Climate Point: As western wildfires explode, experts say we can slow, reverse climate change

Welcome to Climate Point, your weekly guide to climate, energy and the environment. I'm Janet Wilson from Palm Springs, California, where smoke from Northern California's infernos dipped south and reached the desert this week.

That's nothing compared to the monstrous clouds of fire and smoke blocking the skies of central and Northern California. Another mountain town was engulfed by flames on Tuesday — Grizzly Flats, population 1200, lost its post office, elementary school and hundreds of homes, and two residents were seriously injured. Photos by John Bartell at ABC10 Sacramento show the charred lot that was the school, the melted town sign and  other wreckage.

The U.S. Forest Service is "operating in crisis mode, fully deploying firefighters and maxing out its support system," writes Jessica Skropanic with the Redding Record Searchlight. 

Decades of predictions by climate scientists are proving hellishly true, with a hotter atmosphere unleashing fiercer storms, droughts, wildfires and other disasters. More than 2.2 million acres have burned in 104 large fires in 12 states so far this year.

And July 2021 was the planet's hottest month ever recorded, federal scientists announced Friday, per Doyle Rice with USA Today. Many of the changes seen in the world's climate are unprecedented in thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of years.

Feeling overwhelmed? Understandable. But climate scientists and psychologists say it's important to focus on a key fact from the latest UN climate report: It's not too late to reverse the worst of this, if we act now. No more building new coal plants and get rid of fossil fuels, said UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, and we will stabilize and then reduce temperatures.

It's important to not surrender mentally too. Change the script from “we’re screwed” to “we’re screwed if we don’t do anything about it," says Hill contributor and solar financier Andreas Karelas, who rounds up practical thinking from climate experts and writers. 

"We need people to transmute that dread and horror into determination, or rather we need more, because so many — scientists, organisers, policymakers, funders — already have," writes Rebecca Solnit in the Guardian.  

Here are other stories that may be of interest:

MUST-READ STORIES

Crypto cowboys. Since China’s State Council banned cryptocurrency mining and trading in the country in May, top Bitcoin miners have been searching for new locations with cheap power and lax regulation. Bitcoin may be virtual currency, but it takes huge amounts of electricity to compute the algorithms that create it. Texas is looking good to many, as Meghan Tobin chronicles in a great read for Rest of World.

Cough cough. Areas hit hard by the air pollution from wildfires are seeing spikes in COVID-19 cases too, and Harvard researchers say there's a likely reason. The presence of wildfire smoke last year during the pandemic may have been responsible for at least 19,000 more coronavirus cases on the West Coast, and 700 subsequent deaths, a new study shows. It traces increases in infections to periods of smoke in more than 50 counties in California, Oregon and Washington.

Water woes. Federal officials have declared a shortage of water on the Colorado River for the first time ever, and Arizona farmers, Nevada and Mexico will lose critical supplies next year, as Ian James and Zayna Syed report for the Arizona Republic. More cuts are likely in coming years for California and other states; 40 million people depend on imports from the rivers' reservoirs.

Banking on it. Scientists are building a modem-day Noah's ark to protect wildlife from extinction by fire and heat, one tiny seed at a time.

POLITICAL CLIMATE

Believe it or not. California, long a global pioneer of environment and climate policies, could soon be governed by a one-time climate change denying GOP talk show host. James Ward and I took a look for USA Today at the green calculus of the current recall, where Gov. Gavin Newsom is in the fight of his life to keep office.

Tailpipes and berries. The Biden administration will reverse two Trump administration decisions that rolled back environmental policies. A new rule proposed by U.S EPA and the Department of Transportation would mandate nearly 4% annual mileage increases through 2026, meaning more efficient, cleaner cars, per Chelsea Cox. And EPA will ban use of a pesticide widely applied on fruits and vegetables that's linked to neurological damage in children and farmworkers, overturning a Trump-era decision to keep it on the market. Dino Grandoni with the Washington Post tells us more. 

Danger. Millions of US homes are at risk of greater flooding, wildfire and other impacts due to climate change, but few Americans know it. A USA Today investigation found FEMA and other agencies have badly underestimated the threat by relying on outdated numbers and failing to take into account a warming planet.

HOT TAKES

Too hot. From roofers to groundskeepers, Florida's outdoor workers are nearly a quarter of the state’s workforce, but rising temperatures due to climate change could cost them billions in lost wages, says a new report by the Union of Concerned Scientists. The group found extreme heat will threaten outdoor workers’ earnings across the U.S. In one county, workers who typically miss 14 days per year due to extreme heat could lose 54 days by midcentury. Karl Schneider with Naples Daily News reports.

Heat gap. Across California and the US, people of color, the poor and immigrants live in hotter places.

Bury it.  Fossil fuel companies are quietly scoring billions for their preferred climate solution: Keep producing emissions, but capture and store them underground. Much more funding is likely to come with legislation pending before Congress..

Packed house Activists who fought for clean air at the nation's busiest ports didn't realize they were part of a gas industry campaign. A joint investigation by Los Angeles Times, Floodlight and the Guardian found residents were paid to unwillingly push for “near-zero-emission” trucks. Their comments at public meetings bolstered lobbying for trucks fueled by natural gas — less polluting than diesel but still contributing to lung-damage and climate change. Miranda Green and Sandy Roth report.

Atlantic slowdown? A huge system of currents in the Atlantic Ocean that influences temperatures and the climate may be on the verge of shutting down. 

AND ANOTHER THING

Misery. Sometimes it’s hard to remember what blue sky looks like, writes Amy Alonzo with the Reno Gazette Journal, capturing the feelings of many this long, hot summer. 

"I just want it to end," she says. "This coming weekend, I will do what I did last weekend. Which is also what I did last summer, and what it feels like I’ll do in summers to come. I’ll get in my car and drive in whatever direction has less smoke. I’ll be grateful for all the trees I’ll pass, living beings taking in carbon and giving back oxygen.

Because someday, seeing healthy green trees in the forest could be as rare as seeing a clear blue sky."

That's all for this week. Keep your masks up and keep hope alive. 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.