In the first two weeks of September 2020, average solar-powered electricity generation in the California Independent System Operator (CAISO), which covers 90% of utility-scale solar capacity in California, declined nearly 30% from the July 2020 average as wildfires burned across the state.
Nissan has rolled out a concept electric vehicle that I have to admit to liking much more than my brain says I should.
I’ll never forget when the fires first woke me up. It was 2017, and a dumb local teenager threw a firework into a tinder box of dry trees and plants, and in a blink of an eye the beloved Columbia River Gorge was on fire and the City of Portland was covered in smoke for days on end.
“A lot of people are just selling out and getting out.”
Ankle-deep in the overflow of the river that drew her here two decades ago, Calinda Crowe looked across her land, envisioning the future. She didn’t like what she saw.
It’s creeping towards that time of year for Eastern and Gulf states in the U.S. to prepare for hurricane season. Having lived through many Florida hurricanes, experiencing the water (everywhere) and the wind clearing out stagnant energy, the atmosphere is refreshing — if houses remain and people are fine. Electricity can be knocked out for hours or days, which can be stressful but can also be relaxing. It depends on your situation, your needs, and your point of view.
Communities around the world are already feeling the impacts of climate change. Finance is at the heart of the matter: adapting to rising sea levels, heat waves, floods, and erratic weather is becoming expensive very quickly, particularly for developing countries.
Reading a recent World Resources Institute blog post on fire, I began exploring an interactive map referenced in it, Global Forest Watch Fires. It is an interactive online platform with diverse skills and strengths. It will identify active fires as they start and alert you as they develop in your area.
It’s the 13th year of NOAA’s brilliant, visually beautiful, and timely Arctic Report Card. (Full 2018 PDF here.)
Climate impacts often fall disproportionately and unfairly on society’s most vulnerable, but cities are uniquely well-positioned to do something about these inequities by taking innovative climate action.
A combination of natural disasters and extreme weather events impacting the entire globe is likely to mean 2017 will be the most expensive on record according to 28 insurance industry organizations.
