Tag: Renewable Energy

How Cities Are Adapting to Climate Change

Some environmental professionals warn us that the time for focusing solely on climate mitigation – that is, preventing warming from happening – is behind us. Instead, they argue that cities need to begin shifting their efforts toward adaptation: responding to the impacts of climate change already happening in many parts of the country, and preparing for those that are inevitable given the current projections for rising temperatures. Even if we stopped burning fossil fuels tomorrow, there is still a 42% chance that we would overshoot our goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. 

Catastrophic heat waves are no longer outliers, but practically the norm. Urban areas are especially susceptible to dangerous heat waves due to a concept called the “urban heat island effect,” whereby urban areas become warmer than surrounding rural areas. In cities, dark roofs and asphalt absorb heat, and glass windows reflect sunlight onto the ground below. The lack of greenery that often categorizes cities also means less shade, and tall buildings block wind from reaching the sidewalks. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, these heat islands can be 1-7ºF warmer during the day, and 2-5ºF warmer during the night than surrounding areas. 

Hundreds of millions of people already live in urban areas, and according to the Global Center for Adaptation, the urban population affected by heat will rise by 800% by 2050. Getting urban temperatures under control is an issue of equity, too, as the poorest and most vulnerable residents in cities often live in buildings with poorer ventilation or little greenery. 

Along with warning systems about heat and other public information campaigns, however, some cities are making architectural and design changes to improve resilience to heat. Here are a few ways cities are innovating and adapting to the effects of heat.

Medellín, Colombia

Aerial view of the Moravia hill and neighborhood in Medellín, Colombia, on June 18, 2021. The city of Medellín has been recognized for its urban planning of green corridors and is known for its eco-friendly habitat. JOAQUIN SARMIENTO / AFP via Getty Images

To combat the urban heat islands effect in Colombia’s second largest city — which is home to 2.5 million people — the government has focused on shade coverage. The Green Corridors (or “Corredores Verdes”) project began in 2017, whereby a network of 30 shaded routes was created connecting parks and other areas of interest across the city. The routes are composed of 12 waterways and 18 roads, providing cooler cycling and walking paths for citizens. To construct the Green Corridors, citizens were trained by the Joaquin Antonio Uribe Botanical Garden to become gardeners and planted 8,800 trees and palms, as well as 90,000 other species of tropical plants to shade the areas. 

Green spaces are proven to be effective at cooling cities; the UN Environment Programme states that urban parks have the ability to reduce ambient daytime temperatures in cities by about 1ºC. This cooling phenomenon is evident in the Green Corridors, where temperatures have come down by about 5.5ºF and are expected to fall by several more degrees over the coming decades. The corridors have also improved air quality and overall biodiversity in the city. 

Los Angeles, California

Workers paint a street white to reflect heat in the Canoga Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. John McCoy / MediaNews Group / Los Angeles Daily News via Getty Images

Los Angeles is hot — and, as runaway climate change progresses, it’s only going to get hotter. By the middle of the century, Los Angeles could face 22 days of extreme heat every year, according to a 2015 study. 

Dark surfaces like asphalt are a major contributor to the urban heat island effect, as they absorb the sun’s rays — 80-95% in the case of dark asphalt — and emit them as heat. As part of a goal from former mayor Eric Garcetti to cool the city by 1.67ºC in 20 years, LA began a campaign to replace these dark surfaces with light ones. The city started experimenting with painting streets white with a CoolSeal coating in 2019, which was originally designed by the military to cool down spy planes and keep them hidden from satellite infrared cameras. As of August 2022, the GAF Cool Community Project finished painting 1 million square feet of roads, playgrounds, and parking lots in the Pacoima neighborhood of LA — some with murals and artwork — with a  coating called Invisible Shade. 

Streets that have been painted have measured 10-15 degrees cooler on average than those that are unpainted, decreasing the need for air conditioning in nearby buildings. However, because the heat reflects off of the white surface rather than being absorbed, some argue that people walking on the streets will actually experience greater heat than before, even if the surrounding area is cooler.

New York, New York 

White roofing materials cool the roof of a federal building on Broadway in New York City. In Pictures Ltd. / Corbis via Getty Images

Since its launch in 2009, New York’s CoolRoofs project has provided paid training and work experience to New Yorkers to cover more than 10 million square feet of rooftops with a reflective covering in an effort to combat the urban heat island effect. The coating used has a high solar reflectivity — the degree to which the roof reflects visible infrared and ultraviolet rays — and infrared emissivity, which means its ability to release absorbed heat.

On an average summer day in New York, black asphalt rooftops can reach 190ºF, which is 90ºF more than the surrounding air. As a part of the city’s goal to cut carbon emissions by 80% by 2050, the project works to keep buildings cool and reduce the need for air conditioning. Some of these cool rooftops can reduce internal building temperature by 30%. The city estimates that for every 2,500 square feet of reflective roofs, NYC’s overall carbon emissions can be reduced by one ton. No-cost installations are available for non-profits, low-income housing, schools, hospitals, and other organizations. 

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Al Bahar Towers feature computerized facades for cooling and energy efficiency. Inhabitat / Flickr

The UAE is often known for its very high temperatures, which can reach over 120ºF, making air conditioning a necessity. In an effort to combat this heat, the city has turned to the old Arabic architectural concept of Mashrabiya, which uses latticed screens to diffuse light as it enters buildings. The 25-story Al Bahar Towers utilize this technique — the facade is covered in shades controlled by a computer, which open and close depending on the position of the sun. These “responsive facades” are coated in fiberglass and arranged in repeating patterns around the building and automatically shut off after the sun goes down. CNN reports that this method means that the buildings can use less artificial lighting and 50% less air conditioning.

Athens, Greece

Aerial view of Athens, Greece on May 20, 2023. Nicolas Economou / NurPhoto via Getty Images

Like Abu Dhabi, Greece is also turning to ancient architecture for solutions. The city of Athens plans on renovating a historic aqueduct that dates all the way back to the Roman era, with the goal of irrigating the city’s green corridors. The ancient aqueduct began in 125 AD under the emperor Hadrian and was the main source of water for the city for over a millennium, although it’s no longer used for this purpose. This warm, Mediterranean city — which has very little green space — plans to use this underground water to green areas throughout the city and help reduce average daily temperatures. 

The post How Cities Are Adapting to Climate Change appeared first on EcoWatch.

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Protecting livestock from heat

Hello, and welcome to the latest edition of Record High. I’m Siri Chilukuri, a reporting fellow at Grist. Today, we’re covering the dire impact of extreme heat on livestock and the agricultural industry — as well as a potential solution some farmers are trying to save their herds. 

Livestock like cows, goats, sheep, pigs, and others are susceptible to the same types of heat-related illnesses as humans, including dehydration, heat exhaustion, and heat stroke. As temperatures have climbed in recent years, so too have their impacts on the country’s vast livestock populations. Last summer in Kansas, a heat wave killed over 2,000 cattle when temperatures hit 104 degrees Fahrenheit. This summer, hundreds of cattle have died in Iowa in late July because of extreme heat and humidity. 

By mid-century, America’s heartland could form part of an “extreme heat belt” that stretches from Texas to Chicago, up the central United States, experiencing heat index conditions of 125 degrees F or more, according to the nonprofit climate research organization First Street Foundation. Scientists also estimate that losses from livestock heat-stress could reach almost $40 billion per year by the end of the century. Add worsening drought conditions and its impact on food availability, and livestock and the farms that own them have a difficult stretch ahead.

Dairy cows sip water during a heat wave in Saint-Martin-en-Haut, central France
Dairy cows sip water during a heat wave in Saint-Martin-en-Haut, central France on July 14, 2022
Jean-Philippe Ksiazek/ AFP via Getty images

Farmers are now searching for solutions on how to keep their animals safe. One such method is something known as silvopasture, which incorporates trees — often harvestable fruit or nut trees — and grazing on the same land, Grist contributor John McCracken reports today

Shade during extreme heat is crucial to keeping core body temperatures low enough to maintain vital systems. This is as true for livestock as it is for humans. For beef and dairy cows, of which there are 89.3 million in the U.S., ideal body temperatures range from 44 to 77 degrees F, according to the Department of Agriculture, or USDA. Above those, heat stress causes cattle to produce less milk and decreases their fertility.

In Missouri, farmer Josh Payne is introducing shade in the form of chestnut trees, planting 600 of them across the same fields his cattle graze. The trees are a long-term solution and will take time to reach their full shading potential, so in the meantime, Payne is using mobile shades to protect his animals. But he’s counting on the trees to protect his farm and animals in the long run — both from extreme heat and as a way to help counter climate change. 

Silvopasture can improve soil health and increase a field’s uptake of carbon dioxide through photosynthesis. An estimate from the nonprofit climate solutions organization Project Drawdown predicts that the method could sequester five to 10 times more carbon dioxide than a pasture without trees.

A USDA survey from 2017 showed that only 1.5 percent of U.S. farmers practice any kind of agroecology, the ancient regenerative farming movement that includes silvopasture. In Illinois, the nonprofit Savanna Institute has been funding projects to help farmers better understand how to do silvopasture more effectively, and uses similar methods to Payne’s, notably planting chestnut trees. 

As McCracken writes, “Planting trees in a field seems almost too simple as a way to keep livestock safe and healthy in a hotter world.” But researchers know better, he notes.  Silvopasture is complicated, as it requires a delicate balance between planted trees, natural forests and brush, and livestock. But as farmers grapple with worsening extreme heat, it can be successful because of its flexibility. 

“Silvopastures are not a silver bullet, but at this point, I don’t think we have any silver bullets anymore,” Ashley Conway-Anderson, a researcher at the University of Missouri Center for Agroforestry, told McCracken for Grist.


By The Numbers

A recent study in the journal The Lancet examined the economic damage heat stress will have on cattle under various climate scenarios. The animals comprise a key part of the agricultural sector, accounting for 17 percent of industry revenues in 2022, according to the USDA.

A histogram showing two different colored boxes which indicate losses in the billions from heat stress in livestock

Data Visualization by Clayton Aldern


What We’re Reading This Week

A loneliness epidemic is causing heat waves to be more deadly: Americans are now more socially isolated than ever before, with only 3 in 10 people knowing their neighbors. In a crisis, though, neighbors and friends can be the first line of defense to help. As this summer’s record-breaking heat continues, my colleague Akielly Hu looks into how isolation and extreme heat are killing people, and some possible solutions that cities are taking to tackle the issue. 

.Read more

Arizona declares extreme heat emergency: Governor Katie Hobbs of Arizona declared a state of emergency on Friday, due to the state’s sky-high temperatures. In Phoenix, the city’s longest-lasting heat wave spanned the entire month of July. The declaration will free up funding from the state for cities and municipalities to tackle the issue of extreme heat, Jessica Boehm reported for Axios. Additionally, as my colleague Zoya Teirstein reported last week, extreme heat has inundated the city’s emergency rooms, with people experiencing burns from falling on the sidewalk, severe dehydration, and other heat-related illnesses

.Read more 

A long-lasting marine heat wave is endangering ocean ecosystems: 

Starting in 2013, a phenomenon known as “the Blob” formed in the northern Pacific Ocean, with ocean temperatures increasing by 4 to 10 degrees F. It was the largest and longest marine heat wave on record and caused havoc for fisheries. Salmon, cod, crabs, and many other species declined as temperatures rose, causing billions of dollars in economic damage. As my Grist colleague Max Graham reports, marine heat waves such as the Blob are becoming more common and more severe, endangering not only marine life, but also the coastal communities reliant on fisheries for their livelihoods.

.Read more 

Extreme heat could threaten unborn children: Researchers have long known the serious toll that extreme heat can have on the human body, but until recently, two groups remained largely understudied: unborn children and pregnant people. New research finds connections between scorching temperatures and a slate of health concerns for these vulnerable populations, from preterm birth to low-birth weight to other conditions, like stillbirths. One study from 2022 found that for every 1 degree Celsius (1.8 degrees F) of warming, there was a 17 percent increase in fetal stress, usually an increased heart rate or decreased blood flow, Grace Browne reports for WIRED.

.Read more 

Does extreme heat spell the end of the European summer vacation?:  Record-breaking heat in Europe this summer has been interfering with travelers’ plans, Ceylan Yeginsu reports for the New York Times. Yeginsu herself experienced 113 degree F temperatures when attempting to vacation in Turkey, and travelers in Italy and Greece have also faced scorching heat. This summer marks the latest in a few years of hotter summers for the continent, with last year’s heat wave killing an estimated 61,000 people, according to a study I reported on earlier this summer.

.Read more 

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline Protecting livestock from heat on Aug 15, 2023.

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Livestock are dying in the heat. This little-known farming method offers a solution.

This story is part of Record High, a Grist series examining extreme heat and its impact on how — and where — we live.

Josh Payne planted chestnut trees six years ago. The rows of nut trees haven’t fully matured yet, but he’s banking on the future shade they’ll provide to shield his animals from sweltering heat. 

“We started with that largely because we want to get out of commodity agriculture,” Payne said. “But also because I’m worried that in our area it’s getting hotter and drier.” 

Payne operates a 300-acre regenerative farm in Concordia, Missouri, an hour outside of Kansas City, where he raises sheep and cattle. By planting 600 chestnut trees, he is bracing for a future of extreme heat by adapting an agriculture practice known as silvopasture. Rooted in preindustrial farming, the method involves intentionally incorporating trees on the same land used by grazing livestock, in a way that benefits both. Researchers and farmers say silvopastures help improve the health of the soil by protecting it from wind and water, while encouraging an increase of nutrient-rich organic matter, like cow manure, onto the land. 

It also provides much-needed natural shade for livestock. According to the First Street Foundation, a nonprofit climate change research group, chunks of America’s heartland — including Kansas, Iowa, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Missouri — could experience at least one day with temperatures of 125 degrees Fahrenheit or hotter by 2053. 

When temperatures rise above 80 degrees, the heat begins to take a toll on animals, which will try to cool themselves down by sweating, panting, and seeking shelter. If they are unable to lower their body temperature, the animals will breathe harder, becoming increasingly fatigued, and eventually die.

Research shows that as the planet warms, livestock deaths will increase. Last year, when temperatures exceeded 100 degrees in southwestern Kansas, roughly 2,000 cattle in the state died; the Kansas Livestock Association estimated each cow to be worth $2,000 if they were market-ready, equaling an economic loss of $4 million. And so far this year, the trend is continuing, with livestock producers in Iowa already reporting hundreds of cattle deaths in the latter half of July alone.

According to the United States Department of Agriculture, or USDA, the ideal temperature for beef and dairy cows ranges between 44 and 77 degrees. Above those temperatures, heat stress causes cattle to produce less milk and decreases their fertility. 

Payne’s family farm is a microcosm of American agriculture’s monocrop past and its changing future. He inherited the land from his grandfather, who spent decades tearing trees out of the ground in favor of growing corn and soybeans, using chemical fertilizers for years. His family was hardly alone in doing so: Along with cattle, corn and soybeans make up the top three farm products in the U.S., according to the industry group American Farm Bureau.


Missouri produced nearly $94 billion of agricultural products last year — an economic driver under threat from climate change, which has brought more intense floods and droughts to the state. Last year, the Mississippi River, which flows through Missouri, reached severely low water levels in the face of a historic drought, stopping the barge travel that supports the country’s agricultural economy. When Payne spoke to Grist in July, he was hoping for rain to come soon amid the humid 98-degree heat.

To prevent harm to his 600 sheep and 25 cattle, Payne currently uses portable structures to provide artificial shade while he waits for his chestnut trees to mature. This technology acts like a big umbrella that can be moved as a herd moves, but it doesn’t protect animals from reflected heat and sun rays from the sides the same way a tree canopy can. 

In addition to the shade his future nut trees will provide, they’ll be a source of income, too. Payne said it’s likely he’ll make more money on 30 acres of chestnut trees than he would on 300 acres of row crops like corn.

“We’re rethinking the farm process based on climate predictions,” Payne said. “Here we are planting trees in our pastures, so that in 10 to twelve years we can have dappled shade.”

Planting trees in a field seems almost too simple as a way to keep livestock safe and healthy in a hotter world. But Ashley Conway-Anderson, a researcher at the University of Missouri Center for Agroforestry, knows better. She said of all the USDA’s land management systems used to blend forest and livestock, silvopasture is the most complicated, as it requires a delicate balance between planted trees, natural forests and brush, and livestock. 

But she will admit the practice is common sense. 

“Trees provide shade. That’s the place where you want to be when it’s hot, right?” Conway-Anderson said. “The idea behind a well-managed silvopasture is your taking that shade and dispersing it across the field.”

Conway-Anderson said farmers are adapting their land to silvopastures at a time when agriculture as a whole is wrestling with its role in climate change. The sector accounts for roughly 11 percent of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions, according to the USDA. 

In addition to mitigating extreme heat risks and promoting soil health, trees planted on pastures and fields act as a way to sequester carbon out of the atmosphere through the process of photosynthesis. Project Drawdown, a nonprofit known for its expansive list of practices to prevent further climate harm, estimates that silvopastures could sequester five to 10 times the amount of carbon than a treeless pasture of the same size. 

Notably, however, while carbon accounts for the main source of human-caused greenhouse gasses, agriculture’s role in a warming planet largely comes from methane produced by livestock and their waste. But silvopastures help combat that — animals that move around to graze end up trampling on their waste, working it into the soil where it’s repurposed as a natural fertilizer; in contrast, most farm operations pool all livestock waste together in large ponds from which a concentration of methane is then emitted. 

Conway-Anderson said agroforestry and silvopastures aren’t always a one-size-fits-all solution. She said farmers are having to “get big or get out,” and aren’t always able to invest the time or money in planting trees or revitalizing woodland they might already own. 

“We’ve created an economic system where we have incentivized and subsided specific crops, products, and ways of doing farming and agriculture that has really sucked the air out of the room for smaller, diversified operations,” she said.

On the other hand, she said silvopasture practices can be successful because of their flexibility. Farmers can use trees they already own. They can graze goats, pigs, sheep, cattle, and more under the shade of nut trees, fruit trees, and trees whose trimmings and branches can be harvested and sold to the lumber industry. 

“Silvopastures are not a silver bullet,” Conway-Anderson said. “But at this point, I don’t think we have any silver bullets anymore.”


At Hidden Blossom Farms in Union, Connecticut, a rural town located near the border of Massachusetts, Joe Orefice has been methodical in his implementation of silvopasture. 

Orefice, a Yale School of the Environment professor of agroforestry, raises tunnel-grown vegetables, figs, and roughly two dozen grass-fed cows that enjoy the shade of apple trees on a 134-acre farm. He said there are currently only two acres of fruit trees the cattle use for cover. 

Despite the small acreage, Orefice said, he has focused primarily on soil health, a key aspect of silvopasture management. Without properly maintained grasses and soil, trees won’t grow, and there wouldn’t be any shade for his cattle. 

“You need to manage the grasses so young trees will grow,” he said. 

In addition to land management and soil health, Orefice said the animal welfare benefits of shade were top of mind. 

“I don’t want to eat a big meal if I’m sitting in the sun on a hot and humid day, and we want our cattle to eat big meals because that’s how they grow or keep their calves healthy by producing milk,” he said. 

Orefice said a common misconception about silvopasture leads to farmers just taking livestock they own and putting them in the forest without any additional management. He said this can damage soil when livestock, especially pigs, aren’t routinely moved. While it might seem counterintuitive, he said one of the first steps of creating a proper silvopasture from an existing forest is to trim trees and till the soil.

While he only raises 25 beef cattle, Orefice said he’s seen larger farms begin to implement silvopasture practices. He said raising tree crops, like nuts or figs and other fruits, is a boon for farmers who switch to more diversified crop operations versus large, concentrated animal-feeding operations. 

For example, Orefice noted that if farmers in the Corn Belt, who are facing continued droughts and an extreme heat future, switched to tree crops, the upfront costs might be expensive and hard. Still, they would eventually make more money on tree crops than on corn or soybeans. The problem, as he sees it, is there is no incentive or safety net for farmers to begin to adopt these practices at the same rate as they have mainstream ones. 

“The question isn’t really, ‘Is silvopasture scalable?’” Orefice said. “The question is, ‘Does our economy allow us to scale pasture-based livestock production?’” 

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline Livestock are dying in the heat. This little-known farming method offers a solution. on Aug 15, 2023.

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The State of Play for Climate Tech

Climate tech is at an inflection point. In this free webcast, GreenBiz experts cover the top trends shaping the climate tech landscape and offer insights on this moment full of both promise and gridlock. Join us to hear about the climate tech state of play, technologies to watch and how to scale from here.
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Montana youth win a historic climate case

A state judge in Montana gave climate activists a decisive win on Monday when she ruled that the state’s support of fossil fuels violates their constitutional right to a clean and healthful environment.

District Court Judge Kathy Seeley struck down as unconstitutional a state policy barring consideration of the impacts of greenhouse gas emissions in fossil fuel permitting. Her ruling establishes legal protection against broad harms caused by climate change and enshrines a state right to a world free from those harms, creating a potential foundation for future lawsuits across the country.

“We are heard!” Kian Tanner, one of the 16 youth plaintiffs in the lawsuit, said in a statement. He grew up near the Flathead River and testified to watching wildfires come ever closer to his home each year. “Frankly the elation and joy in my heart is overwhelming in the best way. We set the precedent not only for the United States, but for the world.” 

The case was the first of its kind to reach trial. Seeley’s decision adds to a growing number of rulings that say governments have a responsibility to protect citizens from climate change. The timing of her verdict — coinciding with major wildfires and heatwaves that have taken lives worldwide — couldn’t be more poignant, said Julia Olson. She is the chief legal counsel and executive director of Our Children’s Trust, which has brought similar suits in all 50 states. 

“As fires rage in the West, fueled by fossil fuel pollution, today’s ruling in Montana is a game-changer that marks a turning point in this generation’s efforts to save the planet from the devastating effects of human-caused climate chaos,” she said.

Climate change has profoundly shaped the lives of the 16 plaintiffs, both through psychological distress and the damage it has wrought to their homes and cultural heritage. Each has spoken eloquently about smelling wildfire smoke on the wind and feeling trapped by the increasingly oppressive heat of summer on the high plains. All of them have railed against state politicians for not only failing to mitigate the problem, but actively making it worse. 

In their lawsuit, they argued that the state’s enthusiastic support of fossil fuels violates their inalienable right, enshrined in Article II of Montana’s constitution, to a “clean and healthful environment.” They also accused the governor and other officials of neglecting their constitutional duty to preserve and protect the environment for future generations. “Although defendants know that the youth plaintiffs are living under dangerous climatic conditions that create an unreasonable risk of harm, they continue to act affirmatively to exacerbate the climate crisis,” the suit states.

For two weeks in June, 12 of the plaintiffs poured their hearts out in a courtroom in Missoula. Their testimony was corroborated by a panel of climate scientists, childhood psychologists, and other experts who spoke to the impacts of a warming world and how it impacts young people.

“I know that climate change is a global issue, but Montana needs to take responsibility for our part,” 22-year-old Rikki Held, the lead plaintiff, testified. “You can’t just blow it off and do nothing about it.”

Seeley agreed. “Every additional ton of greenhouse gas emissions exacerbates Plaintiffs’ injuries and risks locking in irreversible climate injuries,” she wrote in her 108-page ruling. “Plaintiffs’ injuries will grow increasingly severe and irreversible without science-based actions to address climate change.”

The road to the trial was rocky, with the state attempting to throw the case out multiple times. During the trial the state attempted what some termed a “nothing-to-see-here” approach, bringing free-market economists and climate deniers to the fore to convince the judge that permitting and fossil-fuel regulation wasn’t really the state’s responsibility. The state also argued that even if it were to stop emitting CO2 entirely, it would have little impact. 

Seeley didn’t buy that. 

“Montana’s (greenhouse gas) emissions and climate change have been proven to be a substantial factor in causing climate impacts to Montana’s environment and harm and injury to the youth plaintiffs,” she wrote in her ruling. The judge also noted that the state did not offer a compelling argument for why it didn’t consider the impacts of greenhouse gas emissions when making permitting decisions. She also noted that renewable power is “technically feasible and economically beneficial.”

Emily Flower, spokesperson for state Attorney General Austin Knudsen, decried the ruling as “absurd” and called the trial a “taxpayer-funded publicity stunt.” She said the office plans to appeal.

“Montanans can’t be blamed for changing the climate,” Flower said, according to the Associated Press. “Their same legal theory has been thrown out of federal court and courts in more than a dozen states. It should have been here as well, but they found an ideological judge who bent over backward to allow the case to move forward and earn herself a spot in their next documentary.”

Attorneys who participated in the trial say that the verdict is notable because it puts the blame for inaction squarely on the shoulders of state officials, indicating they have the power to change their approach.

Seeley “recognized that the only obstacles to a transition to a clean energy economy in Montana are political,” said Melissa Hornbein, an attorney with the Western Environmental Law Center. “They’re not technological.”

Hornbein hopes the verdict shapes similar suits focusing on governmental responsibility for addressing climate change. Our Children’s Trust also represents 14 young plaintiffs in Hawaii in a similar case, Nawahine v. the Hawaiʻi Department of Transportation, which is now slated to move forward next year.

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline Montana youth win a historic climate case on Aug 14, 2023.

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UK Homes Install Record Numbers of Heat Pumps and Solar Panels in First Half of 2023

In the first half of 2023, households in the UK installed a record number of solar panels and heat pumps, according to MCS, the official standards body of the renewable technologies industry.

Installations for the two green energy sources were up 62 percent from the previous year, with an average of more than 17,000 households installing solar panels every month, reported Energy Live News and The Guardian.

Battery technology installations have grown each month, with more than 1,000 batteries installed in UK businesses and homes so far this year.

“In the spring, it was looking like we would have something like 215,000 MCS certified solar installations this year. But that was clearly an underestimate – I would bet on around 250,000 now,” said Gareth Simkins of Solar Energy UK, as The Independent reported. “Installing solar on your roof is one of the best home improvements you can make and more and more people realise the financial and environmental benefits.”

The UK government has a solar capacity target of 70 gigawatts (GW) by 2025. It also wants to install 600,000 heat pumps by 2028.

In the first half of this year, 17,920 heat pumps were installed, thanks to the availability of grants.

One of the biggest obstacles to increasing heat pump installations, according to MCS, is the number of skilled, qualified installers. It said that to meet the goal of 600,000 installations, 50,000 workers would be needed.

MCS said more than 850 new contractors have gotten their certification in 2023, which has already surpassed last year’s total.

“As the cost of energy continues to grow, we are seeing more people turn to renewable technology to generate their own energy and heat at home,” said MCS Chief Executive Ian Rippin, as reported by The Guardian. “We need to continue to push this expansion to meet our shared national ambitions to reach net zero by 2050. More consumers have the confidence to invest in small-scale renewables now than ever, but we have to make that transition even easier.”

Small-scale renewables installations in the UK currently have four GW of capacity, which is nearly twice that of the largest gas power plant in Europe, located near Pembroke, Wales.

“It is essential that the lowest-carbon heat becomes the lowest-cost heat, so that homeowners and landlords can justify the transition away from polluting fossil fuels,” said Bean Beanland, the director of external affairs at the Heat Pump Federation, as The Guardian reported. “If this is coupled to a genuine affordability and future funding package, then households will be able to contribute to climate change mitigation with confidence and at a cost that is fair to all.”

The post UK Homes Install Record Numbers of Heat Pumps and Solar Panels in First Half of 2023 appeared first on EcoWatch.

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How Maui’s wildfires became the country’s deadliest in more than a century

The wind picked up on Maui the night before the fires broke out. By early morning on August 8, gusts were whipping fast enough to topple trees and rip roofs off buildings in the historic Hawaiian town of Lahaina, on Maui’s west coast. Then came the conflagrations. Fanned by the blistering winds, flames hurtled as fast as one mile per minute as they engulfed Lahaina and other towns in Maui, like Kula, killed at least 96 people, and incinerated homes, businesses, and churches.

As thousands of displaced people take refuge in makeshift shelters and hotels, cadaver dogs and search crews are still trying to determine the true scope of damage from the deadliest wildfires in the United States in more than a century. Photos from Lahaina show harrowing scenes: rows of charred buildings behind the scorched shells of cars, consumed by fire as they sat in traffic; corpses of boats burnt on the water; a historic church reduced to rubble.

“Ultimately all the pictures that you will see will be easy to understand,” said Josh Green, Hawaiʻi’s governor, “because that level of destruction in a fire hurricane — something new to us in this age of global warming — was the ultimate reason so many people perished.”

Wildfires are not new to Hawaiʻi. According to the state’s wildfire management organization, roughly 0.5 percent of its total land catches fire every year, on par with other U.S. states. But conditions — many of them connected to climate change — have evolved to make parts of the state more likely to ignite. The blazes in Maui, for instance, were brought on by a “flash drought,” a major hurricane south of the archipelago, invasive weeds that acted like kindling,and winds that ran as high as 81 mph, according to the governor. There are allegations that Hawaiian Electric’s power lines played a role in the fire, too. The result: a wildfire even deadlier than the Camp Fire that incinerated the town of Paradise, California, killing 85 people, in 2018. 

Though it’s too early to say exactly how climate change contributed to Maui’s wildfires, scientists have long been saying that similar disasters, like wildfires in the western United States, should be expected with more frequency and intensity on a warming planet. 

Climate change is “leading to these unpredictable or unforeseen combinations that we’re seeing right now and that are fueling this extreme fire weather,” Kelsey Copes-Gerbitz, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of British Columbia’s faculty of forestry, told the Associated Press. 

This summer, parts of Hawaiʻi experienced a “flash drought,” a rapid drying-out of soil and plants that occurs when hot air sucks moisture out of the ground. The drought left parts of Maui especially dry and ready to combust. Such droughts are likely exacerbated by climate change — although a longer-term trend of declining precipitation, which also contributed to the fires, may not be directly connected to human-caused climate change, a scientist told the Washington Post.

Compounding the drought, a proliferation of grasslands on abandoned plantations made vast fields into fuel for the fires. “There’s all these huge, huge quantities of vegetation and it’s all papery thin and ready to go,” Clay Trauernicht, a wildfire scientist at the University of Hawaiʻi, told Grist. As much as one-quarter of the state is covered by invasive grasses. 

Adding to the drought and fields of tinder were exceptionally high winds, running from 60 to 81 miles per hour. Experts have said that the winds were fueled in part by Hurricane Dora, a Category 4 storm that barreled across the Pacific south of Hawaiʻi. Dora created a difference in air pressure across the archipelago that led to unusually fierce winds — the sort that plied roofs from buildings before driving flames across Maui. 

As climate change makes hurricanes more intense, not all will make landfall, but they still could help spur deadly disasters. On Maui, where the fires did an estimated $5.6 billion of damage, according to the governor, the death toll is likely to climb for at least 10 more days, Green said. “They will find 10 to 20 people per day probably, until they finish,” he told CBS News. Hundreds of people are still missing.

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline How Maui’s wildfires became the country’s deadliest in more than a century on Aug 14, 2023.

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Climate Crisis Likely to Cause Food Shortages Before We Reach 1.5°C Threshold, UN Expert Says

According to Alain-Ricahrd Donwahi, the president of last year’s United Nations’ COP15 conference on desertification and a former defense minister from the Ivory Coast, it is likely that the planet will experience a major food supply disruption long before temperatures reach the threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

This is due to the effects of the climate crisis, along with inadequate farming practices and water shortages, posing threats to agriculture worldwide.

Climate change is a pandemic that we need to fight quickly. See how fast the degradation of the climate is going – I think it’s going even faster than we predicted,” Donwahi said, as The Guardian reported. “Everyone is fixated on 1.5C , and it’s a very important target. But actually, some very bad things could happen, in terms of soil degradation, water scarcity and desertification, way before 1.5C.”

Donwahi went on to say that heat waves, intensifying flooding and droughts, as well as increasing temperatures were causing the possibility of food insecurity in many parts of the world.

“We could have an acceleration of negative effects, other than temperature,” Donwahi said, as reported by The Guardian. “When the soil is affected, the yield is affected.”

Donwahi said private investors needed to become involved in agriculture.

“The private sector has an interest in agriculture, and the better usage of the soil. We’re talking about [improving] yields. We’re talking about agroforestry, which is another way the private sector can have a return on investment. We have to be innovative, to find new vehicles for finance,” Donwahi said, as Green Queen reported.

Just 4.3 percent of climate finance goes to agriculture and food, but they make up almost one third of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to the Climate Policy Initiative (CPI).

“Climate finance for agrifood systems must increase at least sevenfold from current levels to reach the most conservative estimated needs for the climate transition, which is in the order of hundreds of billions of dollars annually,” CPI reported.

Additionally, less than one percent is directed to climate mitigation such as waste, food loss and low-carbon diets.

According to the first article in the United Nations Academic Impact series “Food Security and Climate Change,” food security is something the world needs to be thinking about now.

“In the next 30 years, food supply and food security will be severely threatened if little or no action is taken to address climate change and the food system’s vulnerability to climate change,” the article said.

In the United Kingdom, about half the food is imported, with a quarter of the imports from the Mediterranean, The Independent reported.

Recent heat waves, droughts, wildfires, intense rain and flooding have all led to crop damage in southern Europe.

“Shortages of salad and other vegetables in UK supermarkets in February this year caused by extremes in southern Spain and north Africa brought home to people just how vulnerable the UK is to the impacts of climate change on our food,” said Gareth Redmond-King, head of the international program at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, as reported by The Independent.

Donwahi said desertification is not something humans can ignore, as it affects everything from biodiversity to food security.

Desertification and drought leads to climate change, leads to loss of biodiversity. And when you have climate change you have droughts, floods, storms,” Donwahi said, as The Guardian reported. “It’s not only the poor countries, everybody is in the same boat [on food security].”

The post Climate Crisis Likely to Cause Food Shortages Before We Reach 1.5°C Threshold, UN Expert Says appeared first on EcoWatch.

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