About 150 million people expected to experience temps above 90 F
Heat Wave Stifles Much of Eastern U.S. for 3rd Consecutive Day
This Isn’t Your Grandparents’ Summer Heat
Well Beyond the U.S., Heat and Climate Extremes Are Hitting Billions
Tracking Dangerous Heat in the U.S.
Federal agencies, communities to map heat inequities in 14 U.S. cities
In the past few weeks, there have been a megaton of such headlines from around the world. But more than a third of Americans don’t have to read about heat waves because they’ve been living them. And dying from them.
From 2011 to 2019, there was an average of 38 heat-related worker deaths a year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. In 2019, 43 workers were counted as having died from heat exposure, and more than 2,400 others suffered serious injuries and illnesses, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration calculated.
But Juley Fulcher, the worker health and safety advocate and coordinator of the National Heat Stress Campaign at Public Citizen, has said the figures are likely significantly higher because of reporting discrepancies. A 2022 Public Citizen report found that heat exposure is likely responsible for 170,000 work-related injuries and around 600 to 2,000 deaths each year. An Associated Press analysis calculated that U.S. heat-related deaths hit 2,300 in 2023, the hottest year, so far, on record. But then we’re not quite halfway through 2024.
John Balbus at the Office of Climate Change and Health Equity at Health and Human Services, told the AP: "In the last five years, we are seeing this consistent and record kind of unprecedented upward trend. And I think it's because the levels of heat that we have seen in the last several years have exceeded what we had seen in the last 20 or 30."
Elsewhere, the toll from heat-related deaths can be boggling. The worst recent example? More than 1,000 people died as temperatures hit nearly 52°C (126°F) during this year's pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia.
For Americans who must work in the heat—indoors or out—OSHA has set some guidelines. But there is still no mandated OSHA standard. And although the agency sent its proposed standard on indoor/outdoor heat illness prevention to the White House’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs for review two weeks ago, it could still be years before a standard is actually in place. Thus, If it’s 100 degrees out, does your boss have to give you a break? Probably not. In Florida, local governments are legally forbidden from instituting their own heat-related worker protections. That’s a prescription for killing people.
You don’t have to be on the job to suffer. Given higher heat now occurring during part of the school year, millions of students are affected. A June 2020 report by the Government Accountability Office estimated that 41% of public school districts need to replace or update their HVAC systems in some 36,000 schools across the country. A newly published study of seven million parliamentary speeches around the world shows that high temperatures significantly and immediately reduces the complexity of politicians' language choices. In other words, heat waves make them dumber. There’s no reason that what affects members of parliament doesn’t affect third graders.
Another population highly vulnerable to heat-wave effects are older people, especially those living alone or with cardiovascular disease.
But the reality is we’re all vulnerable to the rising heat. Wet-bulb incidents with a gigantic tally of fatalities are inevitable as global warming continues its trajectory.
Jeff Goodell’s 2023 book The Heat Will Kill You First: Life and Death on a Scorched Planet provides perspective:
Extreme heat is remaking our planet into one in which large swaths may become uninhabitable to human life. One recent study projected that over the next fifty years, one to three billion people will be left outside the climate conditions that gave rise to civilization over the last six thousand years. Even if we transition fairly quickly to clean energy, half of the world’s human population will be exposed to life-threatening combinations of heat and humidity by 2100. Temperatures in parts of the world could rise so high that just stepping outside for a few hours, another study warned, “will result in death even for the fittest of humans.”
Life on Earth is like a finely calibrated machine, one that has been buil,t by evolution to work very well within its design parameters. Heat breaks that machine in a fundamental way, disrupting how cells function, how proteins unfold, how molecules move. Yes, some organisms can thrive in higher temperatures than others. Roadrunners do better than blue jays. Silver Saharan ants run across superhot desert sands that would kill other insects instantly. Microbes live in 170-degree hot springs in Yellowstone Ntional Park. A thirty-year-old triathelete can handle a 100-degree day better than a seventy-year-old man with heart disease. And yes, we humans are remarkable creatures with a tremendous capacity to adapt and adjust to a rapidly changing world.
But extreme heat is a force beyond anything we have reckoned with before. It may be a human creation, but it is godlike in its power and prophecy. Because all living things share one simple fate: If the temperature they’re used to —what scientists sometimes call their Goldilocks Zone—rises too far, too fast, they die.
Last week, Dozens of Groups Push FEMA to Recognize Extreme Heat as a ‘Major Disaster.’ An ad hoc coalition of environmental, labor, and health care filed a petition pressing the Federal Emergency Management Agency to declare extreme heat and wildfire smoke as “major disasters” as it does with floods and tornadoes. If FEMA goes along with this, it could free up funds to help local communities prepare for heat waves by, to offer just one example, installing cooling centers or air filtration systems in schools. It could also help by paying for water distribution, health screenings for vulnerable people, and increased electricity use during emergencies.
All good. But just scratching the surface of what will ultimately be needed.
Goodell has every reason to be gloomy. But he also has hope.
I judge politicians on how well they undertand how fast our world is changing. When people ask me if it’s hard to write about the climate crisis and imagine that hardship and suffering to come, my answer is always the same. This is the great story of our time, one that I feel privileged to tell. And yes, it gets dark some times. But it is also endlessly inspiring because I meet so many people who are fighting for the future and reimagining everything about how we live on our planet. [...] With their help, and the help of other people like them. I believe we can build a better world if we want to. But I know that is a simple thing to say and a hard thing to do and that “better” means different things to different people. There are no maps for this journey we are taking, no virtual reality tours of the road ahead. “How do we face the truth of what is at stake and how much there is to do?” asks marine scientist and climate activist Ayana Elizabeth Johnson. “How do we muster up the courage to not give up in spite of the odds? How do we focus on solutions and on what each of us can do to help turn things around?”
ECO-VIDEO
RESOURCES & ACTION
GREEN BRIEFS
A new peer-reviewed study has found that lead levels in soil of some 25% of U.S. households exceeds the Environmental Protection Agency’s updated screening threshold of 200 parts per million for remediation. That’s a reduction from the previous limit of 400 ppm. Fixing this using the “dig and dump” technique on 29 affected million households, say the researchers, could cost an amount we used to gasp at but have gotten used to: $1 trillion. For houses exposed to lead from multiple sources, the agency’s threshold is 100 ppm. The study found 40% of households exceed that limit. It was published in GeoHealth, an open-access AGU journal dedicated to following research investigating the intersection of human and planetary health for a sustainable future.
Said Gabriel Filippelli, a biochemist at Indiana University who led the new study: “I was shocked at how many households were above the new 200 ppm guideline. I assumed it was going to be a more modest number. And results for the 100 ppm guideline are even worse.”
Environment Protection Agency workers set up a fence around lead-contaminated land in Collins Park, Detroit. The contamination was discovered by a crew installing new playground equipment.
Lead contamination is nothing new. Greenland ice cores show evidence of lead from ancient Roman industrial smelters. China operated lead smelters in the same period roughly 2000-plus years ago, but because of how the atmosphere works few of those particles reached Greenland. Classical archaeologist Andrew Wilson of the University of Oxford told Kiona Smith at Ars Technica, “The Romans made extensive use of lead for water pipes and other elements of plumbing, weights, soldering clamps between ashlar blocks or columns in architectural construction, sheathing the hulls of some ships, etc.”
Nearer our own times lead has been used in paint, a gasoline additive, some pesticides, water pipes, and metal processing. The stuff is especially toxic to humans even in low doses. It can affect the nervous system and cognitive development in children, among whom it can cause permanent brain damage. Lead can also have a harmful impact on blood and the cardiovascular system and damage the kidneys and reproductive system, which can reduce fertility in both women and men. It can cross the placenta and cause low birth weight, premature birth, and serious developmental disorders. By interfering with calcium metabolism, lead also can interfere with bone strength. It can negatively affect the gastrointestinal and immune systems. Children are at special risk because they absorb lead more efficiently than adults. It’s a true horrorshow.
Some impacts were perceived very early on. The 1st Century Roman naturalist and philosopher Pliny the Elder took note of harmful lead exposure on slaves working in mines and smelting operations. More than two centuries ago, Ben Franklin wrote in a 1786 letter about the health hazards of lead exposure, particularly noting the effects on workers in lead-related industries. Beginning in 1902, the pioneering industrial hygienist Alice Hamilton began looking into lead and mercury poisoning. Her 1911 Illinois study, among other things, documented 578 cases of lead poisoning. This led to a state law requiring manufacturers of lead and zinc products to protect their workers.
And then there was leaded gasoline. Geochemist Clair Patterson concluded that a key source of lead pollution was tetraethyl lead added to gasoline. In 1965, he published “Contaminated and Natural Lead Environments of Man,” in which he documented the dramatic rise in lead levels from leaded gasoline and industrial uses. He said it must be stopped.
As is so often the case, industry was having none of that. The lead industry, particularly Ethyl Corporation, which was co-owned by General Motors and Standard Oil, with the DuPont Co. later becoming an important player, defended the use of tetraethyl. But merely making their case wasn’t enough. They subjected Patterson to all kinds of attempts to discredit his research, casting doubt on his data, methods, and conclusions. They twisted arms to get his grants cut or denied. He lost his access to some key research facilities and his opportunities for publication in scientific journals was restricted.
But Patterson’s studies helped get Clean Air Act amendments passed that began a phase-out of leaded gasoline. This was completed in the mid-1980s.
But it wasn’t until 1991 that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention set a limit on the concentration of lead in blood to 10 micrograms per deciliter. Since then, the limit has been repeatedly lowered, and is now 3.5 micrograms per deciliter. Some scientists say even that’s not low enough.
Until this January, however, the Environmental Protection Agency had maintained its screening level for lead in soil without change for more than three decades. By the time the Feds acted this year, several states had already established their own guidelines far lower than the 200 ppm level. California has set the lowest screening level, at 80 ppm.
—MB
Berneuter Research has published market reports on global photovoltaic installations since 2008. The latest report from this German source says that, worldwide, new PV installations will hit between 600 to 660 gigawatts-direct current (GWdc) in 2024. “Once market participants come to the conclusion that the crash of the solar module price has reached its bottom, demand will accelerate,” said Johannes Bernreuter, Head of Bernreuter Research. This compares with the 444 GWdc capacity of new installations in 2023.
“Even if the leading players gain market share as Tier-2 and Tier-3 manufacturers struggle in the current low-price environment, it is likely that new PV installations will exceed 600 GWdc this year,” says Bernreuter.
If makers hit the top of the range Bernreuter posits, it would eclipse even the high scenario of 620 GWdc featured in Bernreuter’s Polysilicon Market Outlook 2027 report. “Our new analysis confirms the more aggressive forecast approach we have adopted in the report, with a market share of more than 50%, China will continue to drive global PV installations forward.”
—MB
ECO-TWXXT
HALF A DOZEN OTHER THINGS TO READ (OR LISTEN TO)
The Deadly Mining Complex Powering the EV Revolution by Matthew Campbell and Annie Lee at Mongabay. Controlled by Chinese metals giant Tsingshan Holding Group Co., IMIP is the product of more than $30 billion in investment. Sprawling across what was once a plain of farmers’ fields and fishing hamlets on Sulawesi’s eastern shore, a short distance from nickel-mining concessions that dot the surrounding hillsides, it boasts its own seaport and airport, along with a resort-style hotel for visiting executives. IMIP has created immense numbers of jobs, with more than 100,000 employees and contractors, and accounts on its own for a major percentage of Indonesia’s exports of nickel suitable for batteries. Overall, the nickel industry has helped deliver rapid growth for Indonesia’s economy, the largest in Southeast Asia. That success has a dark side. December’s fire was the worst in a long series of fatal accidents at IMIP and other Indonesian nickel sites. Workers have been buried under slag, crushed by heavy equipment and killed in falls. In surrounding communities, residents complain of respiratory ailments that they blame on pollution from smelters and the coal-fired power plants that sustain them. And environmentalists accuse the nickel industry of flouting regulations intended to protect ecologically sensitive islands such as Sulawesi—while expanding production of a material critical to the EVs that Western governments promote on environmental grounds. In most cases, auto manufacturers don’t directly source battery materials, and it’s difficult if not impossible to trace the metal in a given car to a specific nickel facility. But an extensive review of Chinese, Indonesian, South Korean and US corporate filings by Bloomberg Businessweek, as well as interviews with industry experts, shows that nickel from IMIP is present in the supply chain that feeds virtually every major seller of EVs.
A nickel mine in Sulawesi
RELATED: Green credentials of electric vehicles come under fire
National Blueprint For Electric Transportation Investments by Samikchhya Bhusal and Isa Gaillard at Clean Technica. A new national blueprint details how the climate, public health, and economic benefits of clean transportation investments can best reach and serve frontline communities. The recommendations can help ensure state agencies, advocates, and community members work together to access and equitably implement the $100 billion available to increase charging infrastructure throughout the country from the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. These five principles are crucial to advancing environmental justice and racial justice in electric mobility to remedy past and present inequities: Equity and Justice: Similar to climate investments, 40% of transportation investments should be prioritized to reach and benefit underserved communities in ways that are both measurable and enduring. […] Emissions Reductions: Increasing access to practical alternatives to driving and electrifying all modes of transportation is critical to reduce emissions by 52% by 2030. […] Affordable Access for All: Low-income and rural households bear the highest transportation costs, and many still struggle to get to work and school. Our nation’s transportation investments must provide reliable alternatives to driving and improve the affordability of sustainable mobility options. […] Health and Safety: Underserved communities, youth, elderly, and other vulnerable populations are disproportionately harmed by our transportation system. […] Wealth Building: Government contracts, investments and jobs should be allocated through a transparent, accountable and equitable process that mitigates racial, urban-rural divide and economic inequities.
US EPA grapples with funding reductions by Kevin Bogardus at E&E News. The agency’s fiscal 2024 operating plan shows the Environmental Protection Agency’s hiring goal for its base appropriations rose very slightly compared to the prior year’s target, as President Biden has pushed to grow the agency to handle the mounting workload from his signature climate and infrastructure laws. But the Republican-led House which has already slashed the agency’s budget and plans to do so again in new legislation. The EPA's budget for fiscal 2024 is reduced to $9.2 billion, a billion dollars less than last year, affecting various programs. The agency nonetheless plans to keep staffing around 15,130 full-time equivalents despite the cuts. The Superfund clean-up program will receive new support from new "polluter pays" taxes, partially offsetting budget reductions. Fewer resources means less monitoring of pollution, less support for state and local environmental programs, crippled responses to environmental emergencies, less enforcement of regulations, and potential for jeopardizing public health and environmental quality.
U.S. Government Publishes First Thorough Analysis of Harm Done to Indigenous Groups by Columbia River Dams by Cristen Hemingway Jaynes at Ecowatch. A new federal report shows how, in less than a century, American Indians in the Columbia River Basin along with the river itself were changed for the worse by 11 hydropower dams on the Snake and Columbia Rivers that flooded village and disrupted ways of life dating back millenniums and continue to harm Indigenous peoples of the area. The report, Historic and Ongoing Impacts of Federal Dams on the Columbia River Basin Tribes, was released by the U.S. Department of the Interior as part of an agreement made by the Biden-Harris administration to acknowledge the harms inflicted upon Pacific Northwest Native American Tribes and restore wild salmon to the Columbia River Basin, according to a press release from the DOI. The agreement also committed $1 to restore the wild salmon population and promote green energy. The report recommends several recommendations the government can do more to meet its responsibilities to the Tribes.
Will the Lightning Bug Show Go On? by Kiley Bense at Inside Climate News. Every year in late June, Peggy Butler and her husband, Ken, welcome visitors to rural northwestern Pennsylvania for the chance to glimpse the rare and beguiling Photinus carolinus. This firefly species flashes synchronously, creating dazzling spectacles of light. The abundance of fireflies on their property in Forest County—there are at least 17 species in addition to the synchronous firefly—led the Butlers to found the Pennsylvania Firefly Festival. Launched in 2013, the annual event has become so popular that the Butlers had to institute a lottery system to protect the fireflies that visitors so desperately wanted to see. This year, 2,500 people applied for just 130 spots. The intense interest in the festival highlights how much Americans love fireflies. Summer nights spent watching fireflies (and debating whether or not they should be called lightning bugs) is a cherished tradition across the country. But this tradition could be threatened by climate change, according to a new study. Researchers found that climate change is among the most serious threats to firefly populations in the United States. To understand what determines firefly abundance, researchers analyzed more than 24,000 surveys conducted by citizen scientists from 2008 to 2016 using the program Firefly Watch.
Synchronous fireflies in a meadow at the 2021 Pennsylvania Firefly Festival.
DOE floats $900M to build advanced reactors by Zach Bright at Energy Wire. The Department of Energy announced plans June 17 to inject $900 million into developing small nuclear reactors. Up to $800 million of these dollars will supporte one or two "first-mover teams" with plans to deploy a first small modular reacto plant and a multireactor project. Teams will include utilities, developers, and electricity consumers. Up to $100 million is meant to help spur SMRs by addressing gaps in design, licensing, development and site preparation. Georgia Power and its parent Southern Co. just completed an expansion at its Plant Vogtle that came in seven years late at a cost two-and-a-half times more than the $14 billion originally estimated. That was the first built-from-scratch U.S. nuke in 30 years. Utility companies and state regulators have avoided large-scale nuclear projects like the Vogtle expansion in great part because of expense. Proposed SMRs of various designs would have a third or less electricity-generating capacity compared with the 1+ gigawatt behemoths like Vogtle and most of the other 96 reactors in 28 states. A key problem that critics see is whether SMRs can be built economically.
RELATED:
ECO-QUOTE
“I like to envision the whole world as a jigsaw puzzle … If you look at the whole picture, it is overwhelming and terrifying, but if you work on your little part of the jigsaw and know that people all over the world are working on their little bits, that’s what will give you hope.”—Jane Goodall
ECOPINION
Oil giant accused of 'greenwashing' as critics blast apparently dubious plans: 'This scheme stands out' by Margaret Wong at The Cooldown. ExxonMobil is under fire for allegedly greenwashing its environmental efforts. The company announced its ambitious plan to trap pollutive carbon and store it with much fanfare, presenting it as a cornerstone of its environmental strategy. It pledged significant investments in the technology, aiming to position itself as a leader in the fight against our warming world.However, as time passed, it became apparent that ExxonMobil's actual investments in the initiative fell far short of its promises. According to openDemocracy, ExxonMobil's carbon capture project may never materialize, as it lacks a license, government support, and any financial commitment from the company itself. Critics and environmental groups are now scrutinizing the company's claims."Carbon capture and storage does not appear to be much closer to reducing carbon emissions, or being affordable, than it did 20 years ago. This scheme stands out as greenwashing," said Doug Parr, chief scientist for Greenpeace UK. The company's actions raise concerns about corporate accountability and the effectiveness of voluntary environmental pledges. If major polluters like ExxonMobil do not commit to genuine and significant changes, the fight against global heating becomes even more challenging, threatening ecosystems, human health, and future generations. Unfortunately, this greenwashing tactic used to mislead consumers who are trying to make more eco-conscious choices is still common.
RELATED: ExxonMobil accused of ‘greenwashing’ over carbon capture plan it failed to invest in
Migrant workers harvest strawberries at a farm near Oxnard, California.
Food’s climate footprint was once again MIA at global talks by Ayurella Horn-Muller at Grist. Leaders of the world’s seven biggest economies convened in Italy last week to discuss pressing global issues during the annual gathering known as the G7 summit. They agreed to lend Russia’s frozen assets to Ukraine, pushed for a ceasefire in Gaza, and pledged to launch a migration coalition. The discussions came right after the annual Bonn Climate Change Conference, which sets the foundation for the U.N.’s’ yearly climate gathering. The long-running dispute over who should provide trillions of dollars in climate aid to poor nations again ended with little progress toward a solution. Government heads at both conferences barely addressed what may be one of the most pressing questions the world faces: how to respond to the immense role animal agriculture plays in driving climate change. This continues a pattern of evasion, which advocates and scientists find increasingly frustrating. “We’re seeing, essentially, the cow in the room being ignored,” said Stephanie Feldstein, population and sustainability director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “We’re seeing these kinds of vague references to needing to shift diets, but still a refusal to call out animal agriculture as the leading cause, by far, of agricultural emissions, as well as other forms of environmental destruction in food and agriculture systems.” Although estimates vary, peer-reviewed studies have found that the global food system is responsible for roughly one-third of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions
A worker in St. Paul, Minnesota, pours water on another to protect against the heat.
Workers Are Mobilizing for Protections Against Extreme Heat by Heath Brower Brown at Jacobin. Bosses ignoring their own safety rules is a problem across industries. In steamy Jacksonville, Florida, the Electrical Workers won contracts that require bosses on construction sites to supply cool water all day. But contractors often conveniently forget. When managers brought no water to a job wiring a Navy hangar last summer, tempers boiled. “One journeyman told the foreman he wasn’t working until there was water — and did so publicly in front of the entire crew,” said an apprentice from the site, who requested not to be named. “The crew refused to work. [The foreman] immediately folded and left to go get some.” Meanwhile at a Starbucks in Prosser, in eastern Washington, overheating became the spark for a union drive. Managers claimed the air conditioning (AC) had been fixed, but “we put a fridge thermostat out on the counter and it’s reading over 80 degrees,” said barista Anthony Warwick. “This was in March, not the height of summer. It was hotter inside than it was outside because we have 500-degree ovens, water boilers going all the time, fridges giving out heat. It goes up exponentially.” His Starbucks coworkers (called “partners” in company lingo) were hesitant to come out in open conflict with management, but last August “the heat of the moment” changed everything, Warwick said.
The Climate Is the Economy. Intensifying hurricanes, floods, and heat waves are wreaking havoc across the country—and on all of our bank accounts by Nitish Pahwa at Slate. It applies to every basic building block of modern life: labor, immigration, travel, and materials for homebuilding, transportation, power generation, and necessary appliances. Climate effects have been disrupting and raising the prices of timber, copper, and rubber; even chocolate prices were skyrocketing not long ago, thanks to climate change impacts on African cocoa bean crops. The outdoor workers supplying such necessities are experiencing adverse health impacts from the brutal weather, and the recent record-breaking influxes of migrants from vulnerable countries—which, overall, have been good for the U.S. economy—are in part a response to climate damages in their home nations. [...] When all the economic indicators that take highest priority in Americans’ heads are in such volatile motion thanks to climate change, it may be time to reconsider how traditional economics work and how we perceive their effects.
Fossil Fuel Lobbyists Block Progress Again — This Time on Plastics by Steve Trent at The Revelator. The fourth session of the United Nations Environment Program’s Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution, held in April in Ottawa, was intended to address one of the most pressing, widespread pollution problems of our time. But the influence of fossil fuel and chemical industries on the meetings stymied progress on efforts to protect human health and the natural world. In seeking to disrupt meaningful progress to tackle plastic pollution, lobbyists used the same playbook as the thousands of fossil fuel lobbyists whose presence has become routine at critical global environmental conferences. At the most recent climate CoP in Dubai, for instance, the fossil fuel industry bloc was bigger than any country’s delegation save Brazil and the UAE. In Ottawa industry exerted its power in numbers, but also in its infiltration of high-level meetings. Sixteen lobbyists registered across nine different country delegations, giving them access to Member State-only sessions and influence in key negotiations. In other meetings, some lobbyists adopted an aggressive approach, with independent scientists from the Scientists’ Coalition reporting acts of intimidation and harassment to the U.N.
Unleash Our Public Lands by Jason Mark at Sierra magazine. It used to be that you could just roll up to a Forest Service campground or a national park backcountry wilderness office and have a reasonably good chance of nabbing a permit. That was always one of the best things about the outdoors getaway—the spontaneity of the adventure could leave you feeling as free as the big open, spaces. No more. A junk-fee-packed online system—Recreation.gov—that is the only reservation portal for most federal and state parks has opened the way to a Taylor Swift–concert–like scrum for camping spots. Outdoor enthusiasts are often left paying fees to the defense contractor Booz Allen, the operator of Recreation.gov, even when they can’t nab a coveted reservation. There are reports of bots snapping up camping sites, which are then sold on a gray market. [...] Unpopular though it may be, the National Park Service’s decision to institute reservations at some of the most popular parks in response to the crush of visitors is a smart move. Arches, Glacier, Mount Rainier, Rocky Mountain, and Yosemite National Parks now have time-entry reservation systems for high season. Sure, it’s a pain. But it’s better than the alternative: No one wants to go to a national park only to be stuck in a traffic jam. There’s another, more long-lasting solution to ease the congestion at public lands: establish more parks. Many states—both blue and red—are already doing this by moving to create more state parks, which are often the most accessible of our public lands. Congress should follow the states’ lead and act on the raft of pending national parks and wilderness bills.
RESEARCH & REPORTS
Parliamentary members use simpler language on hot days: Climate change has many widespread and complicated effects on the well-being of people and the planet, and a new study has now added a surprising one to the list. After analyzing the language used in seven million parliamentary speeches around the world, it shows that high temperatures lead to a significant and immediate reduction in politicians' language complexity.
Study: In a Warmer World, Cloud Brightening Could Backfire: At the University of California, San Diego, researchers recently modeled the impact of cloud brightening if deployed on a massive scale, with ships scattering salt into the air across huge swaths of the north Pacific every spring, summer, and fall for 30 years. They found that brightening would cut the risk of dangerous summer heat in North America. Though, their modeling showed it would also curtail rainfall in both Alaska and the Sahel region of Africa.Looking ahead, researchers examined the effect of brightening in 2050, in a world that had warmed by 2°C (3.6°F). In that scenario, brightening would no longer curb the regional risk of summer heat. It would, however, intensify heat over most of Europe. The findings were published in Nature Climate Change
OTHER GREEN STUFF
UN climate chief warns of “steep mountain to climb” for COP29 after Bonn blame-game • Despite Green Image, Biofuels Manufacturing Releases Large Amounts of Hazardous Air Pollutants • Green sand threatens Biden’s offshore wind ambition • Minnesota advocates push for pause on utility shutoffs after study reveals racial disparities • The Bezos Earth fund has pumped billions into climate and nature projects. So why are experts uneasy? • In West Virginia’s ‘Poultry Capital,’ immigrant workers struggle to find the help and support they need • American Test Of Three Chinese EVs: 'It’s A Wake-Up Call' • Wildfire Smoke Killed More Than 50,000 Californians Over a Decade • Five things we learned from the UN’s climate mega-poll • Trump Says Clean Energy Is a Scam. That Could Benefit China, Experts Say
