It’s October, which means pumpkin season is here. From pumpkin spiced lattes to pumpkin pies,…

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In an appeal to those who deny climate change and politicians who have been slow to take action to mitigate it, Pope Francis has written a 7,000-word “Apostolic Exhortation” urging the world to speed up its transition to renewable energy.

Pope Francis said the human factors contributing to climate change and the scientific facts behind global heating cannot be ignored or denied while our planet “may be nearing the breaking point,” reported Reuters.

“With the passage of time, I have realized that our responses have not been adequate, while the world in which we live is collapsing,” Pope Francis wrote, as The New York Times reported.

The document, released ahead of next month’s COP28 climate conference in Dubai, is entitled Laudate Deum (Praise God). It follows his encyclical on the environment from 2015, Laudato Si (Praise Be).

Since the publication of Laudato Si, extreme weather events he said were the planet’s “cries of protest” inspired him to write Laudate Deum.

“Despite all attempts to deny, conceal, gloss over or relativize the issue, the signs of climate change are here and increasingly evident. No one can ignore the fact that in recent years we have witnessed extreme weather phenomena, frequent periods of unusual heat, drought and other cries of protest,” Pope Francis wrote, as reported by CNN.

In his plea, Pope Francis warned against investing too much trust in carbon capture technology. While it may be promising, he said, it did not address the root human causes of global warming.

“Some effects of the climate crisis are already irreversible, at least for several hundred years, such as the increase in the global temperature of the oceans, their acidification and the decrease of oxygen,” he wrote.

Pope Francis also said activist groups should not be called “radicalised” since they are “filling a space left empty by society as a whole,” Reuters reported.

He noted the speed of the changes that are happening to the planet in “one generation — not centuries or millennia,” as reported by Reuters.

“The rise in the sea level and the melting of glaciers can be easily perceived by an individual in his or her lifetime, and probably in a few years many populations will have to move their homes because of these facts,” Pope Francis wrote.

He called for businesses and “certain countries” to abandon their short-term interests, saying the climate change’s “antropic” origins could no longer be denied.

“If we are confident in the capacity of human beings to transcend their petty interests and to think in bigger terms, we can keep hoping that COP28 will allow for a decisive acceleration of energy transition, with effective commitments subject to ongoing monitoring,” Pope Francis wrote, as Reuters reported.

The post Pope Francis Urges World to Speed Up Transition to Renewable Energy appeared first on EcoWatch.

Smoke from wildfires across the continental U.S is stalling — in some places, reversing — years of progress on air quality. 

A new study published in Nature found that since 2016, wildfire smoke has undone 25 percent of air quality improvements achieved since 2000. 

“We’re not back to 2000 levels. But in some parts of the country where we’re headed in that direction,” said Marshall Burke, the study’s lead author and professor of environmental policy at Stanford University. 

That’s concerning because previous studies found that wildfire smoke is bad for human health. It’s not just that it exacerbates respiratory illnesses like asthma; breathing in wildfire smoke is also associated with an increased risk of cancer, heart attacks, and preterm birth.

“Basically we find that there is no safe level of exposure,” Burke said. 

His latest study found that air pollution varied by state — in Oregon, wildfire smoke has become so severe as to erase much of the air quality progress of the past two decades. 

The problem isn’t limited to the West. Burke noted that the study found smoke influenced pollution levels even in the South, Midwest and Northeast — regions where wildfires are far less common.

“The influence of wildfire smoke is broad and it is affecting populations that did not used to be affected,” Burke said. “We are seeing influence in states that basically have none of their own wildfires. They are getting affected by wildfires from thousands of miles away.”

The new study analyzed data up to 2022, meaning it didn’t include any data from the Canadian wildfire smoke that shrouded New York City in an orange haze earlier this year, nor the air pollution produced by the West Maui wildfire last month, the deadliest in modern U.S. history. 

Researchers used ground and satellite-based data that was only available comprehensively for the 48 contiguous states, Burke said. The study also notes that air pollution from wildfires is not currently included under any federal air quality regulations. 

The number of wildfires globally is expected to grow by 50 percent by 2100, according to a report published by the United Nations Environmental Programme and the Norway-based environmental nonprofit group GRID-Arendal last year. 

One key factor behind the increase in U.S. wildfire pollution is climate change. But another reason is poor land management. A recent study found that prescribed burns could reduce wildfire smoke exposure in California. Such intentional burns have been used to manage forests by Indigenous communities there for thousands of years. But in 1850, the U.S. government outlawed such fires. 

That’s a key reason why so many forests are carpeted with layers upon layers of ready fuel. In the Sierras, “it is just remarkable how much dead trees and dead wood there is in the forest,” Burke said.

“Parts of the forest you literally can’t walk through because of the accumulated fuel,” he said.
“So that stuff is just ready to go if it’s hot and you get a spark.” 

California has more recently changed its stance, making it easier for Indigenous cultural practitioners to engage in controlled burns, but there are still a lot of hurdles to conducting prescribed burns, including fears of legal liability and the vastness of the forests themselves. Meanwhile, Indigenous communities are among those exposed to a disproportionate amount of wildfire smoke.

In addition to changing land management policies, there are also things that people can do personally to help protect the health of themselves and their families. Heidi Huber-Stearns is a researcher at the Western Forest and Fire Initiative at the University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability. She recommends people go to AirNow.gov to see current data on air quality in their communities. The Environmental Protection Agency also provides a smoke-ready toolbox with suggestions for how to protect your health, such as creating your own indoor air cleaning device.  

But Huber-Stearns adds that not everyone faces the same risk from wildfire smoke. Like Native peoples, outdoor workers and unhoused people are more likely to be exposed to air pollution. People without access to technology and non-English speakers are less likely to benefit from existing resources. 

“Not only are these issues prevalent, there are some pretty major equity and access concerns as to who can get what kind of support for navigating smoke events as well,” she said. 

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline Study: Wildfire smoke is reversing years of US air quality progress on Sep 20, 2023.

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has announced changes to Britain’s plans for addressing the climate crisis that effectively water down earlier commitments by delaying targets and relaxing the energy transition timeline.

Sunak said the ban on sales of new gas-powered vehicles would be extended from 2030 to 2035, citing the “unacceptable costs” the energy transition had imposed on British households and a need to maintain the public’s approval of the path to net zero emissions, reported Reuters. The prime minister said he would also ease the transition from residential gas stoves to heat pumps.

“It cannot be right for Westminster to impose such significant costs on working people,” Sunak said, as The New York Times reported. “If we continue down this path we risk losing the consent of the British people.”

Sunak said his commitment to achieving net zero by 2050 had not changed, but that Britain would be able to slow its progress because it was already “so far ahead of every other country in the world,” reported Reuters.

Environmental activists and businesses said decarbonizing the economy offers a chance to increase economic growth and investments and create high-earning jobs.

But in order for that to happen, they say the government would need to give consumers and companies a predictable and stable environment.

Alok Sharma, who served as COP26 president, told the BBC that backtracking on net zero promises would be “incredibly damaging for business confidence,” as CNN reported. “Frankly, I really do not believe that it’s going to help any political party electorally which chooses to go down this path,” Sharma added.

A variety of businesses, including producers of cars, electric vehicle charging stations and solar panels were dismayed by the government’s relaxing of climate commitments.

“Our business needs three things from the UK government: ambition, commitment and consistency. A relaxation of 2030 would undermine all three,” said Lisa Brankin, chair of Ford UK, as reported by The New York Times.

Conservative Member of Parliament Chris Skidmore, who is the former chair of the government’s net zero review, told the BBC that Sunak risked making “the greatest mistake of his premiership,” warning that the UK could end up missing out on “growth, jobs and future prosperity.”

The opposition Labour Party said it was committed to the original target of 2030, Reuters reported.

Britain was the world’s first major economy to legally commit to net zero by 2050. Since 1990, emissions have been cut almost in half, with the closing of coal power plants and the success of offshore wind power.

“[D]elivering on net zero provides a benefit not a cost,” Skidmore told the BBC, as reported by The New York Times.

The post ‘The Greatest Mistake of His Premiership’: UK’s Sunak Rolls Back Net Zero Plans appeared first on EcoWatch.

The United Nations Climate Ambition Summit in New York today brings together what UN Secretary-General António Guterres called the “first movers and doers” of the climate crisis with the goal of speeding up action on climate change by governments, local authorities, business and finance leaders and civil society ahead of November’s COP28 Climate Change Conference.

The Climate Ambition Summit’s list of 34 speakers conspicuously left out two of the world’s biggest polluters: the U.S. and China, reported Reuters.

The summit will be organized with three interrelated acceleration tracks in mind: ambition, credibility and implementation, a press release from the UN said.

“Our focus here is on climate solutions – and our task is urgent. Humanity has opened the gates of hell. Horrendous heat is having horrendous effects. Distraught farmers watching crops carried away by floods; sweltering temperatures spawning disease; and thousands fleeing in fear as historic fires rage. Climate action is dwarfed by the scale of the challenge,” Guterres said in his opening remarks at the summit. “If nothing changes we are heading towards a 2.8 degree temperature rise – towards a dangerous and unstable world. But the future is not fixed. It is for leaders like you to write it. We can still limit the rise in global temperature to 1.5 degrees. We can still build a world of clear air, green jobs, and affordable clean power for all.”

Speeches from leaders of countries that are responding to Guterres’ call to accelerate worldwide climate action, including Pakistan, Tuvalu, South Africa, Brazil, Canada and the European Union, are being featured at the summit, Reuters reported.

One of the summit’s goals is to inspire action from those countries and companies whose plans on climate are not in agreement with global climate targets.

“The path forward is clear,” Guterres said. “It has been forged by fighters and trailblazers – some of whom are with us today: Activists refusing to be silenced; Indigenous Peoples defending their lands from climate extremes; chief executives transforming their business models and financiers funding a just transition; mayors moving towards to a zero-carbon future; and governments working to stamp out fossil fuels and protect vulnerable communities. But if we are to meet the 1.5 degree limit and protect ourselves from climate extremes, climate champions, particularly in the developing world, need solidarity; they need support; and they need global leaders to take action.”

International financial institutions and non-member states that will have the opportunity to speak include the World Bank, Allianz, the International Monetary Fund, the State of California and the City of London, reported Reuters.

John Kerry, the U.S. Special Envoy on Climate Change, will attend the summit, but will not be giving a speech, according to a spokesperson.

Selvin Hart, climate adviser to Guterres, told Reuters that the purpose of not including certain countries and companies was not to “embarrass” them, but to inspire action.

Leaders were selected to speak if they had proposals for updating the pre-2030 climate plan for their country; had updated targets for transitioning to net-zero energy emissions that committed to no new gas, oil or coal; had plans for the phasing out of fossil fuels; and had new climate adaptation or funding pledges.

“We must make up time lost to foot-dragging, arm-twisting and the naked greed of entrenched interests raking in billions from fossil fuels,” Guterrez said in his opening remarks. “The proposed Climate Solidarity Pact calls on major emitters – who have benefitted most from fossil fuels – to make extra efforts to cut emissions, and on wealthy countries to support emerging economies to do so.”

The UN requires businesses, financial institutions and cities to have transition plans that are in line with the UN’s recommendations for integrity, along with targets for reducing emissions for 2025 that take indirect emissions into account, as well as plans for phasing out fossil fuels without relying on carbon offsets and committing to publicly advocate for climate action based on science.

“The Acceleration Agenda I proposed calls on governments to hit fast forward: So that developed countries reach net zero as close as possible to 2040, and emerging economies as close as possible to 2050 according to the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities. It also urges countries to implement a fair, equitable and just energy transition, while providing affordable electricity to all: By ensuring credible plans to exit coal by 2030 for OECD countries and 2040 for the rest of the world; by ending fossil fuel subsidies – which the IMF estimates reached an incredible U.S. $7 trillion in 2022; and by setting ambitious renewable energy goals in line with the 1.5 degree limit,” Guterres said.

A recent UN report said current emissions-cutting pledges were not enough to keep temperatures from going above the threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial average, Reuters reported. An additional 20 gigatonnes of reductions in carbon dioxide emissions would be needed before 2030, with net zero worldwide by 2050.

Guterres called on the world’s biggest polluters to step up and make up for the inequalities of the climate crisis, saying, “We need a transformation to rebuild trust.”

“The Acceleration Agenda also calls for climate justice,” Guterrez said. “Many of the poorest nations have every right to be angry. Angry that they are suffering most from a climate crisis they did nothing to create. Angry that promised finance has not materialized. And angry that their borrowing costs are sky-high.”

The post Major Polluters U.S. and China Not Invited to Speak at UN Climate Ambition Summit appeared first on EcoWatch.

About half of all packaged goods found in grocery stores contain palm oil, because this product is versatile, grows efficiently for better yields and has low production costs. However, palm oil comes at a high cost to the environment, and its production is a leading cause of deforestation around the world. 

As a potential alternative, researchers at Queen Margaret University (QMU) in Edinburgh, UK have developed PALM-ALT, which they found to not only be better for the environment but also a healthier substitute.

PALM-ALT is made from a byproduct of linseed (or flaxseed) production along with natural fiber and rapeseed oil. According to the researchers, it can be made locally at a global scale, including in the UK and within the EU. In response to a question from EcoWatch regarding PALM-ALT’s cost-competitiveness with palm oil, a PALM-ALT spokesperson said they are “unable to confirm costs until manufacturing partners have been arranged.”

PALM-ALT was made to substitute palm oil in baked goods, like cookies and cakes, without impacting characteristics like texture or flavor. It has a consistency similar to mayonnaise. The resulting substitute has 88% less saturated fat and 25% less fat overall compared to palm oil, according to the researchers.

The palm oil substitute is also about 70% better for the environment (based on carbon emissions) compared to palm oil, as the BBC reported.

Oil palm trees grow only in tropical areas, which has led producers to destroy native, tropical forests to build oil palm plantations. This has a number of negative impacts. It removes native plants, displaces wildlife and removes an effective carbon sink, the World Wildlife Fund explained. Tropical forests are typically burned to make way for the oil palm plantations, contributing to air pollution. Palm oil mills also produce liquid waste that pollutes soil, surface water and groundwater.

“Palm can only be harvested in rainforest areas of the globe, thousands of miles away from many of the countries that use the product,” Catriona Liddle, head of the Scottish Centre for Food Development and Innovation at Queen Margaret University, said in a statement. “Current production methods leading to deforestation of tropical rainforests in Malaysia and Indonesia have led to the destruction of animals’ natural habitat, and high greenhouse gas emissions linked to its global transport. It is therefore essential to develop an alternative product, which works well for the food industry and helps reduce the world’s overreliance on palm.”

The researchers have patented PALM-ALT and its production process. As for next steps, in additional to finding manufacturing partners they are looking for food companies and other partners that want to replace palm oil with PALM-ALT in their products.

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Imagine a world where business not only thrives but also nurtures the planet we call…

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Some of the dirtiest, plastic-polluted waters lie at the heart of major cities, in ports,…

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From California to Florida, homeowners have been facing a new climate reality: Insurance companies don’t want to cover their properties. According to a report released today, the problem will only get worse. 

The nonprofit climate research firm First Street Foundation found that, while about 6.8 million properties nationwide already rely on expensive public insurance programs, that’s only a fraction of 39 million across the country that face similar conditions.

“There’s this climate insurance bubble out there,” said Jeremy Porter, the head of climate implications at First Street and a contributor to the report. “And you can quantify it.”

Each state regulates its insurance market, and some limit how much companies can raise rates in a given year. In California, for example, anything more than a 7 percent hike requires a public hearing. According to First Street, such policies have meant premiums don’t always accurately reflect risk, especially as climate change exacerbates natural disasters. 

This has led companies such as Allstate, State Farm, Nationwide, and others to pull out of areas with a high threat of wildfire, floods, and storms. In the Southern California city of San Bernardino, for example, non-renewals jumped 774 percent between 2015 and 2021. When that happens, homeowners often must enroll in a government-run insurance-of-last-resort program where premiums can cost thousands of dollars more per year.

“The report shows that actuarially sound pricing is going to make it unaffordable to live in certain places as climate impacts emerge,” said David Russell, a professor of insurance and finance at California State University Northridge. He did not contribute to the report. “It’s startling and it’s very well documented.”

Russell says that what’s most likely to shock people is the economic toll on affected properties. When insurance costs soar, First Street shows, it severely undermines home values — and in some cases erodes them entirely. 

The report found that insurance for the average California home could nearly quadruple if future risk is factored in, with those extra costs causing a roughly 39 percent drop in value. The situation is even worse in Florida and Louisiana, where flood insurance in Plaquemines Parish near New Orleans could go from $824 annually to $11,296 and a property could effectively become worthless. 

“There’s no education to the public of what’s going on and where the risk is,” said Porter, explaining that most insurance models are proprietary. Even the Federal Emergency Management Agency doesn’t make its flood insurance pricing available to the public — homeowners must go through insurance brokers for a quote. 

First Street is posting its report online, and it also runs riskfactor.com, where anyone can type in an address and receive user-friendly risk information for any property in the U.S. One metric the site provides is annualized damage for flood and wind risk. Porter said that if that number is higher than a homeowner’s current premiums, then a climate risk of some kind probably hasn’t yet been priced into the coverage. 

“This would indicate that at some point this risk will get priced into their insurance costs,” he said, “and their cost of home ownership would increase along with that.”

Wildfires are the fastest growing natural disaster risk, First Street reported. Over the next 30 years, it estimates the number of acres burned will balloon from about 4 million acres per year to 9 million, and the number of structures destroyed is on track to double to 34,000 annually. Wildfires are also the predominant threat for 4.4 million of the 39 million properties that First Street identified as at risk of insurance upheaval. 

“You don’t want someone to live in a place that always burns. They don’t belong there,” he said. “We’re subsidizing people to live in harm’s way.”

First Street hopes that highlighting the climate insurance bubble allows people to make better informed decisions. For homeowners, that may mean taking precautions against, say, wildfires, by replacing their roof or clearing flammable material from around their house. Policymakers, he said, could use the information to help at-risk communities adapt to or mitigate their risk. In either case, Porter said, reducing threats could help keep insurance rates from spiking. 

Ultimately, though, Russell says moving people out of disaster-prone areas will likely be necessary.

“Large numbers of people will need to be relocated away from areas that will be uninsurable.” he said. “There is a reckoning on the horizon and it’s not pretty.”

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline Climate risks place 39 million U.S. homes at risk of losing their insurance on Sep 20, 2023.