‘Green News Report’ – July 20, 2023

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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: U.N. warns nations must move faster to adapt to extreme heat; Heat waves in Europe and Middle East set astonishing new records; Outdated federal flood maps underestimate flood risk across U.S.; PLUS: Wind and solar on track to provide more than a third of the world’s electricity by 2030… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): The world is reeling from record heat and flooding. Scientists say it’s the cost of climate inaction; It’s stupid hot. Here are the freakish global heating facts; Summers are always hot. Here’s how we know climate change is making summer 2023 hotter; Seniors are migrating to states that face America’s most extreme heat; Your air conditioner isn’t built for this heat. 5 tips can boost performance; Monsoon floods touch the walls of the Taj Mahal; Study finds using waste plastic in roads isn’t ready for prime time (yet); Canadian wildfires hit Indigenous communities hard, threatening their land and culture… PLUS: How to keep your dog safe in the heat, according to an emergency vet… and much, MUCH more! …

STORIES DISCUSSED ON TODAY’S ‘GREEN NEWS REPORT’…

• Torrential rains, floods strike Western Kentucky:
• Kentucky declares state of emergency as historic rainfall floods communities (Axios)
• A Kentucky town still recovering from a tornado hit with record floods (Washington Post/MSN)
• High-water rescue crews save people flooded in Kentucky as death toll rises in northeast US (WPSD-Paducah)
• VIDEO: Waves of storms cause flooding in Kentucky (AP)
• Outdated flood maps underestimate U.S. flood risk:
• Extreme floods are happening way more often than federal data would suggest, analysis shows (CNN):
  A critical federal analysis of extreme rainfall is vastly underestimating the chances of flood events, with grave implications for everything from new roads and bridges to the rising cost of flood insurance, according to a new analysis.
• Why your flood risk could be a lot worse than you think (The Hill)
• Prepare for more downpours: Heavy rain has increased across most of the United States, and is likely to increase further (NOAA)
• 8th National Risk Assessment: The Precipitation Problem (First Street)
• Relentless extreme heat breaking astonishing records around the world:
• From Japan to Louisiana to Rome, Here Are Ten Heat Records Earth Has Broken Since June (Smithsonian/MSN)
• Europe battles heat and fires; sweltering temperatures scorch China, US (Reuters)
• European Union rushes firefighters to Greece as grueling Mediterranean heat wave takes toll (ABC News)
• Extreme heat sparks fires in Syrian refugee camps, killing three children (The Harakah Daily)
• European heat wave breaking records with little relief in sight(ABC News/MSN)
• The heat index reached 152 degrees in the Middle East — nearly at the limit for human survival (Washington Post)
• Relentless extreme heat setting astonishing new records in U.S.:
• Death Valley Just Had The Hottest Midnight On Record (Popular Mechanics)
• Another Phoenix heat record has been broken. Here’s our tally of all the records broken during heat wave (Arizona Republic/MSN)
• Phoenix hits record for 19th day of 110+ degrees in a row — with more ahead (Washington Post):
  The hot streak is not expected to end soon, meaning old records will be shattered. High temperatures are forecast to reach 115 degrees or hotter for at least the next week….”I’m prepared,” said Warren, 29, who has lived in Phoenix her entire life. “But it’s different. I ain’t ever felt this heat. This is a different type of heat.”
• Heat waves are more prolonged today. Thanks, climate change!:
• Longer heatwaves driven by ‘turbo-charged’ climate change, say scientists (Guardian):
  NOAA data from the 50 most populous cities in the US shows the heatwave season is 49 days longer now compared with the 1960s. The effects of heat on health are cumulative, and the body only starts to recover when the temperature drops below 27C (80F). Even small temperature rises can result in increased deaths and illness.
• Summers are always hot. Here’s how we know climate change is making summer 2023 hotter. (USA Today)
• W.M.O. warns nations must move faster to adapt to extreme heat:
• World Must Prepare For More Intense Heatwaves: UN (AFP/Barron’s)
• VIDEO: Heatwaves and Health, Dr. John Nairn, Extreme Heat Advisor (World Meteorological Organization)
• WHO urges governments to set up surveillance for people at risk from heatwaves (Reuters)
• For Europe’s Older Population, Heat Is the New Covid (NY Times):
  [F]or many seniors, heat has become the new Covid. The searing temperatures have settled over the continent like another indiscriminate plague, reinforcing the isolation of many older people and the threats to their health, and pushing governments and social services to take extraordinary steps to try to protect them.
• Climate change spells ‘terrifying’ future: UN rights chief (France 24)
• ‘We are not prepared’: Disasters spread as climate change strikes (Politico)
• What this summer’s weather reveals about climate change (Axios)
• Rough years ahead (Nature)
• Renewable energy is surging globally, on track for 30% globally by 2030:
• X-Change: Electricity, On track for net zero (Rocky Mountain Institute)
• Renewable deployment surge puts world on track for net zero pathway – study (Electrek)
• VIDEO: Wind and solar to produce over a third of global power by 2030, report says (Reuters)
• Record-breaking weekend: Renewables power 67% of UK electricity (Energy Live News),/li>
• ‘The more you install, the cheaper it gets’: Wind and solar to produce 33% of global power by 2030 (EuroNews)

‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (Stuff we didn’t have time for in today’s audio report)…

For a comprehensive roundup of daily environmental news you can trust, see the Society of Environmental Journalists’ Daily Headlines page

• The World Is Reeling From Record Heat and Flooding. Scientists Say It’s the Cost of Climate Inaction (Inside Climate News)
• It’s stupid hot. Here are the freakish global heating facts. (Mashable/MSN)
• Summers are always hot. Here’s how we know climate change is making summer 2023 hotter. (USA Today)
• How to keep your dog safe in the heat, according to an emergency vet (Washington Post)
• Seniors are migrating to states that face America’s most extreme heat (Washington Post)
• EF3 tornado rips through North Carolina amid extreme weather nationwide (ABC News)
• Monsoon rains raise river levels to touch the walls of the Taj Mahal in 45 year high (EuroNews)
• Your air conditioner isn’t built for this heat. 5 tips can boost performance (NPR)
• Canadian wildfires hit Indigenous communities hard, threatening their land and culture (AP)
• India sets sights on home-mined minerals to boost its clean energy plans (AP)
• Experts Study Using Waste Plastic in Roads and More, but Find the Practice Isn’t Ready for Prime Time (Inside Climate News)
• Gas boiler lobby trying to delay UK’s heat pump plans, leak shows (Guardian)
• Rough years ahead [as new El Nino arrives] (Nature)
• Complete Series: Farmers Under Attack for Supporting Clean Energy (Climate Crocks)
• These are the places most at risk from record-breaking heat waves as the planet warms (CNN)
• Building Steam in Lithium Valley (The American Prospect)
• Feeling Overwhelmed About Going All-Electric at Home? Here’s How to Get Started (Inside Climate News)
• VIDEO: See what three degrees of global warming looks like (The Economist/YouTube)
• The 7 climate tipping points that could change the world forever (Grist)
• The 1977 White House climate memo that should have changed the world (Guardian UK)
• Four solutions to mitigate climate change, from the IPCC (Dr. Michael Mann, Penn Today)
• Environmental Sacrifice Zones: 8 Places We’ve Given Up-Probably Forever (Environmental Health Network)
• Feeling Hopeless About the Climate? Try Our 30-Day Action Plan (The Revelator)
• VIDEO: 2050: what happens if we ignore the climate crisis (Guardian UK)
• 99.9 percent Of Scientists Agree Climate Emergency Caused By Humans (Guardian UK)
• Climate Fund Choices for Investors Are Multiplying (Bloomberg/Yahoo)
• How climate change could undo 50 years of public health gains (Grist)
• Climate Change Will Force a New American Migration (Pro Publica)
• Exxon’s Snake Oil: 100 years of deception (Columbia Journalism Review)
• VIDEO: A Message From the Future With Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (The Intercept)
• What genuine, no-bullshit ambition on climate change would look like: How to hit the most stringent targets, with no loopholes. (David Roberts, Vox)
• A Global Shift To Sustainability Would Save Us $26 Trillion (Vox)
• Project Drawdown: 100 Solutions to Reverse Global Warming (Drawdown.org)
• An Optimist’s Guide to Solving Climate Change and Saving the World (Vice)
• The great nutrient collapse: The atmosphere is literally changing the food we eat, for the worse. And almost nobody is paying attention. (Politico)
• The world’s bleak climate situation, in 3 charts: We’ve got a long way to go and a short time to get there. (Vox)
• The Climate Risks We Face (NY Times):
  To stabilize global temperature, net carbon dioxide emissions must be reduced to zero. The window of time is rapidly closing to reduce emissions and limit warming to no more than 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit or 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, the goal set in the Paris climate accord. The further we push the climate system beyond historical conditions, the greater the risks of potentially unforeseen and even catastrophic changes to the climate – so every reduction in emissions helps.
• The Uninhabitable Earth: When will climate change make earth too hot for humans? (New York Magazine):
  Famine, economic collapse, a sun that cooks us: What climate change could wreak – sooner than you think.
• A beginner’s guide to the debate over 100% renewable energy (Vox):
  Clean-energy enthusiasts frequently claim that we can go bigger, that it’s possible for the whole world to run on renewables – we merely lack the “political will.” So, is it true? Do we know how get to an all-renewables system? Not yet. Not really.