Dear Friends:
Climate news enveloping the world. This Spring, stories are about extreme heat waves, implementing the IRA, infrastructure and manufacturing bills, energy transition, EPA new rules regulating power plants, politics of climate change. Check out events occurring today and coming up in July.
Belle, Victoria and the Climate Team
Links to Articles
Climate Politics
The congressional energy wonk from Illinois says not to worry too much about “performative nonsense around IRA repeal.”
Raw Story: At an event in Concord, New Hampshire, Trump complained to the Federation of Republican Women about the push for electric appliances. “It’s so destructive,” he lamented. “All electric, all-electric everything. Now they want […] your gas stoves. Does anybody like gas better? You cook a lot more than I do.”
“But they want to take it away,” the presidential candidate continued. “They want to take away your washing machines and your dryers. They don’t want to give you any water for the washing machine. Even though you have so much water, you don’t know what the hell to do with it up here. It flows out into the ocean.”
States Benefiting from IRA
David Wallace-Wells
Over the past few weeks, a once unthinkable parable about the green transition has played out in Texas, the very picture of a recalcitrant red state soaked with fossil fuel. Legislators friendly to the oil and gas business staged a desperate fight with the market — and lost.
Canadian Wildfires and Smoke
The US and Canada saw dangerous smoke this week. It’s a routine peril for many developing countries.
The wildfires prompted warnings for residents in several major cities to stay indoors with few signs of any immediate respite.
The first foreign firefighters to reach Canada amid its worst wildfire season on record said some blazes were 100 times bigger than any they had seen.
Electrification Transition
By Nadja Popovich and Brad Plumer, June 12, 2023
To start with, there is no single U.S. electric grid.
Supreme Court Limits EPA
Experts said the decision would sharply undercut the agency’s authority to protect millions of acres of wetlands under the Clean Water Act, leaving them subject to pollution without penalty.
The Supreme Court on Thursday curtailed the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to police millions of acres of wetlands, delivering another setback to the agency’s ability to combat pollution. Writing for five justices, Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. said that the Clean Water Act does not allow the agency to regulate discharges into wetlands near bodies of water unless they have “a continuous surface connection” to those waters.
It’s the last in a string of major regulations proposed by the Biden administration to sharply cut the greenhouse gases produced by the United States.
Clean Energy – New Technologies
Jigar Shah runs a federal program that suddenly has a gusher of money to lend before the next election.
To power future cars and planes
Extreme Heat, Wildfire Smoke
Human-caused climate change is making high temperatures more common and intensifying the dryness that fuels catastrophic wildfires.
By Brad Plumer
Global temperatures are likely to soar to record highs over the next five years, driven by human-caused warming and a climate pattern known as El Niño, forecasters at the World Meteorological Organization said on Wednesday. The record for Earth’s hottest year was set in 2016. There is a 98 percent chance that at least one of the next five years will exceed that, the forecasters said, while the average from 2023 to ’27 will almost certainly be the warmest for a five-year period ever recorded.
Biodiversity
New rules would void Trump-era changes that made it easier to remove animals and plants from the endangered list.
By Lisa Friedman and Catrin Einhorn
The Biden administration moved on Wednesday to make it easier to protect wildlife from climate disruptions and other threats, restoring protections to the Endangered Species Act that President Donald J. Trump had removed. The rules drew immediate opposition from Republicans and industry groups who have long said that the Endangered Species Act unreasonably hampers economic growth.
Renewables
The problems are an early warning for countries, especially poorer ones, that are investing in new coal-burning plants even as solar and wind get cheaper. One of the world’s newest, most contested coal-burning power plants began operation in December. By January, it had ground to a halt for a month. Again, in April, it sat idle for 23 days. The reason: It didn’t have coal to burn…
Global
By Catherine Porter
Hundreds of representatives from about 80 countries are gathering in Paris to talk about rebuilding a monetary system many say is ill-suited to a changing planet. An unusual if guarded optimism has descended upon Paris, along with hundreds of world leaders, bankers and climate activists. They have come for a two-day conference billed as the new Bretton Woods.
Climate Rights Case in Montana
A groundbreaking climate change trial will begin on Monday in a courtroom in Montana’s capital city, involving 16 young residents who allege state officials violated their constitutional rights to a healthy environment. Filed in March 2020, the lawsuit, Held v. Montana, will mark the first-ever constitutional climate trial in US history.
California Wildfires
Marin County fire Chief Jason Weber says the chance of a major wildfire during the early part of this summer has been greatly reduced by the persistent rain this year. However, he said, “We can’t let our guard down.”
MWPA focused on improving forest health while reducing fire hazards
Insurance and Fire Risks
When Larkspur resident Anita Bock heard that her insurer, State Farm, stopped writing new policies in California, she immediately called her agent to ask if she would lose her coverage — again. …The insurance giant, along with Allstate, recently joined a small but growing group of homeowners insurance providers in the state walking away from new business because of the increased risk of catastrophes, inflation costs and a challenging reinsurance market.
Climate Justice
As a first-of-its-kind project in Marin, MCJC brings together leaders from two of Marin County’s communities at most imminent risk of climate impacts in the Bay Area: unincorporated Marin City and the Canal neighborhood in San Rafael.
Adaptation to Climate Change - Agriculture, Water
Eric Asimov, Reporting from Occidental and Livermore, Calif.
Carlo Mondavi, a grandson of Robert, is taking on a similar role (as his grandfather), pushing the California wine industry in a new direction born not of 20th-century aspirations but of the existential threat of the 21st-century: climate change.
Bangladesh, a river delta nation, is on the front line of climate change. Its coping strategies could offer lessons for the wider world.
Education
Ms. Renkl is a contributing Opinion writer who covers flora, fauna, politics and culture in the American South.
EVENTS
Tuesday, July 11, MWPA ESP Partnership, 2-4 pm
Presentation: Growing rice, climate change, innovative research
Chance Cultrano, Zoom Invite
Wednesday, July 12, 12-1 pm
Dual Fuel Heating Systems - Advantage or Compromise?
Panelists: Zack Turner – Climate Control, Chris McKinney – Airefco Inc., Theresa Pistochini – UC Davis Energy Efficiency Institute, Subhrajit Chakraborty – UC Davis Western Cooling Efficiency Center
Dual fuel heating systems combine a gas furnace with a heat pump. Is this a short-term compromise or a good solution for home comfort?
Click here to register.