As 2020 comes to a close, we're taking a look back at some of our best reporting on the environment.

Many wonder how epidemiology could have become so politicized. But epidemiology - like climate science (the other "mysteriously politicized" subject) has intrinsic politics: to take epidemiology seriously, you have to acknowledge that our species has a shared destiny.

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Much of the debate over "liberty" can be summed up as "you do you" - I'll swing my arm over here, you keep your nose over there, and so long as we both respect each others' "freedom," I won't punch you in the nose and your nose will remain unpunched.

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This breaks down when applied to epidemiology: "You wear your mask, I'll leave mine at home, and we'll both exercise our freedoms" is like "You swim in the no-pissing end of the pool, I'll swim down here in the pissing end, and we'll both get our way."

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We're in the same epidemiological pool, and the science is clear: masking's benefit is primarily in protecting others from you - your presymptomatic, asymptomatic (or symptomatic) spread of particles. Your decision not to wear a mask puts me in danger.

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If your worldview ascribes political outcomes to individual choices (implying that poverty or misfortune are the result of a combination of laziness and inferiority), then anything that demands a systemic view challenges its very foundations.

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1/13 #ClimateChange is a result of a mindset, that is based on monoculture, fossil fuels, chemicals, corporate control. @BillGates cannot alter a condition with the same mindset that created it in the first place @Trevornoah @drvandanashiva

2/13 The mad rush for #FakeFood and #FakeMeat, ignorant of the #diversity of our food cultures & the role of biodiversity is a recipe for accelerating the #climatecrisis, the destruction of the planet & our health @drvandanashiva

3/13 The perpetrators of the industrialized & now digitized predatory economic model that has led to worldwide ecological devastation are trying to sell us their solutions as the only path forward @drvandanashiva @NnimmoB

4/13 The #GatesFoundation works to create a friendly regulatory environment to push its innovations regardless of risks or past failures by funding to align to its interests- media, research, start-ups, government programmes & international institutions

5/13 Amnesia and denial of past failures becomes evident with the @gatesfoundation new initiative #AgOne where only digital tech and the #GreenRevolution is seen as the solution to the #ClimateCrisis & #BiodiversityCrisis @drvandanashiva

There's a huge gap between what climate scientists are willing to say privately and what we're willing to say publicly, in terms of how dire a situation we're in. Colleagues, integrity demands we close this gap.

Earth has a fever in more ways than one. Some places averaged + 5-7 °C warmer than normal for the ENTIRE YEAR of 2020.

An enormous area of anomalous warmth plagued Arctic Siberia effectively all year but it was not just the Arctic where we saw record shattering warmth.

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Another way of looking at it... Very few cold blobs left. La Niña developed and shows up in the Pacific.

The climate is not changing uniformly, the Arctic is warming much faster than the rest of the world.

Data: @CopernicusEU and compares to 1981-2010 average.

JANUARY was joint hottest January globally on record according to NASA GISTEMP v4 (joint record with 2016).

Profound winter warmth for North America plus Europe and Asia.

FEBRUARY was second hottest on record (1st place is still held in 2016).

The winter 'warmth' in Europe and Asia was just insane.

MARCH: A cold Canada, Greenland and Svalbard... but obvious warmth still striking across the continents, particularly northern/central Asia.

This was the second hottest March on record (2016 still holds the record).