Climate Point: A heat wave and a sinking feeling
Welcome to Climate Point, your weekly guide to climate, energy and environment news. From toasty Palm Springs, I'm senior environment reporter Janet Wilson.
While over 110 million Americans were under federal heat alerts on Thursday, residents in the Northeast dug out after being pummeled by heavy rains and flash floods. In bucolic Vermont, which typically depends heavily on summer tourism revenues. President Joe Biden declared an emergency and promised disaster relief. But another wave of storms is expected to roll in across New England later this week. Rising water and aging dams could pose major threats here and across the U.S. Check this dam finder to see if you're at risk.
The dizzying headlines are unlikely to slow down any time soon, writes Paste BN's Dinah Voyles Pulver, as climate change reshapes the world's weather, making natural events more extreme. While not every triple-digit temperature or heavy rain is caused by climate change, experts have long predicted more intense heat and fiercer storms due to the emissions we continue to pump into the atmosphere.
Global carbon dioxide emissions were roughly flat the first five months of the year, reports E & E News' Benjamin Storrow, with rising greenhouse gas production from China and India offsetting deep declines from the United States and Europe. The findings from Carbon Monitor are consistent with experts’ view that a rise in clean energy will be offset by growth in total global energy demand.
If it all gives you a sinking feeling, you may not be imagining it. Climate change is also warping the ground our cities are built on, reports Paste BN's Doyle Rice. Combining data from sensors beneath downtown Chicago with computer simulations, researchers showed warmer temperatures can cause the ground to contract beneath the weight of a building.
“Underground climate change is a silent hazard,” said Northwestern University’s Alessandro Rotta Loria, who led the study, the first of its kind. “The ground is deforming as a result of temperature variations, and no existing civil structure or infrastructure is designed to withstand these variations."
It’s not all bad news out there this summer. School's out, and four Mexican university students are in Cape Cod to learn how residents, businesses, ecologists and town officials came together after years of disagreement and inaction to rally around a salt marsh and tidal restoration project. They hope to share those lessons back home to help tackle a heavily polluted lake, writes Heather McCarron with the Cape Cod Times. And Leonardo DiCaprio will fund scholarships and a climate education program at the UCLA-based elementary school where he was once a scholarship student himself.
Read on for more, including tips for cutting high energy bills and a fascinating read on how rice crops could be critical to Black Southern farmers’ efforts to battle climate change.
For stories requiring a subscription, sign up and get access to all eNewspapers in the Paste BN network. If someone forwarded you this email and you'd like to receive Climate Point in your inbox for free once a week, sign up here.