Climate News - June 9th, 2023

Welcome back to The Planetwide Blog, with weekly posts so that you can follow global changes that Wild City Plants is tracking.

The world is a constantly changing place, and now more than ever it can be difficult to remember the events a day, week, or month previously. This is a window into some recent events in climate change and global affairs.

This week, of Friday, June 9th, 2023

• The BBC published yesterday, June 8th, 2023, that "Crews in Canada are still battling more than 400 blazes that have displaced 20,000 people nationwide." The forest fires come at the start of the annual fire season and coincide with the beginning of the El Nino cycle, which is sure to intensify fire activity across the globe this year.

• CBS reports today, June 9th, 2023, that accelerating climate change is causing food prices to increase across the globe. A study found that "Looking ahead, meanwhile, continued global warming is projected to increase food prices between 0.6 and 3.2 percentage points by 2060..." As global temperatures rise, new regions of unfamiliar weather activity will arise and will change growing seasons and conditions around the world, detailed in part by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

• The Snow and Ice Data Center reported on June 5th, 2023 that "Average Arctic sea ice extent during May 2023 was 12.83 million square kilometers (4.95 million square miles) … the thirteenth lowest May in the satellite record." Several estimates have placed the first recoded ice-free winter arctic seas to occur in the mid 2030's, which seems highly possible given our current pace of emissions.

Climate change and its impact on our planetary environment supersedes all other problems humanity is facing. If we do not have a habitable planet, we will cease to exist as the advanced society we know today, if at all.

Help us fight climate change and follow along for weekly global updates at The Planetwide Blog.