Climate Letters

The planet has been writing to us for centuries. In storms, in seasons, in the quiet retreat of glaciers. We just haven't been reading the letters. Welcome to Climate Letters — where we learn to read together. 🌍 #ClimateLetters #OurPlanet #Climate

Vulture populations in India collapsed. 500,000 people died as a result. In the 1990s, Indian farmers started using a cheap painkiller called diclofenac on their cattle. When vultures ate the carcasses, the drug destroyed their kidneys. Without vultures, cattle carcasses rotted in fields instead of being stripped clean in 45 minutes. Feral dog populations exploded by five million. Rabies cases surged. Pathogens spread through water supplies. University of Chicago economists compared death rates in districts that used to have vultures to districts that never did. Human mortality rose more than 4% after the collapse. Over 100,000 extra deaths a year. Half a million in five years. India banned the drug in 2006. The vultures still haven't recovered. This is what a keystone species is to us. This is why we protect the animals nobody finds cute.

DID YO KNOW🚨: Bees are on the endangered list..... if bees disappear, so will most of what we eat They don't just make honey..... they sustain life on this planet!

The Great Banyan tree in India is approximately 250 years old. It has dropped over 3,600 aerial roots that have grown down into the ground and become new trunks. It covers more than 3.5 acres. It looks like a forest. It is one tree. After a storm damaged the original central trunk, the trunk was removed entirely. The tree didn't notice. It was already the forest. #forests #conservation #nature

1,000-year-old trees get turned into furniture. Meanwhile, 100-year-old buildings are protected as "historically important." Old growth trees support thousands of species over their lifetime, insects, birds, fungi, and entire ecosystems that younger trees simply can't match. They’re living cathedrals. We protect what we value. It’s time we started valuing these ancient giants the same way we value old buildings.

The ocean floor is slowly turning into a landfill For decades, most concern about ocean pollution has focused on floating plastic and waste washing up on beaches. However, scientists now warn that the largest buildup of debris is happening out of sight, deep beneath the ocean’s surface. A global review led by researchers at the University of Barcelona found that the seafloor is accumulating vast amounts of human-made waste, in some places at levels comparable to landfills. In the Strait of Messina, between Italy and Sicily, researchers documented over one million pieces of debris per square mile (around 400,000 per square kilometer), making it one of the most polluted seafloor regions ever recorded. Debris such as plastic bags, fishing nets, metal, glass, and discarded equipment does not simply sink straight down. Ocean currents, storms, and underwater canyons transport waste from coastlines into deep-sea basins thousands of feet below the surface. Plastics account for about 62% of seafloor litter and can travel long distances before settling. This is a global issue. Plastic has been discovered nearly 36,000 feet deep (about 10,900 meters) in the Mariana Trench, the deepest known point in the ocean. If current trends continue, scientists estimate the ocean could contain over 3 billion metric tons of waste within the next 30 years. The impact on marine life is severe. Nearly 700 marine species are affected by seafloor debris through entanglement, ingestion, or exposure to toxic chemicals. Abandoned fishing gear can continue trapping animals for decades, a process known as ghost fishing. Because this pollution occurs far from human view, it is often overlooked. But what sinks into the ocean does not vanish — it accumulates, persists, and alters ecosystems long after it disappears from sight. Read the study: “The quest for seafloor macrolitter: a critical review of background knowledge, current methods and future prospects.” Environmental Research Letters, 2021

It's a new month tomorrow 😁 Thank you for reducing pollution, educating others and playing your part in climate action management!!! What topic would you like to hear us write on next?

About a month ago we began. What do you know now that you didn't know before? What changed? Write your letter to the planet, to yourself, to anyone who will listen. 💚 #ClimateLettetters

One mature tree absorbs ~20–48 lbs of CO₂ per year while giving us clean oxygen. Scale it: Planting 1 trillion more trees could eventually store roughly 750 gigatonnes of CO₂. That’s equivalent to about 20 years of current global fossil fuel CO₂ emissions — a massive one-time drawdown of legacy carbon while forests regrow. Trees also cool cities, rebuild soil, boost wildlife and give great hugs! We don’t need to wait for governments. Plant Trees & protect what already exists.

our weeks. Seven pillars. One planet. From the beauty of the ocean to the weight of the carbon budget we've covered a lot of ground together. And this is only the beginning. 🌍 #ClimateLetters #Climateactions

Forests cover 31% of Earth's land. They are home, food, medicine, rain, and memory. They are also disappearing at a rate of 10 million hectares per year. Let us look at what we still have. 🌲 #Forests #climate

am the edge where green meets sand, where rain is a rumour. I stretch across Africa and I am growing. The desert is moving south. But the people here? They did the least to cause this. 🌾 #Sahel #ClimateJustice #ClimateLetters

Addressing climate change costs money. Ignoring it costs more. By 2050, climate inaction could cost the global economy $23 trillion per year. The math has spoken. 💰 #ClimateEconomics #Climateletters #Climate

The lights, the fridge, the AC, the phone charger left plugged in. Your home is an energy story. And that story is connected to power stations, to coal, to gas, to the atmosphere. Let's read it. ⚡ #HomeEnergy #ClimateLetters

38% of Tanzania is made up of national parks. The country has 16 national parks. 💚💚

The coast of New Zealand has very strong winds, so the trees here have learned to grow sideways.

Businesses aren't just part of the problem. They can be the fastest route to solutions. Net zero commitments, green supply chains, renewable energy the invoice can be paid. Here's how. 🏢🌱 #GreenBusiness #ClimateLetters

Biggest myth busted: