Creation Care Corner

Algae Blooms Melting Greenland

Greenland’s ice sheet is melting, and its disappearance is accelerated thanks to huge blooms of algae newly growing on top of it.  With the Arctic warming four times faster than the global average, Greenland, the world’s largest island, is now losing hundreds of billions of tons of ice each year.  The warming has led to a feedback loop: as more ice melts, more nutrients are released from the ground, creating more algae.  Then the algae in turn quicken the melting process, because the dark-colored blooms limit the ice’s ability to reflect the sun’s heat.  A new study shows that this process is responsible for as much as 13% of the ice sheet runoff in southwest Greenland where there is a prominent algae dark zone.  That study also shows that tiny traces of the photosynthetic organisms can be carried through the air- a clue to how they colonize new areas of ice.  Another study shows that the nutrients the algae feed on are embedded in every layer of ice that has built up over time, so these blooms are unlikely to run out of fuel.  German biogeochemist Liane Benning says, “We should change our habits and not burn so many fossil fuels.”                                                        – from The New York Times

Fossil Fuel Power Grab

Throughout 2025 our government repeatedly invoked emergency powers to delay or stop renewable energy projects, including five offshore wind farms already under construction.  Additionally, the Department of Energy brought retired fossil fuel power plants back online, reviving dirty coal and fossilized gas facilities that increase pollution and saddle customers with higher costs.  This is not helping to reduce climate change.  –from Public Citizen News

Some Good News!

More than 99% of new electrical generation projected to come online this year in the US will be from renewable sources.  Utility-scale solar generation in the US increased by 22 gigawatts, enough to power about 20 million homes, in the first 11 months of 2025 – up 33.9% since November 2024.  Battery storage grew 49% over the same period.  – from The Week magazine

A Footnote to the Above

Much of the new electric capacity will be used to power Artificial Intelligence, not homes.  Electrical facilities to power AI are being constructed all over the country, including southern Wisconsin.

-Sandy McKitrick