LAST WEEK, two separate communication salvos were fired into the arena of environmental politics, each in their own way attempting to influence the upcoming United Nations–sponsored climate talks, COP30, that kick off November 10 in the Brazilian city of Belém.

One was a peer-reviewed article, published in the journal BioScience, that warned that global society is “hurtling toward climate chaos.” The authors — a who’s who of scientists including Peter Gleick, Michael Mann, William Ripple, and Johan Rockström — concluded that 22 of 34 “planetary vital signs” are flashing red, and that “the consequences of human-driven alterations of the climate are no longer future threats but are here now.” The second message was a 5,000-word memo from one of the world’s richest men that offered the supposedly soothing consolation that climate change “will not lead to humanity’s demise.”

Guess which one received more attention?

Billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates’s October 27 open letter predictably got the chattering classes chattering. After all, in the attention economy, a rich man’s pronouncements trump the detailed research of eminent scientists. And, just as predictably, the loudest voices of climate-science denial pounced on Gates’s words to assure us all that climate change is a big nothing burger. Although Gates had been careful to insist that climate change remains “a serious problem,” his nuances were willfully overlooked.…

The Gates memo is the type of classic online manifesto that generates more heat than light, more uproar than insight. I’m reluctant to give the fire any more oxygen. But when someone who is worth more than $100 billion seeks to influence the highest level of global decision-making, that person’s views deserve as widespread and as detailed a parsing as possible.

Especially when that person is wrong.

Journalist and author Jason Dove Mark dives into the larger questions about the limits of elite-led climate action.

Photo by Derek Oyen

Many US federal employees haven’t been paid in nearly a month due to the government shutdown. In response, one resident of Grand Canyon Village started organizing to feed and support her local national park workers. Other communities are following suit. (Outside)

“The sea is constantly speaking,” says oceanography professor Shima Abadi, “we just didn’t have the right instruments to listen.” A project in Washington State is working to change that by turning underwater fiber-optic cables into a network of ultrasensitive vibration sensors. If successful, the same cables that carry the internet could carry the sounds of marine species, and help us protect them. (Oceanographic)

Artificial intelligence (AI) is distorting all kinds of realities, including our perceptions of nature. Fake images — say of a threatened tropical bird using its wing to shield three chicks — can give false impressions about animal behavior or conservation status. (Atmos)

A port expansion off Vancouver, British Columbia, is expected to not only threaten salmon and southern resident killer whales but also “tiny but mighty” western sandpipers and their microscopic fatty food source. (The Narwhal)