Note this staggering number only represents economic damage from heat waves connected to pollution. As states take oil companies to court over climate damages, the team 'is already adapting the new method to assign responsibility for flood damage'.

The new model allows researchers 'to zero in on locations that suffered the biggest losses and estimate how much individual major polluters contributed to each heat wave', leaving 'little doubt' that individual polluters like ExxonMobil and Chevron bear direct responsibility for climate disasters.

If you want to understand why extremely wealthy people in American society are lining up behind the Trump regime's fascist order, consider for a moment the idea that they know they've hoarded so much of the wealth that it's only a matter of time before the peasants show up at their castles with pitchforks, and one of their few options to prevent that is eliminating civil rights and building out a fascist police state.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/19-richest-us-families

Top 19 'Truly Superwealthy' US Families Grew $1 Trillion Richer Last Year: Analysis

"A new analysis by a leading chronicler of the United States' exploding inequality shows that the 19 richest American households added $1 trillion to their collective fortunes last year and saw their share of the nation's wealth jump at a record-shattering pace.

The analysis by Gabriel Zucman, a professor of economics at the University of California, Berkeley, estimates that the 19 wealthiest U.S. families now control 1.8%—or $2.6 trillion—of the nation's total household wealth.

In 2024, those ultrarich households saw the largest single-year wealth increase on record."

I need people to understand that while this is certainly political, it isn't partisan. These numbers are from 2024 when Biden was president, but I think it's safe to say the figures under a Trump administration that is absolutely willing to burn your grandparents on the pyre of capitalist accumulation won't be significantly different. These guys stack wealth under neoliberal Democrat presidents, and build fortresses with public money during fascist Republican presidencies; when you're rich and powerful enough in a free market fundamentalist society, it's pretty easy to engineer the outcome you desire no matter what political factors do to the markets. Furthermore, given the propaganda about "crime" in our society, it's easy enough for wealthy donors to guarantee that either way, the police state grows stronger.

Perhaps most importantly, the material realities of our present global situation doesn't change when power shifts from neoliberal parties, to fascist ones or vice versa. The planet is still on fire, capital accumulation still depends on the fossil fuels that are killing us, and billions of lives still hang in the balance. The reality that capitalism goes, or a planet that can comfortably support eight billion human beings does, has not changed under either neoliberalism or its kissing cousin fascism. The ultra-wealthy know that its only a matter of time before the billions of people they intend to sacrifice to keep the line going up even during a climate apocalypse, realize what's going on and come for them; because they have no intention of surrendering the way of life that gives them so much luxury and power.

Understood through that lens then, the uber-rich's support for the fascist Trump regime makes perfect sense. They want your civil rights curtailed, they want it to be illegal to assemble in protest, they want a fascist police state that polices resistance ideology to keep the people they're commodifying and intend to sacrifice to the money god, afraid to act. They might object to Trump's most absurd economic policies, but they know he's going to harden borders, empower a fascist police state, and strip the civil rights of their class enemies- and they're counting on that strategy to get them through the literal end of the world.

Acc/to Wiedenmann, #CoralReefs support a third of all #marine #biodiversity either directly or indirectly. “If the #corals die, this support structure that provides food & homes is lost. Consequently, many #species will suffer, as well,” he said. Acc/to a 2020 study, rising #sea surface #temperatures & acidic waters could eliminate nearly all surviving #coral #reef #habitats by 2100.

…Beyond the loss of a thriving underwater #ecosystem, #coral death can degrade #reef structure & leave coastal communities vulnerable to #flooding hazards, acc/to USGS. In Florida, for example, #CoralReefs act as a natural buffer to #storm energy that can shield coastlines from destructive forces.

Mass #CoralBleaching has frequently coincided w/episodes of #ElNiño, a global #climate pattern that usually increases #temperatures. That was the case in 1998, 2016 & again last year, which was the warmest year on record.
#Oceans have been steadily absorbing rising temperatures for years, but in 2023 & 2024, temps broke records w/spikes that alarmed scientists. #Seas are also becoming more acidic as they warm, which can dissolve corals’ skeletons & make it harder for them to grow.
#ClimateCrisis

Since the early 1980s, scientists say, #CoralBleaching events have increased in frequency & severity as the burning of #FossilFuels drives up the #planet’s #temperature. #NOAA documented the first global #coral bleaching event in 1998 & the second in 2010. During the previous global event, between 2014 and 2017, 68% of the world’s #CoralReefs experienced bleaching-level #heat stress.

“Bleaching becomes more severe if either the #heat stress episodes are more intense or if they last for a longer time,” Joerg Wiedenmann, a marine biologist who heads the #CoralReef Lab at the University of Southampton in England, said….
The #Earth’s rising #temperatures have caused bleaching events to occur more often & last longer, he said. The changing & mixing of #ocean currents can also influence regional water temperatures, he added, further increasing the risk of bleaching.
#ClimateCrisis

“The ongoing global #CoralBleaching event is the biggest to date,” #NOAA scientists said.

Bleaching occurs when #heat upends the #coral’s metabolism, causing it to turn white as it expels the symbiotic algae that provide it with nutrients & color. Bleaching doesn’t mean the coral has died, but prolonged bleaching — which scientists say is made more frequent & severe by rising #sea #temperatures — can kill it.

The massive blow to #marine #habitats reported by #NOAA — the highest share EVER recorded — comes as the #planet experiences its fourth global #coral bleaching event, which occurs when bleaching is confirmed in every one of the #oceans’ basins at once.

NOAA says the latest global event began on Jan 1, 2023, & mass bleaching has now been observed across at least 83 countries & territories, threatening #MarineLife from Fiji to the Florida Keys to Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.