Climate Point: Moving to avoid climate change? There's an app for that

Welcome to Climate Point, your weekly guide to climate, energy and the environment. I'm Janet Wilson from Palm Springs, California. For 20 years I've fantasized on and off about relocating from sunny, parched Southern California to yes, snowy New England, convinced it's a good bet to avoid climate change impacts, including droughts, wildfires and rising seas. I may be too late — thanks to COVID and upticks in disasters, many are already fleeing cities for rural areas and prices have shot up in "dream" locations.

A survey commissioned by real estate website Redfin found nearly half of respondents say they plan to move in the next year, citing extreme temperatures and  increasing disasters as playing a role in their decision to relocate, according to USA Today's Swapna Venugopal Ramaswmy.  

Redfin announced Tuesday it will add local climate risk data to its site, she writes. It will integrate data from ClimateCheck, a startup that lets people plug in any address in the United States and see the risk of fire, heat, drought and storms over the lifespan of a 30-year mortgage. I did a quick check of my home, and I gotta say, it skewed high on flood risk and way low on wildfire risk. It is a start-up though.

If moving abroad is an option, researchers also recently ranked the countries most likely to avoid societal collapse due to climate change in coming decades, topped by New Zealand, followed by the other large islands of Tasmania and Ireland. AJ Dellinger with Mic rounds up of the top six, though The New York Times' Heather Murphy notes some scientists found flaws with the study that crowned New Zealand the best choice.

Maybe I can help colonize Mars, ala Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk. Or as Dellinger writes, maybe instead of running away, we could all work to slow global warming.

Here are some other stories that may be of interest.

MUST-READ STORIES

Get the lead out. While climate change dominates environmental news this summer, decades-old concerns like lead poisoning haven't gone away. As Beth Harvilla with the Columbus Dispatch reports, many states still have no exact tally of lead water pipes, which can contaminate drinking water. Ohio placed second in a 2016 water system survey, behind Illinois, with an estimated 650,000 lead pipes to be replaced. If a federal infrastructure plan ever passes Congress, billions in allocations could help.

Heads up penny. Meanwhile, here are eight ways to protect yourself and your kids, including using a penny and a magnet to determine if your pipes are lead, steel or copper.

Feel good no good. Popular campaigns to plant millions of trees to stall climate change do some good, but often fall short of their goals, from Denmark to Denver, as Feargus O'Sullivan and Linda Poon chronicle for Bloomberg City Lab. 

“People bash into them with bikes and cars,” says Sandra Hoj, a Copenhagen activist, “and they often don’t have proper protection.” Bark gets slashed, or they're poisoned in winter because the municipality uses salt on the roads instead of a safe alternative. “Meanwhile, the city is still replacing some beautiful mature trees with tiny little twigs, which die, are replanted, and then die again,” says Hoj. 

What a waste. A supposed breakthrough technology backed by Dow Inc. to convert plastic waste into clean fuel failed outside Boise, ID two years ago, and so have others across three continents backed by big oil and chemical companies, according to an investigation by Reuters' Joe Brock, Valerie Volcovici and John Geddie. The failures or slowdowns show the enormous obstacles confronting advanced recycling, a set of technologies that the plastics industry touts as an environmental savior – and sees as key to its continued growth amid mounting global pressure to curb plastic.

POLITICAL CLIMATE

Deal or no deal? After much delay, U.S. senators worked last weekend and unveiled a nearly $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package Sunday night. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act clocked in at about 2,700 pages, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said a final vote could come “in a matter of days.” 

The bipartisan bill is the first phase of the president’s infrastructure plan. It calls for $550 billion in spending over five years on the nation’s roads, bridges, waterworks, broadband and the electric grid. But it falls short on many clean energy and other climate measures, and critics denounced funding that could help polluting technologies. 

Money money. Separately, a Senate committee approved a $53.6 billion energy and water spending bill for fiscal year 2022. And Democrats want to tax Exxon, Chevron and other major polluters $500 million.

Deaf ears. Numerous U.S. Senates have failed for years to ratify signature global environmental treaties, including one on the Law of the Sea that could regulate deep sea mining, and others on biological diversity, persistent pollutants, and limiting international transport of hazardous waste, including electronics and plastic. All enjoy broad global support. Tara Lohan reports for The Revelator.

Expert advice. After firing controversial Trump era appointees, U.S. EPA has selected new — and some returning — members of its science advisory board.

WATER AND POWER

Coming up dry. Dozens of California communities are close to running out of water, per Paul Rogers with Bay Area News Group, racing to install emergency desalination, imposing 40% water cuts and other measures. State water regulators on Tuesday, in an unprecedented action, voted to curtail supplies for every five out of six users from the overtaxed and critical Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta watershed, reports Julia Wick with the Los Angeles Times.

Rain bombs. Turns out FEMA knows a lot about climate driven flooding, but doesn't push homeowners hard enough to buy insurance, according to a GAO report, leaving them and federal taxpayers at increased risk. James Bruggers with Inside Climate News reports.

Pretty poison. There's been plenty of rain in the Midwest, and that's spurred an explosion of potentially deadly poison hemlock. Look for purple spots on the stem and an especially tall stalk to tell the difference between it and Queen Anne's lace. Sarah Bowman and London Gibson with the Indianapolis Star fill us in.

Electric vehicles. Southern California is replacing Shanghai as an electric vehicle development mecca.

Charging ahead. Indiana gives utilities $5.5 million for EV chargers across state.

AND ANOTHER THING

River snorkeling anyone? The cool, clear waters of East Tennessee rivers and streams are a North American haven for snorkelers, delighting seniors and schoolkids alike, and helping efforts to prevent polluting silt and other problems. The Knoxville News Sentinel's Vincent Gabrielle has a sweet first-person piece on hunting Appalachia's incredible fish with a tube and a face mask.

That's it for now. Have a refreshing week. And for more climate, energy and environment news, follow me @janetwilson66. You can sign up to get Climate Point in your inbox for free here.