Month: March 2026

No, it ain’t wind turbines.

Science:

 Using data from the North American Breeding Bird Survey, the authors found that about half of the 261 species analyzed showed significant declines from 1987 to 2021, and a quarter showed accelerating declines. Hotspots of accelerating abundance decline were located in regions with high-intensity agriculture (high cropland area, fertilizer use, or pesticide use)

The first notable finding is that warm and warming regions coincide with areas of abundance decline (ΔN, Fig. 3, A and C, and figs. S7 and S8). This pattern is consistent with the evidence that bird populations are shifting their distributions northward as they track cooler conditions (31). Increases in temperatures have been shown to increase the risk of bird species’ extinction as a result of a lack of species adaptability to rapidly changing climatic conditions (32), and consistent temperature-related responses have been documented across both Europe and North America (33). Our results further support this by showing that areas experiencing greater warming (Fig. 3C) also exhibit stronger abundance declines, suggesting that rising temperatures may be a driver of recent bird population losses.

Continue reading “Study: Agriculture, Climate Change Pounding Bird Populations”

Drop Site News on X:

Israeli strikes on oil depots around Tehran have released massive quantities of toxic hydrocarbons, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen oxides. Mixed with rainwater, these chemicals are causing highly acidic precipitation that can cause skin burns and severe lung damage upon contact, according to Iranian authorities.

▪️ Dense plumes of black smoke from the Shahran and other refineries have blotted out the sun, plunging parts of the city into darkness and creating a “nuclear winter” effect, NYT reported. Authorities warned that these noxious fumes cause acute respiratory distress and eye irritation.

▪️ Oil-saturated rainwater has blanketed the city, leaving rooftops, balconies, and streets covered in a thick, murky black liquid and oily soot. This contamination poses a long-term risk of heavy metals like nickel and vanadium leaching into the soil and local water systems.

▪️ Environmental groups warn the pollution threatens migratory birds crossing the Persian Gulf. The “black rain” and smoke plumes can cause internal organ damage and destroy the insulating properties of bird feathers, leading to hypothermia and death.

The Iranian Red Crescent Society warned of the dangers of the rain, advising residents to protect themselves and to cover exposed food from oily soot particles. Officials said the rain is highly corrosive and could potentially damage civilian structures.

Continue reading “Oil Strikes in Tehran Bring Polluted, Toxic Pall over Mideast”

As I wrote last week, Iran is in the driver’s seat, despite being hammered by superior US and Israeli power.
Number one because their capacity to wreck interlinked and globally integrated
markets, which are rapidly ramping pain on Americans, and could, according to some well informed officials, disrupt the global economy.
For many who though this was all fun and games for a long time, real impacts showing up that could be long lasting, and real fears about an expanding war and worldwide ripple effects are putting increased pressure on the team of unprepared amateurs in the Trump cabinet.

Some darker fears of an uncontrolled WWIII scenario are making the rounds.

Continue reading “Trump “Backed in Corner” in Epstein Oil War”

Mark Jacobson has taken a lot of heat for his insistence that Wind, water, solar and batteries can power the grid reliably – but relentlessly evolving technology keeps proving his point, particularly since massive battery buildout in states like California and Texas is creating what amounts to a phase-change in how the grid works, crowding out gas to an amazing degree.

Mark Jacobson on X:

Fossil gas use for electricity down 59.5% in 2026 versus 2023 in the world’s 4th-largest economy.

16th-straight and 43rd of 66 days in 2026 with >100% WindWaterSolar on California’s main grid

Fossil gas use continues to plummet as solar & batteries rise

Continue reading “Batteries, Solar, Can Rival Nuclear for Reliability”

Two weeks ago I was in the northernmost part of Lower Michigan in Gaylord, attending a remembrance event for survivors of a highly destructive ice storm that swept thru a year ago in early April, knocking out power for weeks in some cases, and causing immense damage to infrastructure, including electric transmission, that is still being addressed.
One topic that came up was that Gaylord was just getting over another traumatic event, a very rare EF 3 strength tornado that hit the community in May of 2022. Tornadoes in this part of the upper midwest are, needless to say, extremely rare historically.

Last week another twister of similar strength hit last week in early March, this time in South Michigan, part of a larger band of storms that caused a ground stop at O’Hare Airport in Chicago, where I was waiting for an (eventually cancelled) flight.
With thousands passengers stranded, rental cars disappeared quickly, but I managed to snag one by Ubering about 15 miles west of the airport in the Chicago suburbs. That had me driving through western Michigan under some unusually intense rain and fog conditions for hours to get home, about the same time twisters were killing 4 people not far away.
The video from Union City, MI looks not so much like Michigan in March, as Oklahoma in May.
Union Lake is still iced over.

Continue reading “Michigan’s Tornado is Earliest EF 3 on Record”

An economy in transition, more batteries needed.
Look for massive acceleration in renewable adoption.

Financial Times:

European electricity prices are swinging wildly from daytime to evening as the Iran war’s disruption to gas supplies accentuates growing volatility in Europe’s power markets amid the rise of renewables.  Wholesale prices in markets such as the Netherlands, Denmark and Germany are rising and falling by hundreds of euros per megawatt hour over the course of an afternoon, data from Montel Analytics shows, as abundant electricity from solar panels is replaced by gas-fired power as the sun goes down.

Prices then slump again as the evening peak passes. On March 4, day-ahead prices in Denmark swung from €26 per MWh at 2pm to almost €430 at 5.45pm, less than four hours later. Prices in the Netherlands jumped from €24 to €450 over the same period, with similarly large swings in Belgium and Germany. European wholesale prices have become more volatile in recent years due to the growth of intermittent renewable power, which means low prices when it is windy and sunny and higher prices when fossil fuels are needed to meet demand.

Continue reading “War Makes Euro Energy Prices Swing”

Maybe we should think about this.

Financial Times:
Qatar’s energy minister has warned that war in the Middle East could “bring down the economies of the world”, predicting that all Gulf energy exporters would shut down production within days and drive oil to $150 a barrel.

Saad al-Kaabi told the FT that even if the war ended immediately it would take Qatar “weeks to months” to return to a normal cycle of deliveries following an Iranian drone strike at its largest liquefied natural gas plant. Qatar, the world’s second-largest producer of LNG, was forced to declare force majeure this week after the strike at its Ras Laffan plant.

While Qatar only exports a small proportion of its gas to Europe, the energy minister said the continent would feel significant pain as Asian buyers outbid Europeans for whatever gas is available on the market, and as other Gulf countries find themselves unable to meet their contractual obligations.

“Everybody that has not called for force majeure we expect will do so in the next few days that this continues. All exporters in the Gulf region will have to call force majeure,” Kaabi said. “If they don’t, they are at some point going to pay the liability for that legally, and that’s their choice.”

Financial Times:

The Middle East war had bolstered the case for investment in clean energy sources and battery storage, Microsoft said, as nations rushed to secure oil and gas supplies.

Microsoft’s global vice-president for energy Bobby Hollis, responsible for buying power for the tech group worldwide, said the oil and gas price surge had underscored the need for renewable energy in power supply as protection from volatile fuel costs.

Continue reading “War Could Bring Down Global Economy – Underlines Need for Renewables”

Fascinating for me because I know all the scientists in this piece, and participated in some of this research in directly in 2016 and 2017.
This video must have been completed before the DOGE purge of 2025.

I got a shiver when they were talking about the dangers of working on the ice, because I was remembering some times working when I was not taking all the precautions that I should have been. Even some very senior, very careful researchers have made fatal mistakes out there.

My column in the Midland Daily News.
Alternative Title: I Iran the Zoo.

Implications are dire if war continues.
A lot of people will needlessly suffer and die, and it remains to be seen how much the global economy will be disrupted. America’s reputation and economy will be decades recovering, if ever.

Peter Sinclair in the Midland Daily News:

Can we talk about Oil Wars?

Has anyone noticed the pattern of the United States leaping into conflicts with nations that have massive hydrocarbon reserves?

Is there anyone who believes we would be attacking Venezuela or Iran if their primary export was broccoli?

Can we make an assessment based on the last 3 decades of experience as to the effectiveness of these adventures?

25 years ago, the Bush administration believed the Iraq war would be a “cakewalk”, and that, following invasion, Iraqis would rise up, throw off their government, and install a Jeffersonian democracy in Baghdad.
That war, of course, was a brutal, bloody, 6 trillion dollar quagmire.

Forgetting that sad history, Donald Trump indicated to an interviewer he believed that Iran would capitulate, the way Venezuela recently did, in a few days, and that the US would select a new leader that would “make Iran great again”.  

In another interview, the President admitted that the officials he hoped would take over the reins in Iran had been killed in the first rounds of US bombings..

Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Hegseth have made public statements that they expect the war to last “4 to 6 weeks” – giving Iran a convenient timeline and blueprint for how to take the initiative in this conflict.

Knowing that timeline, and that an election is approaching, that this war is in large part a distraction from the Epstein files scandal, puts Iran in the driver’s seat, as they also know that, having bombed 7 or 8 countries now in the last year, the US is running short of key ammunition, especially missile interceptors, which are slow to manufacture.
It remains to be seen how much of Iran’s drone capability has been held back while the US punches itself out in the early going.

The unsustainable nature of utilizing million-dollar interceptors against cheap Iranian drones is not unnoticed in strategic circles.
China is watching, and quietly helping Iran replenish its drone and missile stocks. They know that every interceptor we fire over the Gulf is one we don’t have to defend Taiwan.

Continue reading “Trump’s War Will Speed Renewable Transition”