Week number three of climate news. Let us know if this is useful (or fun) and whether the balance between important news and tidbits is ok. ([email protected])
- “Staggering growth” in solar and wind power. According to a report released by Climate Central, solar and wind have been the country’s fastest growing sources of energy over the past decade, and nearly a quarter of the nation’s grid now runs on renewables. With the Inflation Reduction Act poised to kick that growth curve higher, the country is getting ever closer to achieving its climate goals. “One thing that surprised a lot of people was the strength of small-scale solar,” said Jen Brady, the lead analyst on the Climate Central report. “It lets you know that maybe you could do something in your community, in your home, that can help contribute to it.” Read more here.
- World wide growth: Renewable energy accounted for more than 30% of the world’s electricity for the first time last year following a rapid rise in wind and solar power, according to new figures. A report on the global power system has found that the world may be on the brink of driving down fossil fuel generation, even as overall demand for electricity continues to rise. Clean electricity has already helped to slow the growth in fossil fuels by almost two-thirds in the past 10 years, according to the report by climate think tank Ember. It found that renewables have grown from 19% of electricity in 2000 to more than 30% of global electricity last year.
- London Mayor: Labour’s Sadiq Khan has pledged further “world-leading green action” after winning a historic third term as London Mayor, reported Bloomberg. Khan’s victory came despite speculation his ambitious air pollution and climate measures could turn off voters.
- A toll of war you might have never thought of: In the first few months of the Ukraine war, Russian shells hit a gene bank that “preserved the seeds of 160,000 varieties of crops and plant seeds from around the world … Tens of thousands of samples, some of them centuries old, were reduced to ash.” [Long Now]
- The Los Angeles Times’ Sammy Roth visits the community surrounding a coal-fired plant in Colstrip, Mont., that supplies electricity to Portland, Ore., and Seattle, Wash. Locals are worried about their livelihoods and the town’s future. As the nation transitions to clean energy, what do big cities owe these small towns and the people who work in them? [Roth is a really interesting climate journalist. You can sign up for his Boiling Point column here.]
- Donald Trump told oil executives they should give him $1 billion in campaign donations because he planned to roll back regulations. A meeting between Trump and oil executives and lobbyists at Mar-a-Lago last month included leaders from Exxon Mobil, EQT Corporation and the American Petroleum Institute. Lawyers and lobbyists working for the U.S. oil industry are also drawing up ready-to-sign executive orders for Trump, Politico reported.
- A new study has quantified how much an individual voter can influence climate pollution, and it’s HUGE. For example, if you voted in the 2019 Canadian election for Justin Trudeau’s winning Liberal party, the researchers calculated your vote saved 34.2 tons of climate pollution per year. That’s like taking 14 typical gas cars off the road. Voting for Biden as opposed to Trump will be much more consequential.
- Retiree Rallies Neighbors to Scuttle a Pipeline. In 2021 Kathleen Campbell received a letter from Navigator CO2 Ventures who wanted to build a carbon dioxide pipeline through her property and threatened to seize her property through eminent domain if she didn’t grant them an easement. The massive project would ultimately span 1,300 miles and five states. Within months Campbell started a formidable opposition campaign and three years later Navigator finally capitulated and canceled its project. “Everyone said we have no chance against foreign-backed, multibillion-dollar hazardous pipelines,” said Brian Jorde, an attorney representing many of the landowners, “but when hundreds of landowners band together with a unified legal strategy, we can win.” Read more here.
- Bloomberg funds worldwide youth-led climate action. Bloomberg Philanthropies, the nonprofit funded by Michael Bloomberg, has launched the Youth Climate Action Fund to help 100 cities in 38 countries worldwide to better incorporate the voices and visions of young people. The grants will ensure young activists can help shape local climate solutions. This can make an enormous impact, creating outlets for the pent-up anger and energy of a generation desperate for action. Each city will receive an initial disbursement of $50,000 and an additional $100,000 when its mayor responds with adequate urgency and commits the money to programs or projects that involve youth leadership in local climate action. Read more here.
- Survey of IPCC climate scientists. Only 6% of the 380 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change scientists who responded to Guardian questions thought that the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels would be met. Almost 80% expected temperatures instead to rise at least 2.5 degrees C, “causing catastrophic consequences for humanity and the planet.” Numerous scientists felt “hopeless, infuriated and scared by the failure of governments to act,” the paper’s Damian Carrington reported. [At 2.5 degrees C most of the earth’s tipping points are in play or will have already tipped.]
- Brazil. Since late April, record rainfall has pounded the Southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, resulting in what the governor called his state’s “biggest climate catastrophe.” The floods have killed at least 90 people and left over 150,000 without homes. The Guardian has a series of photos before and after the flooding showing the extent of the devastation.
- Climate Extremes Slammed Latin America and the Caribbean Last Year. Some scientists in the region said many of the effects seen today weren’t expected until the second half of the century. Extreme climate shocks, intensified by global warming, killed hundreds of people and devastated livelihoods and ecosystems across Latin America and the Caribbean in 2023, scientists with the World Meteorological Organization said earlier this week when they released the annual state of the climate report for the region.
- Carbon dioxide took an ominous, record-breaking leap. In March, the monthly average concentration of carbon dioxide was 4.7 parts per million (ppm) higher than in March 2023. “It’s a new milestone and it helps reinforce the point that CO2 is still rising faster than ever overall in the atmosphere,” said Ralph Keeling, director of the CO2 Program at the University of California at San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography, which has tracked the gas at Mauna Loa Observatory since the 1950s.