Friday, June 5, 2026

Howtown asks 'Why is this one spot not warming?' for World Environment Day on Flashback Friday

Happy World Environment Day on Flashback Friday! I've changed my plans; instead of more environmental winners at the News & Doc Emmy Awards, I'm featuring Howtown asking Why is this one spot not warming?

While most of the planet warms, a patch of ocean south of Greenland—often called the “cold blob” or “North Atlantic warming hole”—is not warming. In fact, depending on which years you look at, it has actually cooled since industrialization. In this video we investigate this odd phenomenon which has implications for the future of our climate and the stability of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). The AMOC is a system of currents that transports heat from the tropics to the North Atlantic, regulating weather patterns across Northwestern Europe and beyond. However, recent evidence suggests this vital system may be weakening. Could human-induced climate change, specifically the warming of the ocean and the influx of freshwater from melting ice, be pushing this circulation toward a tipping point? We take a journey through centuries of oceanographic discovery to understand the overturning circulation, the urgency of research on the AMOC, and what the potential collapse of this system could mean for the stable world we built our civilizations on.
Yes, this exercise in explaining how we know what we know is about the AMOC, which I covered most recently in USA Today warns 'The Atlantic current is weakening and possibly headed for collapse'. Howtown's video now makes two entries where an outlet other than PBS Terra covered the AMOC. The potential catastrophe is once again penetrating beyond the outlet that specializes in Climate change and other natural disasters. I suppose that's good news. It also includes Camp Century, the subject of The Memory of Darkness, Light, and Ice. If I had heard of Camp Century before that documentary, it hadn't stuck, at least under that name. Now I've blogged about it twice in a week!

I haven't changed my plan for the second half of today's post, a retrospective of top shares about holidays on Bluesky and Twitter/X during the 15th year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News. Follow over the jump.


Critics Choice and Golden Globes screenplay nominees for an early National Screenwriters Day earned 3 likes (tied for third most on Bluesky) and 8 replies in 1 thread (tied for most during year on Bluesky).


Happy Lunar New Year and a solar eclipse on Fat Tuesday/Paczki Day! earned 2 likes (tied for third most during year) and 3 replies in 2 threads (tied for most during month and second most during year) on 82 views on Twitter/X.


Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow on Groundhog Day earned 1 like and 3 replies in 2 threads (tied for most during month and second most during year) on 54 views on Twitter/X.


Actresses, costume designers, art directors, and casting directors at the Oscars for International Women's Day earned 1 like (tied for second most during March 2026) and 1 repost (most during month and tied for second most during year) on 72 views on Twitter/X.

That's a wrap for today. Stay tuned for an evergreen educational post tomorrow followed by the Sunday entertainment feature.

Previous posts in this series Previous retrospectives about Twitter/X Previous retrospectives about Bluesky
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