Climate is the overwhelming story of our generation. Each week, this email reports the science, often frightening, and the tech, mostly encouraging. Please share to help others appreciate the problem, and that we have solutions. Free sign up at www.maxaitken.com 

What you need to know

The bunny was right: batteries are unstoppable

Good news. Very good news. Battery costs are down 99%. Energy density up 5x. Production growing 30% a year. Like solar, smashes all forecasts.
We have the tech! Renewables and batteries may replace 50% of fossils: the economics work.
Read more: RMI’s “The Rise of Batteries in Six Charts and Not Too Many Numbers”

Le impact: French grape harvest 4 weeks earlier

This isn’t your grandmother’s climate change. Warming is here. Harvests are a’changing.
Your challenge? What does this mean for where you live and what you eat?
Read more: Eos on how 600 years of winemaking is adapting

Purple Coral, at least on the map

What? US’s NOAA added new colours to their Coral Bleaching Alert Maps. Maxed out on reds, so added some purples.
Bad? 2023 killed a lot of coral. 2024 could be worse. 25% of ocean biodiversity relies on reefs, and millions depend on the ecosystems they support.
Read more: NOAA on their new maps; Guardian on 2024’s risks

One thing to worry about

This week someone asked what was on my mind. I answered, “Sea surface temperatures.” I may not be fun at parties, but… this is bad.

Watch this from @weatherprof: 90 seconds of your life well spent.

One thing to be optimistic about

You might think the Indian Railways would be a laggard in, well, a lot of things. You’d be wrong.

In 2014, 45% of their track was electric. This year: 100%. 40,000km converted in a decade, reports Energy Monitor.

This is fantastic. Decarbonisation is electrification. And shows massive systems can change.

If you’ve got more time, read this and weep

The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Current (AMOC) mixes water temperatures in the world’s oceans. Think of it like God’s hand stirring a hot bath. Warms the north, cools the south.

Since the 1980s, it’s been slowing. This week: evidence it could stop in our lifetimes - a 95% probability of it halting between 2025 and 2095.

Bad? Very. AMOC was the basis of The Day After Tomorrow movie. Europe would be 15ºC colder, southern hemisphere hotter and rain patterns… who knows.

When it happened before, 130,000 years ago, sea levels rose metres in a few years.

Read more: Associated Press for overview; Stefan Ramsdorf (the world expert on AMOC) has a thread on X; Science Advances published the paper; and Michael Mann on X has background.

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