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Tag: Climate

  • Over 100 iconic cherry trees in Washington will be cut down. So long, Stumpy

    Over 100 iconic cherry trees in Washington will be cut down. So long, Stumpy

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    WASHINGTON – The sun is setting on Stumpy, the gnarled old cherry tree that has become a social media phenom. This year’s cherry blossom festivities in Washington will be the last for Stumpy and more than 100 other cherry trees that will be cut down as part of a multiyear restoration of their Tidal Basin home.

    Starting in early summer, crews will begin working to replace the crumbling seawall around the Tidal Basin, the area around the Jefferson Memorial with the highest concentration of cherry trees. The work has been long overdue, as the deterioration, combined with rising sea levels, has resulted in Potomac waters regularly surging over the barriers.

    The twice-daily floods at high tide not only cover some of the pedestrian paths, they also regularly soak some of the cherry trees’ roots. The $133 million project to rebuild and reinforce the sea wall will take about three years, said Mike Litterst, National Park Service spokesman for the National Mall.

    “It’s certainly going to benefit the visitor experience, and that’s very important to us,” Litterst said. “But most of all, it’s going to benefit the cherry trees, who right now are every day, twice a day, seeing their roots inundated with the brackish water of the Tidal Basin.” Litterst said entire stretches of trees to the water, as wide as 100 yards or 90 meters, have been lost and can’t be replaced “until we fix the underlying cause of what killed them in the first place.”

    Stumpy remains alive, if in rough shape.

    Plans call for 140 cherry trees — and 300 trees total — to be removed and turned into mulch. When the project is concluded, 277 cherry trees will be planted as replacements.

    The mulch will protect the roots of surviving trees from foot traffic and break down over time into nutrient-rich soil, “so it’s a good second life” for the trees being cut down, Litterst said.

    The National Cherry Blossom Festival is widely considered to be the start of the tourist season in the nation’s capital. Organizers expect 1.5 million people to view the pink and white blossoms this year, the most since the pandemic. Already, large numbers of cherry blossom fans are being drawn to the area as the trees approach peak bloom.

    Stumpy became a social media star during the pandemic fever dream of 2020. Its legacy has spawned T-shirts, a calendar and a fanbase. News of Stumpy’s final spring has prompted people to leave flowers and bourbon and had one Reddit user threatening to chain themselves to the trunk to save the tree.

    The good news on Stumpy is that the National Arboretum plans to take parts of the tree’s genetic material and create clones, some of which will eventually be replanted at the Tidal Basin.

    The regular flooding at the Tidal Basin — sea levels have risen about a foot since the the seawall was built in the early 1990s — is just one of the ways climate change has impacted the cherry trees. Rising global temperatures and warmer winters have caused peak bloom to creep earlier in the calendar.

    This year’s peak bloom, when 70% of the city’s 3,700 cherry trees will be flowering, should start between Saturday and Tuesday. By comparison, the 2013 peak bloom began on April 9. Leslie Frattaroli, national resources program manager for the Park Service, told The Associated Press in February that peak bloom could come in the middle of March by 2050.

    “All the timing is off.” he said. “It’s a huge cascading effect.”

    Another weather side effect: A mid-March cold snap in the D.C. area should actually extend this year’s bloom past the predicted April 9 ending.

    For visitors and cherry blossom enthusiasts, the annual tradition of a stroll on the Tidal Basin under the flowers is a core Washington experience.

    Jorge and Sandra Perez make a point of coming every year from Stafford, Virginia.

    “Yes, we have cherry blossoms in my community, but it’s a completely different feel when you see all of them bloom together,” Sandra said. “And you can walk through, you know, the trees under it and smell it. And it’s just it’s a beautiful view.”

    They also came looking for Stumpy, having heard the legend and knowing this would be its final spring.

    “It’s actually beautiful,” Jorge said. “So it’s sad to see him leave.”

    ___

    Associated Press journalist Nathan Ellgren contributed to this report.

    Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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    Ashraf Khalil, Associated Press

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  • Letters: Russell Wilson wasn’t the problem. Here’s who should have been sacked.

    Letters: Russell Wilson wasn’t the problem. Here’s who should have been sacked.

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    Russell Wilson wasn’t the problem

    Re: “Broncos releasing QB Russell Wilson, team announces, making expected move official after disappointing two-year run,” March 4 news story

    From the sidelines – in sacking Russell Wilson — the Broncos and Denver lost not only a great QB, but very decent and genuine human beings, both he and his family. The fault lies not with Wilson but with Sean Payton and his inability to coach the talent he had at his disposal. And quality talent it was. They should have dumped Payton. The very best to Wilson and his family. Would it not be the height of irony if he lands with a team that knocks Denver out of Super Bowl competition?

    Steven Turner, Aurora

    Transition to renewables is more than fast enough

    Re: “Colorado’s renewable energy transition too slow,” March 2 letter to the editor

    I disagree with the letter writer’s opinion that Colorado’s clean energy transition is too slow.  I don’t believe the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s data support his argument.

    Yes, Iowa produces more wind power than Colorado. It also operates a fleet of coal plants. In November 2023, Iowa’s coal power consumption per capita equaled Colorado’s. In 2022, Iowa’s and Colorado’s power sectors produced roughly the same amount of CO2 emissions, but Colorado has twice the population.

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    DP Opinion

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  • 68-year-old man attacked by a crocodile after falling off his boat in Florida Everglades

    68-year-old man attacked by a crocodile after falling off his boat in Florida Everglades

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    HOMESTEAD, Fla. – A man visiting the Florida Everglades is recovering after being bitten by a crocodile after falling off a boat, officials said.

    The attack occurred Sunday afternoon at the Flamingo Marina in Everglades National Park, according to a National Park Service news release.

    The 68-year-old man capsized his sailboat in the marina basin and was attempting to swim to shore with his boat when witnesses saw him go under the water, officials said. Park rangers responded and treated a laceration on the man’s leg. Miami-Dade Fire and Rescue transported him to a hospital in stable condition. There was no further information released on his condition.

    Rangers and park biologists were investigating and monitoring the suspected crocodile.

    A federally threatened species, crocodiles are less common than alligators in Florida although their habitats do overlap. Alligators are darker, have broader snouts and are typically found in freshwater, while crocodiles have narrower, more triangular heads and often prefer coastal, brackish and salt water.

    Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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    Associated Press

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  • The AI industry is pushing a nuclear power revival — partly to fuel itself

    The AI industry is pushing a nuclear power revival — partly to fuel itself

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    OpenAI CEO Sam Altman addresses a speech during a meeting, at the Station F in Paris on May 26, 2023. 

    Joel Saget | AFP | Getty Images

    Tech firms and Silicon Valley billionaires have been pouring money into nuclear energy for years, pitching the sustainable power source as crucial to the green transition. Now they have another incentive to promote it: artificial intelligence.

    While generative AI has grown at lightning speed, nuclear power projects are heavily regulated and usually advance at a plodding pace. That’s raising questions about whether advances in nuclear energy can cut emissions as swiftly as energy-guzzling AI and other fast-growing technologies are adding to them.

    “If you were to integrate large language models, GPT-style models into search engines, it’s going to cost five times as much environmentally as standard search,” said Sarah Myers West, managing director of the AI Now Institute, a research group focused on the social impacts of AI. At current growth rates, some new AI servers could soon gobble up more than 85 terawatt hours of electricity each year, researchers have estimated — more than some small nations’ annual energy consumption.

    “I want to see innovation in this country,” Myers West said. “I just want the scope of innovation to be determined beyond the incentive structures of these giant companies.”

    Oklo is one of the nuclear startups backed by Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI who has described AI and cheap, green energy as mutually reinforcing essentials to achieving a future marked by “abundance.”

    “Fundamentally today in the world, the two limiting commodities you see everywhere are intelligence, which we’re trying to work on with AI, and energy,” he told CNBC in 2021 after investing $375 million in Helion Energy, a nuclear fusion startup that Altman chairs. Microsoft last year agreed to buy power from Helion starting in 2028. Oklo, which Altman also chairs, is focused on the opposite reaction, fission, which generates energy by splitting an atom; fusion does so by merging atomic nuclei.

    Representatives for Altman, through his special acquisition company AltC, didn’t respond to a request for comment.

    In rural southeastern Idaho, Oklo is working to build a small-scale nuclear powerhouse that could fuel data centers like the ones OpenAI and its competitors need. But the company also wants to supply mixed-use communities and industrial facilities, and is already contracted to build two commercial plants in southern Ohio.

    As the United States moves toward wide-scale electric vehicle adoption and decarbonization, “the amount of energy we’re going to need to do that is huge,” said Oklo CEO and co-founder Jacob DeWitte. “Also heating and cooking — if we want to electrify those processes, you’re going to need even more.”

    Oklo has found getting regulators on board harder than finding potential customers.

    In 2022, the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which oversees commercial nuclear power plants and materials, denied the company’s application for the design of its Idaho “Aurora” powerhouse, saying it hadn’t provided enough safety information. In October, the Air Force rescinded its intent to award a contract for a microreactor pilot program to power a base in Alaska.

    “You’ve got new physics, you have to use new models. You have to do all sorts of stuff that’s different than what they’re used to,” DeWitte said of the NRC. Oklo is now working to satisfy regulators, he said, acknowledging agency officials must “do their independent job of ensuring this meets adequate safety requirements.”

    Oklo’s proposed 13,000 square-foot Aurora powerhouse, featuring a 15-megawatt fission reactor, is smaller than earlier plants and looks more like a sleek ski chalet than the Cold War-era ones with their iconic curved towers. The plant set to be built at the Idaho National Laboratory, a research facility where Oklo has been given an Energy Department grant to test recycling nuclear waste into new fuel. DeWitte says the design is safer, too, citing the use of liquid metal as a coolant rather than water.

    The nuclear power industry hasn’t meaningfully expanded its share of the U.S. energy mix for decades. It has chugged along despite popular opposition fueled by infrequent but devastating accidents like those in Chernobyl, Ukraine, in 1986 and in Fukushima, Japan, in 2011. But as the climate crisis accelerates, most Americans now support expanding nuclear energy — 57%, up from 43% in 2020, a Pew Research survey found last year.

    Nuclear power currently makes up only 19% of the nation’s overall energy generation, with 93 commercial reactors operating today, down from a peak of 112 in 1990. By one estimate, up to 800 gigawatts of new nuclear power will be needed by 2050 to meet current green energy targets.

    Unit 3’s reactor and cooling tower stand at Georgia Power Co.’s Plant Vogtle nuclear power plant on Jan. 20, 2023, in Waynesboro, Ga.

    John Bazemore | AP

    But as tech firms sprint toward AI, many data centers are already struggling to add capacity fast enough to remain affordable, with data center rents jumping nearly 16% between 2022 and last year alone. The demand crunch is one reason major industry players have been ramping up their nuclear investments.

    Microsoft signed a deal last summer with Constellation, a top nuclear power plant operator, to add nuclear-generated electricity to its Virginia data centers. The year before, Google took part in a $250 million fundraising round for the fusion startup TAE Technologies. And in late 2021, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and other investors raised over $130 million for Canadian nuclear company General Fusion.

    For tech firms, it makes sense to tap directly into nuclear plants “instead of sourcing electricity from the grid,” said Ross Matzkin-Bridger, a senior director at the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a nonprofit group focused on reducing nuclear and biological risks. In addition to being clean, he noted, many recent nuclear projects are also compact. “You can fit a lot more energy per acre in nuclear energy than you can with any other technology,” he said.

    Beyond Silicon Valley, “big investment firms are actually starting to believe that this is going to take off,” said Ayan Paul, a research scientist at Northeastern University who studies AI. “People have started to believe that these kinds of energies are going to fuel our population.”

    But some experts warn that efforts to expand nuclear power shouldn’t be rushed, no matter how fast demand is growing.

    “We need nuclear power to get to a low-carbon future,” said Ahmed Abdulla, assistant mechanical and aerospace engineering professor at Carleton University. But for engineering projects that have historically taken decades, the regulatory process needs to be a methodical one, he said: “There is a chance to make serious mistakes if we sprint to the goal.”

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  • SEC approves rule that requires some companies to publicly report emissions and climate risks

    SEC approves rule that requires some companies to publicly report emissions and climate risks

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    WASHINGTON – The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday approved a rule that will require some public companies to report their greenhouse gas emissions and climate risks, after last-minute revisions that weakened the rule in the face of strong pushback from companies.

    The rule was one of the most anticipated in recent years from the nation’s top financial regulator, drawing more than 24,000 comments from companies, auditors, legislators and trade groups over a two-year process. It brings the U.S. closer to the European Union and California, which moved ahead earlier with corporate climate disclosure rules.

    The rule passed 3-2, with three Democratic commissioners supporting it and two Republicans opposed.

    Publicly traded companies will be required to say more in their financial statements about the risks climate change poses to their operations and their own contributions to the problem. But the version approved was weaker than an earlier draft, with changes that weren’t made public until Wednesday’s meeting.

    The narrowed rule doesn’t include requirements that companies report some indirect emissions known as Scope 3. Those don’t come from a company or its operations, but happen along its supply chain — for example, in the production of the fabrics that make a retailer’s clothing — or that result when a consumer uses a product, such as gasoline.

    Companies, business groups and others had fiercely opposed requiring Scope 3 emissions, arguing that quantifying such emissions would be difficult, especially in getting information from international suppliers or private companies.

    The SEC said it had dropped the requirement after considering those comments. Environmental groups and others in favor of more disclosure had argued that Scope 3 emissions are usually the largest part of any company’s carbon footprint and that many companies are already tracking such information.

    Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw, a Democrat, voted for passage but called the rule “a bare minimum” that omits important disclosures. She called Scope 3 emissions a “key metric for investors in understanding climate risk” and said investors are already using such information to make decisions.

    “Today’s recommendation adopts an unnecessarily limited version of these disclosures,” she said.

    Commissioner Hester Peirce, a Republican who opposed the rule, said it would be burdensome and expensive for companies and would trigger a flood of inconsistent information that would overwhelm, not inform, investors.

    “However well-intentioned, these particularized interests don’t justify forcing investors who don’t share them to foot the bill,” Peirce said.

    The final rule also reduces reporting requirements for other types of emissions, known as Scope 1 and 2. Scope 1 emissions refer to a company’s direct emissions, and Scope 2 are indirect emissions that come from the production of energy a company acquires for use in its operations.

    Companies would only have to report those emissions if they believe they are “material” — in other words, significant — to investors — a decision that ultimately allows companies to decide whether they need to disclose emissions-related information. And small or emerging companies don’t have to report emissions at all.

    “Climate risk is financial risk. This is a sensible rule to protect investors,” said Elizabeth Derbes, director of financial regulation and climate risk at the Natural Resources Defense Council. “What’s wrong with this rule is that it needs to do much more,” she added. “Investors have been pressing for mandatory disclosure of greenhouse gas emissions, and the agency needs to give them a fuller picture of companies’ risk exposure.”

    The final rule will affect publicly traded companies with business in the U.S. ranging from retail and tech giants to oil and gas majors. The SEC estimates that roughly 2,800 U.S. companies will have to make the disclosures and about 540 foreign companies with business in the U.S. will have to report information related to their emissions.

    The goal of the rule was to require companies to say much more in their financial statements about the risks that climate change poses to their operations and about their own contributions to the problem. That includes the expected costs of moving away from fossil fuels, as well as risks related to the physical impact of storms, drought and higher temperatures intensified by global warming. The SEC has said many companies already report such information, and the SEC’s rule would standardize such disclosures.

    The public comment period for the rule had been extended several times, and SEC Chairman Gary Gensler acknowledged last year that debate over Scope 3 emissions was delaying the final rule, with many observers predicting swift legal challenges.

    Some Republicans and some industry groups accused Gensler, a Democrat, of overreach. Their criticism largely centered on whether the SEC went beyond its mandate to protect the financial integrity of security exchanges and investors from fraud.

    Gensler said Wednesday that more companies are disclosing such information and both big and small investors are making decisions based on such information.

    “It’s in this context that we have a role to play with regard to climate-related disclosures,” Gensler said.

    Coy Garrison, an attorney who advises companies on SEC reporting and disclosure requirements, said dropping Scope 3 emissions from the rule was unlikely to deter litigation. He called the rule a vast expansion of disclosure requirements and said the amount of information required and cost to compile it “will continue to raise concerns that the SEC is acting beyond its statutory authority in adopting this rule.”

    Suzanne Ashley, a former special counsel and senior advisor to the SEC’s enforcement director and founder of Materiality Strategies, a company that advises companies on issues including regulation, saw it differently.

    Ashley said the removal of Scope 3 requirements and other modifications rule put the final rule “squarely within the SEC’s existing statutory authority to require clear and comparable disclosure of information necessary for the protection of investors.”

    The SEC rule comes after California passed a similar measure last October that requires both public and private companies operating in the state with more than $1 billion in revenue to report their direct and indirect emissions, including Scope 3. More than 5,300 companies will be required to report their emissions under the California rule, according to Ceres, a nonprofit that works with investors and companies to address environmental challenges. The European Union also adopted sweeping disclosure rules that will soon take effect.

    ___

    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.

    Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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    Suman Naishadham, Associated Press

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  • Organizations work to assist dozens of families displaced by Texas wildfires

    Organizations work to assist dozens of families displaced by Texas wildfires

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    MCALLEN, Texas – A gush of red-colored water spilled from an air tanker on Sunday as it flew over the eastern side of the Smokehouse Creek fire, one of several wildfires that have burned over 1.2 million acres (48,5623 hectares) in the northern Texas Panhandle.

    As firefighters battle against strong winds in their efforts to contain the unprecedented wildfires in the Texas Pandhandle, humanitarian organizations are pivoting their attention to victims who have lost their homes and livelihoods in the blazes.

    Residents began clearing affected property on Saturday, and by Sunday the extent of the loss began mounting.

    Julie Winters, the executive director for Hutchinson County United Way, said the organization has heard estimates of over 150 homes being impacted in the county, noting that the fires extend to at least five other counties.

    “We already know that a large group of people are uninsured who lost their homes. So without monetary assistance, it’s going to be very hard for them to start back over,” Winters said.

    About 70 families from Fritch, Texas, approached the organization on Friday during an event, but Winters believes many others will come forward in the days and weeks ahead.

    “Our goal is just for the long term of trying to get people back into shelters,” Winters said.

    A steady outpouring of donated clothing, water, and hot meals quickly overwhelmed one city in the affected area. By Sunday, the city of Borger urged people to redirect their donation efforts from food and water to clean-up supplies.

    “We DO NOT NEED ANY MORE WATER OR DRINKS,” the city said in a social media post. “We remain in need of clean-up material such as shovels, rakes, gloves, and heavy-duty trash bags. We continue not accepting clothing. Other clothing drop-off places have been inundated and have stopped accepting.”

    Monetary donations from people ranging from $25 to $500 have been critical for the Hutchinson County United Way Wildfire Relief Fund, which is dispersing proceeds to displaced families.

    “I think sometimes what people don’t understand in a small rural community is that there is no temporary housing,” Winters said. “We don’t have real property like that and we don’t even have hotels that can take care of those things.”

    Winters said the fires remind her of the similar devastating effects from the 2014 fire in Fritch when numerous families also lost their homes and were unable to return.

    “How do you get people back into homes so that they can stay in our community and not have to move somewhere else?” Winters said.

    During an interview with CNN on Sunday, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said the federal government has devoted funds, equipment and personnel to assist with battling the fires, but warned that more extreme weather could be coming.

    “More than a million acres have burned. And we are in winter, and this is the largest fire in Texas history,” Mayorkas said. “We, as a country and as a world, have to be ready for the increasing effects of extreme weather caused by climate change. It’s a remarkable phenomenon, and it will manifest itself in the days to come, and we have to prepare for it now.”

    As of Sunday afternoon, the Smokehouse Creek fire, which has burned over 1 million acres, was 15% contained. Two other fires that have burned a combined 180,000 acres (72843.49 hectares), were 60% contained. Authorities have not said what ignited the fires, but strong winds, dry grass and unseasonably warm temperatures fed the blazes.

    The National Weather Service issued red flag warnings — signifying extreme fire risk due to warm temperatures, low humidity and strong winds — across much of the central United States on Sunday, including Texas and its neighboring states of New Mexico and Oklahoma. Red flag warnings also covered nearly all of Nebraska and Iowa, along with large patches of Kansas, Missouri and South Dakota. Smaller portions of Colorado, Wyoming, Minnesota and Illinois were also under red flag warnings.

    ___

    Associated Press writer Thomas Strong contributed to this story from Washington, D.C., and Trisha Ahmed from Minneapolis.

    Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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    Valerie Gonzalez, Associated Press

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  • Legalizing Marijuana Is Good For The Environment

    Legalizing Marijuana Is Good For The Environment

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    Cannabis has medical benefits, it better for your body than alcohol and can calm anxiety – and with larger legalization would be better for the planet

    Marijuana is increasing popular and consumer use is creeping up.  Gen Z is drifting away from alcohol and embracing weed as a healthy alternative. Michigan just had a $3 billion in sales and other states are setting records. With the federal government looking at rescheduling, the medical marijuana will expand as the FDA will be able to oversee consistency and dosage.  But where will all the produce be produced? Legalizing marijuana is good for the environment and good for patients.

    The Fresh Toast – Legalizing marijuana is good for the environment and would be great for patients also.

    Related: California or New York, Which Has The Biggest Marijuana Mess

    Legalizing marijuana would allow traditional farming states, especially in the South, to add cannabis as a crop in rotation.  While the South already has outdoor group, especially in the state region of Florida, Georgia and Alabama, being federally approved would improve farm methods.  Currently, illegal grows in farm country are hidden in timberlands or are two small to be effective.  Canada, being the first major company to end restrictions was posed to be the supplier to the world.

    Photos by Jen Chiu

    Canada are wheat, canola, mustard, barley, ryes, oat, maize, and soybean. These crops can thrive in the northern Canadian environment.  While wheat requires more water, winter wheat and rotation allows farmers to use the vast amounts of farmland in Canada.

    When Canada went legal though, companies like Tilray, but massive indoor grows costing 10s of millions of dollars. Not only do indoor grows produce significant carbon issues, but it doesn’t allow for more natural uses like rainwater.  Everything has to be pushed through energy using systems. On average, a cannabis plant consumes an estimated 22.7 liters, or 6 gallons, of water per day during the growing season.  Wine grapes, which are an irrigated use an estimated 12.64 liters of water per day.

    Indoor grow also doesn’t mean better crops.

    RELATED: Science Says Medical Marijuana Improves Quality Of Life

    Using a natural environment is healthy from the farmer, the plant and for the planet.

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    Anthony Washington

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  • Bank CEO shrugs off U.S. war on ‘woke’ capital, says ESG investing is good for business

    Bank CEO shrugs off U.S. war on ‘woke’ capital, says ESG investing is good for business

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    Bill Winters, Chief Executive Officer at the Standard Chartered Bank, attends a panel session of the World Governments Summit in Dubai on February 12, 2024.

    Ryan Lim | Afp | Getty Images

    Standard Chartered chief executive Bill Winters says environmentally conscious investing can be good for business, dismissing the impact of a U.S. crusade against mission-driven investments.

    His comments come at a time when investments based on environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors have become a politically polarized issue.

    In the United States, for example, Republican lawmakers have decried ESG as a form “woke capitalism” that seeks to prioritize liberal goals over investment returns.

    Democratic lawmakers have sought to push back, however, describing attacks on a range of ethically responsible business practices as “an attempt to manufacture a culture war and protect corporate special interests.”

    Analysts expect the outcome of this year’s U.S. presidential election to determine whether the political backlash against ESG will have a deep and lasting effect.

    “Obviously, the political environment in the U.S. is toxic, times 10 — and so people are going quiet. But one of the stats that I love is the biggest renewable power center in the United States is the state of Texas, right? Which is the state that has been leading the charge against pension fund managers who have a ‘woke’ agenda or whatever,” Winters told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Friday.

    “I mean, I do want to wake up one day and have a planet so if that makes me woke, shoot me.”

    Green backlash

    A pushback against climate policies is not just a U.S. issue. In Europe, indications of a green backlash — or “greenlash” — have started surfacing as businesses and citizens feel the costs of the energy transition.

    When asked whether he was concerned about companies scaling back their sustainability commitments, Winters replied, “I don’t think there has been a big backing away.”

    The CEO said his company had been “constantly refining” its net-zero methodology since setting a dual track of objectives in recent years.

    The emerging markets-focused bank is aiming to reach net-zero carbon emissions within its own firm by 2025 and net zero in its financed emissions by 2050.

    Signage atop the Standard Chartered Plc headquarters building, center, in Hong Kong, China, on Monday, Feb. 19, 2024.

    Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images

    “We said one, we’re going to be thought leaders and action leaders in terms of policies around net zero and our clients have completely engaged with us. We’ve seen no backing away from that at all,” Winters said.

    “And second, we said we’re going to build a business to support our clients, and that business made $720 million last year, and we said it is going to make $1 billion next year. That’s not nothing. It’s a good business for us,” he said.

    “If you don’t make a decent return on this business, you can’t keep on throwing resources at it, up to a point. This is not philanthropy. This is not political wokeness. This is do the right thing for the planet, do the right thing for your business. That’s what we’re doing, and I don’t see other people backing away from that.”

    Shares of Standard Chartered are down around 3.8% year-to-date.

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  • What Happens if My Plant Has Early Blooms? – Garden Therapy

    What Happens if My Plant Has Early Blooms? – Garden Therapy

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    From cherry blossoms in December to spring bulbs in January, I’ve seen some flowers bloom exceptionally early. If you’ve also seen some early blooms, you might be worried about how this will affect your plant when it inevitably gets cold again. Here’s what you need to know about early blooming flowers.

    It’s been a weird winter here in Vancouver. For a while, we had a very, very, cold snap. Then quickly, it warmed up and turned bright and sunny…only to get cold again.

    I saw cherry blossoms in December—which doesn’t usually happen until late February.

    I’m confused. The plants are confused. We’re all confused.

    All across the world, we have been seeing extremes. So it’s no wonder I’ve been seeing lots of questions from gardeners about what will happen to their plants if they see early blooms.

    If you’re concerned about early blooming flowers, join me as we look at the plant’s life cycle and what will happen to your plants should they sprout a wee bit early.

    Why Are Plants Blooming Earlier?

    It’s getting harder and harder for some (I won’t name names) to deny that the climate is changing. We will see very unusual things happening with the weather, and the plants will respond to it.

    Some areas are seeing more prolonged periods of drought, while others have heavy rainfall. We may have a cold, severe winter, but they’re getting less frequent as these mild winters creep up on us.

    Because of these temperatures, we’re seeing longer growing periods with an earlier last frost date and a later first frost date. In the US, the growing season has increased by more than two weeks compared to the beginning of the 20th century in 48 states. In the UK, flowers bloom an average of 26 days earlier than in the 1980s.

    The plants are getting the message loud and clear. They’re responding to the climate the best way they know how, one of which is early blooms.

    As the climate changes, the plants are also changing. Anything that’s a perennial, like trees, shrubs, perennials, and bulbs, will continue to evolve. The strongest plants will be the ones to survive this.

    The next generation of plants will create their future. The plants will become hardier in these conditions as the climate changes. The weaker ones may not make it, but the stronger ones do.

    apple blossoms are early blooming flowersapple blossoms are early blooming flowers
    Apple trees are one of the first trees to blossom in the spring.

    A Plant’s Life Cycle

    It’s always important to consider the plant’s life cycle, like what we do in pruning. Most plants go dormant in the winter by dropping leaves, stopping flowering, and devoting their energy to the root system.

    That goes for most plants, like perennials, trees, bulbs, and even our edible vegetable plants.

    When shoots come up early, remember that very little of the overall plant energy is above the soil line.

    If it cools down again and there’s damage to the plant, most of it is still safe under the soil. There may be some damage to the above plant material, but the rest should be fine.

    There may be some gnarly leaves and fewer flowers. She may not be looking her best. But know that she’s looking beautiful beneath the soil and will survive just fine.

    Place your trust in the plants. Observe, but try not to worry. You can’t do much—it’s in the plant’s hands!

    What Happens to Perennials Blooming Early?

    Perennials can pop up early when they see the cues of spring. But once it freezes again, the plant’s energy will retreat to the root system.

    The plant isn’t fully developed above the soil, but it can still withstand some damage to the upper part of the plant. It’s rare that any of that damage will go down to the root.

    Soil is very insulating and will help maintain a temperature the plant is hardy to. If you planted it in the right space, that is.

    rhododendron bud in snowrhododendron bud in snow
    Snow on top of rhododendron leaves and buds.

    Early Blooming Flowers on Trees

    Generally, the leaf buds will be okay on trees. Trees send out many leaf buds early in the season when it’s cold. If they lose some, the tree will be okay.

    Flower buds, however, tend not to bounce back as easily.

    This year, we had cherry blossoms blooming exceptionally early in Vancouver due to a mild winter. I anticipate that they aren’t going to flower as prolifically this spring. Since they tried to flower early, they likely won’t set out a second flowering.

    cherry blossoms are early bloomscherry blossoms are early blooms
    Cherry blossom trees in Vancouver.

    Early Blooms from Flower Bulbs

    Bulbs are very used to this seesaw of warm and cold temperatures. Bulbs store all their energy under the soil. Within the bulb, there is enough energy for the plants to grow before there’s much spring sun.

    The shoots will begin to pop up when it feels right. Generally, most bulbs don’t mind the cold. Some, like snowdrops and crocuses, even thrive in the snow. Bulbs have very strong root systems that help them bounce back in cold conditions.

    The shoots may die off when it gets cooler again. But that’s fine. In the end, you could end up with fewer bulbs that are less robust and not as strong. This is more likely if there is a late freeze and most of the plant has already sprung up.

    Crocus Blooming in Sedum as early blooming flowersCrocus Blooming in Sedum as early blooming flowers
    Crocus bulbs thrive in cooler temperatures.

    Dealing With Vegetable Plants That Freeze

    Some vegetables don’t mind cool temperatures. Imagine you didn’t cover your Swiss chard or kale, and it froze so much that it wilted and died back instead of getting sweeter (which we all hope will happen).

    Those vegetables tend to grow back again. They might not grow back as much as before, but anything under the soil will be okay.

    So your root vegetables, like parsnips, beets, or carrots, will be doing great underneath the soil, even if the cold damages the leaves above the soil.

    Swiss Chard Garden MarkerSwiss Chard Garden Marker
    Swiss chard is quite hardy compared to other vegetables.

    FAQ About Handling Early Blooms

    What happens if my garlic blooms early in the fall?

    We plant garlic in the fall (I always do so around Halloween). Sometimes, you can plant it a little too early or have a warmer-than-usual fall, and the garlic will send up shoots in the fall.

    When it freezes, the garlic will die back. But don’t worry; the garlic will start the whole process again in the spring.  

    You can even plant garlic with shoots growing on it, like when you buy them a little late. This won’t affect your garlic overall.

    Yes, there is a gold standard when it comes to garlic. Garlic growers won’t want shoots affected by the freeze or provide any stress to the plant as that can affect the overall robustness of the plant.

    But will you still get garlic? Absolutely.

    What happens if it’s a late freeze?

    Let’s say it’s late spring and starting to get to summer, and we suddenly have an unexpected freeze. In this case, the plant’s chance of survival would drop.

    At this point, most of the energy the plant is expelling is now on the upper part of the plant and not beneath the soil where it is protected.

    Most perennials will bounce back, but the damage may be more significant if they are further down in their seasonal growth.  

    How are bees affected by earlier flowering plants?

    Rising temperatures and earlier springs will mean that bees will wake up earlier. It’s estimated that they wake up five days earlier than twenty years ago.

    With more species blooming at the same time than in the past, there isn’t such a continuous, even supply of flowers for the bees. This mismatch between when the flowers and bees are active could threaten the bees looking for food sources.

    This will also reduce plant pollination and their ability to reproduce and yield crops. Rising temperatures may also mean the bees come out earlier, but they need their timing to align with the flowers to avoid being affected.

    Why do some plants bloom earlier than others?

    Each plant (or seed or bulb) will respond to different environmental factors, such as temperature, amount of sunlight, light quality, and more.

    As these conditions change, chemical production inside the plant triggers the growth. In response, the plant will begin to sprout new growth.

    Many plants start growing when temperatures get warmer or the days get longer. Each plant will have specific responses, some needing higher temperatures or more light before growing. Others require less.

    Likewise, cooler temperatures can tell the plant to redirect the energy back to the roots, set seed, and die back for the fall.

    More Information on Changing Weather

    Pin image for "what happens if plants bloom early in the season." With early blooming flowers.Pin image for "what happens if plants bloom early in the season." With early blooming flowers.

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  • Saturated California gets more rain and snow but so far escapes severe damage it saw only weeks ago

    Saturated California gets more rain and snow but so far escapes severe damage it saw only weeks ago

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    LOS ANGELES – Much of saturated California faced the threat of flooding Tuesday with winter storms blowing through, but so far the state has escaped the severity of damage from mudslides, wind and rain spawned by an atmospheric river only weeks ago.

    While the rainfall was focused on Southern California, thunderstorms and strong winds are expected across wide swaths of the state, and intermittent mountain snow could hit in the north. Some flood watches and warnings were expected to remain in effect into Wednesday.

    Heavy downpours inundated streets and sidewalks in San Francisco. The heaviest rain came through the Los Angeles area Tuesday, with an additional 1 to 2 inches (2.5 to 5 centimeters) on top of the 2 to 5 inches (5 to 12.7 centimeters) that fell in recent days, said Bob Oravec, lead forecaster with the National Weather Service in Maryland.

    “It’s heavy but not quite as heavy as previously,” he said. “But it’s been a wet month across southern California. The ground is saturated, so any additional rain can bring the chance of flash flooding.”

    The Los Angeles area has received around 10 inches (25 centimeters) of rain so far this month, with parts of the coastline and mountain areas farther north receiving more than 1 foot (30.5 centimeters) of precipitation, Oravec said.

    The upside, he said, is there’s some light at the end of the tunnel: The region isn’t expected to see more rain at least until the following weekend.

    Jim Callahan, who owns a hardware store in Los Angeles, said last year’s rains were perhaps more trying for residents because they weren’t as prepared for the challenges as they were this year.

    Sandbags sold out at his Mid-Wilshire neighborhood store about a week ago, he said. Sump pumps, tarps and roof patches have been flying off the shelves as residents grapple with leaks and floods in their homes.

    “It’s not the worst I’ve seen, but it’s certainly the most all in one time,” Callahan said of the rains. “Here in Los Angeles we’re spoiled. We don’t have any season except for sun so when we get a little bit of rain, people act a little crazy. But we’ll take the rain over snow any day of the week.”

    At Workboots 4 U, a shop about 3 miles (5 kilometers) south of Callahan’s shop, store manager Ed Diaz said business has been brisk with construction workers and others seeking waterproof boots.

    The 31-year-old Los Angeles resident said the rains have also snarled his workday commute: His truck’s engine broke down in floodwaters, and he’s been forced to take the bus to work downtown in recent days.

    “It’s a pain,” he said. “It feels like the rain has been getting crazier these last couple of years. People are adjusting and learning to deal with it, but it’s not easy on everyone.”

    Tuesday’s rains forced Disneyland to shorten its hours while nearby Knott’s Berry Farm and SeaWorld in San Diego closed outright.

    A flood prone stretch of the Pacific Coast Highway was closed south of Los Angeles, and evacuation warning s were issued to the west due to possible mudslides.

    The National Weather Service also warned any brave souls venturing to the shoreline to stay far back from the crashing ocean waves.

    Northwest of Los Angeles, the Santa Barbara Airport reopened a day after heavy rains flooded the runways, according to a statement on its website.

    Santa Barbara County sheriff’s officials said Tuesday that an 86-year-old man was found dead in a creek a day after he was reported missing a day earlier when his truck was stuck in rising waters near Goleta. The cause of death was under investigation, KSBY-TV reported.

    Ethan Ragsdale, a spokesperson for the Santa Barbara Police Department, implored residents to stay away from creeks and other normally tame water bodies even after the rains subside.

    “They’re absolutely dangerous,” he said.

    The wet, wintry weather hit the state only weeks after a powerful atmospheric river parked itself over Southern California, turning roads into rivers, causing hundreds of landslides and killing at least nine people.

    This week’s storm already has led to several rescues on swollen rivers and creeks on Monday. Crews helped three people out of the rising Salinas River in Paso Robles while a camper trapped in a tree was rescued along a creek in El Dorado Hills, northeast of Sacramento.

    Federal authorities have also approved disaster assistance for residents of San Diego County.

    The Federal Emergency Management Agency said Sunday that assistance from the disaster declaration will help with recovery efforts following severe storms that hit the Southern California region in late January, damaging more than 800 homes and leading to at least three deaths.

    The aid can include grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-interest loans to cover uninsured property losses and other programs for individuals and business owners, the agency said.

    ___

    Marcelo reported from New York.

    Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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  • Biden administration to reportedly relax EV rule on tailpipe emissions

    Biden administration to reportedly relax EV rule on tailpipe emissions

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    U.S. President Joe Biden answers questions from reporters after driving a Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Xe around the White House driveway following remarks during an event on the South Lawn of the White House August 5, 2021 in Washington, DC. Biden delivered remarks on the administration’s efforts to strengthen American leadership on clean cars and trucks.

    Win Mcnamee | Getty Images News | Getty Images

    U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration intends to relax limits on tailpipe emissions that are designed to get Americans to move from gas-powered cars to electric vehicles, the New York Times reported, citing people familiar with the plan.

    The administration would give car manufacturers more time instead of requiring them to rapidly ramp up sales of electric vehicles over the next few years, the report said, adding that the new rule could be published by early spring.

    The shift would mean that EV sales would not need to rise sharply until after 2030.

    John Bozzella, president and CEO of auto industry trade group the Alliance for Automotive Innovation (AAI), said on Sunday that the next three or four years are critical for the development of the EV market.

    “Give the market and supply chains a chance to catch up, maintain a customer’s ability to choose, let more public charging come online, let the industrial credits and Inflation Reduction Act do their thing and impact the industrial shift,” Bozzella said.

    Reuters previously reported that the White House could enact proposed Environmental Protection Agency regulations as soon as March that would mandate dramatic reductions in tailpipe emissions. The administration proposal would require boosting U.S. EV market share to 67% by 2032 from less than 8% in 2023.

    General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis — the European parent of U.S.-based Ram and Jeep — have warned they cannot profitably transition their truck-heavy U.S. fleets that quickly, according to a Reuters analysis of automakers’ sales data and a review of comments to regulators.

    Automakers and the AAI have urged the Biden administration to slow the proposed ramp-up in EV sales. They have said EV technology is still too costly for many mainstream U.S. consumers, and more time is needed to develop the charging infrastructure.

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  • What the U.S. can learn from Norway when it comes to EV adoption

    What the U.S. can learn from Norway when it comes to EV adoption

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    Norway boasts the highest electric vehicle adoption rate in the world. Some 82% of new car sales were EVs in Norway in 2023, according to the Norwegian Road Federation (OFV). In comparison, 7.6% of new car sales were electric in the U.S. last year, according to Kelley Blue Book estimates. In the world’s largest auto market, China, 24% of new car sales were EVs in 2023, according to the China Passenger Car Association.

     “Our goal is that all new cars by 2025 will be zero-emission vehicles,” said Ragnhild Syrstad, the state secretary of the Norwegian Ministry of Climate and Environment, “We think we’re going to reach that goal.”

    The Norwegian government started incentivizing the purchase of EVs back in the 1990s with free parking, the use of bus lanes, no tolls and most importantly, no taxes on zero-emission vehicles. But it wasn’t until Tesla and other EV models became available about 10 years ago that sales started to take off, Syrstad said.

    Norway’s capital, Oslo, is also electrifying its ferries, buses, semi trucks and even construction equipment. Gas pumps and parking meters are being replaced by chargers. It’s an electric utopia of the future. Norway’s grid has been able to handle the influx of EVs so far because of its abundance of hydropower.

    “Electric cars are maybe a third of the price of gasoline because we have close to 100% hydropower. It’s cheap. It’s available and renewable. So that’s a big advantage,” said Petter Haugneland, the assistant secretary general of the Norwegian EV Association.

    CNBC flew across the globe to meet with experts, government officials and locals to find out how the Scandinavian country pulled off such a high EV adoption rate.

    Watch the documentary for the full story. 

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  • Scientists invent new ‘meaty’ rice, hybrid food

    Scientists invent new ‘meaty’ rice, hybrid food

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    (NewsNation) — Scientists in South Korea have created a new type of hybrid food by growing beef cells inside grains of rice.

    The “meaty” rice could offer a more eco-friendly source of protein that costs less than real cuts of meat.

    “Imagine obtaining all the nutrients we need from cell-cultured protein rice,” lead author Sohyeon Park from Yonsei University said in a statement. “Rice already has a high nutrient level, but adding cells from livestock can further boost it.”

    Researchers coated the rice with fish gelatin to help the cells latch onto the rice better. From there, cow muscle and fat stem cells were seeded into the rice and left to culture in a petri dish for 9 to 11 days, according to a study published in the journal Matter this week.

    The final result was a “cell-cultured beef rice” that had 8% more protein and 7% more fat than regular rice — it also turned out “firmer” and “brittler” than normal rice, scientists found.

    Although the product is not yet approved for consumers, the hope is that it could become a more environmentally sustainable protein option.

    “I didn’t expect the cells to grow so well in the rice,” Park said. “Now I see a world of possibilities for this grain-based hybrid food. It could one day serve as food relief for famine, military ration, or even space food.”

    Researchers said the main ingredients meet food safety requirements and have a low risk of triggering food allergies.

    Beefy rice is the latest variation in the expanding “lab-grown” meat sector.

    Last year, for the first time, U.S. regulators approved the sale of chicken made from animal cells. Globally, more than 150 companies are focusing on meat from cells, the Associated Press reported in June.

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  • Renters are most exposed to climate hazards in these two states, a Harvard study finds

    Renters are most exposed to climate hazards in these two states, a Harvard study finds

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    Jodi Jacobson | E+ | Getty Images

    More than 18 million rental units are located in areas exposed to extreme weather hazards, according to the American Rental Housing Report from Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies.

    That exposure isn’t spread evenly. While most states have at least one “high-risk” county with 2,000 or more rental units, many are concentrated in California and Florida.

    Harvard researchers paired data from the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s National Risk Index with the five-year American Community Survey to find out what units are in the areas that are expected to have an annual economic loss from environmental disasters like wildfires, flooding, earthquakes, hurricanes and more.

    A high-risk area is one with a “relatively moderate,” “relatively high” or “very high” expected annual loss.

    “What the map is showing is the number of rental units that are located in areas that have at least moderate risk,” said Sophia Wedeen, research analyst focused on rental housing, residential remodeling and affordability at the Joint Center for Housing Studies.

    How many rentals are at risk in California, Florida

    Harvard researchers found the number of rental units exposed to climate hazards in the U.S. by combining an area’s risk of economic loss from natural disasters with the number of rental units in those areas, Wedeen said.

    Florida, for example, has many rental units as well as census tracts, or neighborhoods, that FEMA identified as having at least moderate risk, Wedeen said. The state appears as a hotspot as a result; the same applies for areas in California.

    More from Personal Finance:
    What tenants should know to make rent improve credit
    Three ways Gen Zers can boost credit before renting
    ‘Housing affordability is reshaping migration trends’

    California has 4.6 million rental units, or 77% of the state’s rental stock, located in census tracts or neighborhoods that are estimated to face annual economic losses through climate-related hazards.

    Florida has 2.4 million rental units at risk, or about 89% of its rental stock, according to the Harvard study.

    How renters can protect themselves

    As more areas in the U.S. become further exposed to climate-related risks, it will be important for renters to consider renters insurance and understand what such policies cover, experts say.

    To that point, landlords and building owners are responsible for any physical damage to the building or unit caused by natural disasters. But their property insurance does not cover a tenant’s personal belongings.

    Renters insurance policies usually cover losses or damages to a tenant’s personal property and some even cover living expenses if a tenant needs temporary housing during a unit’s repair.

    Renters should check what type of disasters are included in their renter’s insurance policy. They may need riders or a separate policy to cover risks such as flooding or earthquakes, experts say.

    Additionally, renters may want to shop around for insurance plans before signing a lease in an at-risk area. Homeowners in some areas are struggling to find coverage as major insurers leave some markets exposed to fires and floods.

    “The best thing that renters can do is make sure what types of products are available to protect their property but then also…understand risk,” said Jeremy Porter, head of climate implications research for First Street Foundation.

    Renters should understand the climate risks of buildings they live in and make informed decisions, Porter explained.

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  • Venezuela defends military buildup, accusing neighboring Guyana of granting illegal oil contracts

    Venezuela defends military buildup, accusing neighboring Guyana of granting illegal oil contracts

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    CARACAS – The government of Venezuela accused neighboring Guayana Sunday of granting illegal oil exploration concessions in territory the two nations are disputing. Venezuela said it would reserve the right to take any diplomatic actions necessary.

    The comments Sunday came after Guyana said Saturday that it has satellite imagery showing Venezuelan military movements near the South American country’s eastern border with Guyana.

    Venezuela’s statement did not deny Guyana’s claim of a military and infrastructure buildup. Rather, it said it was within its rights to beef up its border forces.

    Venezuela claimed Guayana had granted “illegal oil concessions … in a maritime area that is indisputably Venezuelan.”

    Oil giant ExxonMobil has said it will keep ramping up production in offshore fields off Guyana despite the escalation of the territorial dispute.

    The two sides have feuded over border lines for decades. Venezuela has been laying claim to the mineral-rich Essequibo region, which covers about two thirds of Guyana’s surface area.

    Both sides accused the other of breaching a peace agreement signed in the Caribbean in December to ease tensions over border demarcation lines.

    Under the Argyle Agreement signed on the island of St. Vincent in December, the two countries agreed not to use force or to threaten each other. The talks were brokered by Brazil and Caribbean governments.

    The latest developments came hours after satellite images posted by the US Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) showed Venezuela is extending its base on Ankoko Island, half of which Venezuela seized from Guyana in the mid-1960s, and nearby Punta Barima, less than 50 miles (80 kilometers) from the Guyana border.

    The images showed significant infrastructure improvement of roads and other facilities near the two areas, the CSIS said. Foreign Secretary Robert Persaud noted that “Guyana will continue to respect the Argyle Declaration and hopes that Venezuela will do the same.”

    Guyana argues that an 1899 international boundary commission settled the border demarcation once and for all.

    But for more than 60 years Venezuela has accused the commission of cheating it out of the Essequibo region.

    Guyana has taken the issue to the World Court in the Netherlands for a definitive ruling, while Venezuela has said it prefers direct bilateral talks as the way forward.

    On Friday, the Venezuelan defense ministry accused Guyana of threatening the St. Vincent agreement by irresponsible actions and media deception, maintaining that the “Essequibo is ours.”

    It also said that ExxonMobil, which is producing 645,000 barrels of offshore oil daily from Guyana, is collaborating with the government and the US military to exploit oil and gas resources in waters claimed by Venezuela.

    Guyanese President Irfaan Ali is expected to meet his Venezuelan counterpart, Nicolás Maduro in March for a second summit on the border issue.

    Several top American administration and military officials have visited Guyana in recent weeks as a show of support.

    The U.S. also supplied military overflights monitoring Venezuelan troop and other activities at the height of tensions in December, in the days leading up to a Dec. 3 referendum in Venezuela that had authorized the annexation of the Essequibo.

    Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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  • Scientists want to add Category 6 hurricanes to reflect increasingly powerful storms

    Scientists want to add Category 6 hurricanes to reflect increasingly powerful storms

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    Residents return from checking their homes after Hurricane Matthew caused downed trees, power outages, a municipal water outage and widespread flooding along the Lumber River Thursday, October 13, 2016 in Lumberton, NC.

    Residents return from checking their homes after Hurricane Matthew caused downed trees, power outages, a municipal water outage and widespread flooding along the Lumber River Thursday, October 13, 2016 in Lumberton, NC.


    Travis Long

    tlong@newsobserver.com

    Fed by climate change, hurricanes have outpaced the tool meteorologists use to convey their strength, and the National Hurricane Center should add a Category 6 to the Saffir-Simpson scale to reflect the change, researchers said this week.

    Michael F. Wehner and James P. Kossin made the argument in a paper released Monday, which puts two years of scientific study behind an observation meteorologists and others had made more casually for some time. That is, that a scale that tops out with Category 5, capturing any storm with sustained winds at 157mph or more, underestimates in the public’s mind the actual threat of much more powerful storms occurring.

    What does the research say?

    Wehner and Kossin suggest adding a Category 6 that would include any storm with sustained wind speeds of more than 86 meters per second, or about 192mph.

    Several storms already have reached that threshold, the pair say, and more are likely to come as the planet warms.

    The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has said it’s premature to conclude that the increase in hurricane activity and severity since 1980 is due to global warming.

    Reached by phone in California where he works in Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s Applied Mathematics and Computational Research Division, Wehner said he and Kossin, an atmospheric scientist, don’t expect the National Hurricane Center to amend the Saffir-Simpson scale. But demonstrating that there could be scientific justification for doing so could bring attention to the need to deal with global warming, he said.

    “Our point is simply that climate change is making the big ones worse,” said Wehner, who also has studied other weather extremes such as heat.

    In the short run, Wehner said, when a hurricane is barreling up the coast, residents in its path need to pay attention to evacuation orders and take necessary steps to protect themselves and their loved ones.

    “Bu when there is not a storm coming, this could be a way to remind people that climate change is making these storms and all kinds of extreme weather more hazardous.”

    What is the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Speed scale?

    Developed by wind engineer Herb Saffir and meteorologist Bob Simpson, the scale was first published in the 1970s as a way to quantify the threat of a given hurricane and alert the public to possible impacts. It’s been compared to the Richter scale used for earthquakes.

    Its metrics have been changed over time, and the current version uses only peak wind speeds to classify storms as:

    ▪ Category 1, maximum sustained winds of 74-95 mph

    ▪ Category 2, 96-110 mph

    ▪ Category 3, 111-129 mph

    ▪ Category 4, 130-156 mph

    ▪ Category 5, 157 mph or higher

    Critics say Saffir-Simpson understates dangers

    If you live in North Carolina, which is behind only Texas, Florida and sometimes Louisiana in the number of hurricane strikes sustained, you know that excessive wind — which can collapse structures, bring down trees and turn ordinary objects into missiles — is only one potential danger in a hurricane.

    Using data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, the National Weather Service reported in August 2023 that most deaths in recent tropical cyclones have been from inland freshwater flooding caused by excessive rainfall. Other major risks from hurricanes include ocean storm surge and tornadoes, such as one spawned by Isaias in August 2020 that killed two people in Bertie County. Hurricanes that hit the Gulf of Mexico and travel north through the North Carolina mountains, dropping huge amounts of rain, also can cause landslides.

    That’s why the National Hurricane Center offers a detailed description of the increasing dangers of different category storms ascending through the Saffir-Simpson scale along with more digestible summaries of the risks.

    The National Hurricane Center also has produced an animated video that demonstrates the effects of increasing wind strengths from Category 1 to Category 5.

    North Carolina focuses on impacts, not storm categories

    In modern record-keeping, North Carolina has never sustained a direct hit from a Category 5 hurricane, but has seen death and destruction from many storms that, based only on their category, might not have sounded like big threats.

    Hurricane Matthew that came into North Carolina as a Category 1 storm after making landfall in South Carolina in October 2016 killed 25 people here, the weather service said, and caused billions of dollars in damages.

    Andrew Richardson of Fayetteville looks for salvageable furniture in a pile of debris outside a gutted home Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2016 in Lumberton, one of the most heavily flooded areas in N.C. following Hurricane Matthew.
    Andrew Richardson of Fayetteville looks for salvageable furniture in a pile of debris outside a gutted home Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2016 in Lumberton, one of the most heavily flooded areas in N.C. following Hurricane Matthew. Travis Long tlong@newsobserver.com

    In an interview, Diana Thomas, a meteorologist with N.C. Emergency Management, said that leading up to a hurricane, state officials use information about wind speeds but also the size of a storm, potential storm surge and rip current risk, projected rainfall, possible tracks and other data to help residents prepare and stay safe.

    As a meteorologist and disaster preparedness official, she said, she’s not bothered by the fact that the current Category 5 is open-ended.

    “We really message out the impacts. We may not even mention what category a storm is, because the impact and the local effects are what matter and what drives our response and the need to move resources to those areas,” she said. “The addition of a Category 6 would not alter our addressing of those impacts.”

    The National Hurricane Center’s response

    NHC Director Michael Brennan said in a statement that the agency doesn’t comment on reports or papers from outside its organization.

    But Brennan said that, like N.C. officials, “We’ve tried to steer the focus toward the individual hazards, which include storm surge, wind, rainfall, tornadoes and rip currents, instead of the particular category of the storm, which only provides information about the hazard from wind. Category 5 on the Saffir-Simpson scale already captures ‘Catastrophic Damage’ from wind, so it’s not clear that there would be a need for another category even if storms were to get stronger.

    “In addition, most deaths in tropical cyclones occur not from the wind but from water — storm surge, rainfall/inland flooding, and hazardous surf — causing about 90% of tropical cyclone deaths in the United States. So, we don’t want to over-emphasize the wind hazard by placing too much emphasis on the category.”

    Hurricane Hazel in 1954 is the only Category 4 hurricane that has hit North Carolina. Storm surge flooded areas along the coast, including Morehead City, shown here. Hazel brought 90 mph winds as far inland as Raleigh.
    Hurricane Hazel in 1954 is the only Category 4 hurricane that has hit North Carolina. Storm surge flooded areas along the coast, including Morehead City, shown here. Hazel brought 90 mph winds as far inland as Raleigh. National Weather Service

    The National Hurricane Center announced this week that in mid-August, it will roll out an experimental version of its hurricane cone forecast graphic to include effects of storms that could be felt far inland. That’s because in the past, people who live in areas away from the coast often have ignored the risks posed by winds and heavy rain that can occur far from the coast. After it came ashore in Calabash in 1954, for instance — bringing an 18-foot storm surge — Hurricane Hazel traveled far inland.

    The Ralegh-Durham airport recorded 90 mph winds from Hazel.

    The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 to Nov. 30.

    Martha Quillin is a general assignment reporter at The News & Observer who writes about North Carolina culture, religion and social issues. She has held jobs throughout the newsroom since 1987.

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  • Summer-like conditions with record temperatures lead to first Wisconsin tornado in February

    Summer-like conditions with record temperatures lead to first Wisconsin tornado in February

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    EVANSVILLE, Wis. – The first tornado ever recorded in Wisconsin in the usually frigid month of February came on a day that broke records for warmth, setting up the perfect scenario for the type of severe weather normally seen in the late spring and summer.

    At least one tornado was confirmed south of Madison and the National Weather Service was investigating reports of several more spawned from storms that swept across the southeastern part of the state around 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, said meteorologist Taylor Patterson.

    “There wasn’t anything inherently unusual about any of these storms when you compare them to other types of severe events we see during the summer and spring,” Patterson said Friday. “It’s just unusual in the sense that it doesn’t normally happen in February.”

    Hunter Oller, 20, of Brodhead, Wisconsin, and his friend were out fishing when the storm rolled in. They started to drive home but pulled over in the Town of Magnolia where they spotted two partially formed tornadoes and one tornado that seemed to touch the ground. Oller pulled out his cellphone.

    “I was in awe,” he said. Oller called it an experience “I won’t get the joy of seeing or experiencing for awhile.”

    Winter tornadoes are almost unheard of, especially in northern states.

    The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported that between 1998 and 2022, 31 states across a broad swatch of the country, from Washington state in the northwest to New Mexico in the south, Wisconsin in the Upper Midwest over to Maine in the northeast, didn’t report a single tornado.

    But winter tornadoes — like the one in Wisconsin — are likely to be stronger and stay on the ground longer with a wider swath of destruction in a warming world, a 2021 study showed. That comes after a 2018 study found that tornadoes were moving farther east, into states like Wisconsin.

    Tornadoes are most common in Wisconsin over the summer months between May and August. Since 1948, between November and February fewer than a dozen tornadoes total had been reported before Thursday, according to the weather service.

    Meteorologists in Wisconsin began to worry about conditions coming together to create severe weather earlier in the week and then on Thursday “we knew that there things were starting to align much more than we had thought two days ago,” Patterson said.

    “All the ingredients coming together this time of year is what is unusual,” she said.

    The weather service dispatched teams across the path of the storm on Friday to determine how many tornadoes there were and at what severity. Photos and video taken near Evansville, Wisconsin, that were posted on social media sites clearly showed a tornado with lightning flashing around it.

    “February is normally a month where we’re very cold and we’re getting snow, which are things that aren’t very conducive to tornadoes,” Patterson said. “Normally, for thunderstorms severe enough to create tornadoes, we need a lot of moisture, we need a lot of warm temperatures and during the winter months we’re just normally not in an environment that is conducive for that.”

    Conditions collided in Wisconsin late afternoon on Thursday creating the perfect conditions for tornadoes to form, Patterson said. That included rapidly warming temperatures that topped out at a record-tying 55 degrees Fahrenheit (13 Celsius) in Madison and more moisture with rapidly rising air, creating thunderstorms, Patterson said.

    “The other thing that we had going for us is it was really windy yesterday,” she said, creating wind shear that is important for creating tornadoes. “That basically helps us sustain that rotation that is needed for tornadoes.”

    There were no reports of significant injuries. Local emergency management officials reported dozens of buildings, power lines and other structures that were damaged across the path of the storm that began to form in eastern Iowa and died out around Milwaukee, which set a record high of 59 degrees (15 Celsius).

    A study released last year found that America will probably get more killer tornado- and hail-spawning supercells as the world warms. The study in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society predicted a nationwide 6.6% increase in supercells and a 25.8% jump in the area and time the strongest supercells will be over land.

    ___

    Associated Press reporter Carrie Antlfinger reported from Milwaukee.

    ___

    This story has been corrected to show the city where Oller lives is called Brodhead, not Broadhead.

    Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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    Todd Richmond And Scott Bauer, Associated Press

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  • More than 18 million rental units at risk from climate hazards as extreme weather becomes more common, Harvard study finds

    More than 18 million rental units at risk from climate hazards as extreme weather becomes more common, Harvard study finds

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    D3sign | Stone | Getty Images

    Extreme weather and climate hazards are becoming more frequent, posing a threat not only for homeowners but for renters.

    More than 18 million rental units across the U.S. are exposed to climate- and weather-related hazards, according to the latest American Rental Housing Report from Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies.

    Harvard researchers paired data from the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s National Risk Index with the five-year American Community Survey to find out what units are in the areas that are expected to have annual economic loss from environmental hazards such as wildfires, flooding, earthquakes, hurricanes and more. 

    “The rental housing stock is the oldest it ever has been, and a lot of it is not suited for the growing frequency, severity and diversity in environmental hazards,” said Sophia Wedeen, research analyst focused on rental housing, residential remodeling and affordability at the Joint Center for Housing Studies.

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    In 2023, there were 28 weather and climate disasters with damages totaling $1 billion or more, a record high, according to the latest report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Centers for Environmental Information. These weather disruptions collectively cost $92.9 billion in damages, an estimate adjusted for inflation, the agency found.  

    “It’s clear that not only are climate hazards happening more often, but they’re happening more often in places where people live, which is why we’re seeing all of these damages increase over time,” said Jeremy Porter, head of climate implications research for First Street Foundation, a nonprofit organization in New York.

    In addition, about twice as many properties in the U.S. have flood risks than what FEMA accounts for, according to research by First Street Foundation.

    And flood insurance is only mandated for properties inside official flood zones, Porter said.

    “Half the properties across the country don’t know they have a flood risk, which means the building owner may not have flood insurance,” he said.

    Some renters ‘can’t afford to move away from the risk’

    At a national level, 45% of single-family rentals and 35% to 40% of units in small, midsize and large multifamily buildings are located in census tracts, or neighborhoods, that are exposed to annual losses from climate-related hazards, the Harvard study found.

    Units with the highest risk are manufactured housing, such as mobile homes and RVs, said Wedeen. While they’re a smaller share of the rental stock, 52% of manufactured units are located in areas with extreme weather exposure. 

    As the market already faces a declining supply of low-rent units available, “environmental hazards would really exacerbate the existing affordability concerns,” Wedeen said. 

    Renters in manufactured housing, low-rent or subsidized units are also often stuck with the housing they have or lack the same level of mobility as wealthier renters, experts say.

    “These populations are more vulnerable and don’t have the financial means to protect themselves against the risks that exist,” Porter said. “It’s sort of a compounding risk when we see these increases in climate hazards and start impacting people who can’t afford to move away from the risk.”

    Most of the state and local funds that cover post-disaster assistance go to homeowners, not rental property owners.

    “That in turn puts a lot of burden on renters who are displaced by natural disasters and who may find it hard to find new housing,” she said.

    Many homes need upgrades to withstand disasters

    Low-rent or subsidized units also face preservation issues, leaving them in poor physical condition. According to the Harvard study, units renting for less than $600 per month have higher rates of physical inadequacy from disrepair and structural deterioration.

    Manufactured housing units are more likely to be physically inadequate, meaning they are “much less able to withstand the impact of a weather-related hazard,” Wedeen said.

    What renters need is greater investment in the existing housing stock and upgrades that can mitigate the damage to a building and improve its resilience to hazards, Wedeen said.

    “Without substantial investment, displacements and units becoming uninhabitable is only going to continue,” Wedeen said.

    How renters can protect themselves

    It’s important for tenants to understand that they need renter’s insurance to protect their possessions.

    Landlords and building owners are responsible for repairing physical damage to the unit or building from a climate-related hazard, and those repairs will depend on whether the landlord or building owner is covered by property insurance, said Porter.

    But the landlord’s insurance on the building does not cover renters’ personal property.

    Renters should check what type of disasters are included in their renter’s insurance policy. They may need riders or a separate policy to cover risks such as flooding or earthquakes, experts say.

    While a lot of the risks are out of the hands of renters, they can research to make informed decisions and prepare.

    Before moving to a new area, renters should research the floodplain, look for a building with resilient features and find out what risks that area is exposed to by using search tools such as the FEMA flood map or riskfactor.com, a search tool backed by First Street Foundation’s data analysis.

    In some areas, landlords must disclose to prospective tenants if a property is in a floodplain or has experienced flooding in the past.

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  • Norway defends deep-sea mining, says it may help to break China and Russia’s rare earths stronghold

    Norway defends deep-sea mining, says it may help to break China and Russia’s rare earths stronghold

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    ROTTERDAM, SOUTH HOLLAND, NETHERLANDS – 2022/02/08: The deep-sea creatures on board the Luciana and the mining vessel Hidden Gem seen in the background, during the demonstration.
    Ocean Rebellions protest The Deep Sea Says No Why the deep sea? The deep seabed is largely unexplored, many areas have unique marine life (an estimated 10-million life forms and most are undiscovered) and many areas are important to the survival of all ocean life. Deep Sea Mining in areas like the Clarion Clipperton Fracture Zone (CCFZ) (Pacific Ocean) will destroy the deep seabed and the life that depends on it, destroying corals and sponges that have taken thousands of years to grow. (Photo by Charles M. Vella/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

    Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images

    Norway says its controversial decision to approve deep-sea mining is a necessary step into the unknown that could help to break China and Russia’s rare earths dominance.

    In a vote earlier this month that attracted cross-party support, Norway’s parliament voted 80-20 to approve a government proposal to open a vast ocean area for commercial-scale deep-sea mining.

    It makes the northern European country the first in the world to move forward with the process of extracting minerals from the seabed.

    Norway’s government said the practice could be one way to help facilitate the global transition away from fossil fuels, adding that every country should be exploring ways to sustainably collect metals and minerals at their disposal.

    Scientists, however, have warned that the full environmental impacts of deep-sea mining are hard to predict, while environmental campaign groups have slammed the approval of what they call an “extremely destructive” process that sends a “terrible signal” to the rest of the world.

    The goal of any exploration activities should be to better understand the scale of the environmental threats deep-sea mining poses — not to justify a practice we know will have vast negative impacts on marine life and the planet’s health.

    Anne-Sophie Roux

    Deep-sea mining Europe lead at the Sustainable Ocean Alliance

    Essential metals such as cobalt, nickel, copper and manganese can be found in potato-sized nodules on the seafloor. The end-uses of these metals — along with other strategic minerals and rare earth elements — are wide-ranging and include electric vehicle batteries, wind turbines and solar panels.

    As a result, demand is growing fast. The IEA expects this trend to continue as the clean energy transition gains pace, noting that demand for cobalt and nickel jumped 70% and 40%, respectively, between 2017 and 2022.

    “Today, we are almost dependent on Russia and China and we have to diversify the global supply chain production of minerals around the world,” Norwegian Energy Minister Terje Aasland told CNBC via videoconference.

    “We have been looking into the seabed minerals opportunity for a long time. We have a really reliable tradition on how we use the resources in the Norwegian continental shelf. We do it sustainably and we do it step by step.”

    As part of the rapid uptick in demand for critical minerals, the IEA has warned that today’s supply falls short of what is needed to transform the energy sector. That’s because there is a relatively high geographical concentration of the production of many energy transition elements.

    Most rare earth reserves are located in China, for example, while Vietnam, Brazil and Russia are also major rare earths countries based on reserve volume.

    Knowledge gaps

    Norway’s parliamentary decision paves the way for companies to apply to mine in its national waters near the Svalbard archipelago. The area, which is part of Norway’s extended seabed shelf, is estimated to be larger than the U.K. at roughly 280,000 square kilometers (108,108 square miles).

    Norway’s government does not intend to immediately start drilling for minerals. Instead, companies will need to submit proposals for licenses that will be voted on a case-by-case basis in parliament.

    Aasland said the first commercial licenses for exploring the seabed could come “maybe next year” but a license to extract these minerals would likely not happen this decade.

    (L-R) Norwegian member of Parliament Arild Hermstad, French climate activists Camille Etienne and Anne-Sophie Roux, and French actor Lucas Bravo attend a demonstration against seabed mining outside the Norwegian Parliament building in Oslo, Norway on January 9, 2024.

    Javad Parsa | Afp | Getty Images

    The approval of deep-sea mining puts Norway at odds with both the U.K. and the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, which have pushed for a temporary ban on environmental concerns.

    In response to the criticism, Norway’s Aasland said the vote outcome would help lawmakers better understand whether hunting for minerals on the seafloor can be done in a sustainable way.

    “One of the key issues in the debate is we don’t have enough knowledge to decide if we can go to extract these minerals — and I totally agree,” Aasland said.

    “We have to collect more information before we can take a decision about extracting these minerals. That is what this opening is all about. It is not the same as approving extraction.”

    ‘A nail in the coffin’ of Norway’s climate credentials

    Anne-Sophie Roux, deep-sea mining Europe lead at the Sustainable Ocean Alliance, said Norway’s decision to greenlight commercial deep-sea mining is “irresponsible” and “puts a nail in the coffin” of the country’s proclaimed role as a climate leader.

    “The goal of any exploration activities should be to better understand the scale of the environmental threats deep-sea mining poses — not to justify a practice we know will have vast negative impacts on marine life and the planet’s health,” Roux told CNBC via email.

    'Huge knowledge gaps must be filled' before deep-sea mining, says Norwegian deputy foreign minister

    Marine ecosystems are not well understood. Campaigners fear that exploration and exploitation activities in the deep sea could permanently alter a home that is unique to known — and many as yet unknown — species.

    “The argument put forward by the Norwegian government — and the deep-sea mining industry — that ‘deep-sea mining can be done in a sustainable way’ goes against the large consensus of scientific literature,” Roux said.

    “There is no way to sustainably mine the deep sea in our current day and age, as it would inevitably lead to ecosystem destruction, species extinction, various sources of pollution and disruption of the climate ecosystemic services of the ocean.”

    A slide show of texts are projected onto the side of the Hidden Gem during the demonstration.

    Charles M. Vella | Lightrocket | Getty Images

    Maria Varteressian, deputy foreign minister of Norway, said the Nordic country takes its reputation as a sustainable ocean nation “seriously,” however, and this is the case when considering whether seabed minerals could play a role in the energy transition.

    “No exploitation activity has started. The main reason to that as you have already said is the huge knowledge gaps which must be filled prior to any activity even being considered. That is important,” Varteressian told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Jan. 24.

    “Regardless of the views on mining activities onshore and offshore, minerals will be a critical component in the new energy systems so the main question is not whether we need the minerals or not, the important question is can we produce them in a sustainable way?”

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  • Tesla misses fourth-quarter revenue estimates on weak auto sales and warns of lower volume growth in 2024

    Tesla misses fourth-quarter revenue estimates on weak auto sales and warns of lower volume growth in 2024

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    Elon Musk, chief executive officer of Tesla Inc and X (formerly Twitter) Ceo speaks at the Atreju political convention organized by Fratelli d’Italia (Brothers of Italy), on December 15, 2023 in Rome, Italy. 

    Antonio Masiello | Getty Images

    Tesla reported revenue and profit for the fourth quarter that missed analysts’ estimates as auto sales increased just 1% from a year earlier. The stock slid in extended trading.

    Here are the key numbers:

    • Earnings: 71 cents per share, adjusted, vs. 74 cents per share expected by LSEG, formerly known as Refinitiv.
    • Revenue: $25.17 billion vs. $25.6 billion expected by LSEG.

    Total revenue increased 3% from $24.3 billion a year earlier. Operating margin for the quarter came in at 8.2%, down from the year-ago quarter’s figure of 16% and slightly higher than 7.6% in the prior quarter.

    While other U.S. automakers struggled to make and sell a high volume of fully electric vehicles last year, Tesla reported 484,507 deliveries in the fourth quarter and more than 1.8 million for 2023. Hefty price cuts helped Tesla achieve that number, which was a record for the company.

    Net income for the quarter more than doubled to $7.9 billion from $3.7 billion a year earlier.

    During the quarter, Tesla began selling Cybertrucks to customers. The company said in its investor presentation that, “We expect the ramp of Cybertruck to be longer than other models given its manufacturing complexity.” Tesla said it now has the capacity to build more than 125,000 Cybertruck vehicles in a year.

    Tesla’s labor costs are rising in the U.S.. In order to make its wages competitive versus automakers like General Motors, Ford and Stellantis, where employees are represented by the United Auto Workers, Tesla recently rolled out pay increases for many of its hourly factory employees in the U.S.

    WATCH: Elon Musk is very much in charge of Tesla

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