Climate Point: Hothouse Earth
Welcome to Climate Point, your weekly guide to climate change, energy and the environment. Before you ask: Yes, California is still burning. Ten people have died. The Mendocino Complex Fire is especially terrifying; it's grown to more than 470 square miles, making it the largest fire in California's recorded history, as Paste BN's Steve Kiggins reports. To put the fires in context, check out these powerful visual explainers from a team of Paste BN journalists, showing how more acres are burning and large fires are becoming more common in California, with climate change playing a major role.
My name is Sammy Roth, and I'm a reporter based in Southern California, thankfully living somewhere that isn't on fire. Here are some things you might want to know:
MUST-READ STORIES:
The habitability of the planet may be at stake: Paste BN's Doyle Rice reports on a scary but important new study from scientists across the globe, finding that greenhouse gas emissions may be propelling us toward a "hothouse Earth" scenario in which temperatures rise as much as 8 degrees Fahrenheit and sea levels rise as much as 200 feet, threatening the habitability of this fragile blue-green planet for human beings. It may not be the likeliest outcome, but these scientists say it's a distinct possibility. In the meantime, things are plenty bad. Doyle also reported on the hellish month that was July 2018, which saw record-breaking heat and extreme weather around the world, from deadly fires in California, to deadlier fires in Greece, to even deadlier flooding in Asia.
Climate refugees in Iowa: Longtime readers have probably gotten tired of hearing this from me, but I won't stop saying it: Climate change is not just a coastal problem. Case in point: Global warming is bringing more frequent and more intense storms to Iowa, per Donnelle Eller at the Des Moines Register. Massive flooding recently left 80 people homeless, essentially making them climate refugees. In other news, Donnelle reports that Andrew Wheeler, acting chief of the Environmental Protection Agency, will visit the Iowa State Fair next week. Someone ought to ask him about the climate refugees.
ALL ABOUT CLEAN ENERGY:
California's energy future is up for grabs: The Golden State already has some of the country's most ambitious clean energy policies — and it could soon add a whole bunch more of them. With three weeks left in the legislative session, California lawmakers are considering a bunch of energy bills, including one that would mandate 100 percent climate-friendly electricity by 2045, as I reported for The Desert Sun. Another bill would create a regional energy market that supporters say would help California spread clean energy to other western states (although critics worry it would backfire). Other legislation would boost geothermal power and hydroelectricity. So many bills, so little time!
I have no idea what is going on with Tesla: Elon Musk is probably a genius, but sometimes he can't seem to stop getting in his own way. This week, the electric vehicle magnate stunned investors by tweeting he'd secured funding to take Tesla private, which would be great news for the financially precarious automaker, as Nathan Bomey reported for Paste BN. It was quickly reported that the Securities and Exchange Commission was looking into whether Musk's tweet was true, and also why Musk had revealed the information on Twitter, per Jamie L. LaReau at the Detroit Free Press. Not that he's asking for my advice, but maybe Musk — and other high-profile entrepreneurs, politicians and athletes — should be a little more careful what they say on Twitter.
POLITICAL CLIMATE:
Bird species are crashing in the Mojave: I've been lucky enough to spend some time the last few years in Death Valley National Park and Mojave National Preserve. So I was saddened to read the latest story from Ian James in the Arizona Republic, about new research finding that there are far fewer birds in the Mojave Desert than there used to be, and that climate change is largely to blame. In some parts of the desert, there are 43 percent fewer bird species than there were a century ago. One other striking statistic: In July, there were 10 nights in Death Valley when temperatures didn't drop below 100 degrees. Probably not coincidentally, a dozen birds were found dead in the park.
Someone is wrong on the internet: President Trump tweeted about the California wildfires, making the bizarre and untrue claim that the state's environmental policies are preventing firefighters from getting the water they need to fight the fires. I threw together some tweets explaining why that's wrong (firefighters say they have all the water they need), which basically makes me this guy. The whole thing would have felt meaningless, except that Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross — whose department includes the National Marine Fisheries Service, for some reason — ordered federal officials to make sure firefighters have enough water, even if endangered species might be harmed by the water withdrawals. Writing for the Los Angeles Times, Michael Hiltzik explains how the fire concerns appear to be a pretext for weakening the Endangered Species Act.
AND ANOTHER THING:
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke wrote an opinion piece for Paste BN on preventing wildfires. He got several things right, including the need to improve forest management practices and the importance of a sustainable funding mechanism for firefighting.
But Zinke also got several things wrong, as KPCC's Emily Guerin explained in this great Twitter thread. Most importantly: Zinke wrote that wildfires "are burning hotter and more intense, due in part to hot and dry weather," but he didn't mention that climate change is largely to blame. Zinke also made an argument for more logging of trees, which wouldn't necessarily address the overgrowth problem in a way that would reduce fire risk.
Meanwhile, California continues to burn.
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.