Trends in Ecology and Evolution has released their annual horizon scan. Here is their list of issues:

• Greater biological risks from nocturnal, near-surface level ozone
• Metal and non-metal organic frameworks
• Macroalgae as a new source of critical rare earth elements
• Emerging techniques for remediating per- and polyfluoroalkyl contamination
• Adhesive trichome hair mimics as alternatives to pesticides
• Synthetic gene drives in plants
• Light evaporating water without heat
• Low emission cement recycling
• Impacts of near-magma geothermal drilling
• Compounded effects of water quality and quantity on human and natural systems
• European laws and unintended challenges for wood production
• Record Antarctic sea ice lows across the continent could lead to large-scale ecosystem alterations
• Faster than predicted melting of Thwaites glacier
• Anthropogenic impacts on seabed carbon stores
• Potential alteration of ocean processes by offshore wind energy infrastructure

There are at least three issues here having to do with feedback loops and tipping points: melting sea ice, melting glaciers, and release of seabed carbon stores. When we look back, is 2024 going to be the year tipping points were passed and runaway feedback loops got out of control? I don’t know, but we should behave as if it is since the consequences are so dire. Then if we actually have a few more years or even decades before the historical climate system is truly irretrievable, so much the better and we will have gotten ahead of the curve. What do we actually have in the United States – inaction and brainless, asinine slogans like “drill baby drill!”.

And then there’s the water situation. It’s just not great, particularly with the amount of nitrogen we are continuing to dump into the ocean.