Climate

On a family trip in Montana, a father shares a tradition with his two sons even as climate change threatens the certainty of the rivers he grew up running.

NSW, Victoria, south-western Queensland and parts of central Australia had temperatures climb by 6C to 12C above average, BoM says

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Parts of Sydney and south-west New South Wales faced elevated fire danger on Friday as high winds and unseasonably warm temperatures pushed through south-eastern Australia before a cooler, more settled weekend.

New South Wales, Victoria, south-west Queensland and parts of central Australia experienced temperatures between 6C and 12C above average on Friday, with damaging wind warnings for parts of New South Wales and Victoria.

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The excessive heat worldwide suggests the full year will also be a record-breaker, according to Copernicus, the E.U. agency that tracks global warming.

Though large automakers are delaying their plans to introduce new all-electric models, the E.V. industry is still the future, experts say.

Experts believe the outcome of the race for the White House could determine how ambitious China’s climate efforts will be.

New research shows that cases of valley fever, which in rare cases can be fatal, have risen dramatically in recent years

At least 19 people contracted valley fever, a fungal infection that in rare cases can be fatal, after attending an outdoor music festival in southern California in May, public health officials have reported.

The number of illnesses associated with the five-day Lightning in a Bottle event has almost quadrupled over the last month. Valley fever is caused by inhaling Coccidioides, a fungus endemic to the soil of the US south-west. New research shows that cases of the illness have risen dramatically in recent years.

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Study’s authors say integrity of higher education ‘at risk’ upon finding lack of attention to role of oil and gas firms

Fossil fuel companies’ funding of universities’ climate-focused efforts is delaying the green transition, according to the most extensive peer-reviewed study to date of the industry’s influence on academia.

For the study, published in the journal WIREs Climate Change on Thursday, six researchers pored over thousands of academic articles on industries’ funding of research from the past two decades. Just a handful of them focused on oil and gas companies, showing a “worrying lack of attention” to the issue, the analysis says.

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Throughout his two terms, Governor Gavin Newsom has driven California to the top of the world in clean transportation policies that will improve air quality and fight the climate crisis. Under Newsom, California passed policies to get the state to 100% zero emission vehicle (ZEV) sales, transition large truck fleets from dirty diesel to zero emissions, and fund billions of dollars in incentives and infrastructure for clean transportation.  

But California can’t take the foot off the gas (or uh, accelerator) now and neither can Newsom. As these policies change our transportation future, new hurdles arise, and we need new solutions to address them. 

EVs are abundant in much of the state, but polluting, old vehicles remain in lower-income neighborhoods. They demand electricity to charge while climate-fueled disasters are jeopardizing energy reliability. And there is a snowball of retired EV batteries on the horizon without a responsible party in charge of recycling them. 

Luckily, these new challenges have proven solutions and – look at that! – they were approved by the legislature and are now sitting on Newsom’s desk, awaiting his signature to become law.  

Focus clean vehicle incentives on replacing the oldest, most polluting cars

UCS sponsored AB 2401 by Assemblymember Ting, which would expand the state’s Clean Cars 4 All program to help low-income and high-mileage drivers replace their older, polluting gas cars with EVs. This common-sense, data-backed bill received ZERO “no” votes from any lawmaker and is awaiting a green light from the state’s top executive.  

The bill responds to research conducted by UCS and The Greenlining Institute showing that while pre-2004 vehicles account for fewer than 20% of the cars on California’s roads, they emit nearly 75% of the smog-forming nitrogen oxides emissions. These dirty vehicles are overrepresented in low-income neighborhoods and disproportionately impact the health of these already overburdened communities.  

Adding insult to injury, the state has had several difficult budget cycles in recent years and is bracing for more. This has meant decreasing or cutting funding for clean vehicle incentive dollars that would normally help replace these old vehicles with cleaner alternatives.  

AB 2401 would help California’s limited incentives go further and focus them on the communities that need them the most.  

Use batteries for more than just driving

What if EVs weren’t just a clean transportation solution, but a clean energy solution too? UCS sponsored SB 59 – authored by Senator Skinner – to explicitly give the state the authority to require that all EVs are “bidirectional”, meaning they would have the ability to power homes, appliances, or even the grid with the power stored in their batteries.  

As California rightly electrifies its homes, buildings and vehicles, the state must produce more electricity to meet this new demand. And as demand is increasing, climate-fueled extreme heat and wildfires are straining grid reliability.  

By signing SB 59, Newsom could turn the clean transportation future he was instrumental in building into a clean energy reliability asset. That certainly sounds a lot better than turning to a bunch of new diesel generators for backup power, doesn’t it? 

Recover minerals from old batteries  

UCS has provided a science-based explanation on how EV batteries can and should be recycled, which underpins SB 615 by Senator Allen. This bill would ensure that all EV batteries are reused, repurposed or recycled by: 

1. explicitly making automakers responsible for their products at the end of the products’ lives,
     
2. requiring robust reporting and tracking of EV batteries, and  
   
3. setting up a process to ensure batteries are being sent to cleaner, more efficient recyclers.  

Between now and 2030, battery retirements will increase rapidly and if we do not have a strong policy in place – such as SB 615 – we could end up with batteries in landfills or being abandoned all together.   

By signing SB 615, Newsom can plan ahead for the safe recycling of EV batteries so critical minerals can be recovered and reused, reducing the amount of mining necessary for fully electrifying our cars and trucks over the coming years 

So, Mr. Governor, would you like to borrow a pen? 

It’s been a great year for California policy: we are providing sensible, science-backed solutions to move us from a dirty, extractive economy to a clean, sustainable one. All that needs to happen now is for Newsom to continue his climate leadership.  

The sites fight climate change and can help with another global crisis: the collapse of nature. But so far, efforts to nurture wildlife habitat have been spotty.

In Barra de Santiago, local people are struggling to save one of the few remaining mangrove forests, as they are lost to agriculture and urban sprawl

Along El Salvador’s western coast lies a 10,000-hectare (25,000-acre) emerald oasis, in stark contrast to the rest of the country’s largely deforested landscape. This lush forest, just a few miles from the Guatemalan border, teems with diverse wildlife – from crocodiles and crabs to fish darting through seemingly endless mangroves.

More than a biodiversity haven, Barra de Santiago serves as a crucial carbon sink in a region battling deforestation, and a natural shield for a country exposed to climate crisis-induced tropical storms and escalating sea levels. It is also home to thousands of people, whose lives are intricately tied to the resources provided by land and sea.

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McLeod Ganj is a magnet for domestic holidaymakers fleeing scorching temperatures. But their cars choke the streets and new hotels stretch scarce water supplies

SUVs and saloon cars pass slowly along McLeod Ganj’s narrow one-way Jogiwara Road, blaring horns at pedestrians and scooter riders and playing loud music. The powerful vehicles soon get stuck in the traffic near Kalachakra temple, the place of worship of the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso.

“You can be stuck in this traffic easily for two hours,” says a frustrated local taxi driver, not keen to share his name.

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Heating of 4C could increase potential offshore wind energy by average of 9% by end of century, research suggests

A warmer world could bring more potential for offshore wind energy, according to a new study. Although it doesn’t bear thinking about, with heating of 4C potential offshore wind energy could increase by an average of 9% globally by the end of this century.

Previous research has indicated that global heating will reduce the potential for wind power generation, but there is much uncertainty in how wind patterns will shift, and in particular how surface wind speeds will change over time.

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Experts urge Australia not to delay target too long as report by Climate Change Authority identifies six barriers to net zero

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The Australian government may delay the announcement of a 2035 climate target until after the February deadline and beyond the next election, in part due to uncertainty about the ramifications of the US presidential election.

Some big emitting countries are lagging in developing their 2035 emissions reduction targets, which under the Paris climate agreement are due before the UN climate summit in Belém, Brazil, in November next year.

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Scientist James Lovelock gave humanity new ways to think about our home planet – but some of his biggest ideas were the fruit of a passionate collaboration

Love rarely gets the credit it deserves for the advancement of science. Nor, for that matter, does hatred, greed, envy or any other emotion. Instead, this realm of knowledge tends to be idealised as something cold, hard, rational, neutral and objective, dictated by data rather than feelings. The life and work of James Lovelock is proof that this is neither possible nor desirable. In his work, he helped us understand that humans can never completely divorce ourselves from any living subject because we are interconnected and interdependent, all part of the same Earth system, which he called Gaia.

Our planet, he argued, behaves like a giant organism – regulating its temperature, discharging waste and cycling chemicals to maintain a healthy balance. Although highly controversial among scientists in the 1970s and 80s, this holistic view of the world had mass appeal, which stretched from New Age spiritual gurus to that stern advocate of free-market orthodoxy, Margaret Thatcher. Its insights into the link between nature and climate have since inspired many of the world’s most influential climate scientists, philosophers and environmental campaigners. The French philosopher Bruno Latour said the Gaia Theory has reshaped humanity’s understanding of our place in the universe as fundamentally as the ideas of Galileo Galilei. At its simplest, Gaia is about restoring an emotional connection with a living planet.

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The Climate Change Authority’s sector pathways review says a huge national effort is needed and the net zero goal should become front of mind for business, investors and governments

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A zero-carbon mindset must “become the new normal” in Australia, according to a much-anticipated report from the federal government’s independent climate advisory body.

The report, released today by the Climate Change Authority, describes how Australia can meet the crucial target of net zero emissions by 2050.

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Hottest large city in US broke previous heat record from 1993 as temperatures are expected to reach 110 tomorrow

Phoenix, Arizona, saw its 100th straight day of 100F (37.7C) heat this week.

The hottest large city in the United States broke its previous record of 76 consecutive 100F days set in 1993. The relentless streak, which started on 27 May and hit its 100th day on Tuesday, is forecast to persist into next week. An excessive heat warning is in effect through Friday, with temperatures expected to reach 110F (43C) tomorrow.

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More tourists are eager to visit vanishing glaciers and ice caves, but warming is also making the sites unstable.

Residents tell of ‘apocalyptic scenes’ after more than 60mm of rainfall falls on Italian capital in less than an hour

Lightning has struck the Constantine Arch near the Colosseum in Rome during a violent thunderstorm, breaking off fragments from the ancient structure, officials have said.

The fragments were immediately gathered and secured by workers at the Colosseum Archeological Park, authorities in the Italian capital said. The extent of the damage, which occurred on Tuesday, was being evaluated.

“The recovery work by technicians was timely. Our workers arrived immediately after the lightning strike. All of the fragments were recovered and secured,” the park said in a statement.

Rome was hit by a sudden and powerful storm that dumped more than 60mm of rain in less than an hour, equivalent to a month’s rainfall in autumn. The city’s mayor, Roberto Gualtieri, described it as a “downburst”.

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Dialogue with green groups results in agreement on ‘urgent, ambitious and feasible’ reforms in agriculture

Europe’s food and farming lobbies have recognised the need to eat less meat after hammering out a shared vision for the future of agriculture with green groups and other stakeholders.

The wide-ranging report calls for “urgent, ambitious and feasible” change in farm and food systems and acknowledges that Europeans eat more animal protein than scientists recommend. It says support is needed to rebalance diets toward plant-based proteins such as better education, stricter marketing and voluntary buyouts of farms in regions that intensively rear livestock.

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California, Nevada and Arizona swelter in what could be the most intense heatwave of an already blazing season

Searing temperatures will roast the US west once again this week, as a brutal heatwave could bring some of the highest temperatures of the summer so far.

Excessive heat warnings were in effect across parts of southern California, Arizona and Nevada, affecting tens of millions of people. The harsh weather was predicted to peak beginning on Wednesday and lasting into the weekend.

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