Brian Kahn, Author at Gizmodo

The Real Deal About Corporations’ Climate Plans

The planet is in full-on meltdown, but the brands would like you to know it’s OK. They will save us. This week—officially Climate Week—has seen a flurry of pledges, plans, commitments, vows, words, promises, sacred oaths, and blood pacts from companies including Walmart, Amazon, and Microsoft on how they will reduce their ponderous footprints on…

Earther Brian Kahn

‘2020 Really Belongs to Us’: How the Youth Climate Movement Plans to Save the Planet in November

The 2020 election is, simply put, the most important election the planet has ever seen. It may sound like American hyperbole or bluster, but the reality of four years under the Trump administration combined with what it has telegraphed as its plan for the next four years would be a disaster for the climate. Limiting…

Earther Brian Kahn

All We Can Save Redefines ‘We’ in the Climate Fight

The how-to-fix-it climate genre has become an increasingly crowded space in nonfiction publishing these days. From Eric Holthaus’ Future Earth to Christiana Figueres’ and Tom Carnac’s The Future We Choose, the roadmap to fixing the damage done to the climate is being filled in. All We Can Save is the latest entry into the field,…

Earther Brian Kahn

NOAA Taps New Chief Scientist Who Downplays Climate Change

On Monday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration moved to replace its acting chief scientist with a full-time hire. Ryan Maue, a hurricane researcher who has worked for a number of private weather companies, is taking over the position being vacated by Craig McLean. While nowhere close to the outlier of David Legates—the recently hired…

Earther Brian Kahn

Hurricane Season Breaks Records, Map

Take a quick glance at the map above and you may think there are only two named storms and a tropical depression in the Atlantic. But look closer, my friends. There, peeking out on the upper right fringe, is Subtropical Storm Alpha, the first Greek letter-named storm of the season. Of course, in a year…

Earther Brian Kahn

Still Looks Bad

Earther began the week by nothing things looked bad in the Atlantic. And because the Atlantic is on a bender, we’re ending the week the same way. The storms are mostly new. While there are currently fewer named ones spinning in the basin, the ones that are there are major trouble. We’ve also run out…

Earther Brian Kahn

The Amazonification of Climate Change Is Here

This has been the year Amazon has gone hard on climate. As part of that effort, the company announced new climate commitments, a fund to invest in sustainable technology, and hockey arena naming rights. The fund, dubbed the Climate Pledge Fund, announced its first investments on Thursday. The companies include CarbonCure, Pachama, Redwood Materials, Rivian,…

Earther Brian Kahn

How Far-Right Extremists Are Using the Climate Crisis to Go Mainstream

Oregon has been a hot bed of far-right activity for years, but the wildfires have cast the militias in a new light. Misinformation has been rampant as unprecedented fires lit up the state. False rumors of “antifa” igniting fires and coming to loot people’s homes have raced across Facebook. That led some communities to grab…

Earther Brian Kahn

Why Hurricane Sally Is Going to Make It Rain So Much

Fire, heat, storm surge, and wind have all made appearances on our record-setting disaster bingo card in the past month. Now, record rain and flooding is about to show up. Hurricane Sally is angling toward the Mississippi and Alabama coastline for a Wednesday landfall. While many folks’ eyes will be on what category the storm…

Earther Brian Kahn

Is This a Joke?

Facebook’s plan to combat climate misinformation running rampant on its site is here. It is a… “climate science information center” of facts, figures, and news stories about the climate crisis that obscures the systematic changes needed to address climate change while peddling tips that mirror Big Oil talking points. The whole thing is a giant…

Earther Brian Kahn

Looks Bad

I do not like this map one bit. The Atlantic hurricane season from hell is kicking into overdrive with five tropical cyclones dotting the map, two more that could form in the next week, and one particularly worrisome storm heading for the Gulf Coast. We’re in the heart of hurricane season, but this level of…

Earther Brian Kahn

Where Do We Go From Here?

After Sen. Ed Markey won his primary in Massachusetts earlier this month, he had a message: “The age of incrementalism is over.” He was talking about politics, but he may as well been talking about the events of this week. Half a million people are on the run in Oregon alone as fires engulf the…

Climate Change Brian Kahn

California’s Red Skies Aren’t Just a Glimpse of Our Future—They’re Past Mistakes Come to Life

Apocalypse has arrived on the western landscape. The Bay Area is shrouded in a layer of smoke so thick, it broke everything from camera sensors to weather models. The situation has sparked comparisons to the future, real and imagined. Blade Runner and Blade Runner 2049 have both been touchpoints for the scenes of a futuristic…

Climate Change Brian Kahn

Oh Crap, Major UN Climate Study Finds

The United Nations (UN) has a new report out that says what many of us already know in our bones: The world is on fucking fire, and it’s going to get worse unless we act. The latest iteration of this warning comes in the form of the “United in Science” report, which brings together all…

Earther Brian Kahn

An Incomplete List of the Past 72 Hours of Unprecedented Weather-Related Calamities

You may have seen our earlier a piece on the swing between fire and freezing in the West, but that only told a small portion of the wild weather Americans have experienced over the past few days. While your humble correspondent included what he deemed a “fair” amount of facts, stats, and other things to…

Earther Brian Kahn

The West Is a Song of Ice and Fire

I have never watched Game of Thrones, but I’m going to go ahead and assume it’s about what’s going on out West right now. In the past 48 hours, the region has swung through a series of record-setting weather extremes. The West Coast is a fiery mess as toxic smoke blankets California and Oregon. But…

Earther Brian Kahn

What I Learned From a Week of Responding to My Haters

When you write about the climate crisis, getting hate mail comes with the territory. It shouldn’t, of course, but I’ve gotten used to it over the years. Mostly, I just brush it off, though I’ll admit the occasional threats of bodily harm do get to me. But last week, I decided to not brush off…

Earther Brian Kahn

The Beginning of the End of the Plastic Era Is Here

While the trend for investing in oil and gas industry has been downward for years, the pandemic has established it as a pretty garbage investment. The industry has set its hopes on plastic to turn the tide, but new research shows that’s a losing bet, too. A report released on Thursday by Carbon Tracker, a…

Earther Brian Kahn

Arctic Wildfires Have Never Released This Much Carbon Dioxide

Sure, we’re all aghast at the Siberian tundra exploding because it’s too damn hot. But there’s a much bigger catastrophe that’s played out this summer in the overheated region. Arctic fires have unleashed an unprecedented amount of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. This comes from the European Commission’s Copernicus program, which monitors fires around the…

Earther Brian Kahn

Bering Sea Ice Hasn’t Been This Low in at Least 5,500 Years

The Arctic has seen some weird happenings as the climate crisis reshapes the region, but among the most dramatic was what happened in winter 2018 in the Bering Sea. Despite the inky black days, ice began to peel back from the coast in February. By May, the sea ice cover was basically completely gone a…

Earther Brian Kahn

Brian Kahn

The Real Deal About Corporations’ Climate Plans

‘2020 Really Belongs to Us’: How the Youth Climate Movement Plans to Save the Planet in November

All We Can Save Redefines ‘We’ in the Climate Fight

NOAA Taps New Chief Scientist Who Downplays Climate Change

Hurricane Season Breaks Records, Map

Still Looks Bad

The Amazonification of Climate Change Is Here

How Far-Right Extremists Are Using the Climate Crisis to Go Mainstream

Why Hurricane Sally Is Going to Make It Rain So Much

Is This a Joke?

Looks Bad

Where Do We Go From Here?

California’s Red Skies Aren’t Just a Glimpse of Our Future—They’re Past Mistakes Come to Life

Oh Crap, Major UN Climate Study Finds

An Incomplete List of the Past 72 Hours of Unprecedented Weather-Related Calamities

The West Is a Song of Ice and Fire

What I Learned From a Week of Responding to My Haters

The Beginning of the End of the Plastic Era Is Here

Arctic Wildfires Have Never Released This Much Carbon Dioxide

Bering Sea Ice Hasn’t Been This Low in at Least 5,500 Years

National Film and Sound Archive of Australia Adds ‘Succulent Chinese Meal’ Guy

Feds Sniffing Around Polymarket After Suspicious Bets

DJI Osmo 360 Review: The Best 360 Camera for the DJI-Pilled

Don’t Get Too Attached to Any AI App

‘Paradise’ Writer Teases What’s Coming in Season 3 After That Huge Twist

Trump’s New White House App Is Mildly Concerning and Weird for a Lot of Reasons

Bloodsucking Ticks Can Survive Inside Your Home Longer Than You Might Think

The Best New Toys of March 2026

Judge Denies Liking LinkedIn Post Critical of Elon Musk But Reassigns His Cases Anyway

Amazon Slashes 50% Off Keurig K-Cup Pod Coffee Maker, Now a Budget Alternative to Breville and Nespresso Espresso Machines

Aqara Smart Lock U400 Review: Hands-free Unlocking at Its Best

MSI Prestige 14 Flip AI+ Review: A Solid 2-in-1 Laptop With Some Glaring Flaws

Sonos Play Review: Call It a Comeback

Sonos Era 100 SL Review: The Cheapest Way Into Wired Sonos Sound

Asus ROG’s Massive Swift OLED Gaming Monitor Epitomizes Excess in the Best Way

The Ikea Varmblixt Smart Lamp Fills a Donut Hole in My Life

Nothing Headphone A vs. Headphone 1: Which Pair of ANC Wireless Headphones Wins?

Asus ROG’s Cetra Open Wireless Gaming Earbuds Might Be Better Than Wearing a Headset

Nintendo’s Talking Flower Is Annoying as Hell. I Love It

Level Lock Pro Review: As Good as a Secret Smart Lock Gets