Portraits of catastrophe and courage in 2024
Yale Climate Connections | Bob Henson and Jeff Masters | December 31, 2024
More than ever, relentless global warming cast a shadow on the weather and climate happenings of 2024. It was the second year in a row (this one even warmer than 2023) when the average global temperature was in the vicinity of the 1.5°C-above-preindustrial threshold that policymakers have long pledged to avoid.
While researchers struggled to explain exactly why the global heat spike of 2023-24 – similar to the ones from previous El Niño events, but even sharper – played out the way it did, people on the front lines were left to tackle the consequences, one disaster at a time…
Defenders of climate scientists gear up for a second Trump term
In November 2024, Donald Trump was elected to a non-consecutive second term as U.S. president. As Trump prepared to return to office, the nonprofit Climate Science Legal Defense Fund, which provides free legal and educational support to researchers facing harassment and intimidation for their work, was gearing up for a high-stakes protracted struggle to protect scientists. For more details, see Jeff Masters’ Eye on the Storm interview of December 13 with the fund’s executive director, Lauren Kurtz. “We’re going to need another lawyer due to the already-increased demand,” Kurtz told Masters.