Hurricane Ida entered the Gulf of Mexico late Friday, as people in the United States' southern state of Louisiana evacuated high-risk areas and stocked up on essentials.
The hurricane is expected to intensify as it reaches the northern Gulf Coast.
"The time to act is NOW. Hurricane Ida is now forecast to make landfall as a category 4 hurricane," the US National Weather Service tweeted, after the country's National Hurricane Center (NHC) branded the storm "extremely dangerous."
The hurricane made landfall in western Cuba late Friday as a Category 1 storm, with maximum sustained winds hitting 80 miles (130 kilometers) per hour.
More than 10,000 people were evacuated and electricity cut off as a precaution as Ida struck the province of Pinar del Rio. Thousands were evacuated in the capital city of Havana.
Eyes on Gulf Coast
As the storm strengthens to an extremely dangerous Category 4 hurricane, winds are expected to pick up speed — close to 140 miles (225 kilometers) per hour — before making landfall along the Gulf Coast late Sunday.
"This will be a life-altering storm for those who aren't prepared," National Weather Service meteorologist Benjamin Schott said during a Friday news conference with Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards.
The governor urged residents to be prepared: "By nightfall tomorrow night, you need to be where you intend to be to ride out the storm."
US President Joe Biden approved a federal emergency declaration for the state.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the Federal Emergency Management Agency was going to send nearly 150 medical personnel and about 50 ambulances to the Gulf Coast to assist hospitals.
Climate Change and Its Repercussions
A recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has warned that the world is on track to surpass the warming limit of 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) within 15 years.
The report explicitly laid out that human emissions were the cause of the rise in temperature, which has already sparked environmental catastrophes around the world.
The authors of the report said we can expect to see more extreme weather and climate events, such as heatwaves, flooding and droughts, than we are already observing.
Reposted with permission from Deutsche Welle.
- Catastrophic Flooding in Tennessee Kills 22 - EcoWatch ›
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NOAA found that the average temperature of meteorological summer - June, July, and August - was 2.6°F (1.45°C) above the 20th century average, a troubling sign as global temperatures continue to increase faster than previously thought.
All seven of the warmest years on record have been the last seven years, and 19 of the 20 warmest years have occurred since 2000. More than 18% of the contiguous U.S. experienced record heat this summer, and several states, including California, Nevada, Utah and Oregon had their hottest temperatures on record.
No state reported temperatures that fell below average. The record heat coincided with extreme weather across the country, including extreme heat, wildfires, drought and flooding.
As reported by The Washington Post:
Over 2 million acres have burned so far this year in California, and about 15,000 firefighters are currently battling active blazes. According to the National Interagency Fire Center, the country remains at "Preparedness Level 5" — the highest level of wildfire activity. Such activity includes "large, complex wildland fire incidents, which have the potential to exhaust national wildland firefighting resources."
Research has established a clear link between climate change and a sharp rise in the areas burned in California in the past several decades, as increasing temperatures dry out vegetation.
---
The high temperatures have also intensified severe drought conditions. Drought currently covers 94 percent of the West, according to the Federal Drought Monitor. Nearly 60 percent of the region is in extreme to exceptional drought.
For a deeper dive:
CNN, Gizmodo, Los Angeles Times, The Hill, The New York Times, The Washington Post; Climate Signals background: Extreme heat and heatwaves, 2021 Western wildfire season, Drought, Extreme precipitation increase, 2021 Atlantic hurricane season
For more climate change and clean energy news, you can follow Climate Nexus on Twitter and Facebook, sign up for daily Hot News, and visit their news site, Nexus Media News.
- July 2021 Hottest Month Ever Recorded, Says NOAA - EcoWatch ›
- NOAA Names 2020 Second-Hottest Year on Record; NASA Says It ... ›
- Extreme heat waves in a warming world don't just break records ... ›
- The Top 10 Extreme Weather and Climate Events of 2020 - EcoWatch ›
2022 Florida Solar Tax Credits, Incentives & Rebates
See how you can save money on solar panels in Florida.
Florida is well-known as the Sunshine State because of its year-round sunny weather that draws millions of tourists each year, but historically, Florida hasn't actually been a national leader when it comes to solar energy generation. That said, financial incentives like Florida solar tax credit and rebate opportunities have played a huge part in its rise to become one of the top states for solar energy.
To the glee of clean energy advocates across the state, various Florida solar incentives have succeeded in bringing solar power throughout the state. According to the Solar Energy Industries Association, in 2020, Florida ranked third in the nation for solar energy capacity, and it had the second-most installations during the second quarter of 2021.
This progress in the solar field comes from many different sources, not the least of which is Florida solar incentives. For any homes or businesses feeling left behind while the rest of the state goes solar, these types of solar tax credits are still widely available across Florida, which will be discussed in this article.
For most homeowners, the decision to go solar comes down to cost. To see how much you'd pay for a home solar system (and how much you can shave off that price with Florida solar tax credit and incentive opportunities), you can get a free quote from a top solar company near you by using this tool or filling out the form below.
Florida Solar Tax Credits and Solar Rebates
As much as transitioning to clean energy is the best thing for the environment and the fight against climate change, the reality has always been that such changes would be slow to happen (if they happened at all) unless they made sense financially. When solar energy systems are proven to save money for those who pay the high upfront costs to install them, those purchases are better considered a worthy investment.
As such, some of the most effective policies encouraging solar installations have been those making the decision a no-brainer from the budgetary perspective. Let's take a look at some of the top Florida solar incentives.
| Florida Solar Incentive | Program Overview |
|---|---|
| Florida Net Metering Programs | Credits homeowners when their solar panels produce extra electricity and it is exported to the local power grid |
| Florida Tax Exemptions | Property tax exemptions and sales tax exemptions for solar and other renewable energy equipment |
| Local Incentives | Incentives, rebates and low-interest financing programs at the town, city, and county level that encourage local solar installations |
Florida Net Metering Programs
Regardless of the state, one of the most critical types of energy policy for solar panels is known as net metering. Through net metering, homeowners can feed excess electricity produced by their solar panels into the power grid in exchange for utility credits. These credits can be used to pay for the energy a home uses when panels aren't producing (such as at night).
Net metering tends to be a state-by-state policy, as there is no federal policy regarding net metering. Florida is one of the states where there is, in fact, a statewide net metering program, applicable for homeowners regardless of which utility serves their area.
The specific net metering provision covers up to 2 megawatts (MW) of capacity for any customers who generate electricity with a renewable energy source. Florida Power & Light and Duke Energy have the largest net metering programs in the state.
The availability of such net metering serves as an incentive for Floridians to install solar panels on their property. Not only do they benefit by reducing their power bills from pulling energy from the grid less often, but they can even profit when the utility pays them for generating more power than they consume, bringing their solar payback period down.
Florida Solar Tax Exemptions
Another financial mechanism that the Florida state government offers to solar system owners is solar tax exemptions. To start, Florida doesn't want to make the upfront cost to purchase and install solar equipment to be any higher than the open market says it should be, so since 1997, all solar energy systems have been completely exempt from Florida's sales and use tax.
Once a solar photovoltaic system is purchased and installed, there is a statewide property tax abatement that further helps homeowners avoid paying taxes on it. Most home additions, such as a new shed or outdoor patio built in a home's backyard, would be appraised to determine the value it added to the property and thus increase the overall property tax. However, the added home value of solar panels is excluded from the property's taxable value.
Local Incentives
Florida is also a large, diverse state, so in addition to the state solar incentives, many local jurisdictions enact their own policies to encourage and support installation of solar energy systems. At the town, city or county level, Floridians will commonly find low-interesting solar financing options, specific solar incentives or rebates, and more.
You can determine whether your locality offers such incentives by investigating your local government websites or talking to utility company representatives. When you do, you may come across such successful programs as Jacksonville's $2,000 rebate for solar battery installations, Boynton Beach's Energy Edge Rebate Program, or the Solar Energy Rebate Grant Program offered by Dunedin.
Federal Solar Tax Credit
Floridians, of course, can also benefit from all the tax incentives, rebates and credits that are offered at the federal level. Over the past two decades, the federal solar investment tax credit (ITC) has attributed largely to the rapid growth in solar energy across business sectors, geographies and customer types.
For systems installed and operational before the end of 2022, the federal solar tax credit is equal to 26% of the value of the installation, dropping to 22% for systems installed in 2023. It is currently set to expire afterward, though the idea of extending the ITC beyond its current expiration date, as has been done in the past, has been a part of active clean energy policy debates.
FAQ: Florida Solar Incentives
Does Florida have a solar tax credit?
State-wide, there is no specific Florida solar tax credit. However, all utilities in the state of Florida do offer customers the ability to utilize net metering, Florida solar homeowners are eligible for the federal solar tax credit, and some local jurisdictions in Florida may offer their own tax credits.
Is solar tax exempt in Florida?
In Florida, the purchase and installation of a home solar system is exempt from all sales tax, and the value of renewable systems are excluded from 100% of residential property taxes.
How much is the solar tax credit for 2022?
For any solar panel system installed before the end of 2022, the federal solar investment tax credit is equal to 26% of the value of the system.
Is Florida a good state for solar?
Florida is a great state for solar from the perspective of having year-round sunny weather, higher-than-average solar irradiance and a policy landscape conducive to solar installations. Because of these factors, Florida ranked third among all states in terms of solar capacity installed in 2020 (rising to second when looking at the third quarter of 2021), per the SEIA.
How much do solar panels cost in Florida?
Based on market research and data from top solar companies, we've found the average cost of solar panels in Florida is $2.53 per watt. However, this is only an average, and prices can vary widely depending on where you live, the number of solar panels you need and more.
To get a free estimate for your own home solar system, you can get connected with a pre-screened local installer by using this tool or entering your home's information below.
Flooded NYC Subways Exemplify Why Climate Is Key to Infrastructure Fight, Progressives Say
By Jake Johnson
Footage of New Yorkers struggling to wade through filthy, waist-deep water at a Manhattan subway station as heavy rainfall engulfed the city's aging and long-neglected infrastructure on Thursday added fuel to progressive demands for a robust federal spending package that confronts the climate crisis — which is making such extreme weather more frequent and destructive.
"It's been raining for two hours and our infrastructure is flooding and overwhelmed," tweeted Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.). "Our infrastructure package must address the climate change crisis with the urgency it deserves — with massive investments in decarbonization and clean energy."
"The impacts of climate change are already here," Bowman added. "It is urgent that our infrastructure package makes significant investments to prepare for and mitigate future emergency weather events."
One New Yorker who witnessed the scene at Manhattan's 157th Street Station told Gothamist that "people were pacing back and forth deliberating whether they were going to brave the waters or not." The person described the water as "real disgusting."
Some subway system ya got there. This is the 157th St. 1 line right now. @NYCMayor @BilldeBlasio https://t.co/xyfTAUPPNu— Paullee 🤠 #TaxTheRich (@Paullee 🤠 #TaxTheRich) 1625776315.0
Rain flooding the platform at spring street on the @mta 6 line... #mta #nyc #Elsa https://t.co/9jzqQcMaz0— ISSA KHARI (@ISSA KHARI) 1625779398.0
Other videos posted to social media on Thursday showed cars nearly halfway submerged in water as commuters attempted to navigate through the storm. One person was seen driving a jet ski on a badly flooded street.
"A 'bipartisan' infrastructure bill isn't big enough to stop climate change," said Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-N.Y.), referring to a $579 billion White House-endorsed package that includes hardly any climate funding — an omission progressives are attempting to remedy with a separate multitrillion-dollar bill that will move through the budget reconciliation process.
When there’s a flood in NYC, you know the Bronx was prepared to bring the jet skis out 😂😂😂 https://t.co/X8kgvh1G4b— Truthfully ‘THE EXCEPTIONAL’ Ruthless (@Truthfully ‘THE EXCEPTIONAL’ Ruthless) 1625783731.0
The fierce rainfall and heavy winds came as Tropical Storm Elsa made its way up the East Coast of the U.S., sparking tornadoes in Georgia and North Carolina and prompting warnings of additional flooding in the Northeast on Friday.
"Flash flood watches were in effect for parts of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut until noon on Friday, as Elsa was expected to deliver heavy rain across the area," the New York Times reported. "Transit officials, already girding for Elsa's arrival, said they had crews out across the city addressing the flooding problems as quickly as possible and warned against entering stations that might still be inundated."
The tropical storm hammered the Eastern U.S. as the Pacific Northwest grapples with a heatwave that experts have characterized as "the most extreme in world weather records." The historic temperatures, which reached as high as 121°F in British Columbia, killed hundreds of people — and more than a billion intertidal animals — in the U.S. and Canada.
On Wednesday, officials in Multnomah County, Oregon deemed the devastating heatwave a "mass casualty event" as the death toll in the state rose to 107.
A rapid-response analysis published earlier this week by a group of more than two dozen scientists found that the heatwave "would have been virtually impossible" in the absence of the human-caused climate crisis, and warned that such extreme events will become increasingly common without a major reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
"Firenados in northern California. Ocean fires in the Gulf of Mexico. Subway waterfalls in New York City. A heat dome in the Northwest melting power cables, killing hundreds, and frying marine animals," Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), chair of the Senate Budget Committee, tweeted Friday. "I have been told that combating climate change is expensive. Compared to what?"
Reposted with permission from Common Dreams.
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More than two dozen people have been killed by catastrophic flash flooding in central China in recent days.
At least a dozen people drowned in the subway in Zhengzhou, Henan province, and about 100,000 people have been evacuated. Social media videos showed extreme flooding that turned cars into bathtub toys — as well as the harrowing rescue of 150 children and teachers from a flooded kindergarten.
The city was deluged by 24.3" (617.1mm) of rain — 96% of its annual average — in just three days from Saturday to Tuesday. The extreme rainfall, and the severe heatwaves that strained the province's electrical grid just days prior, are both clear signals of the climate crisis, caused by the extraction and combustion of fossil fuels.
"Such extreme weather events will likely become more frequent in the future," Johnny Chan, a professor of atmospheric science at City University of Hong Kong, told Reuters.
As reported by The Washington Post:
Experts and environmental organizations have connected the increase in severe weather events to climate change and China's rapid urbanization. The environmental advocacy organization Greenpeace warned last week that China's cities would face hotter summers and wetter rainy seasons because of climate change. Those conditions could cause more dangerous heat waves and heavier flooding in urban areas, Liu Junyan, the climate and energy project leader for Greenpeace in Beijing, told Al Jazeera.
The floods in Henan follow a string of unusually severe heat waves, floods and fires across the world in recent weeks. Flooding in Germany last week killed at least 165 people, and Canada and the Pacific Northwest have seen record-breaking heat and forest fires.
For a deeper dive:
Reuters, The New York Times, The Washington Post, BBC, The Guardian, France24, Al Jazeera, Bloomberg; Recent heatwaves: Bloomberg; Climate Signals background: Extreme precipitation increase; Extreme heat and heatwaves
For more climate change and clean energy news, you can follow Climate Nexus on Twitter and Facebook, sign up for daily Hot News, and visit their news site, Nexus Media News.
- 6 Cities at Risk of Chronic Flooding - EcoWatch ›
- 300 Million People Worldwide Could Suffer Yearly Flooding by 2050 ... ›
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By Andrea Germanos
It's "a frightening warning sign," said one observer.
"Heartbreaking," another commented.
"Can we now mobilize en masse to save all Earthly beings?" asked another.
Those were some of the responses to new reporting by the CBC on how last week's extreme heatwave that gripped British Columbia may have led to the deaths of more than one billion intertidal animals like mussels and starfish that inhabit the Salish Sea coastline.
Christopher Harley, a marine ecologist at the University of British Columbia, told the outlet about how he had noticed a foul odor from dead intertidal animals on rocks at Vancouver's popular Kitsilano Beach as the city experienced record heat. Harley then set off with a team of researchers to gather data on nearby coastlines.
A billion seashore animals estimated killed last week in #PNWheatwave.💔 The devastation is unfathomable—yet prevent… https://t.co/zIEMrpGk6k— Philip Bell😷 explores ecosocial responsibilities… (@Philip Bell😷 explores ecosocial responsibilities…) 1625548121.0
What the researchers noticed, CBC reported, were "endless rows of mussels with dead meat attached inside the shell, along with other dead creatures like sea stars and barnacles."
They tracked temperatures too, recording 50°C (122°F) on rocky shoreline habitats, well above the high 30s (around 100°F) mussels can endure for short spurts. Harley likened a mussel on the rock enduring the scorching temperatures to "a toddler left in a car on a hot day"—stuck "at the mercy of the environment" until the tide returns. "And on Saturday, Sunday, Monday, during the heat wave, it just got so hot that the mussels, there was nothing they could do."
The heat wave was deadly for humans too.
Lisa Lapointe, British Columbia's chief coroner, announced Friday that from June 25 to July 1, the province's death toll was 719—three times higher than normal—and said heat was likely "a significant contributing factor to the increased number of deaths." The heat wave was also blamed for dozens of deaths in the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington.
The recent heat wave's deadly impact on shellfish was noted in the U.S. Pacific Northwest as well.
The Daily Mail reported last week on comments from the family-run Hama Hama Oyster company in Washington. "The epic heatwave is something no one has seen and then we had a low tide that was as far as it has been in 15 years and it happened mid-day," the company said.
The clams "look like they had just been cooked, like they were ready to eat," the company told the outlet.
In a June 30 Instagram post sharing an image of heat-impact clams, the company had a clear message: "Please vote for politicians who are brave enough to address climate change."
Reposted with permission from Common Dreams.
- Heat Waves Cook Bird Eggs - EcoWatch ›
- Extreme Heat Wave Melts Cables, Buckles Roads in Northwest ... ›
By Tara Lohan
It's hard not to think about how hot it's been — even if you live somewhere that has escaped the heat in the past few weeks. When British Columbia clocks temperatures of 121° F, it gets the world's attention. As it should.
Here are six reasons why we need to be paying more attention to heat waves.
1. Deadly Numbers
Heatwaves may seem to lack the drama of other weather events with named storms and categorized wind speeds, but they're actually the most deadly severe weather event.
Last week's heat dome that locked the Pacific Northwest in a sweltering vice is an apt reminder. The prolonged stretch of record-high temperatures in British Columbia is estimated to have claimed around 300 lives. Another 76 deaths were reported in Washington and Oregon.
Across the world, things have been heating up — with deadly results. Between 1998 and 2017, heatwaves killed 166,000 people, the World Health Organization reports. That includes 70,000 who perished in Europe's 2003 heatwave.
2. Yep, Climate Change
Not surprisingly, climate change is making things worse. An increase in global temperatures has resulted in a rise in the frequency of heatwaves. In the years to come, climate change is expected to also make heatwaves more severe and longer lasting.
As people pump up the air conditioning and stay indoors, that also puts increased pressure on the electrical grid. New research found that these extreme weather events are triggering more failures of critical infrastructure.
Power failures, for example, have jumped 60% since 2015. The combination of excessive heat and blackouts in major U.S. cities would have calamitous results. In Detroit, the researchers found in their modeling, that could mean 450,000 exposed to dangerous temperatures and a whopping 1.7 million in air conditioning-reliant Phoenix.
3. The Dangers of Humidity
The most recent deadly heatwave hit the arid West, increasing concerns about wildfires.
An aerial image of the McKay Creek fire in British Columbia acquired by the Operational Land Imager on Landsat 8 on June 30, 2021 during the region's record-breaking heatwave. NASA
Our bodies sweat to help keep us cool. But when the relative humidity is too high that moisture from our skin can't evaporate as well and we don't cool down. Scientists have identified the related wet bulb temperature of 95° F as the upper limit of what we can tolerate when conditions are both hot and extremely humid.
By midcentury, models predict, climate change will make wet bulb temperatures near 95° F a reality. But new research shows that areas in South Asia, the coastal Middle East and the coastal southwest of North America are already hitting that critical point.
4. Inequity Makes It Hotter
Not all people will face the same risks — even if they live in the same cities. Neighborhoods that lack tree canopy and green space, and have more road surfaces and large buildings, could be as much as 20° F hotter.
A 2020 study of 108 cities published in the journal Climate found that areas with higher temperatures are almost always the same neighborhoods that have experienced historic racist housing policies such as "redlining."
"This study reveals that historical housing policies may, in fact, be directly responsible for disproportionate exposure to current heat events," the researchers wrote. Another recent study in Nature Communications found that people of color have a higher risk than whites of high heat exposure in all but six of the largest 175 cities in the United States.
5. Wildlife at Risk
People aren't the only ones feeling the heat. The Pacific Northwest's recent heatwave also threatens cold-water-loving salmon. The Columbia and Snake rivers this year are seeing temperatures within two degrees of the "slaughter zone" that killed 250,000 sockeye in 2015, The Seattle Times reported.
When water temps rise above 62, #salmon are "more vulnerable to disease, and as temperatures climb higher, they wil… https://t.co/idBET1J1Vy— NWF - Idaho (@NWF - Idaho) 1624993175.0
The heatwave hit at the peak of the sockeye run, and also when spring and summer chinook and steelhead are migrating. Some fish are being pulled out of the river and trucked to hatcheries for spawning.
"We are crossing the line to temperatures that can be disastrous for fish," Michele DeHart, manager of the Fish Passage Center, told The Seattle Times. "I would say the outlook is pretty grim."
6. Vicious Circle
The hotter it gets, the more fortunate people who have air conditioning crank up the dial and the longer they'll need to leave it running. In a fossil-fuel driven world, that means even more emissions that will continue heating the planet.
Already 10% of global electrical use is from people trying to stay cool with air conditioning and electric fans, according to the International Energy Agency. Expect that number to climb as temperatures get hotter and more people become able to afford A/C.
The International Energy Agency reports that over the next 30 years, air conditioning may be one of the top drivers of electricity demand. "Without action to address energy efficiency, energy demand for space cooling will more than triple by 2050 — consuming as much electricity as all of China and India today," the agency reports.
That makes the need for high-efficiency cooling extremely vital. Not to mention more widespread use of renewable energy and, of course, drastically curbing climate emissions.
Reposted with permission from The Revelator.
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By Kenny Stancil
Last month was the hottest-ever June in North America in recorded history, researchers said Wednesday, validating a hunch held by millions of people who just endured lethal temperatures that sparked dozens of wildfires and killed more than 500 individuals and over one billion intertidal animals.
While "the heat dome above western Canada and the northwest United States generated headlines around the world as daily temperature records were shattered across British Columbia, Washington, and Portland," new satellite data "reveals this was part of a broader trend that built up over several weeks and a far wider area, which is underpinned by human-driven climate disruption," The Guardian reported.
According to the European Union-supported Copernicus Climate Change Service, "June temperatures in North America were 1.2°C higher than the average from 1991 to 2020, which is more than 2°C above pre-industrial levels," the newspaper noted, adding that "this is the 12th consecutive year of above-average June temperatures in the region, and the greatest increase recorded until now."
After first affecting the U.S. Southwest, last month's extreme heatwave conditions — which climate scientists have long predicted and warned will increase in frequency and intensity in the absence of effective climate action — eventually moved over the Pacific Northwest and southwestern Canada, where their devastating impacts were felt most severely.
Residents of the B.C. village of Lytton — where Canada's all-time high temperature of 121°F was recorded last week — were forced to evacuate when a wildfire tore through the area and quickly engulfed the small town, destroying homes and buildings and killing two people.
Last month's brutally hot temperatures were not confined to North America. As The Guardian noted, "The world as a whole was also warmer than average for this time of year." Although "this would not normally be expected in the same year as a La Niña phenomenon, which is generally associated with a cooling effect," meteorologists at the Copernicus agency stressed that unusually extreme weather trends are exacerbated by "the broader pattern of warming" driven by carbon pollution.
According to The New York Times:
Europe suffered through its second-warmest June ever, with only June 2019 being warmer. Temperatures were above average in Northwestern and Southern Africa, across parts of the Middle East, and in China and much of Southeast Asia. High temperatures in Arctic Siberia contributed to an early start to wildfire season there.
Globally, last month was the fourth hottest June ever. Only 2016, 2019, and 2020 were hotter.
While last month's dangerously high temperatures provoked calls for policymakers to drastically reduce the emission of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in order to avert the most catastrophic effects of the climate emergency, right-wing lawmakers have continued to insist — despite a scientific consensus about the anthropogenic causes of global warming and ample real-world evidence of its consequences — that "climate change is... bullshit," as Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) was seen saying last month during an event hosted by a GOP-aligned advocacy group.
In addition, at the same time that hundreds of people in the Pacific Northwest and B.C. were succumbing to heat-related illnesses, ExxonMobil lobbyists were caught admitting that the fossil fuel corporation is still actively opposing efforts to tackle the climate emergency.
Meanwhile, some progressive lawmakers, such as Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), are attempting to use last month's deadly heatwaves as a rallying cry to push for urgently needed environmental justice policies.
"Trees can lower air temperature in city neighborhoods 10 lifesaving degrees, scientists have found. They also redu… https://t.co/CSDyypNKOn— Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (@Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman) 1625518171.0
Proposed measures include Coleman's SHADE Act, which seeks to combat the urban heat island effect by improving tree canopy in vulnerable neighborhoods, as well as Markey's Resilient Schools Act, which aims to ensure that schools provide safe and comfortable learning and working environments.
We just experienced the hottest June on record, and less than half of Boston Public Schools buildings have air cond… https://t.co/8RFLuewA1G— Ed Markey (@Ed Markey) 1625586779.0
Progressives are warning that this was simply the hottest June on record "until next year, and the year after that, and the year after that — unless we address the climate crisis."
This was the hottest June on record. Until next year, and the year after that, and the year after that — unless we… https://t.co/xlXEyfhQFF— More Perfect Union (@More Perfect Union) 1625255032.0
"It's time for Democrats to do something with the power and responsibility the American people have given us," Markey said last week. "We can't let this moment pass us by."
"This is the environmental, economic, national security, and moral issue of our time," he added. "We must act."
Reposted with permission from Common Dreams.
- The Top 10 Extreme Weather and Climate Events of 2020 - EcoWatch ›
- NOAA Names 2020 Second-Hottest Year on Record; NASA Says It ... ›
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Recent farmworker deaths in the U.S. from extreme heat have raised attention to the heightened vulnerability of people forced to work outside for fear of losing their income. People laboring in the fields "are being used as a human shield to buffer the rest of the country against the most violent effects of climate change," Elizabeth Strater, of the United Farm Workers, told Bloomberg.
The death wrought by climate-fueled heat will be far worse in developing countries with less-mechanized farming. In India, for example, where 40% of the workforce is in farming, higher temperatures will reduce crop yields, which will in turn drive down salaries while increasing the cost of food.
"If you have a lower capacity to adapt, you're going to get hit twice, maybe three times more by climate change," said farm labor economist Cicero Lima. "With lower crop yields, more people are making lower salaries and paying higher prices for food. In this scenario, the world will be more imbalanced."
For a deeper dive:
Bloomberg; Extreme heat and heatwaves
For more climate change and clean energy news, you can follow Climate Nexus on Twitter and Facebook, sign up for daily Hot News, and visit their news site, Nexus Media News.
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By Kenny Stancil
Amid an ongoing wave of extreme weather disasters and ahead of a major United Nations climate conference this fall, top scientists from nearly 200 countries began meeting Monday to finalize a landmark report detailing how the fossil fuel-driven climate emergency is already wreaking havoc around the globe and what society must do to avert its most catastrophic consequences.
The forthcoming report — the sixth edition of an assessment of the latest climate science from the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) — is "going to be very important worldwide," Petteri Taalas, head of the UN's World Meteorological Organization, told roughly 700 delegates via Zoom, Agence France-Presse reported.
NPR noted that the last edition of this IPCC report, which represents the international scientific consensus about anthropogenic climate change, "came out in 2013 — an eternity in the world of climate science, where the pace of both warming and research are steadily accelerating."
As scientists convene for a two-week virtual meeting, deadly extreme weather events are continuing to take their toll throughout the world, making clear the urgent need to adequately confront the climate crisis.
From record-shattering heatwaves and droughts on multiple continents, to still-raging wildfires in North America and Siberia, to several devastating floods and landslides in Europe and Asia, a summer of non-stop climate-related disasters — along with projections that conditions will continue to deteriorate in the absence of fundamental political-economic transformation — has fueled demands for decisive action.
In addition to mounting evidence of the severity of planetary heating, another key development since the publication of the last IPCC assessment report was the 2015 adoption of the Paris agreement, which seeks to limit global temperature rise this century to "well below" 2°C, and preferably 1.5°C, compared to pre-industrial levels.
To date, AFP noted, the rapid increase in emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases over the past two centuries has caused the global average temperature to climb 1.1°C.
Two months ago, the International Energy Agency (IEA) warned that existing coal, oil, and gas operations must be shut down as quickly as possible for the world to have a chance of meeting the Paris agreement's more ambitious goal, adding that there is "no need for investment in new fossil fuel supply."
IPCC lead author and Maynooth University professor Peter Thorne told AFP that "1.5 Celsius became the de facto target" thanks to the IPCC's influence in shaping global policy objectives.
The IPCC, however, has been less successful in shaping actual global policy.
"The reality is that we are not on track to achieve the Paris Agreement goals of limiting climate change to 1.5 degrees by the end of the century," Patricia Espinosa, executive secretary of the UN's Framework Convention on Climate Change, said Monday in a statement. "In fact, we're on the opposite track, heading for more than a 3°C rise."
[email protected]_CH is the UN body for assessing the science related to climate change. Today, delegates begin discussions o… https://t.co/mW8OLd6QMo— UN Climate Change (@UN Climate Change) 1627288652.0
The authors of the three-part IPCC report considered all climate research published before February 2021. Part one covers physical science and is set to be published on August 9, AFP reported. Part two, which covers impacts, is slated for a February release, while part three, which covers potential solutions, is expected to be unveiled in March.
Taalas told delegates on Monday that the document will be "critical for the success of the Glasgow climate conference in November."
From Oct. 31 to Nov. 12, the United Kingdom will host the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26), during which heads of governments will meet for the first time since 2019 to discuss national pledges to slash greenhouse gas pollution.
Existing nationally determined contributions (NDCs), or emissions reduction targets, are inadequate to prevent catastrophic levels of warming in the 21st century, according to the UN. The IPCC hopes that governments will utilize the new report when creating plans for decarbonization, forest and fisheries management, and the protection of vulnerable populations from extreme weather.
"It takes years to put together the IPCC report," NPR noted. "It has 12 chapters, covering everything from the heat-trapping properties of individual greenhouse gases to extreme weather events to the regional impacts of global warming."
According to NPR, "The new report will be the most comprehensive, detailed, and accurate picture of the global climate ever released." Because the computer models that scientists use to predict future changes — and the data that informs those models — have improved, scientists will be able "to say with more certainty how quickly the Earth is heating up, and how the extra heat being trapped by greenhouse gases will affect everything from sea levels and hurricanes to droughts and heat waves."
For the first time, "the IPCC will break down its global climate science findings by region," NPR reported. That's significant because even though climate impacts are geographically uneven, "many countries don't have the resources to systematically study how the climate is changing in their region, or what to expect in the future," the news outlet added. "Without localized information, it's impossible to prioritize infrastructure and housing that's built for the climate of the future."
In an effort to help policymakers understand the long-term effects of their present-day decisions and meet the scale of the climate crisis, the new report will present five future scenarios to delineate what the world might look like decades from now, depending on which policies are implemented by which countries in the coming months and years.
Earlier this year, the U.S. and the European Union pledged to cut carbon pollution in half by 2030, compared to 2005 levels, on their way to "net-zero" by 2050. Climate justice advocates pushing for a "fair share" approach to NDCs, however, have called such targets insufficient. Because impoverished nations have done the least to cause the crisis and yet are most vulnerable to its effects, progressives argue, rich countries with higher levels of historical emissions should contribute substantially more resources to climate change mitigation and adaptation.
Even if NDCs were deemed adequate, Fatih Birol, executive director of the IEA, said in April — before U.S. President Joe Biden's infrastructure agenda had stalled in Congress — that wealthy governments have so far failed to develop specific plans for how to decrease emissions, let alone implement the policies necessary to do so.
The IPCC's hypothetical policy scenarios — called shared socioeconomic pathways — take into account a number of demographic, political, economic, and technological variables.
As NPR reported:
For example, in one world countries work together to develop low-cost, low-carbon technologies and put them into use quickly for everyone. In another, some countries or groups of people transition very quickly to wind, solar, and other clean energy sources while others move much more slowly. In a third imaginary world, nationalism surges around the world and governments focus on local energy and food security rather than global economic changes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions...
Under most of the scenarios, it's still possible to keep global warming below the 2 degree Celsius threshold set by the Paris agreement, says Zeke Hausfather, a climate scientist at the University of California, Berkeley. In other words, there are many ways to address climate change, and the new report will help describe those options.
A draft of the new IPCC report that was leaked last month, however, warned that the devastating effects of a warming world — including an increased risk of widespread hunger and disease — are set to hit far sooner than previously thought, prompting the authors to call for systems-wide changes to avert a worst-case climate scenario.
Tim Lenton, director of the University of Exeter's Global Systems Institute, told AFP on Monday that "feedbacks which amplify change are stronger than we thought and we may be approaching some tipping points."
In light of the existential threat posed by the climate emergency, UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Sunday reminded world leaders of the importance of ambitious climate action and international cooperation after officials at a Group of 20 summit failed to reach an agreement for a communiqué just 100 days away from COP26.
Last week, more than 160 organizations, led by the Stop the Money Pipeline coalition, launched the "Deadline Glasgow — Defund Climate Chaos" campaign to pressure Wall Street and the Biden administration to cut off funding for companies and projects fueling the climate emergency.
"The decisions nations make in the next few months," Espinosa stressed on Monday, "will likely determine whether we will or will not ultimately limit global temperature rise at 1.5°C."
Reposted with permission from Common Dreams.
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IEA Warning: CO2 Emissions Will Keep Reaching 'All-Time High' if Rich Nations Keep Skimping on Clean Energy
By Jake Johnson
The International Energy Agency warned Tuesday that global carbon dioxide emissions are on track to soar to record levels in 2023 — and continue rising thereafter — as governments fail to make adequate investments in green energy and end their dedication to planet-warming fossil fuels.
In a new report, IEA estimates that of the $16 trillion world governments have spent to prop up their economies during the coronavirus crisis, just 2% of that total has gone toward clean energy development.
Fatih Birol, executive director of the IEA, slammed what he characterized as the hypocrisy of rich governments that promised a green recovery from the pandemic but have thus far refused "to put their money where their mouth is." Research published last month revealed that between January 2020 and March 2021, the governments of wealthy G7 nations poured tens of billions of dollars more into fossil fuels than renewable energy.
On top of being "far from what's needed to put the world on a path to reaching net-zero emissions by mid-century," Birol said that the money allocated to green energy measures thus far is "not even enough to prevent global emissions from surging to a new record."
"Governments need to increase spending and policy action rapidly to meet the commitments they made in Paris in 2015 — including the vital provision of financing by advanced economies to the developed world," Birol continued. "But they must then go even further by leading clean energy investment and deployment to much greater heights beyond the recovery period in order to shift the world onto a pathway to net-zero emissions by 2050, which is narrow but still achievable — if we act now."
We just launched @IEA’s new Sustainable Recovery Tracker to measure how governments’ responses to the Covid-19 cris… https://t.co/j5UEWMH9Zg— Fatih Birol (@Fatih Birol) 1626757221.0
The IEA's analysis — which examines roughly 800 policies implemented throughout the coronavirus crisis by more than 50 countries — finds that "full and timely implementation" of the economic recovery measures would result in CO2 emissions surging to an "all-time high" in 2023 and continuing to rise in the following years, more than wiping out the pandemic-related emissions drop.
"While this trajectory is 800 million tonnes lower in 2023 than it would have been without any sustainable recovery efforts," the analysis notes, "it is nonetheless 3,500 million tonnes above" what's necessary to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
The Paris-based agency's latest findings come just months after it said world governments must immediately halt all new investments in oil and gas projects in order to avert the worst consequences of the climate crisis, which is wreaking havoc across the globe in the form of catastrophic flooding, deadly heatwaves, drought, and wildfires.
Birol plans to present the IEA's new report to the leaders of G20 nations, which — according to research published Tuesday morning — have handed more than $3.3 trillion in subsidies to the fossil fuel industry since the Paris climate accord was finalized in 2015.
"The action taken by these countries up until this point is a far cry from what is needed," Antha Williams, the environment lead at Bloomberg Philanthropies, which helped conduct the subsidy research, told The Guardian. "As a host of climate emergencies intensify around the world, the continued development of fossil fuel infrastructure is nothing short of reckless. We need more than just words — we need action."
Reposted with permission from Common Dreams.
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Barcelonians can now use a new app designed to show pedestrians the shadiest routes to take to avoid extreme heat.
The app, Cool Walks, a navigation and routing tool for pedestrians, was first developed at a data visualization contest.
The app has a variety of features including showing users the most direct walking route, a more shady route or users can put the settings on "vampire mode" to completely avoid direct sunlight.
"We wanted to generate different options so you could pick faster or cooler routes and we calculated three different algorithms," Marc Montlleo, director of environmental projects at Barcelona Regional, said to The Guardian. "The vampire mode was made from our team who had a lot of beer the night before; It was for a bit of fun to totally avoid sunlight."
Cool Walks can also guide users to nearby drinking fountains, or areas that they can shelter from the sun, according to The Guardian.
The program utilizes a tool called Lidar that creates high-resolution models of the ground elevation. The scale is accurate within 10 cm. Cool Walks uses this information with data on the sun's path to calculate where shade is at any given time.
The average temperature in July and August in Barcelona is 84 degrees Fahrenheit during the day. In an attempt to mitigate increasing temperatures, the city of Barcelona created a 20-year tree master plan that lays out increasing the amount of land covered by trees from 25% to 30%.
"I don't know many cities that deal with pedestrian routing," Albert Carbonell, a developer of the app said to The Guardian. "It's nice for a public agency to work with data that the city gave to us, to demonstrate that it's feasible to come up with technological solutions to climate change."
So far, the app only maps out shady areas in one neighborhood of Barcelona, the hope is the data collected can be used to help the city adapt to extreme heat.
Each year, heat waves kill more people than other climate risks. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, some studies estimate that more than 1,300 death each year are due to extreme heat.
According to C40, extreme heat can cause mortality increases of up to 14%. As of today, heatwaves affect around 200 million people in more than 350 cities globally — this number is expected to rise even if the Paris agreement's 1.5 C target is reached.
Howvere, if that target is missed, more than 1.6 billion people in 970 cities could be affected by excessive heat by the 2050s.
Additionally, the temperatures can lower workforce productivity and cause damage to infrastructure.
"I think we should view this particular kind of app as an interim measure to reduce the impacts of extreme heat … while cities rapidly invest in urban canopy cover and broader green infrastructure," Jon Burke, a former councilor for Hackney in London, who was responsible for a massive expansion of tree planting in the borough, said to The Guardian.
Audrey Nakagawa is the content creator intern at EcoWatch. She is a senior at James Madison University studying Media, Art, and Design, with a concentration in journalism. She's a reporter for The Breeze in the culture section and writes features on Harrisonburg artists, album reviews, and topics related to mental health and the environment. She was also a contributor for Virginia Reports where she reported on the impact that COVID-19 had on college students.
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Amid Record Heat, Republican Sen. Ron Johnson Dismisses Climate Change as 'Bullsh*t'
By Jake Johnson
Amid a deadly northwestern heatwave that scientists have described as "the most extreme" in recorded history, footage uncovered by CNN shows Republican Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin flippantly dismissing the established science of human-caused climate change during an event hosted by a GOP-aligned advocacy group.
"I don't know about you guys, but I think climate change is — as Lord Monckton said — bullshit," Johnson said, mouthing the expletive. "And by the way, it is."
Johnson — a member of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee — was echoing the sentiment of British conservative Christopher Monckton, a fervent climate denier who in 2010 led a Tea Party rally in a call-and-response decrying global warming as "bullshit."
"Imagine being a U.S. senator in 2021 while millions of Americans suffer from record-breaking heat, drought, fire, and flood, and being confident enough to say climate change is 'bullshit,'" tweeted climate journalist Emily Atkin, author of the HEATED newsletter. "Clearly he does not think there will be consequences for this."
Watch a clip of Johnson's remarks:
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) calls climate change “bullshit” at a Republican women’s luncheon in Wisconsin last month. https://t.co/DXG8QAZ2t6— The Recount (@The Recount) 1625664749.0
The Wisconsin senator's comments came during a luncheon hosted by the Republican Women of Greater Wisconsin in June — which, according to newly released satellite data, was the hottest June on record in North America.
"The heat dome above western Canada and the northwest United States generated headlines around the world as daily temperature records were shattered across British Columbia, Washington, and Portland," The Guardian reported Wednesday. "The new data reveals this was part of a broader trend that built up over several weeks and a far wider area, which is underpinned by human-driven climate disruption."
In a statement to CNN on Tuesday, Johnson insisted that he is "not a climate change denier," a claim belied by his past comments casting doubt on the consensus view among scientists that human activity — specifically the emission of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere — is behind rapidly rising global temperatures.
"I absolutely do not believe that the science of man-caused climate change is proven. Not by any stretch of the imagination," Johnson said during a 2016 interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "I think it's far more likely that it's just sunspot activity or something just in the geologic eons of time where we have changes in the climate... The Middle Ages was an extremely warm period of time, too. And it wasn't like there were tons of cars on the road."
Johnson — who is far from the only climate denier among congressional Republicans — is up for reelection in 2022, but he has not yet decided whether to run.
Reposted with permission from Common Dreams.