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The LEO Network is a worldwide network of observers and experts that share their observations of environmental change.
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Observations

Alaska Town Fleeing to Higher Ground
Rising sea levels will threaten three times more people in the next 30 years than previously thought, according to the latest scientific estimates. Among the hundreds of millions of people worldwide facing the threat are the 400 residents of Newtok, Alaska. Rising river and eroding land is pushing the entire community to relocate, despite emotional and logistical hurdles.
Newtok, Alaska, United States
PBS News

Metlakatla, which depends on water, has moved quickly to accommodate the realities of drought
Following a season of drought, the Southeast Alaska community of Metlakatla is navigating a different relationship with water, like a number of other places in the region.
Metlakatla, Alaska, United States
Alaska Public Media

Homer's first EV station is now open
The Destination Charger was donated by Tesla Corporation and installed by Mark Haller and his crew from Midnight Sun Solar, along with Tyson Belle from Diamond Ridge Electric.
Homer, Alaska, United States
Homer Tribune
Alaska Media, LLC., Steve Keller designer and application developer

It was the warmest ever Arctic summer
The top of the world saw record-beating average temperatures flashing through all three summer months.
The Independent Barents Observer

Alaska records warmest month ever in July with coastline barren of sea ice
Average temperature for month amid Arctic heatwave was 58.1F (14.5C), nearly 1F above previous high set in July 2004
Alaska, United States
the Guardian

Anchorage usually loves warm weather, but this heat wave is something else
With ice shortages and hardly a fan to be found, the high temperatures this week have pushed some Alaskans to their limit.
Anchorage, Alaska, United States
Anchorage Daily News

Dramatic and hot days
In recent decades, Norway has seen a clear increase in the number of days that are warmer than normal. Here you can check the development 42 locations in the country.
Tromsø, Troms, Norway
NRK Norsk Rikskringkasting

Southeast's rare drought could threaten plants, animals, your power bill
The entirety of Southeast Alaska is in some state of drought.
Juneau, Alaska, United States
Juneau Empire

The Wettest Part of Alaska Is Experiencing Extreme Drought. Is Climate Change to Blame?
The drought has had damaging economic and ecological impacts.
Ketchikan, Alaska, United States
Pacific Standard

Why seaweed is strangling Mexican tourism, and how science could help
Sargassum is infesting Mexico’s coastline. Researchers are scrambling to stop an ecological crisis, and maybe even make something good of it.
Puerto Morelos, Quintana Roo, Mexico
MIT Technology Review

One year of temperature above normal in Norway
The average temperature for the entire country was 1.2 degrees above normal in March. It is thus the twelfth month in a row that the temperature in Norway has been above normal.
Norway
Meteorologisk institutt

Thawing of Earth 3rd pole; could affect 1.9 billion people, study says
At least a third of the ice in the Himalayas and the Hindu Kush will thaw this century as temperatures rise, disrupting river flows vital for growing crops from China to India, scientists say.
Hindu Kush Himalaya
CBC

Under the surface of Russia’s Arctic super-region is a looming disaster
Underneath the ground is a thick layer of permafrost and trillions of cubic meters of natural gas. Development is the main source of concern for the reindeer herders who increasingly are hindered by new pipelines, roads and railway lines.
Labytnangi, Yamalo-Nenetskiy Avtonomnyy Okrug, Russia
The Independent Barents Observer

PG&E, utility tied to wildfires, will file for bankruptcy
The company, California's largest utility, is facing at least $7 billion in claims from the deadly Camp Fire.
Sacramento, California, United States
CNN

Storms increasing & violent
A new report points to harsher more severe weather incidents happening in our province.
British Columbia
Castanet

With rain in the forecast, Ketchikan switches back to hydroelectric power
Following an extremely dry summer, October started off equally dry. But, the second half of the month has brought enough rain that Ketchikan’s electric utility is finally switching off its diesel generators.
Ketchikan, Alaska, United States
Alaska Public Media

Survived the landslide accident in Svalbard. Now comes the twins' story of living with climate change.
From Longyearbyen to Kiribati, Bangladesh and California. Author Teresa Grøtan has collected young people's everyday life with climate change in the book "Before the Island Sink."
Longyearbyen, Svalbard, Svalbard and Jan Mayen
Aftenposten

The Kerala Floods
Since 2018, Kerala has faced increasingly severe and frequent floods, a stark contrast to its historical rarity, driven by factors like Indian Ocean warming and local environmental changes, underscoring a global trend of climate-driven extremes and the urgent need for improved flood management and climate adaptation.
Arukutti, Kerala, India

Heat causing Hydro bills to soar, some too much so
If you've gotten an unexpectedly large electric bill in the mail, don't worry Manitoba Hydro knows they have a billing issue and are working to correct it.Hydro says the soaring summer heat is causing the issue.
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Winnipeg Sun

Will a Native-led initiative spur an agricultural revolution in rural Alaska?
A grassroots project to build biomass-heated greenhouses aims to alleviate food insecurity in the communities most affected by it.
Nenana, Alaska, United States
High Country News

Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation's solar farm now generating electricity
There will be something noticeably different in Old Crow, Yukon in a few months. The hum of diesel engines will be gone, as the community's solar farm is now generating power. "The symbolism in shutting down those generators will be, we're becoming more sustainable and we're becoming more self-sufficient like our ancestors were," said Brandon Kyikavichik, the First Nation's heritage interpreter.
Old Crow, Yukon, Canada
CBC

The Aleutian Islands could become a hub for zero-emissions shipping
ICCT researcher Elise Georgeff has been investigating hydrogen as a potential replacement fuel. First, her team calculated how many ships could cross the Pacific Ocean using the existing hydrogen technology. "About 43% could be powered by using hydrogen fuel cells," Georgeff said.Unalaska and Adak islands in the Aleutians are in perfect locations to become pit stops in a trans-Pacific green corridor. Most of the international ships crossing from west to east follow the same path, and those two communities are right in the middle: about halfway through one of the world's busiest shipping lanes.
Unalaska, Alaska, United States
Bristol Bay Times

Expanding renewable energy in rural Alaska | Alaska Insight
Climate change and global fuel shortages are combining to make energy prices unusually high in rural Alaska. Seeking relief from high energy prices and unreliable supplies are fueling transitioning to renewable energy. ANTHC is developing alternative energy projects in Ambler and has reknewable energy projects in more then 80 communities across the State.
Ambler, Alaska, United States
Alaska Public Media

A new rush arrives on the Seward Peninsula: for graphite, not gold
The need to diversify America's sources of graphite for electric vehicle batteries is driving the exploration of graphite mining projects in the United States, but concerns about the potential environmental impact and disruption to Indigenous communities remain.
Nome, Alaska, United States

A nuclear-powered ship in Murmansk started to burn. Only few locals got to know about the serious incident
A fire broke out on the nuclear-powered container ship Sevmorput in Murmansk, but information about the incident was scarcely communicated to the public.
Murmansk, Murmansk, Russia
The Independent Barents Observer

Sea ice, storms and coastal erosion in Nelson Lagoon - Science Q&A with Reyce Bogardus
UAF graduate student Reyce Bogardus talks about sea ice, storms and coastal erosion at Nelson Lagoon, which is on the southernmost edge of the historical max...
Nelson Lagoon, Alaska, United States
YouTube

Norway wind turbines should be torn down, reindeer herders say
Norway should dismantle two large wind farms that were stripped of their licenses for jeopardizing traditional reindeer husbandry, herders from the Indigenous Sámi community said on Friday. Reindeer herders say the sight and sound of giant wind turbines frighten their animals and thus disrupt age-old traditions.
Åfjord, Trøndelag, Norway
Arctic Today

Interior Alaska electric cooperative moves to shutter troubled coal plant and pursue construction of large wind farm
Golden Valley Electric Association voted this week to develop a plan to close one of its two coal plants in Healy.
Healy, Alaska, United States
Anchorage Daily News

‘No home to go to’: Hundreds of evacuees need shelter as catastrophic Western Alaska storm empties inundated villages
Troopers said that they have suspended the active search for two men missing from Kwigillingok, one of the hardest-hit communities. The men are related to the storm’s lone confirmed fatality, a 67-year-old woman found Monday.
Kipnuk, Alaska, United States
Anchorage Daily News

Why is Canada building a pipeline through a province on fire?
Drivers on the Coquihalla could feel the heat in their cars as they rushed to clear the highway before the July Mountain fire overtook it. Somewhere in the ashes is the route for the Trans Mountain pipeline, a project that would fuel the climate change that’s making these fires worse.
Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada
Wilderness Committee

An Anchorage man spent more than a decade planning and building a micro-hydropower project in his backyard. Now, it can power more than 300 homes.
“This sort of became my purpose in life, to make something for my children and for humanity going forward,” said Dave Brailey, the mastermind behind the Juniper Creek Hydroelectric Project.
Eagle River, Alaska, United States

Trans Mountain Pipeline
Trans Mountain pipeline expansion would effectively triple existing capacity, and in turn increase oil tanker traffic in B.C. coastal waters.
Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
The Narwhal

New wind turbine installed on Kluane Lake expected to cut diesel use by nearly 50%
The Kluane First Nation in Yukon is leaning into alternative energy. The nation has a new wind turbine towering over Kluane Lake with biofuel and solar energy projects also in the works. The wind turbine is expected to generate power for the residents of Burwash Landing by spring.
Burwash Landing, Yukon, Canada
CBC

How might the world meet its clean energy needs
Sixteen miles (26km) off the windswept coast of northern Scotland, the future of renewable energy is taking shape. Rotating rhythmically in the breeze, the five colossal turbines of the Hywind Scotland wind farm look much like any other off-shore wind project, bar one major difference – they're floating.
BBC

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