Two key climate change indicators have broken numerous records through the first half of 2016, according to NASA analyses of ground-based observations and satellite data. Each of the first six months of 2016 set a record as the warmest respective month globally in the modern temperature record, which dates to 1880. Meanwhile, five of the first six months set records for the smallest monthly Arctic sea ice extent since consistent satellite records began in 1979. NASA researchers are in the field this summer, collecting data to better understand our changing climate.

This visualization illustrates Earth’s long-term warming trend, showing temperature changes from 1880 to 2015 as a rolling five-year average. Orange colors represent temperatures that are warmer than the 1951-80 baseline average, and blues represent temperatures cooler than the baseline.

Credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center's Scientific Visualization Studio

This video is public domain and may be downloaded here. 

Also watch NASA's video, The Greening of Arctic here on EarthSayers.tv, Voices of Sustainability.

This is the first study to produce a continent-scale map while still providing detailed information at the human scale. "It shows the climate impact on vegetation in the high latitudes," said Jeffrey Masek, a researcher who worked on the study and the Landsat 9 project scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The study, led by NASA scientist Junchang Ju, is online here. 

Temperatures are warming faster in the Arctic than elsewhere, which has led to longer seasons for plants to grow in and changes to the soils. Scientists have observed grassy tundras changing to shrublands, and shrubs growing bigger and denser – changes that could have impacts on regional water, energy, and carbon cycles. With the large, continental-scale map complete, researchers will focus on the more human scale – looking at local conditions to see what might control the greening patterns, whether it's local topography, nearby water sources, or particular types of habitat. They also plan to investigate forested areas, particularly in the greening Quebec.

More information.

Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Matthew Radcliff
Music: "Alaska," by Janik Riegert [GEMA], Josh Tapen [GEMA]

This video is public domain and along with other supporting visualizations can be downloaded from the Scientific Visualization Studio here. at:

If you liked this video, subscribe to the NASA Goddard YouTube channel here.  

Spoken word artist Terisa Siagatonu shares her poem on climate change and talking about climate change and climate justice.

Terisa Tinei Siagatonu is a spoken word artist/arts educator and community organizer from the Bay Area. A graduate of the University of California, Santa Cruz, she is currently the Project Director for PIER: the Pacific Islander Education and Retention project at UCLA, an access project that exists to combat the low matriculation rates of Pacific Islander students into higher education by offering services ranging from free tutoring, mentorship, and peer advising to Pacific Islander high school students in Los Angeles. Her emergence into the spoken word world as a queer Samoan women and activist has granted her the opportunities to perform on stages ranging from Boston’s Cutler Majestic Theatre to the Women’s Stage at the 2010 Oakland PRIDE Festival. She has worked as a poet mentor with Youth Speaks, the leading nonprofit organization for spoken word performance and literary arts education in the country, as well as on grassroots levels with groups such as One Love Oceania, a queer Pacific Islander women’s organization from the Bay Area, the Samoan Community Development Center of San Francisco, Empowering Pacific Islander Communities of Los Angeles, and Engaging Education of the University of California, Santa Cruz. Her devotion to her Pacific Islander people and her work with college access and spoken word poetry helps her to drive the development of Pacific Islander youth, advocating for self-empowerment so they can create sustainable impact in their communities, starting with themselves.

Published on May 19, 2016Spoken word artist Isabella Borgeson shares her piece on Super Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda), one of the strongest storms that hit the Philippines on November 8, 2013. Follow her on Twitter.

This video covers Scenario Planning in more detail. Dr. Trexler also discusses the size of businesses (large and smaller) that will find the tools of climate risk very helpful. He also briefly covers the two sided coin of risk and opportunity. Mark has more than 30 years of regulatory and energy policy experience, and has advised clients around the world on climate change risk and risk management for more than 25 years. He and his business partner, attorney Laura H. Kosloff have created The Climate Web, a tool for finding “actionable climate knowledge.” It’s critically needed in the face of today’s overwhelming levels of raw information relevant to climate change and climate risk.

Mark Trexler was interviewed by Ruth Ann Barrett of EarthSayers.tv, Voices of Sustainability and videotaped by cameraman, Barry Heidt in the EcoTrust Building in Portland, Oregon on April 23, 2016. Published on Apr 29, 2016

Published on Jul 27, 2016

Published on Dec 6, 2015

"Make It Hot" is a song from the forthcoming album & hip-hop theatre show "Rap Guide to Climate Chaos", as performed here by Baba Brinkman, exploring some of the game theory dynamics that drive global warming and arguing for the urgent need to price carbon emissions. 

More information about the show here. Help support Baba's "Climate Chaos" IndieGogo campaign here.