicagoland area.

“the goal of sustainability and increasing green spaces in chicago and using those spaces in productive ways means a lot to me,” said elise anhorn, operations manager of the roof crop.

at the roof crop’s home base in chicago’s west side, several independent enterprises work in tandem under the same roof. the ground floor houses the restaurant maxwells trading, third season, an apothecary and design studio, and a coffee shop. flashpoint innovation, a food and beverage consulting firm, occupies the second floor. and on the roof you will find the roof crop’s green roof featuring two greenhouses and a small event space.

the roof crop launched in 2013. it began as a marketing initiative and evolved into a partnership with a company that installs green roofs, according to anhorn. 

anhorn said the company began with the question: “how can we market more installations through this lens of [roofs] being growing space?” 

“that kind of took off, and now it is its own stand alone company,” anhorn said.

the green roofs the roof crop support serve a range of purposes. some are urban farms yielding produce and flowers, while others are simply green spaces that contribute to natural ecosystems in chicago. 

the roof crop foundation, a non-profit affiliated with the roof crop, manages apiaries on green roofs across the city. the apiaries serve the dual purpose of rejuvenating the region’s pollinator populations and producing honey.

the roof crop has helped green roof development at a variety of types of spaces throughout the city, including the mcdonald’s headquarters, google’s midwest headquarters at 1k fulton and many residential buildings. 

third season, which opened in 2023, hosts events and workshops and sells various apothecary and local products such as homemade soaps and honey, supporting the local sustainability needs met by rooftop gardens.

mickey cao, design and store manager at third season, said the organization recently hosted a midwestern minimalist design workshop that promoted the beauty and simplicity of nature. it has run a monsoon pottery workshop with a local artisan as well, as it aims to involve local artists from the community in its work.

“i think it’s been really positive to have a space in a fairly industrial area where people can come and have community and learn and do creative things together,” cao said.

third season also hosts sustainable farming programs for chicagoland teens and young people, according to cao.

anhorn said a goal of the organization is to educate urban farmers.

“the end goal isn’t to farm on every green roof around the city, but to make green roof farming more accessible and possible and to share what we’ve learned along the way,” anhorn said.

inside the flora-filled bird haven greenhouse, tucked along the eastern edge of joliet, illinois, the high-pitched screams of children echoed over the soft sounds from the trickling waterfall. 

these weren’t shouts of excitement — they were part of a lesson. horticulture educator nancy kuhajda, from the university of illinois urbana-champaign extension program, had instructed them to scream as a way to demonstrate what not to do if they encounter a wild animal. instead, stay quiet and simply point, she advised.

about 40 fourth grade students congregated on monday, march 10 for the return of joliet’s kids n nature adventure after school program held at pilcher park nature center. in its 22nd year, the 27-week immersive program is a partnership between the university of illinois extension will county master naturalists, joliet district 86 public elementary schools, and the joliet park district. as children in urban areas are becoming less curious about the outdoors, the program inspires kids to become “nature warriors,” kuhajda said.

on the first day back for the immersive nature program, the kids began the afternoon in the bird haven green house so kuhajda could set out some ground rules.

about 40 students from m.j. cunningham elementary school and isaac singleton elementary school befriended one another through the nature program.

“the idea is to expose a person of any age, really, to get out in nature because for a long time, as our interest in technology has increased, that requires a lot of time and people have spent less and less time in nature,” kuhajda said. “covid, although being a terrible tragedy, did some good. and in our case, it returned people to going outside.”

although the spring session of kids n nature adventure is open for most fourth graders in joliet’s public schools, the summer session is specifically targeted to students from six underserved schools with children in low-income households or those who have special needs, kuhajda said. 

experts, such as horticulture and landscape design professor andrea faber taylor at university of illinois urbana-champaign, have studied the impacts of children growing up in urban environments.

whether due to technology, lack of green space, safety, busy parents, or other factors, children are losing the many physical and psychological benefits that come with connecting with the environment.

“we know that when children have even just views of green space, they’re better able to pay attention, control impulses, and set better self-control,” faber taylor said. “there’s work showing that they’re more likely to grow up to be stewards of the earth if they have opportunities when they’re younger to play in nature.”

one of the best benefits, kuhajda said, is the students’ increase in confidence as they spend more and more time in nature. 

“i have been here since the start,” kuhajda said, “and it’s just so rewarding.”

prior to students’ enrollment of the kids n nature adventure program, kuhadja told parents to send their children wearing “play clothes.” students take turns rolling down a small hill near joliet’s bird haven greenhouse to help them get “dirty” in order to connect with the environment. it’s “all part of the nature immersion,” kuhajda said.

naturalist ryan schoeling instructed the students to raise two fingers above their heads in the woods of joliet’s pilcher park nature center after he spotted deer tracks on the ground.

“and how we can tell is deer are what’s called an ungulate, which is an animal that has hooves, like a horse,” schoeling told the students. “but deer have two hooves, so it’s like taking your two fingers, they fit perfectly in that track.”

students took turns fitting two fingers into the deer tracks in the woods. the immersive kids n nature adventure program encourages students to be curious about wildlife, even if they never thought much about it before, kuhajda said.

“one of the other works that goes along with letting kids play in nature shows the value of risk taking,” faber taylor said. “that’s missing from a lot of children’s play now when you’re in a green space.”

schoeling demonstrated how the staff usually get sap from a maple tree in the woods on the second week of the nature program. maple sap is about 3% sugar, which would taste similar to a glass of water, schoeling told the students.

schoeling also showed the kids burnt maple sap after it’s heated up in the evaporator in the sugar shack of joliet’s pilcher park nature center. “you see all that stuff in there?” schoeling said. “that’s a combination of carbon, bark, sticks, leaves and lobes. that’s why we have that filter, because we don’t want that stuff going in our syrup, right?”

looking at the students through a bottle of grade a amber syrup, schoeling told them that cooking the sap longer results in dark amber syrup which is sweeter but sells for less.

the 27-week program has invited elementary school students from all over joliet every year to form close friendships with one another.

by frances mack

global temperature has risen at an unprecedented rate since the mid-1800s, and it’s clear humans, not natural forces, are responsible for this change. 

scientists are turning to clues found in ancient ice and rocks to understand how the planet’s climate system has responded to rising temperatures in the past.

a team of researchers led by university of maine climate scientist aaron putnam has uncovered evidence in norway suggesting atmospheric climate trends are globally synchronous. this research gives scientists insight into how the earth could respond to human actions, like the burning of fossil fuels, and it can help society strategize next moves.

“by studying the times when climate has done this before, naturally, without humans’ help, we can start to get an idea of how the climate system responds when you crank up the temperature,” said tricia hall collins, a member of putnam’s team and ph.d. student at the school of earth and climate sciences at the university of maine.

putnam, collins and graduate student katie westbrook, spent a month in the field near forsand, norway, in summer 2023. they collected samples of rocks deposited on well-preserved moraines and have been calculating their ages to construct a timeline of climate system responses.

moraines are piles of rocks ripped off the sides of mountains by passing glaciers, that are then dumped into large piles when the glaciers recede during warming spells.  

glaciers respond to changes in climate: they advance as the atmosphere cools and retreat tens of thousands of years later as it warms. this means the placement of a moraine and its age can indicate when and how fast the glaciers moved away as they melted. this gives researchers insights into climate history.

the team collected pieces of rock from the moraines they found. then, they extracted atoms of beryllium-10, an isotope found in the quartz minerals of rocks exposed to cosmic rays from the sun, from the samples. the beryllium-10 collects at predictable rates after the rocks are free of ice.

the number of beryllium-10 atoms tells us how long ago the retreating glacier pushed the rock moraines aside. 

using the data they collected, collins tracked climate trends in norway, and compared them to trends across the world.

she presented her findings at the annual comer climate conference in southwestern wisconsin in october. collins’ dates showed that cooling and warming events occurred at roughly the same time in the northern and southern hemispheres. 

this suggests that climate changes were not isolated occurrences, which is a pattern reflected in modern climate trends.

there’s just one problem, ice cores, which are another climate indicator, show warming and cooling patterns in greenland that oppose the team’s moraine data.

“you’re seeing (the ice core records in greenland) behaving opposite,” collins said. “but the problem is, half the time you have this wonky relationship; then (the other) half the time, antarctica and greenland agree with each other.”

collins said during the antarctic cold reversal, a period between 14,600 and 12,780 years ago, antarctic ice cores and the moraine records she collected in norway, both showed cooling trends.

ice core records in greenland showed evidence of warming at this time.

however, collins said this relative warming in greenland was a regional response to global conditions, and not a global climate signal. 

“what’s happening in your backyard isn’t what’s happening in the entire state,” collins said.

according to collins, despite the greenland anomaly, climate change occurred on a global scale, and likely will in the future.

after the presentation, roger creel, a postdoctoral scholar at woods hole oceanographic institution, brought up another variable, glacial moisture.

“there are a lot of settings where an ice sheet gets big enough (that) it’s moisture starved in the center, and that kind of limits how big it can get,” creel said. “so as it warms up, you could actually expect that it would get bigger, and that may or may not have happened in norway.”

there are many environmental variables to consider, conflicting proxy records and several hypotheses that explain global climate trends of the past.

the comer conference brings together top climate scientists and their students to brainstorm and report on their latest research. together, they cut through the fog of confusion surrounding the climate crisis.

“we’re gonna get better, we’re gonna make our models better,” collins said, “because, again, the climate dynamics that we’re saying are in play in the paleo world, are probably at play (now and) going forward.”

what would you do without your local weathercaster? that’s a question the people of tupelo, mississippi had to ask themselves earlier this year.

on jan. 18, allen media group announced local weather coverage at 27 of its 36 member stations would transition to the weather channel headquarters in atlanta. the next day, meteorologists at the affected stations started sharing that they’d been laid off. 

tupelo residents sprang into action when they learned matt laubhan and his team at wtva were threatened. the day before allen media published a press release confirming the plans – when there were still only rumors from the meteorology community – an online petition kicked off to prevent all of the weathercasters threatened by the change from leaving their stations.

six mississippi state legislators even wrote a resolution urging the company to spare wtva from the layoffs. senate resolution 7 argued, during a 2023 tornado, “the timely reports from wtva saved the lives of those who took shelter because of the reports on wtva.” its adoption was unanimous.

as wtva viewers know, local meteorologists do more than just the forecast. they’re a source of life-saving information when extreme weather strikes. this role is only going to become more important as climate change continues to amplify the impact of tornadoes, hurricanes, floods and drought.

under allen media’s plan, weather coverage would switch to a hub model of broadcasting. the company, which owns the weather channel, would tape customized forecasts for each station in atlanta instead of having each station produce its own forecast.

the change might’ve been negligible on ordinary days. “the normal two- or three-minute forecast that’s presented on air as part of a news broadcast, where that’s coming from is not such a big deal,” said keith seitter, executive director emeritus at the american meteorological society. but working at a remote hub is a significant disadvantage when extreme weather strikes.

“usually when a tornado warning is issued, you only have a matter of minutes, if not seconds, to take cover,” said vanessa alonso, a station meteorologist at kq2 in st. joseph, missouri. 

alonso covered the weather in 34 cities at the weather channel for a few years before returning to kq2. she said that, while hub meteorologists know the areas they serve, they don’t have the intimate familiarity local meteorologists do.

“in the local news, you are responsible for a certain amount of counties,” alonso said. “you know what the main city is in each of those counties. you know exactly the population, the area supermarkets, court houses, you know that [area] down to the back of your hand.” 

so it makes sense that, even in the age of apps and automatic alerts, people still turn to their local broadcast meteorologists when extreme weather strikes. a 2024 report by climate central found that local television audiences in orlando doubled during hurricane ian and increased by 78% in los angeles during tropical storm hilary when compared to the week before each storm. 

“we just had a blizzard here almost three weeks ago where we received about 13–16 inches of snow, and people came to myself and to my team first to see what was going to happen to us locally before they checked out other sources,” alonso said.

local forecasters’ value doesn’t begin and end after a storm passes. meteorologists are community fixtures in the towns they serve. they host charity auctions and drum up kids’ enthusiasm for stem careers. this outreach is essential to the role, said seitter. 

“going into local schools, talking to local community groups, that’s a really important part of what a broadcast meteorologist does.” 

the relationship between local weathercasters and their viewers will remain essential as climate change picks up speed. it’s already exacerbating extreme weather across the u.s., from hurricanes and flash floods to wildfires and heat waves. community meteorologists are uniquely positioned to help their audience make the connection between the two. 

in a 2020 experiment by the american meteorological society, participants were randomly assigned videos featuring their local meteorologist to watch: either three standard weather reports or three reports that tied climate change to the local weather. participants who watched the climate-focused videos were more likely to think that climate change was personally relevant to them and would harm people in their community.

john toohey-morales, one of the meteorologists involved in the study, said it’s critical that others in the profession help viewers understand the personal stake they have in addressing the climate crisis.

“why do people need to personalize the threat? because then they’ll talk about it. why do they need to talk about it? because if we talk, if we normalize talking about climate change and the crisis, it’s no longer the taboo subject of thanksgiving,” morales said.

the allen media storm seems to have blown over, at least for now. wtva and a few other stations posted articles on their websites declaring their teams are here to stay. laubhan is safe. but without a public statement from the company it’s unclear where other threatened stations stand, or whether those who already lost their jobs will be rehired. 

though the company hasn’t given an official reason for the reversal, it’s hard to imagine the outcry from affected audiences didn’t have an impact.

“byron backed out because so many viewers spoke up against what they were doing,” said alonso. “that shows how powerful local tv weather still is to the viewers.”

advocacy groups have long documented the republican party’s failure to act decisively on climate change. the league of environmental voters, an environmental advocacy group, keeps score of how often politicians vote for environmentally-friendly legislation. republicans consistently score worse than democrats. prominent party members like ted cruz, marco rubio and kevin mccarthy have lifetime scores of 3%, 7% and 4%, respectively.

legislators aren’t the only ones who disregard environmental concerns. a 2023 report from the yale program on climate change communications suggests around 44% of republicans are “doubtful” or “dismissive” of climate change. “doubtful” and “dismissive” are two of the six categories the yale program uses to describe how engaged certain demographics are with climate issues. 

although this group has a strong presence, it doesn’t describe the whole party. the same yale report indicated over one-quarter of republicans surveyed were “concerned” or “alarmed” about climate change. 

whether they work with a conservative climate group like the american conservation coalition or engage with environmental issues on their own terms, climate-oriented republicans are eager for legislative action that aligns with their values. understanding their perspectives will be essential to climate action during the next administration. 

an economic argument for climate action

the 2024 election revealed the extent to which economics weighed on americans’ minds. a gallup poll conducted in september found the economy was the issue voters were most likely to say was “extremely important” to their vote. 

katie zakrzewski, 26, said these heightened economic concerns create an opportunity to sell people on climate policy.

“i think there’s great economic gain in going environmentally friendly,” she said.

zakrzewski co-founded green tea party radio with two other young conservatives after realizing they could count the number of conservative environmental podcasts they liked on one hand. zakrzewski said she was excited by a clean energy transition’s potential to uplift struggling communities.

she referenced the inflation reduction act, which included landmark climate action legislation, and was passed by the biden administration in 2022. the legislation provides tax credits for electric vehicle purchases and increased tariffs on clean energy technology produced in china. a report from e2, a nonpartisan clean jobs advocacy group, estimated incentives from the inflation reduction act would generate 67,000 jobs and $2 billion in income for rural communities. 

republicans voted unanimously against the measure in 2022, though 78% of its investments went to republican-led districts. zakrzewski said the party complained about the price tag, but the fact that they still spent the money and are seeing results is “one of the strongest arguments for the benefits of addressing climate change.” 

president trump said he planned to go after the measure while on the campaign trail. but republican support for the measure appears to be shifting in its favor. a group of 18 house republicans signed a letter in august urging house speaker mike johnson to protect funds allocated by the act. 

david jenkins is the president of conservatives for responsible stewardship, a virginia-based nonprofit “founded on the premise that environmental stewardship and natural resource conservation are inherently conservative.” he said he’s concerned rolling back the measure would interfere with the direction the economy is taking. this is one possible conservative approach to evaluating fossil fuel alternatives: weighing their economic value. 

“put your faith in the market. if the market is saying solar is cheaper than making electricity with natural gas, then that’s fine,” jenkins said.

“all of the above” energy production

jeff kupfer is the president of conservamerica, a nonprofit conservation organization seeking to enact lasting policy that protects the environment and the economy. he said he hopes the trump administration will facilitate energy development in the u.s. across the board.

“we can’t just pick one or two types [of energy production] that we think are the right ones to pursue,” said kupfer. “we’re going to need all of the above.”

many republicans favor increasing fossil fuel production. however, their support for renewable energy is roughly equivalent. research from the pew center in 2023 found 73% of republicans supported increasing offshore oil and gas drilling but 70% supported building more solar farms.

part of increasing fossil fuel production could involve rolling back protections for public lands, a move that clashes with conservatives for responsible stewardship’s ethos. 

president trump indicated in campaign speeches that he plans to continue expanding oil and gas production in the u.s. he permitted drilling in the arctic national wildlife refuge in alaska during his first term, a move that was widely criticized by environmental groups. jenkins said he expects trump will try again during his second term, and is concerned about what that could mean for vulnerable wildlife like the millions of birds who migrate to the refuge.

“that’s like the cradle of life of our country,” jenkins said. 

kupfer, on the other hand, said he’s open to the idea of opening more alaskan land for energy development. 

“looking at federal lands, not just for keeping them pristine and off-limits, but using them for various purposes is a reasonable approach to how we look at the country’s energy mix and public land usage,” kupfer said. 

conservatives can be environmentalists 

nicolas walker, a political science student at sam houston state university in texas, couldn’t get momentum going on a fundraiser for people impacted by hurricanes helene and milton. so the 22-year-old decided to switch tactics.

“i said, ‘you know what, i’m going to have to authorize boots on the ground.’” said walker. “but since i don’t have any executive authority, i had to put my own boots on the ground.”

on oct. 14, walker drove over 3,000 miles to florida to assist with recovery efforts. he spent a week traveling across impacted areas cleaning up debris, disinfecting houses afflicted with toxic mold and chatting with people affected by the disaster.

walker said he thinks partisan connotations behind the word “environmentalist” are part of the reason why conservatives don’t often use the label themselves.

“it conjures up this negative image of some hippie protesting on the side of the road or this guy throwing tomato soup on a van gough painting,” walker said. 

protesters with climate activism group just stop oil threw tomato soup on a van gough painting in an effort to draw attention to the climate crisis in october 2022. 

walker countered by pointing to environmental action under previous republican presidents. theodore roosevelt established the u.s. forest service, which manages nearly 200 million acres of public lands. richard nixon founded the environmental protection agency in 1971, which enforces federal environmental laws and cleans up toxic sites. george h. w. bush signed the clean air act, which is estimated to have prevented 120,000 emergency room visits associated with poor air quality as of 2020, according to epa data.

“i don’t believe that conservatism and environmentalism should oppose one another,” walker said. 

jenkins said he rarely gets pushback when talking to conservative groups about climate change, but the lack of party leadership on the issue can make it challenging for climate-concerned republicans to act. 

“it’s one of those problems that’s so big they don’t know what to do about it,” jenkins said. “and if their own party, the people they trust, are not offering solutions to them, then they don’t know what to do with that.”

since his audience “instinctually opposes” any policies proposed by democrats, jenkins says he uses liberal environmental policies as a foil to argue for republican-led climate action. his go-to phrase?

“the issue is too important to leave to the left.” 

but that’s not to say collaboration is off the table.

“it’s not about red [or] blue, it’s about green,” said walker. “no matter what state you’re in, no matter who the state voted for, you could benefit from pragmatic policy and conservation.”

most well-known for its unique endemic species like the panther chameleon, the ring-tailed lemur and the cat-like fossa, the island of madagascar also contains caves which serve as time capsules of the climate history of the western indian ocean.

now, paleoclimatologists are investigating what madagascar can tell us about the past and future of monsoons as climate change accelerates.

“the question was to understand the mechanism connecting the atlantic and indian oceans in the past and whether that has any role in future climate change,” said ben tiger, massachusetts institute of technology, woods hole oceanographic institution joint program ph.d. candidate.

tiger had been entranced by madagascar’s unique biome ever since his first visit during a washington university sustainable development trip there. it was serendipitous when he started his ph.d. at mit-whoi and joined a research team focused on madagascar’s cave systems to investigate ocean systems in the indian ocean.

the mit-whoi research first focused on madagascar to understand the human impacts on species unique to madagascar when humans arrived around 1,000 to 1,500 years ago, according to tiger.

“there were huge shifts in the ecosystem during that time: the extinction of certain charismatic megafauna like giant lemurs and hippos that don’t exist on the island anymore,” tiger said. “so the question was, is this a climate story or a human, environmental-change story? and with stalagmites, you can answer that question.”

stalagmites, mound-like mineral deposits from cave floors, revealed that madagascar’s climate hadn’t changed when these endemic species went extinct – suggesting to tiger and his team that madagascar’s biome extinctions had more to do with human influence than climate shifts.

thus began tiger’s paleoclimate study on northern madagascar stalagmites to understand not only what they tell scientists about the island’s biodiversity, but also clues to indian ocean activity during the last glacial period – an underreported ocean system compared to the north atlantic, according to tiger.

 “most [ocean climate research] is focused in the north atlantic because of u.s. and european science efforts,” tiger said. “more recently, there’s more coverage on the indian ocean. but that’s only a couple decades-worth of data, so it’s definitely lacking.”

tiger’s study focused on extracting stalagmites from anjohibe (‘big cave’) in northwestern madagascar. stalagmites contain drip water and serve as precipitation time capsules that can reveal the extremity and frequency of monsoons as far back as 27,000 years ago. this study serves as the oldest record of monsoons in madagascar. 

understanding how monsoons behaved in the past enables paleoclimatologists like tiger to predict how monsoons will behave in the future as ocean currents destabilize from climate change. contrary to scientific understanding that rain belts warming makes climate wetter, tiger’s research found that madagascar’s climate experienced widespread drying during this sudden climate warming event with a huge discharge of meltwater around 27,000 years ago.

“that’s what led us to believe that maybe it was these east-west temperature differences in the indian ocean rather than these rain belt shifts north-south that were more important,” tiger said.

tiger presented this research to leading climate researchers at the 2024 comer climate conference in southwestern wisconsin. one attendee, yuxin zhou, postdoctoral scholar at the university of california, santa barbara, said he was fascinated by tiger’s findings as it relates to his own research on the atlantic meridional overturning circulation (“amoc”).

amoc is an “ocean conveyor belt” that circulates water within the atlantic ocean, carrying warm water north and cold water south. put simply, when amoc weakens, extreme weather events increase. tiger’s work, which focused on the relationship between the atlantic and indian oceans, revealed the dangers of amoc slowing down on monsoon seasons in the indian ocean.

“ben compared the worst-case scenario and best-case scenario of amoc weakening and how that difference will affect east african precipitation and farmers that can be potentially impacted,” zhou said.

zhou reflected on the timeliness of tiger’s research. in march 2024, the only american drilling ship dedicated to ocean research shut down, impacting the ability for researchers like zhou and tiger to acquire new sentiments for further climate system explorations.

“[tiger] made a conscious effort to project what he learned from the past to what we might experience in the future,” zhou said. “i think this is doubly important in this era of paleoscience. [we’re] in a tough period of time right now because we’re losing a primary drilling ship that we’ve used to study the ocean.”

by analyzing the precipitation of madagascar’s stalagmites, tiger’s research reveals the implications of increasing monsoons on regional agriculture in east africa, india and indonesia that rely on rainfall. it also highlights the urgency of understanding a weakening amoc in the tropics as extreme weather events increase.

“by understanding how climate can change in the past, we hope that people can better prepare for these longer-term changes coming up,” tiger said.

with a greater need for this research, tiger plans to return to madagascar in spring 2025 to continue field study on the anjohibe cave.

“i think we as a [paleoclimatology] community need to reposition and recommit our effort to link the past and the future to show that what we do has value,” zhou said. “what ben is doing is exactly what we need to show.”

washington – only nine years after the signing of the paris agreement — a landmark treaty promoting international cooperation to combat climate change  — global carbon emissions are out of line with paris’ global warming targets, the international monetary fund (imf) reported in a staff climate notes report this month. 

the imf report calculated that greenhouse gas emissions must be cut by 25% to meet a 2 degrees target or 50% to reach 1.5 degrees. currently, national targets would result in only a 12% drop in emissions. 

they prescribed urgent action to avoid an “emissions cliff edge,” which would make limiting global warming to only 1.5 degrees celsius, and even 2 degrees celsius, unattainable by 2030. 

“we’re in the greatest transition since the last industrial revolution,” said simon stiell, executive secretary of the united nations framework convention on climate change, at an imf climate panel in washington, d.c., wednesday. 

the paris agreement target

at the 21st conference of the parties to the un framework convention on climate change (cop21) in 2015, the paris agreement set a target of ideally 1.5 degrees celsius and “well below” 2 degrees celsius, beginning in november 2016. 

environmental economist and stanford professor charles kolstad, who was not present at the imf panel on wednesday, said it was not surprising that current national contributions were not aligned with the target warming rates. he added that, while the 2 degrees target is helpful in measuring progress, it was a political agreement, rather than a scientific goal. 

“it’s a helpful goal to have,” he said. “just because they didn’t meet the goal doesn’t mean it didn’t serve its purposes.”

“if we don’t achieve 50% by 2030, we’re going to see what we call a ‘climate cliff,’” imf deputy managing director bo li said at the imf panel. “we’d have to do dramatic reduction in the next 30 years after 2030, and that might be unbearable for the global economy.”

the panel focused on “mitigation,” or strategies to lessen the destructive impact of climate change. stanford professor rob jackson, who was not present at the panel, said mitigation is essential to “stave off the worst damages of climate change.”  

mitigation through carbon pricing

one of the mitigation strategies presented by the report was setting a carbon price of $85 per tonne, which would align emissions with the 2 degrees celsius target. in order to reach the 1.5 degrees celsius target, the price would have to be much higher. 

carbon pricing is a strategy that attaches a financial cost to carbon emissions, passing on part of the burden of emissions to polluters and consumers. currently, the imf reports the global carbon price to be only $5 per tonne. 

some u.s. states have adopted emission permit programs to indirectly raise carbon prices. climate policies, such as subsidies, can also impact carbon pricing, kolstad said. still, there is no comprehensive federal or international carbon pricing program. 

“carbon pollution is essentially free in the u.s.,” jackson said. 

during the panel, li suggested that large economies should take the lead on negotiating an international carbon pricing floor, adding that carbon pricing is critical to climate mitigation policy. 

the need for international collaboration

he also noted that climate action demands international cooperation, referencing last year’s sunnylands statement, in which the u.s. and china reaffirmed their commitment to working jointly against the climate crisis. 

“climate change is such an existential threat to humanity that we believe, and we hope, that countries can put aside their differences and collaborate,” li said. “we can collaborate on many fronts, including carbon pricing, including climate finance.”

the imf report also provides emissions targets aligned with the paris goals for 2030, averaging the reductions between countries based on their per-capita income. this design would provide for a more equitable distribution of climate responsibility, placing more of the burden on richer countries. 

during the panel, li highlighted how countries with lower levels of pollution are often most affected by climate change, such as island countries in the pacific and caribbean. he added that, even within countries, certain groups will be more disadvantaged by the transition to reduce emissions and urged domestic policymakers to support the affected groups.

next month, almost 200 countries are expected to attend cop29 in baku, azerbaijan. nicknamed the “finance cop,” the conference will center on funding climate solutions. 

cop29 hopes to renew ambition surrounding climate action and increase financial support for developing countries hoping to transition to cleaner energy, mukhtar babayev, cop29 president-designate said at the imf panel. 

at cop29, countries may also present updated national contributions, or emissions strategies. per the paris agreement, these are due by early 2025.

climate change is threatening people globally, but it also presents business opportunities through innovation and sustainability, said bea perez, global chief communications, sustainability, and strategic partnerships officer at coca-cola.

perez addressed hundreds of global influencers and upcoming mba entrepreneurs at northwestern university’s kellogg climate conference this spring. perez and other corporate leaders advocated for sustainability during the impending climate crisis linked to rising temperatures, economic instability, weather disasters and water insecurity. 

the conference drew on expertise from the energy, transportation, agriculture, food, finance and other sectors to leverage solutions, such as the generating enough electricity and parts to transition to electric fleets for corporate shipping and mass transit. 

an anticipated $1.3 trillion in investment will be needed to innovate and curb climate pain points companies have inflamed in recent years, turning the spotlight on the sustainability leaders globally. 

perez focused on coca-cola’s recent sustainability efforts and errors at the conference hosted by the kellogg school of management and northwestern’s paula m. trienens institute of sustainability and energy. 

evaluating big business’s responsibility to mitigate climate change

kellogg brought corporate leaders from companies including exxon-mobil, invenergy, and general motors under one roof to educate and prepare future business leaders to prioritize sustainability and innovation. 

there’s two things everybody should understand about climate — where do greenhouse gasses come from and how are industries and companies following through on climate mitigation goals, said meghan busse, associate professor of strategy at the kellogg school of management. 

perez combined the outlook for commercial profitability and sustainability to evaluate what roles the fortune 500 company plays in prioritizing the climate as a key strategy in decisions, not just an offshoot program. 

her theme was accountability — owning up to coca-cola’s mistakes and reimagining the company’s more recent role in mitigating climate change. some steps included changing bottle design and water conservation. 

“don’t you think we have a responsibility as a business to manage those resources [water and carbon] and do better?” perez said.

taking accountability

by reducing the amount of carbon used to produce a singular coca cola product by 25%, perez said the company found a loophole when they first tried to focus on sustainability. 

their per unit carbon usage was down, but since business was growing, it let coca-cola grow their carbon emissions in “absolute terms,” perez said. 

“we made a mistake,” perez said. “and so just as any smart business group would do… we had to reset the plan.”

in other words, coca-cola needed to establish new targets that held all aspects of their business accountable in lowering their carbon emissions – and not just their production line. 

perez also recognized the role fortune 500 companies play in restoring resources like water. 

“you can’t have a conversation about climate, unless you talk about water,” perez said.  

coca-cola established three goals hoping to restore all the water they use for production globally: using 100% regenerative water across 175 facilities facing “high water stress,” improving 60 watersheds’ health, and returning two trillion liters of water to communities. 

in 2021, coca-cola introduced regenerative water as a metric for achieving their sustainability goals. the concept includes reducing, reusing, recycling and replenishing water to communities for nature and other stakeholders to use, according to their 2021 sustainability report. 

perez’s talk put more responsibility on corporations to work on climate change mitigation, rather than falling on the consumer. 

“water is a human right… a lot of places in developed countries don’t have water regulation. if you go into emerging markets, they typically do. and so how do you make sure there’s [a] great water policy in place for people and for society?”

emphasizing community

perez said that between 2018 to 2022, there were only 18 days, on average, between every billion-dollar disaster, compared to 82 days in the 1980s. 

coca-cola shifted its value proposition from getting communities to spend money on their products to investing back into the communities where resources are acquired from.

“if you don’t have strong communities, you don’t have businesses,” perez said. 

“water still will always be number one, but it cuts in many slices… some people say, ‘we saw you met your target five years ahead of schedule, so what are you doing today?’” perez said. 

she said coca-cola is now working to replenish 100% of the water it uses. 

room for improvement

despite getting ahead of their target, coca-cola falls short compared to the company’s leading food and beverage competitor: pepsico.

pepsico used 1.4 liters of water per liter of beverage product produced, according to their water stewardship approach, which is 0.39 liters less than of coca-cola’s usage in their latest business and sustainability report. 

perez also spoke about the importance of independent auditing for environmental, social and governmental reporting. 

“imagine if it were just coca-cola saying, ‘hey, we did this,’” perez said. “do you think you would believe me? this is a little bit like a conflict of interest, right?” 

esg reporting involves publicly disclosing information about environmental, social and governmental business operations, according to the corporate governance institute. 

coca-cola made the switch to sustainability report auditing through ernst and young, a multinational professional services company, in 2015. 

coca-cola was one of the first in the pack, since only 2% of fortune 500 companies started esg reporting back then, perez said. 

perez urged audience members to look up coca-cola’s business and sustainability reports, which replaced the reports that were originally only geared towards quantifying how well the company was reaching sustainability targets.   

the transition came after coca-cola realized it was sending “unintended signals” that they had two separate reports, perez said. 

“it would look as if it [sustainability] wasn’t important to our business,” perez said. “frankly, you saw throughout those charts how important it [sustainability] is to our business].”

a data-informed approach

coca-cola incorporates a next-generation data platform to track and manage progress against esg metrics and has abided by the sustainability accounting standards board standards since 2020, according to their 2021 reporting frameworks and sustainable development goals. 

the company focuses on water leadership, packaging, climate, sustainable agriculture and communities in their esg report, according to their 2022 business and sustainability report. 

“we integrated the data,” perez said. “we made sure that we have the same standard that we have in our financial reporting as we have in here — [the esg report].”

currently, companies are only required to report scope 1 and scope 2 criteria, which involve reporting greenhouse gas emissions from sources an organization directly owns and from indirect energy sources the company has purchased, according to the securities and exchange commission. 

scope 3, emissions that the company does not produce by itself and are not from the companies’ assets, and water consumption reporting are still not required by the sec.

navigating the future of esg reporting

currently, coca-cola’s reporting has been voluntary in the u.s., so accountability hasn’t come at a penalty cost, yet. 

but what happens when the sec enforces mandatory esg reporting?

on march 6, the sec adopted rules to “enhance and standardize climate-related disclosures by public companies,” according to the sec’s enhancement and standardization of climate-related disclosures for investors. 

while declaring water-usage was proposed as an inclusion  for the final rule, it was ultimately axed to simplify requirements and prevent putting a “topical focus” on any one climate-related disclosure, according to the disclosure. 

coca-cola has already begun anticipating the sec’s future moves towards making sustainability reporting mandatory.  

 perez said she tells her team to consider how much voluntary reporting they’re doing that could impact mandatory reporting in the future. 

“if you report work you’re really not doing, with the sec rules, you’re going to have personal fines to executives, criminal penalties potentially. so the stakes are higher,” perez said.