Renowned climate scientist Michael Mann told Newsweek that a recent $1 million defamation ruling in his favor “sends a clear message” to climate change deniers. Mann filed his suit more than 10 years ago against two commentators who accused him of manipulating data. On Thursday, the case finally reached a conclusion when a jury in Washington, D.C., Superior Court found that the two commentators had acted maliciously in their attacks on Mann’s work. Mann told Better Planet that the verdict successfully showed that “falsely attacking scientists is not protected speech.”  

Also, a recent study of ocean currents shows that climate change could trigger a collapse of the large system that circulates water across the Atlantic Ocean. The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, or AMOC, brings warm water north and cooler water south. Research published in the journal Science Advances uses a mathematical model to show how climate change might slow the AMOC and how that might contribute to rapid and severe temperature changes for both the northern and southern hemispheres.

In climate news elsewhere, new air quality data shows that years of progress in clean air are threatened by pollution from wildfires and other phenomena made worse by climate change. Axios reported on new data showing how heat waves, drought and wildfires increase two major air pollutants: low-level ozone, which can cause smog, and fine particulate matter, or soot. Western cities including Sacramento, San Francisco and Seattle are especially vulnerable. The Environmental Protection Agency also recently strengthened rules on soot pollution, a move the agency said can prevent thousands of premature deaths.  

And finally, you’ve probably heard by now that the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers made history Sunday with only the second Super Bowl to ever go into overtime. But did you know that Super Bowl LVIII and host city Las Vegas also made some clean energy history with the first NFL championship game to be powered entirely by solar and wind? CBS News reported that the Las Vegas Raiders, who play at Super Bowl venue Allegiant Stadium, have a contract to buy power from NV Energy’s massive new solar array in Nevada, and this year’s Super Sunday was sun-powered.