The Years Project

05/28/2026

The West relies on mountain snowpack for its water supply. But this year, there's hardly any, and the problems are starting to mount.

05/27/2026

The West is running out of water – and it’s happening fast. ⛰️⚠️

Think of mountains as natural water towers, where the snow is our water reserve. What happens when it melts too early?

Reservoirs Run Out of Water
💧 Lake Powell Reservoir on the Colorado River got only half of what it normally gets from snowmelt this year.
💧 It’s so bad that Lake Powell is now close to dropping below the “power pool” needed for hydroelectric generation for roughly 500,000 households.
💧 Even worse is the “dead pool,” when water can no longer escape from the dam. If it can’t escape, it can’t provide water for Arizona, California and Nevada.

Agricultural Nightmare
🌽 When there’s less water from snow, the land dries up. 60% of land in the lower 48 states experienced drought last month, which is a US record.
🌽 Drier soil means farmers have smaller yields, leading to an estimated 15% decrease in US wheat production from last year, and an increase in the prices at grocery stores.

Increased Fire Danger
🔥 Wildfires this year have already doubled the annual rate of the last decade, with 15,436 fires burning over 1.5 million acres … and it’s only May.

05/26/2026

Microsoft pledged to become carbon negative by 2030 and power its data centers with round-the-clock carbon-free energy. But as AI demand explodes, the company is now tied to multiple new gas-powered projects.

05/25/2026

The bromance between Big Tech and Big Oil is only heating up and it's causing climate goals to be thrown to the wayside.

05/22/2026

Hopelessness is easy to fall into, but connecting to others fighting for our future is more rewarding. Together, we fight for what we love. Go to ITM.earth to find something worth fighting for this week.

Inside The Movement is the action toolkit for the climate movement. Come find your place (and your voice!) Go to ITM.earth now. All you need to act on climate change … each and every week.

05/21/2026

Atlanta was just hit with major flash flooding, but the damage will be anything but brief. With much of the city underwater, recovery could take weeks. Climate change is making flash flooding events more powerful and longer lasting than ever before.

05/21/2026

Microsoft’s next AI partner could be Big Oil & Gas.

1️⃣ PROMISES VS REALITY
Microsoft pledged to go carbon negative by 2030 and run their data centers on 24/7 carbon-free energy. But as AI demand explodes, it’s now tied to multiple new gas-powered projects.

2️⃣ FOLLOW THE MONEY
Microsoft is in talks with Chevron to build a $7 billion methane gas plant for an AI data center campus. This would make it the largest collaboration yet between Big Tech and Big Oil and Gas.

3️⃣ POLLUTION DISGUISED AS PROGRESS
Across the three gas-powered AI projects Microsoft is working on, emissions will reach up to 17 million tons of carbon pollution each year, the equivalent of adding another Los Angeles’ worth of pollution annually.

4️⃣ THE RACE IS ON
Big Tech is racing to dominate AI even at the cost of the climate. When Microsoft talks about climate leadership, follow their actions, not their words.

05/20/2026

Microsoft once had a goal to be carbon negative by 2030. Is their new data center walking away from that promise?

05/19/2026

What happens when an El Niño event is supercharged by climate change? We’re about to find out …

05/18/2026

This year, climate scientists predict a high chance of a Super El Niño. It’s likely to become one of the strongest El Niño events in recorded history, causing more extreme weather worldwide.

While El Niño is a natural phenomenon, climate change amplifies its impacts. The combination of human-induced global warming along with the Earth's natural warming cycle is a recipe for disaster.

With a Super El Niño, we will see more droughts, floods, fires, cyclones, threatened crops and extreme record temperatures. All within the next year.

But how does all this work?

Every 2-7 years, the climate fluctuates due to ENSO, or El Niño-Southern Oscillation, creating changes in the ocean and atmosphere. It is one of the most important and largest naturally occurring climate phenomena in the world.

ENSO occurs in the Pacific Ocean and atmosphere due to changes in the ocean's temperature and atmospheric winds. There are three natural phases that the Earth fluctuates between: El Niño, La Niña and the neutral phase.

El Niño is the warming phase.

In a neutral state, trade winds typically blow from East → West. These winds push warm water toward Asia, leaving cooler water near South America. But when El Niño occurs, we see warmer-than-average sea surface temperatures and weakened or reversed trade winds.

The effects of El Niño differ throughout regions. In the western Pacific, decreased rainfall brings drier conditions to places like Southeast Asia and Australia. Whereas the U.S. tends to experience wetter conditions and more intense storms.

El Niño won’t necessarily increase the number of weather extremes, and there is no way of knowing if other local or regional weather events will override El Niño’s effects. But, unlike other weather events, being able to predict an El Niño so far in advance can give us a better idea of where we need to prepare for extreme weather this year.

Previous strong El Niño’s occurred in 1982/83, 1997/98 and 2015/16. If this Godzilla El Niño happens as expected, it will likely be more powerful than them all. And put 2027 on track to be the hottest year yet.

05/15/2026

Residents of New Orleans are being asked to flee, heat deaths are at an all time high and energy-greedy data centers are driving more pollution. All while Big Oil executives line their pockets with an extra $7 billion in profits. Want to get involved and fight back? Check out this week's edition of ITM.earth for more.

Inside The Movement is the action toolkit for the climate movement. Come find your place (and your voice!) Go to ITM.earth now. All you need to act on climate change … each and every week.