Thwaites Glacier Voyage, Stingless Bee Rights, & An NHL Miami Winter Classic Review

Welcome to The Climate Roundup newsletter. Your weekly edit of the climate and environmental stories shaping our planet and our culture and how the two are deeply connected. We live in a global ecosystem shaped by human decisions. Let’s make good ones.

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The Blank Slate Months:

🪾 Happy new year and hello in 2026. I hope the last few weeks of the year were everything you dreamed them to be. Did you reflect on the past year? Did you do all the planning and strategizing you intended (if that’s your thing this time of year)? Did you set your intentions for the new year? I did two out of three, missing the mark on getting through my unreasonably long list of strategic planning projects, opting for more creative nurturing instead. I’m not deterred, though, as I enjoyed a well-balanced holiday season, one which may have shifted my thinking towards punting that to-do list to January for good. I got a sign yesterday morning that it’s just as well.

In reading one of my favorite Saturday morning columns, Melissa Kirsch’s in the NYT “The Morning” newsletter, she talked about how way back in ancient Roman times, the calendar year ran March through December. The months now known as January and February were unworthy of even having names due to their cold, dark, and agriculturally unproductive nature. These are the months of quiet and rest…and planning. So I took this as a sign that I did not in fact fail to tackle my unrealistic list of slow, strategy work. How silly to even schedule deep thinking projects during the most joyfully active time of the year (The Holidays). That’s a job for January, when a stillness settles in and there’s more space and peace in the air for creativity and productivity.

Nature itself tells us to simplify and shed what no longer serves us and what drains our energy (trees), to begin again with a clean slate, a clear plate, and a renewed vision (blankets of fresh snow), and to hunker down and get cozy doing less (bears). I’m loving this new look for the first two months of the year. No longer are they the time to feel like you’re already behind. Rather, these two beautiful months give us the time and space to begin again, slowly, gently, and with intention. Nature knows, nature shows. All we have to do is listen.

It’s a light week in environmental news. We’ll take it.

Environmental News:

💰 We start off the year with a win. In the EU, a climate rule went into effect rather than being delayed or watered down. The rule is called the carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) and as of January 1st, it penalizes foreign industrial products like cement and steel for their high carbon emissions by putting a price on said carbon. Since the EU has stricter standards aimed at decarbonization, CBAM is meant to maintain domestic market competitiveness by preventing non-EU companies from doing things cheap and dirty. That Trump failed to convince the EU to drop this rule (as he did with the global maritime carbon tax that is now stalled) is the cherry on top.

🐝 In a world-first, an insect has been granted legal rights in order to help them survive the threats of deforestation, pesticide poisoning, and climate change. The special species of note is the Amazonian stingless bee, which is apparently the world’s oldest species of bee, and has the crucially important job of pollinating 80% of the Amazon’s flora (worker bees indeed)! The ordinance passed in two regions of Peru and should restore their habitat, restrict pesticides, and take measures to protect them from the threats of climate change. It is progress for the rights of nature, because all life should have a right to exist and thrive on this shared planet.

🧊 A new expedition to Antarctica is underway with 39 researchers from multiple countries going to study the famous Thwaites Glacier, aka the “Doomsday Glacier” for its potential to increase sea level rise 2 feet globally if it were to melt completely, potentially triggering another 10 to 15 feet of rise if it collapses the broader West Antarctic ice sheet. The scientists are en route as we speak to install technology to capture hard to get and never before captured data on the warming waters deep beneath the ocean-floating portion of the glacier. One concept is to equip seals with data collection devices for when they dive underwater. The scientists hope to collect enough data to more accurately predict timelines and acceleration of the melt. Along for the journey is a reporter from the New York Times, who is providing regular updates via articles and video, plus answering questions anyone can ask. It’s a great effort by The Times to raise awareness for this fast-melting glacier, and to keep a curious community engaged. That’s definitely me. I’m kinda feeling like this is my Olympics right now. Go team science! Follow along here.

Climate Meets Culture:

I would be remiss not to mention the NHL’s Winter Classic held last Friday in Miami, Florida at the home of the Marlins, LoanDepot Park. If you’ve been reading this newsletter for a while, then you know I had feelings of great disappointment about this geographical decision when they announced it. After the fact, those feelings remain strong. In fact, I found the broadcast so terrible and hard to watch that I aborted mission before the puck even dropped. Besides the point, but fitting.

The sport of hockey is being directly impacted by climate change right now, with warmer temperatures shrinking the cold weather seasons, which generations of players relied on for their beloved outdoor pastime. Instead of embracing the cause of climate change as one to stand up to and put their influence behind, the NHL decides to do the most egregious thing they could. Make an ice rink where one couldn’t and shouldn’t exist simply because they can. To do this, they used double the normal amount of uber planet-warming refrigerants, several generators, 20,000 gallons of water, plus cranked the A/C in the host ballpark with the roof closed to keep the ice as happy as possible until retracting the roof for puck drop. Can you think of anything more wasteful than continually pumping a baseball stadium-sized venue full of A/C, just for show? And a bad show at that. There wasn’t a good seat in the house.

To further drive home this point of Miami being a terrible location for this event, by choosing spectacle over special, the NHL consequently stripped the Winter Classic of its soul by removing the cold weather elements. From years of hearing interviews at past Winter Classics, what players seem to love most about the experience is how playing a game outdoors takes them back to childhood, when many of them played outdoor hockey in the freezing cold and snow. Welp, sorry guys, nothing to see here! I was biased to begin with, but watching the pregame broadcast and then tuning back in for most of the third period, it did not have the same spirit of Winter Classics past. It fell flat and was embarrassingly stupid. I can’t help but wonder, did anybody other than Gary Bettman, the NHL commissioner, and the Marlins want this? The answer is probably no. Reddit agrees. Yet there will be another outdoor NHL game in Tampa next month.