Climate Point: A Colorado River odyssey and other holiday tales
Welcome to Climate Point, your weekly guide to climate, energy and the environment. I’m Janet Wilson from Palm Springs, California. Happy Thanksgiving!
Years ago, I was young and alone in a new town on Thanksgiving. Feeling sorry for myself. I vowed to write down three things for which I was grateful. An hour later, I had filled four pages and was still scribbling people and things for which I felt enormous gratitude. It turned my frown upside down and remains a great holiday memory.
In that spirit, let's highlight some good news and honest reviews on potential solutions to our overheated, rapidly changing world, including whether it's worth it to pay to "offset" your plane trip to see loved ones, or to buy heat pumps. And because it's a holiday weekend and not everyone loves football or shopping malls, also included are links to long reads or podcasts that are worth your time on a lazy, too-stuffed-to-move afternoon.
A river runs through us. First up, a riveting saga in the Arizona Republic on the ordinary people who depend on the fast-disappearing Colorado River by Brandon Loomis, with gorgeous photos by Mark Henle. Both spent nearly a year traveling from the Wyoming headwaters at the tippy top of the river system through seven states, ending in fields of verdant winter crops in Yuma, Arizona, and California's Imperial Valley.
Everyone who depends on the century-old Law of the River is keenly aware that in order to save their often deeply satisfying lives, they need to move fast. Wyoming farmer Michael Klaren, for instance, knows that the worsening drought endangers the ranch life he chose in 1989.
But as Loomis writes, Klaren, watching his son and future daughter-in-law feeding cows and calves, said, "You guys cannot imagine how cool it is for me to see my son doing this."
His graying horseshoe mustache curled into a smile (and) he snapped the reins. He had no complaints, so long as the water holds out.
Decor no more. Western cities dependent on Colorado River agree to remove ornamental grass.
Payback. Across the globe in Egypt, the United Nation's 27th major climate summit resulted in some welcome news, and continued grim warnings. For the first time, the nations of the world agreed to help pay for damage that climate change has done to poor countries that did little to nothing to cause it but are feeling the brunt of a warming ecosystem. The decision establishes a loss and damage fund, and is a big win for poorer nations, which have since 1991 called for payments. But there's no money in the fund yet, and as greenhouse gases pile up, states and cities are pushing forward with their own efforts.
Cool, cool water. Low-cost tools for testing and filtering water could help remote rural communities that have had to buy costly, trucked-in water for years, like the little-served "colonias" of Texas.
Other must-reads or listens:
A little birdy told us. Veteran climate reporter Andrew Revkin chats with Jim Moffitt, an engineer who just quit Twitter but hasn't given up on the potential for the global real-time town square to save lives and boost resilience in extreme weather events.
The chaos and deep cuts at the social media site do threaten real-time emergency management systems, including getting word out on wildfires, hurricanes and other disasters.
So where's the good news? Moffitt hopes new owner Elon Musk knows that the alert system partnerships and other multi-year contracts generate almost $400 million a year in "very stable" revenues. Doesn't take a genius to see how that could help not just the beleaguered site, but millions of people in danger zones.
Alphabet Soup. Climate reporter extraordinaire Elizabeth Kolbert with the New Yorker has a terrific piece entitled "Climate Change from A to Z," and it's just that, a rundown on climate change, starting with (Svante) Arrhenius who was, by nature, an optimist. He believed that science should—and could—be accessible to all.
Read on for more, including how you can comment on the next national assessment of climate change, in writing or artwork. And big thanks to you all for being readers of this newsletter and for caring about our planet. Now back to peeling potatoes.
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