Recent Events

Bill Gates Changes Climate Outlook

In 2021, Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft, published a book titled “How to Avoid a Climate Disaster.” Now, he’s shifting his stance and focusing on something he believes is more important– disease and poverty. Gates told CNBC that “Climate is super important, but [it] has to be considered in terms of overall human welfare” as he believes it is “intellectually the right answer.” His stance has surprised many climate advocates, contradicting his previous work.

Gates' words were motivated to accommodate the position of the current administration. Gelles and Schleifer noted in the New York Times that Breakthrough Energy, an organization targeting climate change founded by Bill Gates, “announced deep cuts to its operations in an internal memo on Tuesday.” Due to the concerns regarding funding within federal agencies, Gates adapted his “empire.”

Hurricane Melissa Claims Lives

Hurricane Melissa is an active extratropical cyclone that was formerly a tropical cyclone, which struck in Jamaica and Cuba in October 2025. According to Fox Weather News, as of Nov 3, “at least 32 people have been killed…and another eight unconfirmed deaths are being investigated.” In nearby Haiti, there were at least 31 dead. Officials say that Westmoreland Parish received the first wave of supplies on Sunday with the help of a U.S. State Department Disaster Relief Task Force. Total deaths are assumed to rise to “at least 73”, according to USA Today. With its wind sustained at 185 mph and gusts up to 200 mph, Hurricane Melissa hit the one-week mark on Tuesday. Countless communities are left stranded and homeless, and the storm rips their homes away.

La Niña Impacts

An outlook into the 2025-26 winter season suggests that La Niña will impact the region more severely than in past years. According to Fox Weather News, the United States' Northwest region is expected to experience cooler temperatures, while the Southeast region is expected to experience hotter temperatures. The Northwest corner and the Midwest region are expected to experience higher precipitation, while the South is predicted to be drier. The polar jet stream causes all of these fluctuations. Specifically in the Northeast, Americans can expect to experience more precipitation in the form of Nor’easters and higher winds.

Zooming out to a global level, the water of the tropical Pacific will experience an extreme low, leading to more hurricanes in the Atlantic near Central America and fewer hurricanes in the Pacific side of the continent. The change in hurricane counts is expected to drastically shift as the La Niña is expected to last up to March, according to NOAA predictions.

Climate Modelling: How Scientists Predict the Future

As climate change continues to worsen, it’s more important than ever to ensure that we can create robust climate models to inform environmental public policy. Let’s take a look at some methods used by scientists to see how the Earth will react to global warming.

Any scientific model consists of mathematical relationships that show how various systems interact. Observational data feeds into future predictions. For example, a model of evaporation might include inputs such as the initial temperature of the system (an initial condition) as well as the amount of heat received over time, and create an output such as the total amount of evaporation.

Thus, a climate model typically consists of hundreds of thousands of lines of code, which take into account factors such as atmospheric carbon dioxide, water vapor, and Earth’s rotation, and calculate how these factors interact with each other and with the ocean, land, and atmosphere. Outputs include predictions of how the climate will change over time. For example, they may say that average summer conditions in the Northeast are likely to warm in the next 50 years.

A good climate model allows us to understand different scenarios of greenhouse gas emissions. Models project climate (long-term), not weather (short-term), and they’re typically coarse, which means they’re not very local. However, the Earth is a large and complex system, which makes it challenging to model fully and accurately. Different parts of the planet have very different factors influencing the climate, such as jet streams. Factors such as snow or rain are sometimes more granular than the models, so their effects can be simulated using other mathematical equations.

While they are typically coarse, models can be downscaled to predict at more local scales (less than 100 km^3), using various mathematical methods. All these models incorporate some level of uncertainty, as factors such as cloud formation are challenging to model accurately. However, we can “hindcast” these models using previously known data to test them, and the tests show that the models have been accurate over the past 100 years.

Looking towards the future, scientists hope to improve their models with the power of machine learning and artificial intelligence. These models may be more efficient and faster. With the power of modern science, our climate models allow us to better respond to the ever-evolving climate change situation.

Tips: Winter Pollinator Prep

As winter approaches ever-quickly, the scarcity of plants means pollinators like bees, butterflies, and other insects often have trouble surviving the winter months. However, your garden can play a crucial role in helping them endure this period of time. By taking a few steps now, you can ensure that these pollinators return healthy and strong in the spring.

1. Leave some plants standing

Don’t cut down all of your dead flowers and stems. Consider leaving some seed heads or dead plants like coneflowers, sunflowers, and goldenrod standing. This can provide food for birds and shelter for insects, who often hide inside hollow stems to escape the cold.

2. Leave leaf litter

Leave a layer of leaves on the ground in your garden. Not only does this save you the effort of raking every last leaf, but it also traps air and keeps the soil warmer and moister. Pollinators often hide under leaf litter for shelter, and keeping it around will also promote plant growth come spring.

3. Plant winter-friendly food sources

Certain plants like crocuses, hellebores, and early-blooming shrubs come around late in the season or bloom very early in the spring. Including some of these plants in your garden can ensure that pollinators have a stable food source for at least some of winter. Additionally, plotted plants kept near a sunny window can provide a food source while the ground is still cold.

4. Water access

If you have a pond, birdbath, or fountain, make sure that at least some water stays accessible in the winter (ice-free if possible) for insect pollinators who require it.

5. Avoid herbicides and pesticides

Chemicals linger in soil and on plants for up to a few weeks depending on the type used, and this can harm pollinators during their most vulnerable time of the year. Organic methods and mechanical weed control can keep your garden looking sharp while preventing such harmful substances from affecting the ecosystem.