Karl Burkart

A summary of our new paper in Frontiers in Science.. oneearth.org/conservation-i…

It’s not the sun

Pretty wild that an antisemitic conspiracy theorist who has a Nazi tattoo will determine whether or not the Dems will take the Senate. Not on my bingo card for 2026.. open.substack.com/pub/bariweiss/…

It's almost impossible for a newspaper outlet to cover the attempted murder of 140 Jewish preschool children by blaming the attack on a Detroit synagogue built during the Holocaust. Yet the NY Times did it anyway. You can't hate these people enough. It's just not possible.

El Niño is coming, and it is shaping up to be a big one. Over at The Climate Brink I've put together a compilation of the latest forecasts by different modeling groups. They suggest that we might see an event comparable in strength to what we saw in 2016.

Awesome

One of the most pressing issue facing agriculture in the US is the rapid and continued depletion of ground water in our most important food producing regions. But even more concerning is the degradation of farmland's ability to capture, store and cycle rainwater. The Ogallala Aquifer supports 30% of US irrigation and has lost 286 million acre-feet, or 93.2 trillion gallons, since agricultural development. Portions of Kansas and Texas are on pace for complete depletion in 20-50 years. Natural recharge occurs at less than one inch annually and full replenishment would take 6,000 years. California's Central Valley, producing 25% of national food supply, pumps groundwater 5x faster than its rate of recharge. The land has subsided up to 28 feet, permanently destroying aquifer storage capacity. As alarming as this may be, the long-term – and in some cases permanent – damage caused to aquifers pales in comparison to the disruption of the small water cycle. The small water cycle depends on vegetation recycling moisture through evapotranspiration, which generates over 50% of precipitation in most river basins. This "green water" accounts for 4-5x more agricultural water use than the "blue water" drawn from aquifers and rivers. When soil is disturbed and left bare, this pump fails. Further disrupting this cycle, bare agricultural soil reaches surface temperatures up to 24°C higher than vegetated areas, creating heat islands that repel rainfall while eliminating evaporative cooling entirely. US agricultural soils have lost 50% of original organic matter over that last century. Each 1% increase in organic matter allows soil to hold 20,000 additional gallons of water per acre. The widespread loss of 3-4 percentage points of organic matter means farmland now stores tens of thousands fewer gallons per acre than it once did, reducing natural drought resilience and increasing runoff. Conventional agriculture compounds this by collapsing soil aggregates through excessive tillage, leaving fields bare, applying synthetic fertilizers that accelerate organic matter decomposition, disrupting soil microbiology with pesticide applications and compacting soil with heavy machinery. The good news is, unlike aquifer depletion, the small water cycle can be repaired rapidly and in ways that offer a cascade of positive benefits to farms. Continuous living roots maintain the pore structure for infiltration. Growing roots open channels, decaying roots leave voids, and root exudates feed aggregate-building microorganisms. A functional and diverse soil microbiome produces biological glues that create water-stable aggregates. These networks increase hydraulic conductivity while enhancing water storage. Permanent soil cover reduces evaporation, prevents raindrop impact from sealing surfaces, and maintains biological activity. Five years of cover cropping can improve infiltration up to 200%. Integrated biological diversity drives the feedback loops between soil carbon, water retention, and climate regulation. Diverse rotations, livestock integration, and perennial crops restore landscape-scale water cycling. Aquifer depletion, in large part, cannot be undone. But restoring the small water cycle offers an immediate opportunity to rebuild and maintain agricultural water security.

I'm starting to get the sense that a lot of internet commentators do not actually realize who generates the most wind and solar today. Hint: its not blue states. Texas alone has more utility scale solar than California and ~5x more wind generation.

Hypocrites. All of them.

Where are the protests in European capitals? Where are the encampments in American universities? Where are the petitions signed by Hollywood celebrities? No Jews, no news.

Hello @BBCBreaking - why do you pretend to be a news organisation but refuse to cover the Iranian revolution? Is there something you need to tell us?

We are so screwed.

160 scientists, 23 countries, 1 report: The Global Tipping Points Report 2025, together with @UniofExeter, highlights mounting risks across Earth’s systems, from melting glaciers & ice fields to slowing ocean currents, ice sheets & rainforests under pressure. Watch now👇

Very edgy innovation needing major R & D, but could theoretically make #carboncapture economically viable (which it is currently not). globalenergyprize.org/en/2025/10/04/…

🌍 GEM's Global Integrated Power Tracker interactive dashboard updated! 🔎 Explore power facilities worldwide, tracking operating, construction & in-dev't capacity, w/downloadable data summaries. 🏭 Now including facility ownership & fleet age summaries. globalenergymonitor.org/projects/globa…

Since 1900, humans have cleared 1.1 billion hectares of forest. Forests clean our air, purify our water, and are vital in the fight to address the growing climate crisis. Keep forests standing. #ActOnClimate #climate #deforestation #climateaction #Nature Credit: Elena Doms via Linkedin and shared by @sophiakianni⁣⁣ ⁣⁣

Some good #climate news. edition.cnn.com/2025/09/10/cli…

Dear Hannah Einbinder. When you wear the pin of the red hand on your fancy borrowed gown, please know that it was created after 2 Israelis were murdered in cold blood in Ramallah in 2000. The murderer waved his bloody hand as mobs were cheering outside.