current situation: Millions of people on the West Coast are under flood warnings as two atmospheric rivers sweep through the region, bringing not only heavy rain but also the potential for significant snowpack replenishment. • Colombia's president declares a national disaster as firefighters struggle to extinguish wildfires. Mountains around Bogota • British forecasters warn of possible tornadoes as 85mph winds batter the country.
top 5
1. FEMA covers solar panels and other clean technologies after disasters
Yesterday, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced that it will help local governments pay for installing energy-efficient equipment such as solar panels and heat pumps on public buildings such as hospitals, fire stations and schools after a disaster. This is an initiative that will help these communities become more energy independent and resilient, while also reducing the emissions that intensify weather-related disasters in the first place. The agency said there were a record 28 disasters in the U.S. last year that caused more than $1 billion in damage, adding that buildings account for nearly 40% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.
2. Dark photos of Louisiana's Cancer Alley
New Human Rights Watch report details how Louisiana's hands-off approach to the fossil fuel industry has led to devastating levels of cancer, birth defects, and respiratory disease , my colleague Jacob Lambert writes in his heatmap.
“The failure of state and federal authorities to adequately regulate the industry has had dire consequences for Cancer Alley residents,” said Antonia Juhasz, senior fossil fuels researcher at Human Rights Watch. “It is long past time for governments to uphold their human rights obligations and end these sacrifices.”
Drew Angerer/Getty Images
3. More than 4 million lives have been lost to climate change
It has long been known that climate change affects human life, but it is difficult to quantify how many people it has affected. A new analysis published as a commentary in the journal Nature Medicine attempts to do just that, arriving at the staggering figure that climate change has killed at least 4 million people since 2000. As Zoya Terstein writes in Grist, perhaps it is. It's an underestimate.
“Many people are dying from climate change, but no one is counting them, and no one is trying to count them,” said Colin Carlson, a global change biologist and assistant professor at Georgetown University. told Mr. Terstein. “If it was something other than climate change, we would be treating it in very different terms.”
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4. Truck manufacturers partner on EV chargers
On Tuesday, three U.S. heavy-duty truck manufacturers, Daimler Trucks, Volkswagen subsidiary Navistar, and Volvo North America, announced Powering America's Commercial Transportation, an initiative to help governments and power companies build more charging stations for electric vehicles. announced the formation of a new coalition called truck. Jack Ewing of the New York Times notes that there are only nine charging stations in the country capable of servicing electric long-haul vehicles, and that trucking companies cannot do so without more support from federal and state governments. They claim that it is not possible to introduce more electric trucks. market. As Ewing points out, this may also be a bit of a blame-shifting ploy. Earlier this month, more than 40 advocacy groups accused Daimler and Volvo of trying to block stricter emissions regulations.
5. Pandora is recycled
Pandora, the world's largest jeweler, has announced that it has stopped using mined silver and gold and is now using only recycled materials. According to Reuters, the changes should lead to significant emissions reductions. Pandora estimates that its use of recycled materials will reduce its indirect carbon footprint by 58,000 tons per year.
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