[Jun 17-23’23] The hot issue #2 🥵

All our current woes are expected, solutions to extreme heat, global warming is more than just heat and fossil gas lobbyists caught with more propaganda campaigns.

Welcome to this week’s edition of The Weekly Climate 🎉

References: [1], [2], [3], [4], [5] and [6].

(Managed to forget to schedule this posts for Monday 😅 sorry).

Added a new section this week on our adaptation to heat since there’s a lot of important articles about heat these days and as it is one of the more obvious consequences of climate change I thought it would be good to track more carefully. Other than that this week was a bit weird as I didn’t find a lot of interesting content for core part of the newsletter but rather lots of stuff in in particular the adaptation section.

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‼️News you can’t miss

Here’s one important scary/bad (🙀), good (😻), interesting (😼) and fossil (💩) news item.

🙀 Our problems with heat and flooding are all expected according to the climate scientists

😻 Heat is a problem but there are lots of solutions

😼 Global warming is bringing more than just extreme heat

💩 Gas lobbyists in the UK and US have been found to launch propaganda campaigns against heatpumps.

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👩‍⚕️ Status: Climate & Science

Let’s look at how we’re doing this week!

[#icesheet] — A rediscovered frozen sediment sample from beneath the Greenland ice sheet suggests that the area was ice-free 400,000 years ago, indicating that the ice sheet is vulnerable to melting. The sample was collected in 1966 and recently studied using luminescence dating to estimate the date of the thaw. The study's findings suggest that the ice sheet has not been stable for the last 2.5 million years, as previously assumed, and that it could melt again in the future, leading to significant sea-level rise.

[#heatmap] — The Northern Hemisphere is experiencing an onslaught of heat waves, with some cities facing dangerously high temperatures. And this interactive article tracks the heatwaves. Italy, Greece, China, the Middle East, and the United States are among the affected areas. Earth experienced its warmest June on record, and the first two weeks of July have been the hottest since at least 1940. The heat is driven by heat-trapping gases and the return of El Niño. Marine heat waves are also posing a severe threat to coral reefs and other marine life.

[#julyhottest] — According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, June 2023 was the warmest June (in the US) on record since 1850. The agency also predicts that most of the United States, except the northern Great Plains, will experience unusually hot temperatures in August. The heat wave was caused by a heat dome parked over northern Mexico, which was made worse by climate change. More abnormal heat is expected across most of the United States, and about 40% of the planet is experiencing a "marine heat wave," which is putting coral reefs at risk of bleaching and dying.

[#disasterattribution] — Record heat waves and flooding around the world are being attributed to climate change, with scientists warning that inaction will only lead to more severe and long-lasting extreme weather events. Rising temperatures are making such events more severe, with warmer air holding more moisture and leading to more extreme flooding. The societal ramifications of climate change are becoming increasingly clear, with homeowners struggling to find insurance in wildfire and hurricane-prone states, wildfires exacerbating a national firefighter shortage, and delivery drivers threatening to strike if companies don't do more to protect them from dangerous heat.

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📰 The 7 Grand Challenges

⚡️Decarbonize Electricity

Clean electricity is the one do-or-die challenge we must solve.

[#electricitydrop] — Global electricity demand is expected to slow in 2023 due to economic downturns and the energy crisis caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, according to the International Energy Agency. The agency predicts a growth rate of just under 2%, down from 2.3% in 2022, with falling demand in advanced economies being the main driver. However, the IEA expects demand to bounce back in 2024, with renewable energy sources generating more than one-third of all electricity generated worldwide for the first time.

[#heatcoal] — China is increasing its use of coal to generate electricity, despite pledging to reduce carbon emissions. China emits almost a third of all energy-related greenhouse gases and burns more coal every year than the rest of the world combined. China's ability to ramp up coal use is due to a national campaign to expand coal mines and build more coal-fired power plants. While China leads the world in installing renewables, it is doubling down on coal for reasons of energy security and domestic politics. The country has more than 300 coal-fired power plants in various stages of proposal, permitting, or construction, contributing to the building boom.

🏘 Reduce impact of urban and rural areas

Lowering the impact of urban and rural areas.