In the past week, Earth’s record for the hottest day was broken twice. Sunday, July 21, was declared Earth’s hottest day since records began, when average surface temperature reached 17.09 degrees Celsius. On Monday the record was broken again, when average temperatures reached 17.16 degrees Celsius—and Tuesday was almost as hot.
The declarations were made by Copernicus, the European climate change service. They made international headlines—especially in the northern hemisphere, which has been experiencing extreme summer heat.
Determining the global average temperature on any given day is complex. It involves thousands of observations using high-tech equipment and, in some cases, sophisticated computer models.
So let’s take at look at how scientists take the planet’s temperature, and what these broken records mean.
How We Know It’s Hot
The global average surface temperature is the main indicator used to track how the climate is changing, and is the measure used under the Paris Agreement.
It is derived from a combination of both the average temperature of air just above the land surface and in the upper layer of the ocean.
Several organizations develop estimates of Earth’s average surface temperature using a variety of methods. Aside from Copernicus, they include national organizations in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Japan.
All datasets produced by these agencies point to a very clear warming trend since 1900.
Most datasets are based on directly observed temperatures from weather stations on land and floats on the ocean, both of which contain thermometers. Satellites in space are also used to gather infrared estimates.
The advanced methods used today, and the many thousands of observations, mean daily temperature data is far more accurate than in years past. The further back in time we go, the more uncertain the estimates of global average surface temperatures.
The model simulates temperatures at 2 meters above the land surface everywhere across the globe. The results are combined with an estimate of oceans’ average surface temperature derived from direct observation and satellite information.
Copernicus’ use of information from a model simulation means its method differs slightly from other datasets. However, the method is well regarded and provides global estimates of average surface temperatures within a couple of days.
Unpicking the Temperatures
We know the climate is changing at a rapid pace. But why is this record daily heat occurring now?
As the graph above shows, the global average surface temperature follows a distinct seasonal cycle. Temperatures in July are typically about 4 degrees Celsius higher than in January.
The difference comes down to the larger land masses of North America, Europe, and Asia, as compared to those in the southern hemisphere.
Within the Department of Energy, offices dedicated to clean energy research and implementation would be eliminated, and energy efficiency guidelines and requirements for household appliances would be scrapped. The environmental oversight capacities of the Department of the Interior and the Environmental Protection Agency would be curbed significantly or eliminated altogether, preventing these agencies from tracking methane emissions, managing environmental pollutants and chemicals, or conducting climate change research.
In addition to these major overhauls, Project 2025 advocates for getting rid of smaller and lesser-known federal programs and statutes that safeguard public health and environmental justice. It recommends eliminating the Endangerment Finding—the legal mechanism that requires the EPA to curb emissions and air pollutants from vehicles and power plants, among other industries, under the Clean Air Act. It also recommends axing government efforts to assess the social cost of carbon, or the damage each additional ton of carbon emitted causes. And it seeks to prevent agencies from assessing the “co-benefits,” or the knock-on positive health impacts, of their policies, such as better air quality.
“When you think about who is going to be hit the hardest by pollution—whether it’s conventional air, water, and soil pollution or climate change—it is very often low-income communities and communities of color,” said Rachel Cleetus, policy director of the climate and energy program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, a nonprofit science advocacy organization. “The undercutting of these kinds of protections is going to have a disproportionate impact on these very same communities.”
Chemical plants and factories line the roads and suburbs of the area known as “Cancer Alley” in Louisiana.
Photographer: Giles Clarke/Getty Images
Other proposals would wreak havoc on the nation’s ability to prepare for and respond to climate disasters. Project 2025 suggests eliminating the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Weather Service housed therein and replacing those organizations with private companies. The blueprint appears to leave the National Hurricane Center intact, saying the data it collects should be “presented neutrally, without adjustments intended to support any one side in the climate debate.” But the National Hurricane Center pulls much of its data from the National Weather Service, as do most other private weather service companies, and eliminating public weather data could devastate Americans’ access to accurate weather forecasts. “It’s preposterous,” said Rob Moore, a policy analyst for the Natural Resources Defense Council’s Action Fund. “There’s no problem that’s getting addressed with this solution, this is a solution in search of some problem.”
WASHINGTON — The Environmental Protection Agency is awarding $4.3 billion in grants to fund projects in 30 states to reduce climate pollution. The money will go to 25 projects targeting greenhouse gas emissions from transportation, electric power, commercial and residential buildings, industry, agriculture and waste and materials management.
The grants are paid for by the 2022 climate law approved by congressional Democrats.
The law, officially known as the Inflation Reduction Act, includes nearly $400 billion in spending and tax credits to accelerate the expansion of clean energy such as wind and solar power, speeding the nation’s transition away from the oil, coal and natural gas that largely cause climate change.
The latest round of grants includes $396 million to Pennsylvania to reduce industrial greenhouse gas emissions from cement, asphalt and other material.
EPA Administrator Michael Regan joined Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro in Pittsburgh to announce grant recipients in his state, a political battleground in the 2024 election, and across the nation.
Senior EPA leaders also joined Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla of California on Monday to announce nearly $500 million for transportation and freight decarbonization at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
The grants will provide incentives for electric charging equipment, zero-emission freight vehicles and conversion of cargo handling equipment to lower emissions.
Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Maine will get a total of $450 million to accelerate adoption of cold-climate heat pumps and water heaters.
“President Biden understands that America needs a strong EPA,’’ Regan told reporters, noting the Democratic administration “has made the largest climate investment in history, providing billions of dollars to state, local and tribal governments to tackle climate change with the urgency it demands.’’
The funds, to be delivered this fall, “will help implement community-driven solutions that reduce air pollution, advance environmental justice and help accelerate America’s clean energy transition,’’ Regan said.
Shapiro, a Democrat who has been mentioned as a possible vice presidential pick now that Biden has stepped down from the presidential race, said his administration has taken action to address climate change while continuing to create energy jobs and expand the economy.
The grant “is one of the largest federal grants Pennsylvania has ever received,’’ Shapiro said in a statement ahead of Monday’s announcement. The state will work with RISE PA, a new initiative aimed at reducing industrial sector emissions in Pennsylvania.
The Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy will receive $307 million to boost “climate-smart” agriculture and reduce agricultural waste from livestock, officials said. The grant also will fund projects to improve energy efficiency in commercial and industrial facilities and low-income households, as well as deploy solar panels and electrify irrigation wells.
Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird of Lincoln, Nebraska, said the grant will enhance energy efficiency of homes and commercial buildings in her city. A city analysis indicates that investing in energy efficiency and electrification could reduce Lincoln’s emissions by 77% by 2050, Baird said on a White House call Friday.
The grant also will ensure Lincoln residents have “equitable access to the clean energy transition’’ by providing assistance to low-income residents, she said.
Other grants include nearly $250 million to boost electric vehicle infrastructure along Interstate 95 from Maryland to Connecticut. The project will provide charging infrastructure for commercial zero-emission vehicles and provide technical assistance for workforce development along the I-95 corridor, one of the most heavily traveled in the nation.
Michigan will get $129 million to accelerate the siting, zoning and permitting of renewable energy. The grants will help Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, another potential vice presidential choice, achieve a goal of 60% renewable energy by 2035.
CEO Agenda provides unique insights into how leaders think and lead and what keeps them busy in a world of constant change. We look into the lives, minds and agendas of CEOs at the world’s most iconic companies.
Marco Alvera may be the most considerate CEO I’ve ever met. In one way, that’s not surprising: Alvera, who was born in the U.S. to Italian parents, studied philosophy at university. Even today, he still reflects on the morals of business, as exemplified by a TED talk about fairness he gave in Milan a few years back, which has garnered over 3 million views.
1,000,000 tonnes
The amount of e-NG Tree Energy Solutions aims to produce by 2030.
But if you consider Alvera’s current and prior occupations, his philosophical bent is more of a surprise. Alvera worked in the M&A and private equity department of Goldman Sachs early in his career, and then shifted to working for large Italian energy companies, including Enel, Eni, and Snam, where he served as CEO.
3,000,000
The number of views Marco’s TED talk recieved.
Today, Alvera is still at the forefront of the energy sector, as the co-founder and CEO of both Tree Energy Solutions, a Brussels-based company that produces and transports so-called “electric natural gas” (read on for its definition and use), and Zhero, an Amsterdam-based company that owns and operates large scale renewable energy projects.
Marco’s TED talk about fairness:
But the philosopher and idealist in Alvera is never far away. The Milan-based businessman often reverts to talking about equity and fairness, as he did when we connected for this interview. He’s a well-balanced individual, too, checking out from work regularly to read, enjoy good food, and spend time with his family.
This interview has been edited for brevity.
Down to business
Fortune: What is the single most important project you are working on with your company?
Marco Alvera: A company I co-founded in 2022, TES, is building large-scale projects to produce e-NG, a complete green fuel that is created by combining green hydrogen and recycled CO2. We then ship this fuel and deliver it to customers all over the world by using existing infrastructure. As I often say #PPWS, Put the Panels Where it’s Sunny, e-NG is the most simple way to ship cheap renewable solar and wind energy produced in the Sun Belt to a factory in Germany or a house in Japan.
We are developing several e-NG projects in North America, Europe, the Middle East and Australia. We are also racing ahead with one of the largest green energy project import terminals which will be built in Wilhelmshaven, Germany to facilitate the import of both conventional liquefied natural gas and green fuels.
Alvera is optimistic about the trend towards cheaper renewable energy.
CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images
Which long-term trend are you most bullish about for society and the economy at large?
I am most optimistic about the trend towards cheaper and cheaper renewable energy. In regions where it’s sunny and windy, the cost of renewable energy is already a quarter of that of fossil fuels, and this gap continues to grow. This shift will significantly reduce energy system costs, stimulate economic growth, and, if projects are executed swiftly, help address the climate crisis.
Every war is won or lost on manufacturing capacity, the climate war is no exception.
If you were an economic policymaker, what would be your top priority?
Every war is won or lost on manufacturing capacity, the climate war is no exception. Although I advocate for free markets, I believe policymakers should now prioritize reducing the costs associated with the energy transition. This can be achieved by supporting the establishment of new factories to scale up the manufacturing of energy transition equipment, similar to the approach taken for vaccine production during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Being productive
What time do you get up, and what part of your morning routine sets you up for the day?
When traveling (which is too often), I get up at 5:30; otherwise, it’s 7:00. I get my best insights right when I start shaving or with a walk in Parco Sempione, which is close to where I live in Milan.
Marco gets his best insights right when he starts shaving or with a walk in Parco Sempione, in Milan.
Emanuele Cremaschi/Getty Images
What time do you work until? Do you continue sending emails during the night and/or weekends?
I don’t work at night, but I do send emails on weekends, especially during special projects or deals. I believe that a healthy work-life balance is crucial for creativity, productivity, and overall well-being. Our best ideas and most inspired work come when we are connected with our inner selves.
What apps or methods do you use to be more productive?
I use voice dictation for memos and emails, rely on newspaper apps for quick news summaries, and use Yoga Nidra (which means sleep in Sanskrit) to relax, recharge and recover from jet lag. It helps me to keep focused and stay balanced.
Alvera takes inspiration from James Nestor’s book, Breath.
Amazon.co.uk
Who is on your “personal board”?
My wife, daughters, brother and parents, a few very old close friends and perhaps too many current or former partners and colleagues.
Marco with his family.
Tree Energy Solutions
Tree Energy Solutions
Getting personal
What book have you read, either recently or in the past, that has inspired you?
There are way too many books that have inspired me! But recently I’ve been really impacted by “Breath” by James Nestor. This book delves into the science and history of breathing, something so fundamental yet often overlooked. Nestor explains how proper breathing can improve health, boost performance, and even lengthen lifespan. As entrepreneurs and managers, we often focus on external achievements and driving change, but sometimes we neglect the basics, like how to breathe correctly. Learning and practicing effective breathing techniques has been a game-changer for me. It’s a powerful management tool that helps in maintaining focus, reducing stress and increasing overall well-being. This book has taught me the importance of embodying what we learn, not just accumulating knowledge.
Marco would ask his idol, Leonardo da Vinci, how he managed to excel in numerous fields while remaining authentic and true to his multifaceted self.
THEPALMER via Getty
If you could ask your idol one question, who would it be, and what would you ask?
I would ask Leonardo da Vinci how he managed to be a painter, sculptor, engineer, architect, biologist and much more, all at once, and excel in so many fields, simultaneously remaining authentic and faithful to his true multiple selves.
As a consumer, what is your favorite company and why?
I love handmade artisanal products. There are few brands that resonate, and Patagonia stands out for its values, commitment to sustainability and ethical sourcing.
The CEO admires Patagonia for its values, commitment to sustainability and ethical sourcing.
Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images
And to end on a lighter note: What was the last costume you wore?
I wore my Azerbaijani Caspian Sea fisherman hat – it looks like a massive white mass of hair.
CEO Agenda provides unique insights into how leaders think and lead, and what keeps them busy in a world of constant change. We look into the lives, minds and agendas of CEOs at the world’s most iconic companies.Dive into our other CEO Agenda profiles.
Washington — On Sunday, the Earth sizzled to the hottest day ever measured by humans, yet another heat record shattered in the past couple of years, the European climate service Copernicus said Tuesday.
Copernicus’ preliminary data shows that the global average temperature Sunday was 62.76 degrees Fahrenheit, beating the record set just last year on July 6 by .02 degrees. Both Sunday’s mark and last year’s record obliterate the previous record of 62.24 degrees), which itself was only a few years old, set in 2016.
Without human-caused climate change, records wouldn’t be broken anywhere near as frequently, and new cold records would be set as often as hot ones, scientists say.
“What is truly staggering is how large the difference is between the temperature of the last 13 months and the previous temperature records,” Copernius Director Carlo Buontempo said in a statement. “We are now in truly uncharted territory and as the climate keeps warming, we are bound to see new records being broken in future months and years.”
While 2024 has been extremely warm, what kicked Sunday into new territory was a way toastier than usual Antarctic winter, according to Copernicus. The same thing was happening on the southern continent last year when the record was set in early July.
But it wasn’t just a warmer Antarctica on Sunday. Interior California baked with triple digit heat, complicating the fighting of more than two dozen wildfires in the West. At the same time, Europe sweltered through its own deadly heat wave.
“It’s certainly a worrying sign coming on the heels of 13 straight record-setting months,” said Berkeley Earth climate scientist Zeke Hausfather, who now estimates there’s a 92% chance that 2024 will beat 2023 as the warmest year on record.
July is generally the hottest month of the year globally, mostly because there’s more land in the Northern Hemisphere, so seasonal patterns there drive global temperatures.
Copernicus records go back to 1940, but other global measurements by the United States and United Kingdom governments go back even further, to 1880. Many scientists, taking those into consideration along with tree rings and ice cores, say last year’s record highs were the hottest the planet has seen in about 120,000 years. Now the first six months of 2024 have broken even those.
Scientists blame the supercharged heat mostly on climate change from the burning of coal, oil and natural gas and on livestock agriculture. Other factors include a natural El Nino warming of the central Pacific Ocean, which has since ended. Reduced marine fuel pollution and possibly an undersea volcanic eruption are also causing some additional warmth, but those aren’t as important as greenhouse gases trapping heat, they said.
Because El Nino is likely to be soon replaced by a cooling La Nina, Hausfather said he would be surprised if 2024 sees any more monthly records, but the hot start of the year is still probably enough to make it warmer than last year.
Sunday’s mark is notable but “what really kind of makes your eyeballs jump out” is how the last few years have been so much hotter than previous marks, said Northern Illinois University climate scientist Victor Gensini, who wasn’t part of the Copernicus team. “It’s certainly a fingerprint of climate change.”
University of Pennsylvania climate scientist Michael Mann said the difference between the this year’s and last year’s high mark is so tiny and so preliminary that he is surprised the European climate agency is promoting it.
“We should really never be comparing absolute temperatures for individual days,” Mann said in an email.
Yes, it’s a small difference, Gensini said in an interview, but there have been more than 30,500 days since Copernicus data started in 1940, and this is the hottest of them all.
“What matters is this,” said Texas A&M University climate scientist Andrew Dessler. “The warming will continue as long as we’re dumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. … We have the technology to largely stop doing that today. What we lack is political will.”
The head of upcoming climate negotiations told world leaders Wednesday that a new financial aid package for poor and disaster-struck nations is the urgent, make-or-break goal of United Nations talks this fall.
“Time lost is lives, livelihoods and the planet lost,” said Mukhtar Babayev, the Azerbaijan ecology minister and president-designate of November climate talks in Baku, Azerbaijan.
At the same time, Simon Stiell, the United Nations’ top climate official, made an emotional plea for a stepped-up fight against “the growing cost of unchecked climate carnage ” from his hurricane-demolished hometown of Carriacou, Grenada, in some of the first video from the devastated island.
“Beryl is yet more painful proof,” Stiell, executive secretary of the UN’s climate agency, said from the remnants of a neighbor’s house that had lost its roof and walls. “Every year fossil fuel-driven climate costs are an economic wrecking ball hitting billions of households and small businesses. If governments everywhere don’t step up, every economy and 8 billion people will face this blunt-force trauma head-on on a continuous basis.”
Beryl, a record-breaking storm that rapidly intensified, destroyed or severely damaged 98% of the island’s homes with “devastation that has become all too familiar to hundreds of millions of people all around the world,” Stiell said.
Stiell cited a scientific study saying the world is locked in to a yearly $38 trillion economic hit from climate change, saying it puts poorer countries into a spiral of debt that prevents them from providing education or health care or digging out of the financial hole from disasters.
That’s at the heart of two of key issues to be discussed in November in climate negotiations in Azerbaijan. In his letter to world leaders, negotiations president-designate Babayev said a new international goal for climate financial aid from rich to poor countries is the “centerpiece” and most pressing issue.
Governments have to agree on a new goal to improve upon the annual $100 billion that rich countries once pledged to give to poorer nations to help them move to less carbon polluting economies. Countries promised in 2009 they’d hit that $100 billion a year mark by 2020. They finally reached it earlier this year.
Meetings in Germany in June to lay the groundwork for some kind of new money agreement didn’t get the “necessary progress” needed, Babayev wrote.
In a statement, Babayev said his country can help build a bridge between rich and poor “but we all need to walk across it. In fact, we need to start running.”
So Babayev is asking the head climate negotiators from many countries to come to Azerbaijan later this month for an informal retreat to push things along. He’s also asked veteran negotiators from Denmark and Egypt to chart the path toward a new agreed-upon financial aid goal.
On top of financial aid for decarbonization, there’s a fund agreed to in 2022 and enacted in 2023 called loss and damage. It is a version of reparations from wealthy nations that burn more heat-trapping fossil fuels than less developed nations, like Grenada, that not only don’t use as much carbon but get hit with a disproportionate share of climate-related disasters.
Babayev said another goal is to get the loss-and-damage fund moving so it can pay out “much needed and long-awaited funds as soon as possible.”
“The only way out of this is together,” Stiell said from Carriacou. “What the climate crisis did to my grandmother’s house must not become humanity’s new normal. We can still prevent that.”
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COLD SPRING, Minn. — Farmers in Minnesota are in a tough spot. Climate extremes, things like floods and droughts, are hurting production and the state is asking them to cut emissions and do their best to farm sustainably. So what does that look like?
At Derek Schmitz’s farm in Cold Spring, they follow a set of land management principles known as regenerative agriculture — essentially trying to work with nature instead of against it to restore and enhance the ecosystem.
“The reason we moved to it is that it just made sense. Mother Nature always wins,” Schmitz said.
Just ask farmer John Willenbring. He bought the farm from his father and now rents it out.
But he decided to make big changes, like getting rid of chemicals on the land because of health concerns and converting the pastures to perennial grasses.
WCCO
Willenbring says the first three years were tough — yield dropped — but then there was healing, which surprised the lifelong farmer.
“It’s really a good feeling,” he said.
It’s healing Kent Solberg can see in the soil.
“Some people say it looks like chocolate cottage cheese or chocolate cake,” he said. “It creates a sponge-like texture to the soil that allows water to infiltrate when it rains, it holds and stores it.”
Solberg runs his own farm and teaches others around the country how to implement regenerative practices.
He says the steps Schmitz and Willenbring are taking to restore the landscape are working, and it’s something we should all be invested in.
“We know there’s a direct correlation between the health of the soil and the nutrient quality of the food we eat,” Solberg said. “If we eat food, if we breathe air, if we drink water, this is something that should resonate with all of us.”
Farmer Doug Voss says he was able to improve the water quality around his plot of land in Stearns County.
“We’re standing right next to a well that used to have to test routinely for nitrate levels in their well water,” Voss said. “Now, he’s had undetectable levels of nitrates. We associate that directly with our management practices.”
He planted multiple crops to increase biodiversity and cut synthetics use. No synthetic fertilizers, pesticides or tillage — the cows do that all on their own.
“So we emulate nature by keeping the cattle on the land instead of spending so much time working ground, growing crops to store feed,” Voss said. “It is working from a business perspective because we’ve lowered our overheard. We don’t have near the expenses anymore.”
“We’re making more money, and on top of that, our soils are greatly improving, our cow health is way better than it ever was,” Schmitz said.
And it makes these farms more resilient to climate extremes.
“We found with providing adequate rest, everything bounces back so we haven’t had the disaster we anticipated,” Voss said.
Erin is back home in the Twin Cities after stops in South Korea and Omaha. The Jefferson High School grad (Go Jags!) is excited to get back to storytelling in the community that raised her.
When a wildfire started in the mountains of Fresno County late last month, much of California was on the cusp of a heat wave that would go on to smash records both for its intensity and duration. Over the next week and a half, as the Basin fire swelled to more than 14,000 acres and temperatures in the area reached 112 degrees, at least nine firefighters were treated for heat-related illness. Four were taken to local hospitals, three of them airlifted from the fire line.
As the heat wave stretched on, the incident management team overseeing the fire formed a working group to deal with the extreme conditions. They provided firefighters with electrolytes to add to their drinking water and cooling towels to place on their necks.
And on July 5, in what may have been a first in the state, they constructed five generator-powered, air-conditioned yurts — three out on the fire line and two at the incident command post — to be used as emergency cooling stations.
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“I’ve been doing this for over 35 years, and I can tell you that I have never seen this done before,” said Mike Lindbery of the U.S. Forest Service, public information officer on the Basin fire. “The heat has caused this team, which is basically coming in to solve problems, to look at a different aspect of problem solving.”
Much attention has been paid to the ways in which extreme heat ratchets up the risk of wildfire and intensifies its behavior, resulting in longer, more destructive fire seasons. But perhaps just as vexing are the challenges heat poses to the health of firefighters themselves, who already perform backbreaking work saddled with heavy equipment in unforgiving terrain.
On Tuesday, Daniel Foley, 27, a first-year Forest Service firefighter assigned to the Bly Ranger District in Oregon’s Fremont-Winema National Forest, collapsed after completing a fitness test and died at a local hospital. It’s not yet clear whether heat was a factor. The area was under a heat advisory, with afternoon temperatures in the mid-80s to 90s, depending on the elevation, according to the National Weather Service.
“It’s one of the hottest years on record for me so far, that I can remember,” said Mike Noel, assistant director of risk management for the Forest Service’s Pacific Southwest Region. He has been a wildland firefighter for 38 years. “All agencies have had multiple heat-related injuries this year.”
The team overseeing the Basin fire in Fresno County constructed air-conditioned yurts to be used as emergency cooling stations for firefighters earlier this month.
(California Complex Incident Management Team 11)
California has seen an uptick in heat-related illness among firefighters over the last 10 days or so coinciding with the elevated temperatures, he said. Seven firefighters assigned to the Lake fire in Santa Barbara County were treated for such illnesses on Thursday alone, he said.
At least four firefighters suffered from heat-related illness while fighting the Thompson fire in Butte County on July 2, and at least one on the Sharp fire in Ventura County on July 3, according to public information officers for those fires.
“This is extreme heat throughout the West, and it’s possible whole crews are being affected,” said Timothy Ingalsbee, former wildland firefighter and executive director of nonprofit Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics, and Ecology.
Wildland firefighters wear about 50 pounds of personal protective equipment, including a helmet, safety goggles and a personal pack containing water and equipment, said David Acuna, battalion chief of communication for the southern region of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
They may also carry a 25-pound hose pack, as well as hand tools like chain saws or nozzles. And they often must hike to remote locations and then perform physical labor once they get there, which can include digging fire lines, putting in hose lays and taking vegetation down to bare mineral soil to stop the fire spread — all as they breathe in smoke, dust and debris.
“It’s claustrophobic, sometimes, because it seems like you can’t escape from the heat and smoke,” Acuna said.
Cal Fire firefighters typically work 24-hour shifts, followed by 24 hours off in order to rest and refuel, he said. During those 24 hours on, breaks can be elusive. “If we can catch a quick cat nap in the engine, that’s great, but most of the time we stay engaged,” he said.
Breaks were once openly frowned upon — “it’s that tough, macho culture,” said Riva Duncan, former wildland firefighter and vice president of Grassroots Wildland Firefighters, an advocacy group made up of retired and current federal firefighters.
But for many, a wake-up call came in 2011, when Bureau of Land Management firefighter Caleb Hamm, 23, died from exertional heatstroke on a fire in Texas, becoming just the second reported federal wildland firefighter to do so. A U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report with recommendations for better protecting firefighters was widely distributed.
The incident raised awareness among superintendents, crew leaders and engine captains about early indicators of heat illness, and encouraged firefighters to speak up when they’re not feeling well, Duncan said. Many crews now have EMTs who carry extra electrolytes and cooling blankets and are trained to spot the early warning signs of heat illness, which can include cramps, weakness, nausea and fatigue, she said.
Firefighters walk along a hillside with scorched ground behind them in Mariposa, Calif., on July 5.
(Noah Berger / Associated Press)
Still, climate change has resulted in an ever-shifting baseline for what conditions firefighters can expect, including more intense, longer-lasting heat waves.
“We’re not even at the halfway mark in July,” Duncan said. “These extreme heat situations started early.”
“People need to understand that fires are behaving differently than they used to,” she added. “It’s not easy to put them out because they’re burning under different conditions than 10, 15 years ago.”
In California, as of Friday, 3,630 wildfires had burned 228,756 acres, compared with a five-year average of 3,743 fires and 111,813 acres over the same time frame, Acuna said.
“The fires are much, much more aggressive,” he said, attributing this to the heat and dryness, as well as the abundance of grasses and other fuels, which were stoked by two wet winters and left largely untouched by two mild fire seasons.
Members of the Redding Hotshots, an elite crew of Forest Service firefighters, are used to dealing with sweltering summer heat. But this season has been punishing even by their standards. They recently fought fires in both the Tahoe and Modoc national forests, where temperatures were in the 100s.
“It’s always hot on fires, but it seems like this year so far has definitely been about dealing with temperatures over 100, if not more,” said hotshot superintendent Dan Mallia.
Forest Service fire crews typically work up to 16-hour shifts, followed by eight hours of rest that are often spent sleeping outside. Although Mallia said breaks can be hard to come by, depending on how a fire is behaving, he says he encourages his members to hydrate, eat well and find shade when they can.
He noted that crews acclimate to the heat by training in it, but that it’s difficult to fully prepare for such extreme conditions.
“At the end of the day when you get out on a fire, it’s a little different,” he said. “There’s a lot of stuff going on as far as the work, the stress, the smoke, the heat, the fire — all that stuff definitely ramps up.”
Complicating matters, wildland firefighters are often sent to work in unfamiliar areas, which can make them feel the effects of extreme heat more acutely, said Max Alonzo, national business representative for the National Federation of Federal Employees and a former wildland firefighter who worked for the Forest Service for most of his career.
“I have seen people really struggle when they show up to different climates and different topography that they’re not used to, where they’re not used to the elevation, they’re not used to the weather,” he said. “We’re a national resource, so they’re going to go all over the country.”
He said that agencies could do more to proactively protect firefighters from the heat, including erecting cooldown areas on fire lines. Although he applauded the use of cooling yurts on the Basin fire, he said it’s not normal practice. Normal would be, “Hey, make sure you tell people to stay hydrated,” he said.
More could also be done to alternate crews — pulling firefighters off the line and letting them cool down before moving them back in, he said.
Cal Fire has already made changes to its personal protective equipment in response to rising temperatures, including transitioning to single-layer pants and removing colored ink from wildland jackets and undershirts in response to evidence that it increased the heat levels of the firefighters wearing them.
Federal agencies and many state and municipal departments have also begun to use drones to scout ahead of a fire or ignite backfires, lessening the burden on firefighters who would otherwise have to hike in on foot.
And wildland firefighters in hotter climates sometimes work bimodal shifts — toiling in the morning hours, then pulling back during the heat of the day and getting back out as things cool down in the evening, Mallia said.
Still, some say more changes may be necessary as the planet continues to warm. That could include sending more firefighters to an incident so they can distribute the workload more evenly, or placing more emphasis on nighttime operations.
The conditions also illustrate the increasing prudence of managing some backcountry fires for ecological benefit, treating them more like controlled burns rather than trying to immediately suppress them, Duncan said. That benefits the environment, and it protects the physical health of firefighters by permitting them to focus on fires threatening people or structures, she said. The idea remains politically unpopular, she noted.
It will also be increasingly key to set more controlled fires in the spring and fall to reduce the amount of fuel on the ground come summer, Ingalsbee said.
“Big picture, we’re going to have to be proactively managing fire during the cooler period of the year, rather than attacking all fires at the hottest period of the year, when we fail, and we surpass human physical ability for working in these kinds of conditions,” he said.
One thing appears certain: These conditions are unlikely to improve.
“I got a desperate call this morning from one of our members just like, ‘When is this going to end?’ ” he said Wednesday. “The heat is not ending. We’re just going to have to adapt to the new normal, whatever that is.”
HOUSTON — The deafening hum of a generator was a welcome noise Thursday evening at a Houston independent living center where several dozen seniors had lost power in the wake of Hurricane Beryl.
Joe and Terri Hackl, who had pulled up with the backup electricity source after delivering hundreds of meals all day, estimate they’ve spent at least 18 hours daily this week filling service gaps around the wind-torn city.
The couple is part of a volunteer network called CrowdSource Rescue, designed during 2017’s Hurricane Harvey to connect first responders to people in need.
Likeminded community efforts have brought relief in the form of fresh food and cool air for some of the millions who sweltered this week without electricity. Beryl knocked power out across one of the nation’s largest cities, pressuring electric utility CenterPoint Energy as outages endured days after the Category 1 storm had passed.
While nonprofit and mutual aid organizations have honed their disaster services in a city frequently battered by severe weather, some now find themselves drained by repeat deadly events. A May storm already strained food and energy supplies with hurricane-force winds that similarly left electricity lacking.
It’s been a challenge for CrowdSource Rescue to allocate generators with such great need, executive director Matthew Marchetti said.
The organization has just 30 compared to the 300 it bought after money poured in during Texas’ record winter freeze in 2021. Many storms have since depleted resources, and donations are harder to come by, he said.
“The banner cry has been ‘Houston Strong,’” he said. “I kind of want to be ‘Houston Normal’ for a while.”
It’s difficult to make people whole when shocks come frequently, West Street Recovery co-Director Ben Hirsch said. The environmental justice organization repairs homes and navigates federal assistance for families in some of northeast Houston’s most vulnerable parts.
Government money to fix damage from the May storm only just arrived and people haven’t had time to recover. Mutual aid can only do so much to alleviate systemic barriers to resilience, Hirsch said.
“Mutual aid is really good at giving out hot meals and mucking out houses,” he said. “But we need to bury our power lines and build massive flood infrastructure.”
Experts forecast unprecedented ocean heat will help make this one of the busiest Atlantic hurricane seasons on record and climate change is intensifying the strongest hurricanes.
Worried that damaging hurricanes are brewing so early, Sally Ray, director of domestic funds at the Center for Disaster Philanthropy, said donors should more strategically be “supporting these communities in the long term to make them better prepared for what may come next.”
During times of crisis, preestablished community ties become especially important for nonprofits, which often have the deepest connections with some of the hardest-hit communities, Ray said.
That includes groups like Interfaith Ministries for Greater Houston. About six dozen drivers deliver 2,000 hot meals daily through its Meals on Wheels program, checking in on homebound residents, operations Director Matthew Wright said.
The nonprofit also provides people with five shelf-stable meals each in June ahead of hurricane season. Beryl hit so early that Meals on Wheels plans to deliver another round soon.
Annie Jones, 62, received an emergency box before the weekend. No longer working after breaking her hip, the lifelong Houston resident said she had just fixed May wind damage to her roof.
“I know it’s coming,” she said of the frequent storms. “But you don’t get used to it. It’s still devastating.”
The successive extreme weather events are worrying even the most established nonprofits. Houston Food Bank, which serves 18 southeast Texas counties through more than 1,600 community partners, tries to collect over 40 tractor trailer loads of disaster relief supplies before hurricane season begins in June, said Brian Greene, the organization’s president.
But the May storm hit when they were still stocking up, forcing them to pull boxes from other food banks as far as Minnesota and Tennessee. That’s feasible when there is only one extreme weather event hitting the country. But he said the nationwide Feeding America network is concerned about the increased prevalence and severity of these scenarios.
A “disaster-level volume” of supplies — more than 400,000 pounds (181,400 kilograms) — moved Wednesday, Greene said, and he doesn’t want to let down Houston residents who have come to rely on that output.
“I worry that our ability to meet those expectations, if this is happening with more frequency, it’s going to be really tough,” Greene said.
The Hackls hadn’t even stopped to clear the debris littering their yard before they were back delivering food, drinks, ice and cleaning supplies Friday.
Before leaving the independent living center the day prior, Terri Hackl had some advice for what to do with any extra supplies bought by staff.
“Keep it,” she said. “I can almost guarantee that there will be more storms this year.”
___
Glenn Gamboa contributed reporting.
Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and non-profits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.
A view of Three Mile Island in Middletown, Penn., on March 15, 1999. John S. Zeedick/Getty Images
As A.I. continues to gain steam, so does the amount of electricity it consumes. A ChatGPT query needs nearly 10 times as much electricity as a Google (GOOGL) search query, according to a recent report by Goldman Sachs. To meet a soaring demand for A.I. power, some companies are looking at an unprecedented solution—the revival of dormant nuclear power plants.
Plans to reopen shuttered sites across states like Pennsylvania, Idaho and Michigan for the first time in American history are gaining traction amongst developers. While they face regulatory and financial hurdles, such reopenings could be a favorable option for companies looking to gain momentum in the A.I. race without increasing their carbon footprint.
One of the plants under consideration is Three Mile Island in Middletown, Penn., the site of the most serious nuclear power plant incident in the U.S. history. In 1979, one of the Three Mile Island’s two units experienced a partial reactor meltdown that spurred sweeping safety regulatory changes across the country. Its owner, Constellation Energy, is looking into a restart and reportedly discussing funding options with state officials and lawmakers.
The unit in question is the one not involved in the 1979 incident. “We’ve found the plant is in pretty good shape,” Joseph Dominguez, CEO of Constellation, told the Washington Post, adding that its reactors and components are in excellent condition.
More “zombie” nuclear plants are being considered for revival
These ambitions have coincided with a bump in carbon emissions. Google’s greenhouse gas emissions rose 48 percent between 2019 and 2023. Microsoft in May reported a 29 percent increase in emissions since 2020. Big Tech companies claim they will offset this energy consumption by pursuing carbon neutrality through wind, solar and nuclear sources. In March, for example, Amazon’s cloud unit Amazon Web Services struck a deal with Talen Energy to acquire a Pennsylvania data center powered by a nuclear power station for $650 million.
Not everyone is as enthusiastic about the prospect of nuclear plants. In the case of Three Mile Island, factors like underfunding and a lack of employees, water, fuel and equipment means that reviving its unit “is a heavy lift,” and one “driven by A.I.,” said Eric Epstein, founder of the nuclear activist group Three Mile Island Alert, in a statement to Observer. But these “marriages of A.I. with zombie plants” are only expected to become more likely, according to Epstein, in light of recent developments like Amazon’s Talen deal and the relaunch of Pennsylvania’s Nuclear Energy Caucus earlier this month.
Three Mile Island isn’t the only dormant plant that might get a facelift. NextEra Energy is considering rebooting its Duane Arnold Energy Center plant in Palo, Iowa, which it began decommissioning in 2020. “I would consider it, if it could be done safely and on budget,” John Ketchum, CEO of NextEra, told Bloomberg, adding that he expects power demand in the U.S. to rise by 40 percent by 2026. The company is “always looking at the needs of its customers and the best use of our assets, including the Duane Arnold Energy Center,” said Bill Orlove, a NextEra spokesperson, in a statement to Observer.
And over in Covert, Michican, the region’s mothballed Palisades plant could potentially reopen in the next year with state support and a $1.5 billion federal loan. Holtec International, which acquired the plant in 2022, is looking to recommission it by the end of 2025—a plan that may be incentivizing other developers to follow suit.
“We’ve obviously seen what happened with Palisades. I think that was brilliant, brilliant for the nation,” said Dominguez while speaking on Constellation Energy’s most recent earnings call when asked about a potential revival of Three Mile Island. “We’re not unaware that that opportunity exists for us.”
This summer’s heat wave has shattered temperature records across the U.S., but those living in so-called “urban heat islands” are feeling the heat even more. CBS News’ John Dickerson explains.
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Vice President Kamala Harris has attracted heightened attention, including from critics and the media, amid continued bipartisan questions about President Joe Biden’s fitness for office after his roundly criticized debate performance June 27.
On July 7, during “Fox News Sunday,” host Shannon Bream asked Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., about former President Donald Trump possibly running against Harris, rather than Biden, in November. Donalds expressed confidence that Trump would find material to use against Harris in the campaign.
Donalds told Bream that Harris had “co-sponsored, fully sponsored this radical Green New Deal, which will cost the American people $100 trillion.”
We previously rated False the notion that the Green New Deal, a proposal backed by some Democrats when it was unveiled in 2019, would cost $100 trillion.
We contacted Donalds’ office for evidence but received no reply.
However, we confirmed through public documentation that Harris did co-sponsor Senate legislation backing the Green New Deal and, to date, still supports the measure’s principles.
What was the Green New Deal?
Legislation proposing a Green New Deal was introduced Feb. 7, 2019, in both the House and the Senate, following months of discussion among progressive lawmakers and activists.
As we noted then, these resolutions addressed ways to curb climate change and protect the environment, including achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions, building smart power grids, and upgrading existing buildings to maximize energy efficiency.
Beyond the environment, the proposal addressed topics including racial justice, labor union policy and higher education. The resolutions were aspirational in nature, without specific details and with no new taxes or revenue streams to fund the shift, other than an expression of confidence that these changes will pay for themselves.
The Green New Deal never gained universal support even among Democratic lawmakers, and in the Democratic-controlled House, party leaders never brought it to a vote. Meanwhile, as a resolution, the legislation would not have had the force of law even if both chambers had passed it, which they didn’t.
Even so, the proposal’s mere existence becameafrequenttalkingpointforRepublicans, who warned that it would empower big government to infringe on Americans’ liberty and would cost taxpayers too much money.
What Harris said about the Green New Deal
Despite the Republican opposition, the proposal remained popular within the Democratic base, including with people who were poised to vote in the Democrats’ 2020 presidential primary. A significant number of Democrats who were running for president supported it, including Harris.
The future vice president, who had formally announced her presidential bid just weeks before the resolution was introduced, was joined on the list of original Senate co-sponsors by several other 2020 presidential candidates, including Cory Booker of New Jersey, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. (Co-sponsorship means full support for a piece of legislation, alongside multiple other members.)
In a Medium post published the day the Senate introduced its resolution, Harriswrote that she was “proud” to have signed on as an original Senate co-sponsor.
“For too long, we have been governed by lawmakers who are beholden to big oil and big coal,” Harris wrote. “They have refused to act on climate change. So it’s on us to speak the truth, rooted in science fact, not science fiction.”
Harris closed by writing, “We do not fight this fight for our generation alone — but for generations to come. Thank you for taking direct action today.”
On Sept. 4, 2019, Harris went further during a climate-focused town hall aired by CNN. Harris said she would support abolishing the filibuster — the parliamentary maneuver that forces most legislative business to secure at least 60 votes out of the Senate’s 100, rather than a simple majority — “to pass a Green New Deal.”
What Harris says today
When asked to elaborate on Harris’ support for the Green New Deal, the White House said that as vice president, Harris had made a tangible contribution on economic policy distinct from her earlier support for the Green New Deal. She cast the tie-breaking vote to pass the Inflation Reduction Act, which included key investments aimed at curbing climate change, including provisions on electricity, transportation, energy efficiency, manufacturing, agriculture and land conservation.
“The Biden-Harris administration’s transformational investments accelerate our trajectory towards meeting our climate goals, bolster the United States’ leadership on climate and clean energy globally, and work to build a future where all Americans have access to clean air and water and are better protected from extreme weather,” the White House said in a statement to PolitiFact.
Amid calls for the president to step aside ahead of the November election, said Marcia Godwin, a public administration professor at the University of La Verne, in Harris’ home state of California, said, “Republicans would love nothing more than to be able to paint Harris as a California liberal and create confusion about her viability as a consensus replacement pick.”
Godwin added that both sides of the ideological spectrum “have incentives to point out Harris’ support of Green New Deal legislation. Harris had difficulty getting traction on her own presidential campaign by being seen as too moderate, with her prosecutorial background. Progressives would look for signs that she would largely support their agenda.”
Our ruling
Rep. Byron Donalds said Harris “co-sponsored, fully sponsored” the Green New Deal.
Donalds is right: When the Senate introduced its version of the Green New Deal in February 2019, Harris was one of 11 Democrats who were original co-sponsors.
In a Medium post published when the resolution was introduced, Harris wrote that she was “proud” to have signed on as an original Senate co-sponsor.
It feels like we are getting used to the Earth being on fire. Recently, more than 70 wildfires burned simultaneously in Greece. In early 2024, Chile suffered its worst wildfire season in history, with more than 130 people killed. Last year, Canada’s record-breaking wildfires burned from March to November, and in August, flames devastated the island of Maui, in Hawaii. And the list goes on and on.
Watching the news, it certainly feels like catastrophic extreme wildfires are happening more often, and unfortunately this feeling has now been confirmed as correct. A new study published in Nature Ecology & Evolution shows that the number and intensity of the most extreme wildfires on Earth have doubled over the past two decades.
The authors of the new study, researchers at the University of Tasmania, first calculated the energy released by different fires over 21 years from 2003 to 2023. They did this by using a satellite-based sensor that can identify heat from fires, measuring the energy released as “fire radiative power.”
The researchers identified a total of 30 million fires (technically 30 million “fire events,” which can include some clusters of fires grouped together). They then selected the top 2,913 with the most energy released, that is, the 0.01 percent “most extreme” wildfires. Their work shows that these extreme wildfires are becoming more frequent, with their number doubling over the past two decades. Since 2017, the Earth has experienced the six years with the highest number of extreme wildfires (all years except 2022).
Importantly, these extreme wildfires are also becoming even more intense. Those classified as extreme in recent years released twice the energy of those classified as extreme at the start of the studied period.
These findings align with other recent evidence that wildfires are worsening. For instance, the area of forest burned every year is slightly increasing, leading to a corresponding rise in forest carbon emissions. (The total land area burned each year is actually decreasing, due to a decrease in grassland and cropland fires, but these fires are lower intensity and emit less carbon than forest fires.)
Burn severity—an indicator of how badly a fire damages the ecosystem—is also worsening in many regions, and the percentage of burned land affected by high-severity burning is increasing globally as well.
Earth’s more than year-long streak of record-shattering hot months kept on simmering through June, according to the European climate service Copernicus.
There’s hope that the planet will soon see an end to the record-setting part of the heat streak, but not the climate chaos that has come with it, scientists said.
The global temperature in June was record warm for the 13th straight month and it marked the 12th straight month that the world was 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than pre-industrial times, Copernicus said in an early Monday announcement.
“It’s a stark warning that we are getting closer to this very important limit set by the Paris Agreement,” Copernicus senior climate scientist Nicolas Julien said in an interview. “The global temperature continues to increase. It has at a rapid pace.”
That 1.5 degree temperature mark is important because that’s the warming limit nearly all the countries in the world agreed upon in the 2015 Paris climate agreement, though Julien and other meteorologists have said the threshold won’t be crossed until there’s long-term duration of the extended heat — as much as 20 or 30 years.
“This is more than a statistical oddity and it highlights a continuing shift in our climate,” Copernicus Director Carlo Buontempo said in a statement.
The globe for June 2024 averaged 62 degrees Fahrenheit (16.66 degrees Celsius), which is 1.2 degrees (0.67 Celsius) above the 30-year average for the month, according to Copernicus. It broke the record for hottest June, set a year earlier, by a quarter of a degree (0.14 degrees Celsius) and is the third-hottest of any month recorded in Copernicus records, which goes back to 1940, behind only last July and last August.
It’s not that records are being broken monthly but they are being “shattered by very substantial margins over the past 13 months,” Julien said.
“How bad is this?” asked Texas A&M University climate scientist Andrew Dessler, who wasn’t part of the report. “For the rich and for right now, it’s an expensive inconvenience. For the poor it’s suffering. In the future the amount of wealth you have to have to merely be inconvenienced will increase until most people are suffering.”
Even without hitting the long-term 1.5-degree threshold, “we have seen the consequences of climate change, these extreme climate events,” Julien said — meaning worsening floods, storms, droughts and heat waves.
June’s heat hit extra hard in southeast Europe, Turkey, eastern Canada, the western United States and Mexico, Brazil, northern Siberia, the Middle East, northern Africa and western Antarctica, according to Copernicus. Doctors had to treat thousands of heatstroke victims in Pakistan last month as temperatures hit 117 (47 degrees Celsius).
June was also the 15th straight month that the world’s oceans, more than two-thirds of Earth’s surface, have broken heat records, according to Copernicus data.
Most of this heat is from long-term warming from greenhouse gases emitted by the burning of coal, oil and natural gas, Julien and other meteorologists said. An overwhelming amount of the heat energy trapped by human-caused climate change goes directly into the ocean and those oceans take longer to warm and cool.
The natural cycle of El Ninos and La Ninas, which are warming and cooling of the central Pacific that change weather worldwide, also plays a role. El Ninos tend to spike global temperature records and the strong El Nino that formed last year ended in June.
Another factor is that the air over Atlantic shipping channels is cleaner because of marine shipping regulations that reduce traditional air pollution particles, such as sulfur, that cause a bit of cooling, scientists said. That slightly masks the much larger warming effect of greenhouse gases. That “masking effect got smaller and it would temporarily increase the rate of warming” that is already caused by greenhouse gases, said Tianle Yuan, a climate scientist for NASA and the University of Maryland Baltimore Campus who led a study on the effects of shipping regulations.
Climate scientist Zeke Hausfather, of the tech company Stripes and the Berkeley Earth climate-monitoring group, said in a post on X that with all six months this year seeing record heat, “that there is an approximately 95% chance that 2024 beats 2023 to be the warmest year since global surface temperature records began in the mid-1800s.”
Copernicus hasn’t computed the odds of that yet, Julien said. The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration last month gave it a 50% chance.
Global daily average temperatures in late June and early July, while still hot, were not as warm as last year, Julien said.
“It is likely, I would say, that July 2024 will be colder than July 2023 and this streak will end,” Julien said. “It’s still not certain. Things can change.”
Andrew Weaver, a climate scientist at the University of Victoria, said the data show Earth is on track for 3 degrees Celsius of warming if emissions aren’t urgently curtailed. And he feared that an end to the streak of record hot months and the arrival of winter’s snows will mean “people will soon forget” about the danger.
“Our world is in crisis,” said University of Wisconsin climate scientist Andrea Dutton. “Perhaps you are feeling that crisis today — those who live in the path of Beryl are experiencing a hurricane that is fueled by an extremely warm ocean that has given rise to a new era of tropical storms that can intensify rapidly into deadly and costly major hurricanes. Even if you are not in crisis today, each temperature record we set means that it is more likely that climate change will bring crisis to your doorstep or to your loved ones.”
Copernicus uses billions of measurements from satellites, ships, aircraft and weather stations around the world and then reanalyzes it with computer simulations. Several other countries’ science agencies — including NOAA and NASA — also come up with monthly climate calculations, but they take longer, go back further in time and don’t use computer simulations.
The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
MORIGAON, India — A blue tarp covered a mother and her newborn daughter from the incessant rain on their boat journey. Jahanara Khatoon, 25, had just given birth on the boat on their way to a healthcare center, surrounded by the raging floodwaters of the Brahmaputra River.
“I am very happy,” said her husband, Kamaluddin, who was also on the boat. “My wife wanted a boy, but Allah has given me a girl and I’m very satisfied. I don’t want to have any more children.”
The couple had left their home on Phuliamari Char, one of the islands in the river, after it was inundated by floodwaters, taking shelter on a nearby island known as Chars.
Increased rainfall in the region blamed on climate change has made the Brahmaputra River — already known for its powerful, unpredictable flow — even more dangerous for those who live near it or on the more than 2,000 islands in it.
India, and Assam state in particular, is seen as one of the world’s most vulnerable regions to climate change because of increasingly intense rain and floods, according to a 2021 report by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water, a New Delhi-based climate think tank.
Khatoon and Kamaluddin earn their living as farmers on their island in Assam state’s Morigaon district.
A medical team was visiting flooded Chars to aid those who needed medical help, especially pregnant women. The team convinced Khatoon to travel with them to the nearest medical facility across the river.
The baby couldn’t wait for Khatoon to get to the healthcare center. As her labor progressed, the team on the boat quickly got to work, holding up a tarp to protect from the rain as they helped with the delivery.
Within 10 minutes the baby emerged to shouts of celebration.
Diluwara Begum, an auxiliary nurse and midwife, lifted the newborn and whispered prayers into her ears.
“This was my first time helping deliver a baby on a boat. It was a very different feeling. It feels good.” she said.
The family has named the baby Karima, which means “Giving.”
Shopoff Realty Investments has moved forward with a plan to build 250 homes and a 215-room boutique hotel atop a former oil tank farm in Huntington Beach.
The Irvine-based developer led by Bill Shopoff has scheduled a hearing with the California Coastal Commission to consider approving the project on the former Magnolia Tank Farm west of Magnolia Street and north of the Huntington Beach Channel, the Orange County Register reported. The hearing is set for July 10.
The commission will weigh in on the 29-acre project rezoned by the city in 2021 just north of the Magnolia Marsh, some 2,000 feet from the beach. The property has been scraped clean of oil tanks and now appears in satellite images as a truck storage lot.
A year ago, the commission delayed deciding whether it would grant zoning changes to allow the development after raising concerns about flooding caused by sea-level rise.
But now commission staffers recommend the commissioners approve the project with changes related to affordable housing and hotel room rents. There was no more mention of the commission’s previous concerns about rising seas and potential floods from climate change.
If approved with modifications, 20 percent of the homes would be affordable, with half of them offered to qualified workers at the hotel.
The hotel would also need to have 25 percent of its rooms at affordable rates. The affordable rooms would likely rent for $150 a night if built today, according to a commission staff report.
Recently improved flood walls for the Huntington Beach Channel would help protect the development from future flooding, according to a study submitted with the project application.
But there are risks of floods in future decades should a major storm surge hit the beach, combined with several feet of sea level rise, according to the study submitted by an unidentified consulting firm.
Shopoff bought the Magnolia Tank Farm north of Pacific Coast Highway in 2016 for $26.5 million, or $913,793 an acre.
Plans now call for a 250 single-family and attached homes, a 215-room boutique lodge, 19,000 square feet of shops and restaurants and a 4-acre park, according to a Shopoff website.
Next to the project site is the former Ascon landfill, which until 1984 took in industrial, oil field and construction waste, now undergoing an environmental cleanup. The state Department of Toxic Substances Control has deemed the development safe from contamination from the former private dump, according to the Register.
A coalition of environmental groups, including the Angeles Chapter of the Sierra Club, says not so fast. They claim the only suitable use for the low-lying property would be its restoration as a wetland.
The groups — which include the Sierra Club, Orange County Coastkeepers and Surfrider Foundation — also say the housing and hotel development, if built atop a site raised to prevent flooding, would divert flood waters into adjacent residential neighborhoods.
Shopoff Realty Investments, founded by Bill Shopoff in 1992, had $3 billion in assets under management at the end of last year with $477 million in property sales and financing, up from $160 million in 2022, according to the Orange County Business Journal.
— Dana Bartholomew
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Hot water provides the energy hurricanes need to grow and thrive. Gusty winds evaporate a tiny bit of water off the sea’s surface. This warm water vapor rises into the clouds and releases its heat, which powers the thunderstorms that drive a hurricane’s intensity.
The Atlantic Ocean has been running a fever for the past year and a half. Sea surface temperatures across the ocean were the warmest on record for almost all of 2023 and continuing into 2024.
It’s not just that sea surface temperatures are running historically hot—that heat also stretches hundreds of meters deep beneath the surface.
Scientists use ocean heat content (OHC) to measure the depth of the heat through the ocean. A hurricane’s intense winds churn the ocean and force cooler waters from below to rise to the surface, leaving behind colder waters in the storm’s wake.
Higher OHC values limit the amount of cooling left behind by a storm, which allows the ocean to more easily support high-end storms later on down the line.
OHC values across the tropical Atlantic and the Caribbean far outpace normal values for this point in the summer, and that’s unlikely to change much as we inch closer to the peak of the season.
All that potential energy is what has meteorologists so worried heading into the rest of hurricane season. NOAA and Colorado State University both released aggressive seasonal forecasts calling for as many as two dozen named tropical storms this year.
Experts knew that the ocean would be capable of supporting frightening storms this year. The only surprise is that Beryl formed so soon. This early-season storm could serve as an omen for any storms that form later this year.
Courtesy of NOAA
Water temperatures are only part of the equation. A tropical cyclone is an exceptionally fragile structure that also requires vigorous and organized thunderstorms, low wind shear, ample moisture in the atmosphere, and few obstacles in its way in order to grow into a formidable beast.
Plenty of those ingredients are also expected throughout this hurricane season as forecasters watch the potential for La Niña to develop later this summer. La Niña patterns can make conditions more favorable for Atlantic storms by decreasing wind shear over the region.
It’s not just the number of storms that could form this year that has experts concerned, but their nature. Beryl just proved that any storm that takes root in a favorable environment could use those exceptionally warm waters to swirl into the record books. Any one of the many storms expected this season could have the opportunity to grow into a destructive hurricane that warrants extra attention and preparation.
Folks who live along or near the coast should use the relative quiet of the early hurricane season to prepare for whatever comes your way later this summer. Make sure you’ve got an emergency kit packed with supplies to deal with long-lasting utility outages. Plan what to do and where to go if your area is told to evacuate ahead of a storm.
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Tuesday proposed a new rule to address excessive heat in the workplace, warning — as tens of millions of people in the U.S. are under heat advisories — that high temperatures are the country’s leading weather-related killer.
If finalized, the measure would protect an estimated 36 million U.S. workers from injuries related to heat exposure on the job — establishing the first major federal safety standard of its kind. Those affected by excessive heat in the workplace include farmworkers, delivery and construction workers, landscapers and indoor workers in warehouses, factories and kitchens.
Biden highlighted the proposed rule as one of five steps his Democratic administration is taking to address extreme weather as Hurricane Beryl is already ripping through the Caribbean in an ominous sign for the summer.
Biden used his remarks at the D.C. Emergency Operations Center to blast those Republican lawmakers who deny the existence of climate change, saying, “It’s not only outrageous, it’s really stupid.” Biden noted that there are human and financial costs from climate change, saying that weather-inflicted damage last year cost the economy $90 billion.
“More people die from extreme heat than floods, hurricanes and tornadoes combined,” Biden said. “These climate fueled extreme weather events don’t just affect people’s lives. They also cost money. They hurt the economy, and they have a significant negative psychological effect on people.”
The Democratic president, who’s seeking reelection in part on his environmental record, said that the Federal Emergency Management Agency was also finalizing a rule to factor in possible flooding risks for federal construction projects.
In addition, FEMA was announcing $1 billion in grants to help communities deal with natural disasters, while the Environmental Protection Agency was releasing a new report on climate change’s impacts. Lastly, Biden said his administration would hold a conference titled “White House Summit on Extreme Heat” in the coming months.
Despite increased awareness of the risks posed to human health by high temperatures, extreme heat protections — for those routinely exposed to heat index readings above 80 degrees Fahrenheit (27 degrees Celsius) — have lagged.
“The purpose of this rule is simple,” a senior White House administration official told reporters. “It is to significantly reduce the number of worker-related deaths, injuries, and illnesses suffered by workers who are exposed to excessive heat … while simply doing their jobs.”
Under the proposed rule, employers would be required to identify heat hazards, develop emergency response plans related to heat illness, and provide training to employees and supervisors on the signs and symptoms of such illnesses. They would also have to establish rest breaks, provide shade and water, and heat acclimatization — or the building of tolerance to higher temperatures — for new workers.
Penalties for heat-related violations in workplaces would increase significantly, in line with what workplaces are issued for violations of Occupational Safety and Health Administration rules, a senior White House administration official said.
An estimated 2,300 people in the U.S. died from heat-related illness in 2023. From 1992 to 2022, a total of 986 workers across all industry sectors in the U.S. died from exposure to heat, with construction accounting for about 34% of all occupational heat-related deaths, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. During that time, 334 construction workers died due to heat exposure on the job.
The Labor Department has been developing a standard for how workplaces deal with heat since 2021. Last year, OSHA held meetings to hear about how the proposed measures could affect small businesses.
The AFL-CIO union federation praised the measure. “If finalized, this new rule would address some of the most basic needs for workers’ health and safety,” said AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler.
Heat protection laws in the U.S. have faced steady industry opposition, including from chambers of commerce and other business associations. Many say a blanket mandate would be difficult to implement across such a wide range of industries.
California, Colorado, Oregon, Minnesota and Washington are the only states with workplace standards for heat exposure. Over the past year, Florida and Texas, led by Gov. Ron DeSantis and Gov. Greg Abbott, both Republicans, passed legislation preventing local governments from requiring heat protections for outdoor workers.
If finalized, the Biden administration’s rule would override state standards, and states with existing procedures to deal with heat would have to institute measures at least as stringent as the finalized federal rule.
The OSHA plan was announced as the EPA released a new report on climate change indicators in the U.S. The report, last updated in 2012, highlights data showing the continuing and far-reaching impacts of climate change in the U.S. This year’s report adds heat-related workplace deaths and marine heat waves as climate change indicators.
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Associated Press writers Matthew Daly and Josh Boak contributed to this report.
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After wildfire smoke and smog smothered Denver in the summer of 2021, the city approved an ambitious plan to tackle its largest source of planet-warming pollution: big buildings.
Local advocates and climate officials knew the Mile High City wouldn’t reach its lofty climate targets without an aggressive plan for its office towers, businesses and apartment blocks, especially since those types of buildings account for nearly half of the city’s greenhouse gas emissions.
To help fix the problem, Denver updated its building codes and passed ordinances to reduce natural gas usage. The codes banned gas furnaces and water heaters in new commercial and multifamily buildings starting in 2024. In existing buildings, the rules required property owners to install electric systems whenever replacing gas equipment in 2025. While those regulations don’t prohibit natural gas equipment, any remaining gas-powered furnaces or boilers can only support a primary electric heating system.
Denver’s landmark climate policy is now threatened by legal challenges.
A coalition of landlords and building operators fired the first salvo in April 2024, filing a lawsuit arguing that part of Denver’s building rules ran afoul of a federal energy efficiency law and placed an unfair financial burden on an already beleaguered real estate industry.
Another potential lawsuit could soon join the fight to dismantle Denver’s climate-minded building policies. A powerful fossil fuel trade group, the National Propane Gas Association, plans to file a separate legal challenge, which could drag the city into a well-funded national effort to stop local governments from limiting gas in buildings.
A legal strategy laid out in a leaked document
A meeting agenda obtained by CPR News shows the National Propane Gas Association — an organization representing propane manufacturers, distributors and retailers — recently considered setting aside $20,000 to challenge Denver’s codes in federal court.
While it’s unclear if the organization approved the funding, the agenda for the Zoom meeting held on May 30 notes the association’s Colorado chapter had already put $7,500 toward the potential lawsuit. The document further reveals the group has retained Baker Botts, a corporate law firm based in Houston, to lead the potential legal challenge.
Neither the law firm nor the local chapter of the propane association responded to CPR News’ requests for comment. In an emailed statement, a spokesperson for the propane group said the organization does not comment on “active, pending or potential lawsuits.”
But the document suggests the organization has weighed the benefits of suing to block Denver’s climate-minded building codes. In a letter to the executive committee accompanying the meeting agenda, Jacob Peterson, the National Propane Gas Association’s director of state advocacy and affairs, wrote that Colorado’s recent focus on all-electric buildings has turned it “into a problematic state from a marketplace competitiveness standpoint.”
While city data show none of Denver’s commercial or multi-family buildings rely on propane, Peterson noted that other Colorado communities have pursued “anti-gas policies” over the last few years. A sustainability advisory board in Golden, for example, recently recommended an all-electric building code for new construction.
“If this Denver code goes unchallenged and is allowed to stand, there is concern that other Colorado communities, including areas where our core customers reside, will follow suit,” Peterson wrote to the executive committee.
Denver is far from the only Colorado community trying to use local rules to encourage residents to switch from natural gas to all-electric heat pumps and induction stoves. In 2022, Crested Butte became the first Colorado municipality to ban natural gas in new construction. A recently finalized code in Boulder also requires all-electric new buildings starting in December 2024, though it includes narrow exceptions for gas hookups in commercial kitchens and laboratories.
Across the country, more than 140 state and local governments have approved measures encouraging residents to ditch gas, according to an analysis by the Building Decarbonization Coalition, a pro-electrification advocacy group.
In his letter, Peterson told the National Propane Gas Association’s executive committee he expects the trade group will be a plaintiff in the potential Denver lawsuit — but neither the letter nor the meeting agenda indicate when lawyers might file it.
The potential lawsuit would expand on a successful case in California.
The meeting agenda reveals the explicit aim of a potential lawsuit: If filed, the overall goal is to replicate a legal victory in California, which forced the city of Berkeley to stop enforcing its first-in-the-nation ban on natural gas pipelines in new construction earlier this year.
Berekely’s 2019 ordinance marked the opening shot in a battle for all-electric buildings. By limiting access to natural gas, the city’s leaders and climate advocates hoped to take full advantage of a grid increasingly powered by zero-carbon resources like wind and solar.
The decision to scrap the law followed a successful lawsuit from the California Restaurant Association. A three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit agreed that the city’s ordinance violated a federal law giving the U.S. Department of Energy sole authority to set efficiency standards for appliances.
The National Propane Gas Association’s potential lawsuit would rely on the same argument to challenge Denver’s climate-minded building codes, according to the agenda obtained by CPR News. If a lawsuit is filed and prevails, the court ruling could block similar rules across the Tenth Circuit, which includes Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah and Wyoming.
The propane group has backed similar lawsuits in other parts of the country. In October 2023, it sued New York City and New York state to challenge laws banning fossil fuels in new buildings starting at the end of 2025. Recent reporting by The Boston Globe also suggests the propane association’s New England affiliate is considering a lawsuit against Massachusetts over its pro-electrification policies.
If any of those lawsuits fail, the propane industry and its allies think it could have a counterintuitive upside: A split between federal court circuits could attract the attention of the majority-conservative U.S. Supreme Court. In a recording obtained by The Boston Globe, a lawyer representing the propane association noted the nation’s highest court could intervene to settle any disagreement, potentially imposing a nationwide prohibition on local gas bans.
Meanwhile, environmental advocates doubt the legal reasoning behind the lawsuits. The cases rely on the Energy Policy and Conservation Act, a federal law born from the 1970s oil crisis giving the U.S. Department of Energy sole authority to set appliance efficiency standards.
Amy Turner, the director of the Cities Climate Law Initiative at Columbia University’s Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, said cities aren’t trying to regulate the companies making furnaces or water heaters, but rather shift homes and offices away from a type of energy use driving global warming.
“What’s happening is that very well-funded, very well-organized interest groups are taking this law that had a particular purpose — helping protect manufacturers from a patchwork of technical requirements for their products — and using that to push back on state and local climate laws,” Turner said.
The National Propane Gas Association could have some powerful allies behind its lawsuit against Denver
In the initial lawsuit filed by Colorado landlords and property owners, the plaintiffs argue federal law invalidates Colorado’s and Denver’s building performance standards, which cap the amount of energy used in existing large buildings.
The documents obtained by CPR News suggest the propane industry’s potential lawsuit would rely on the same argument to take on a slightly different piece of the city’s green building policies. Rather than challenging Denver’s building performance standards, it would ask a court to throw out the city’s building codes, which require a shift to electric systems in commercial and multifamily buildings in new construction or during a major renovation project.
There’s also no indication the initial lawsuit is linked to the National Propane Gas Association. Andrew Hamrick, a general counsel for the Apartment Association of Metro Denver assisting with the first legal challenge, told CPR News he wasn’t aware of a second potential lawsuit planned by the propane industry.
That doesn’t mean the propane industry lacks allies. The meeting agenda obtained by CPR News suggests the National Association of Home Builders and the American Gas Association are part of a coalition backing the propane industry’s potential lawsuit. The document, however, doesn’t indicate whether either trade group has pledged any financial support.
A spokesperson for the American Gas Association told CPR News the group is “not engaged in a lawsuit seeking to invalidate any Denver building codes and has not provided financial support.” A media representative for the National Association of Home Builders declined to comment.
Both groups, however, have a track record of trying to deter climate action and public health initiatives. The home builders group has used its political muscle to block other state and local rules designed to improve energy efficiency and reduce the climate footprint of new homes, including changes to building codes to require wiring to accommodate electric vehicle chargers.
A recent NPR investigation found the American Gas Association spent decades casting doubt on scientific studies showing gas stoves threaten indoor air pollution. More recently, the trade group has successfully lobbied for state laws to prohibit towns and cities from restricting gas in new buildings. Those prohibitions are now in place in nearly half of all U.S. states, according to an analysis published by S&P Global last year.
Despite high-profile opposition to its climate plans, a spokesperson for Denver Mayor Mike Johnston, who took office last year, insists the city is committed to following through with its buildings policy. Denver attorneys on June 24 also filed a motion to dismiss to the suit from landlords and property owners on Monday, arguing it has clear authority under federal law to move buildings away from fossil fuels.
“We’ll continue to work closely with the development community to make sure everyone has the resources they need to meet these goals and succeed,” said Jordan Fuja, a spokesperson for the mayor’s office.
