Climate Point: A chilling climate milestone
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Welcome to Climate Point, your weekly guide to climate change, energy and the environment. I'm Sammy Roth, a reporter in Southern California and unfortunately your bearer of bad news most of the time. Remember last week when I told you that carbon dioxide levels were higher in April 2018 than at any previous point in human history? Well, it turns out April 2018 was also the planet's 400th straight warmer-than-average month, and the third-warmest April on record, as Paste BN's Doyle Rice reports.
I wish that was some kind of crazy coincidence. Truly, I do.
Here are some other things you might want to know:
MUST-READ STORIES:
Hurricane Harvey, climate change and Alaska: Paste BN's Doyle Rice reports that yet another study has found a link between the strength of Hurricane Harvey and climate change, and if that sounds familiar, yes, it's because a bunch of other scientists have reached the same conclusion. Seriously, though, the impacts of climate change are no secret at this point. Even Alaska, a politically conservative state that depends on oil revenue for a whopping 85 percent of its budget, is working on a climate plan, which could actually involve taxing carbon, as Brad Plumer reports for the New York Times.
Humans are rearranging the world's freshwater supplies: In yet another large-scale experiment we're inadvertently conducting on the natural systems that have made human civilization possible, water sources are being drained and rearranged around the world. My Desert Sun colleague Ian James reports on new research based on data from NASA's GRACE satellites that finds a "human fingerprint" in dramatic changes to freshwater supplies from California to China. Some of the changes involve melting glaciers from climate change; others involve over-pumping of groundwater aquifers.
ALL ABOUT CLEAN ENERGY:
California's solar mandate, maybe not so great: Last week I told you about a new policy in California requiring most new homes to have solar panels. Turns out some economists don't think it's the best idea, since rooftop solar is one of the more expensive ways to generate clean electricity and reduce emissions. Vox's David Roberts wrote about the objections (and counter-objections) to the policy, if you want to learn more. On the other hand, new homeowners in the desert, where I live, could save $74 per month from the solar mandate, nearly twice as much as the average Californian, as I reported for The Desert Sun. The Arizona Republic's Ryan Randazzo and Catherine Reagor also wrote an interesting piece on what might happen if Arizona adopted the same policy.
Trump approves huge solar farm on public lands: The Trump administration has made a big deal about how it supports all domestic energy production, even from renewable sources. And at least in this one case, that appears to be true. The Interior Department said this week it will approve one of the country's largest solar farms, which would be built on 3,100 acres of public lands in the California desert, as I reported for The Desert Sun. Of course, it's more complicated than that; some environmental groups actually don't want this solar farm to be built, since it would be right outside Joshua Tree National Park and could harm important wildlife habitat. Read the story for more.
POLITICAL CLIMATE:
When sound science is a "public relations nightmare": It's amazing to me how every week there are new stories about Scott Pruitt's Environmental Protection Agency trying to hide inconvenient science. This week, Politico's Annie Snider reports that the EPA blocked the release of a federal health study on toxic water pollution after a White House political appointee warned it would cause a "public relations nightmare." Yes, those were his exact words. Meanwhile, InsideClimate News' Nicholas Kusnetz reports that Scott Pruitt "wants to radically revise how basic, health-based national air quality standards are set, giving more weight to the economic costs of achieving them and taking into account their impacts on energy development," which may be illegal.
When endangered species and the border collide: There's a fascinating battle playing out along the border in Arizona, New Mexico and Sonora, where efforts to save the endangered Mexican gray wolf are colliding with the tricky politics of the U.S.-Mexico relationship. Here's the story from Alex Devoid at the Arizona Republic. The short version is that U.S. officials mostly want to see gray wolf populations recover in Mexico, because ranchers here don't want the wolves killing their cattle. But wolf advocates say the species probably needs more U.S. habitat to fully recover. Meanwhile, Trump's border wall could block U.S. and Mexico gray wolf populations from mixing and mingling.
AND ANOTHER THING:
This story is a few months old, but it caught my attention this week and it's about a bunch of issues I care about, and it also takes place in my hometown. So bear with me.
In Los Angeles' Silver Lake neighborhood, a developer wants to build a three-story mixed-use building, including 14 apartments. But the proposal is on hold because a city councilmember is trying to get the existing building at the site preserved as a "Historic-Cultural Monument." The existing building, which was built in 1941, is...a gas station.
Here's the story from Barry Lank at the Eastsider.
So to review: California has an affordable housing crisis. It's also trying to deal with the climate crisis, and its largest source of emissions is transportation, and people in Los Angeles drive especially long distances. But a proposal to create a little bit of density in LA, and a little more housing, could be derailed to preserve a historic gas station.
That's all for this week. For more climate, energy and environment news, follow me on Twitter @Sammy_Roth. You can sign up to get Climate Point in your inbox here.