A global map of tree density. Credit: Crowther, et al View full size image

A new global census of all the trees on Earth estimates that more than 3 trillion call this "pale blue dot" home. But the total number of trees on the planet has dropped by almost 50 percent since human civilization began.

Raging wildfires and apocalyptic smoke. Huge algal blooms visible from space turn seafood on the Pacific Northwest toxic. California’s drought. Alberta’s drought. Alberta’s floods.

There’s no doubt: it’s hot and weird out.

According to publicly available court records, US coal company Peabody Energy recently submitted expert testimony to the Minnesota Public Utilities commission arguing that, ”CO2 is not harmful and is actually good for the planet” and that “there is no empirical scientific evidence for significant climate effects of rising CO2 levels, and there is no convincing evidence that anthropogenic global warming (AGW) will produce catastrophic climate changes.”

(Photo: Michigan Sea Grant/Flickr)

Scientists worry that the near-record algae bloom could poison water supplies, as it did in 2014.

Summer blooms of algae in Lake Erie are nothing new. But the most severe algae outbreak in the past decade is now under way, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Solar energy is ready for primetime. (Nicky Loh/Bloomberg)

In the 1980s, leading consultants were skeptical about cellular phones.  McKinsey & Company noted that the handsets were heavy, batteries didn’t last long, coverage was patchy, and the cost per minute was exorbitant.  It predicted that in 20 years the total market size would be about 900,000 units, and advised AT&T to pull out.  McKinsey was wrong, of course.  There were more than 100 million cellular phones in use in 2000; there are billions now.  Costs have fallen so far that even the poor — all over world — can afford a cellular phone.

There is “no plan B” if the Paris climate conference ends in failure, Europe’s climate chief has warned, urging world leaders to intervene to force their ministers to agree a landmark deal this December.