Brian Kahn, Author at Gizmodo

Tropical Depression Cristobal Could Make Historic Lake Superior Landfall

This has been the year of murder hornets, massive locust invasions on two continents, and a sudden start to Atlantic hurricane season, among other oddities (not to mention the deadly pandemic). So perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising that Lake Superior is set to see its first post-tropical cyclone ever recorded, and yet here we are.…

Earther Brian Kahn

BP CEO Calls Plan to Lay Off 10,000 Workers the ‘Right Thing’

The coronavirus pandemic has been a wild ride for the oil industry as it struggles to grapple with cratering demand for its main product. The biggest hits have been to small firms and middle-tier oil companies, but Big Oil is feeling the impacts, too. In an email to staff on Monday that was also published…

Climate Change Brian Kahn

Wildfire Season Is Here

Over the past few months, the U.S. has been buffeted by a pandemic, protests over racist police violence, and two tropical storms. Add wildfires to the list as well, as the West prepares to start the week with tinderbox conditions. An area from California to the Texas Panhandle is under a red flag warning on…

Earther Brian Kahn

224 Environmental Groups Endorse the Movement for Black Lives—But It Can’t End There

The environmental movement has had a reckoning coming its way for decades when it comes to its racist history. While it’s been inching toward it in recent years, the events of the past two weeks have thrown the floodgates wide open. In the wake of George Floyd’s death at the hands of police, the environmental…

Earther Brian Kahn

Carbon Dioxide Has Never Been Higher

It happens every year, but it doesn’t make it any less shocking: Humanity has once again set a new high-water mark for carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide levels average 417.1 parts per million for the month of May at Mauna Loa Observatory, the gold standard for carbon measurements. That bests last year’s peak…

Earther Brian Kahn

Why Atlantic Hurricane Season Got Such a Rapid Start

Tropical Storm Cristobal spun up on Tuesday in the Gulf of Mexico. It’s the third tropical cyclone of the Atlantic hurricane season that only officially began on Monday, and marks the earliest third storm on record. Forecasts called for this to be a busy season, and it’s clearly off to a roaring start. The conditions…

Earther Brian Kahn

There Is No Climate Justice Without Defunding the Police

The U.S. has erupted in protests over the brutal killing of George Floyd by police. The protests have largely been peaceful. The police response has not. Over the past week, widespread police violence has gripped the nation. Police have shot protestors with rubber bullets, tear gassed them, and beat them with batons. Using live bullets,…

Earther Brian Kahn

Bertha Is the First Tropical Storm to Make Landfall This Year, and Hurricane Season Hasn’t Even Started Yet

Well, that escalated quickly. In a bizarre turn of events, a tropical storm formed suddenly on Wednesday morning immediately prior to making landfall in South Carolina. Tropical Storm Bertha is the second tropical storm and first to make landfall of the Atlantic hurricane season, which technically hasn’t even begun yet. Winds won’t be as big…

Earther Brian Kahn

The Climate Case for the Four-Day Work Week

Jacinda Ardern has won a lot of rightful praise for New Zealand’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic. The nation has stood as an outlier with cases that have stayed low, and the country is beginning to reopen in what it hopes is a safe way. So maybe we should also be paying attention to what…

Earther Brian Kahn

It Hit 80 Degrees in the Arctic This Week

This story will provide important context for the headline, and I encourage you to read it—but really, the headline tells you what you need to know: It was 80 degrees Fahrenheit above the Arctic Circle this week. A little farther south, in Siberia—you know, the region of world we reference when we want to connote…

Earther Brian Kahn

Photo: Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife

That Time a Loon Fatally Stabbed an Eagle in the Heart

A lake on the outskirts of Portland, Maine, became a highly unusually scene last summer when a kayaker happened upon a dead bald eagle floating face down, pierced through the heart. Turns out it wasn’t some Great Gatsby-type story of revenge, but rather an angry loon trying to protect its chick. It’s the first documented…

Earther Brian Kahn

Holding the World’s Breath at 11,135 Feet

MAUNA LOA OBSERVATORY, HAWAII—There are just a few moments from my past that, having left an indelible mark on my life, I can now return to in an instant. My first dance at my wedding to “I Only Have Eyes for You.” The phone call I received, as I dressed to go to work, telling…

Climate Change Brian Kahn

Trump’s Energy Secretary Twists Racist Banking Practices in Attempt to Help Arctic Oil Drillers

Last week, Republican lawmakers got mad at banks for not funding Arctic oil exploration, calling it “discrimination” and sending a whiny letter about it to the Trump administration. It appears the administration got the message and, in typical Trump fashion, cranked it to 11. In an interview with Axios, Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette inexplicably compared…

Earther Brian Kahn

The Arctic Is Unraveling as a Massive Heat Wave Grips the Region

It wouldn’t be spring in the climate change era without a massive heat wave in the Arctic. Freakishly warm air has billowed up from Siberia over the Arctic Ocean and parts of Greenland, and the heat will only intensify in the coming days. The warmth is helping to spread widespread wildfires and to kickstart ice…

Climate Change Brian Kahn

Atlantic Hurricane Season Is About to Start Two Weeks Early

The last thing anyone wants to deal with right now is severe weather, but here we are. The first tropical storm of the year is likely to form this weekend, two weeks ahead of Atlantic hurricane season’s official start date. A disturbance swirling off the coast of Florida has an 80 percent of turning into…

Earther Brian Kahn

Typhoon Vongfong Rapidly Intensifies as It Heads for the Philippines

The first named typhoon in the western Pacific this year has arrived, and it’s already roaring. Typhoon Vongfong formed on Tuesday and rapidly intensified into a fierce pinwheel of a storm streaking toward the Philippines. The island nation has already had a rough go of it this year, with a volcanic eruption in January and…

Earther Brian Kahn

Republicans Not So Sure About This Free Market Thing When It Comes to Oil

One of Republicans’ arguments against any form of climate action has been that government should let the market take its course. This ignores the massive subsidies incumbent fossil fuels enjoy, including the fact they’re destroying the planet without having to pay for it. But reality is catching up with fossil fuels. Oil prices are in…

Earther Brian Kahn

Accepting Death Is Not an Option

The worst-case scenario with coronavirus is not mass death. It’s that people come to accept mass death—to accept that someone will die in the U.S. every 30 seconds as “just how it is.” Yet that is the proposition being thrust on us now. Yesterday, 2,746 people died of covid-19 in the U.S., the highest daily…

Earther Brian Kahn

A Third of the World’s Population Could Be Blanketed in Sahara-Like Heat by 2070

Brain geniuses like Elon Musk may want to colonize Mars, which sure. But for simpletons like me, keeping Earth mostly habitable seems like a better use of time and resources. If carbon emissions are allowed to continue unchecked, though, that may be a tough proposition. According to a new study, extreme heat now only found…

Earther Brian Kahn

Shell: OK, We May Actually Be Fucked This Time

The coronavirus has sent oil demand plummeting, and it may never return to where it once was. In a stunning admission, Shell CFO Jessica Uhl told investors she sees “major demand destruction that we don’t even know will come back.” There are countless metrics that show how absolutely bonkers and unheard of the current crisis…

Earther Brian Kahn

Brian Kahn

Tropical Depression Cristobal Could Make Historic Lake Superior Landfall

BP CEO Calls Plan to Lay Off 10,000 Workers the ‘Right Thing’

Wildfire Season Is Here

224 Environmental Groups Endorse the Movement for Black Lives—But It Can’t End There

Carbon Dioxide Has Never Been Higher

Why Atlantic Hurricane Season Got Such a Rapid Start

There Is No Climate Justice Without Defunding the Police

Bertha Is the First Tropical Storm to Make Landfall This Year, and Hurricane Season Hasn’t Even Started Yet

The Climate Case for the Four-Day Work Week

It Hit 80 Degrees in the Arctic This Week

That Time a Loon Fatally Stabbed an Eagle in the Heart

Holding the World’s Breath at 11,135 Feet

Trump’s Energy Secretary Twists Racist Banking Practices in Attempt to Help Arctic Oil Drillers

The Arctic Is Unraveling as a Massive Heat Wave Grips the Region

Atlantic Hurricane Season Is About to Start Two Weeks Early

Typhoon Vongfong Rapidly Intensifies as It Heads for the Philippines

Republicans Not So Sure About This Free Market Thing When It Comes to Oil

Accepting Death Is Not an Option

A Third of the World’s Population Could Be Blanketed in Sahara-Like Heat by 2070

Shell: OK, We May Actually Be Fucked This Time

Up to $1,550 Off on pCloud: Pay Once, Protect Data Forever for World Backup Day

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

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