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snow

US Experiences Record Breaking Cold Temperatures From Intense Snow And Ice Storms

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An intense arctic blast has brought heavy snowfall, wind, and ice storms to the US, threatening to bring record breaking low temperatures and dangerous conditions, especially in the South, this week.

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Power Plant

California to Build New Geothermal Power Plants

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Although the current federal government currently denies the science of climate change, many states seek to advance research and technology for transitioning to renewable energies in the future, most notably California, which is one of the largest states in the country. Under Governor Gavin Newsom, California has set some of the most ambitious environmental policies in the nation, as the state is committed to improving its air quality and transitioning towards sources of energy like wind and solar. However, the state is also beginning to invest into an often-overlooked form of energy production, which is geothermal power. Three energy companies in the state have signed contracts to build two new geothermal power plants in the state—one in Imperial County near the Salton Sea and one in Mono County along the Eastern Sierra. The new plants will be the first geothermal power plants built in the state in almost a decade, demonstrating that California’s approach to reducing greenhouse gas emissions includes a multitude of sources of energy.

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According to Governor Newsom, California’s focus on environmental policy has stimulated the economy, not harmed it, as some opponents of environmentalism have feared. Investing in renewable energy creates new jobs as infrastructure to create wind turbines, solar panels, and more needs to be built. Although wind and solar provides cheap, renewable energy, these methods of energy production depend upon weather conditions, as solar panels work less efficiently on cloudy days and not at all at night, and wind turbines are useless on a still day. Geothermal plants, on the other hand, can produce emissions-free power 24 hours a day, though this form of energy production is significantly more expensive than competing renewable energy sources.

Currently, most of the power supply in California comes from natural gas, which makes up 34.9% of the state’s power source; renewable energy, including geothermal energy, is a close second at 31.4%, whereas the least environmentally-friendly power source, coal, accounts for just 3.3% of the state’s energy. While geothermal is not the prefered source of renewable energy due to its cost, California has passed a bill requiring the state to become 100% climate-friendly by 2045, and the state will need to use all forms of renewable energy possible to achieve that goal. In addition to generating power, the companies involved in building these new geothermal plants hope to use them to extract lithium from the ground. Lithium is a key element for manufacturing batteries, and large amounts of lithium will be necessary in the transition to electric cars as well as storing energy.

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Already, 43 geothermal plants exist in California, many of which were built in the 70s and 80s and have been generating clean power ever since. Because the state is geologically active, California has great potential for generating power through geothermal plants—according to a 2008 estimate from the U.S. Geological Survey, the state has the potential to produce about 15,000 megawatts of power from geothermal energy. For environmentalists and proponents of renewable sources of energy, California’s recent investment in geothermal energy is heartening, as it shows that the state is committed to exploring all possible options for greenhouse-gas-free methods of producing electricity.

Venice Flooding

Venice Undergoes Historic Flooding; Mayor Blames Climate Change

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The city of Venice is currently suffering from a flood of historic intensity. The highest tide the city has seen in 50 years has overwhelmed seawalls and destroyed docks, flooding roughly 85% of the famous lagoon city. Strong winds have worsened the impact of flooding. Already, two people have died in connection with the floods; an elderly man was electrocuted as he tried to run electric pumps to remove water from his home, and a second person was found dead elsewhere. Additionally, the floods have caused a tremendous amount of property destruction, as boats floated into the streets and countless homes and other buildings were partially submerged.

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According to a statement from Venice’s government, the city was struck by a tide of 187 centimeters, or 73.6 inches, on Tuesday night. This is the worst flood since 1966, when tides of 194 centimeters or 76.4 struck the city. The historic crypt of St. Mark’s Basilica, which has been standing for 1,200 years, flooded for the sixth time in its history. At a news conference, Venice’s mayor, Luigi Brugano, characterized the damage as “enormous,” and said that repairing the city would cost hundreds of millions of euros. He also claimed the flooding was a direct result of climate change, saying, “Now the government must listen… these are the effects of climate change… the costs will be high.” The city’s government will “submit a request for a state of emergency” to the country’s central government, in the hope of securing funds to repair the damage. Schools were closed due to the weather conditions.

Despite the immense level of destruction already, more high water is expected to come in the next several days

People have been seen wading through waist-high water in the streets of Venice, and in some areas the water is high enough to swim in. Tables and chairs from outdoor restaurants floated through the waters, and tourists had to leave through the windows of high-end hotels as six-foot-high water submerged the first floors of these hotels. A few boats used for public transportation in the city sank, and officials worry about the flood’s effect on the integrity of older historic buildings. On Twitter, Mayor Brugano said “Venice is on its knees,” and posted pictures of himself and a religious leader surveying the damage of St. Mark’s Basilica, wading through knee-high water.

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Because he is blaming the flood on climate change, the mayor has argued that serious work needs to be done for the future of the city to prepare for future floods. At the news conference, the mayor shared that while wandering through the city, he “found people in tears because they had lost everything,” adding “if we don’t want the city to be abandoned, we have to give certain answers. It’s not just about quantifying the damages, but about the future of this city.” A similar flood transpired last year, leaving many people homeless and destroying personal belongings. The Catholic church has pledged to provide lodging for people left homeless by the flood, giving priority to people who are the most in need.

Despite the immense level of destruction already, more high water is expected to come in the next several days, much to the dismay of the city’s 262 thousand residents, according to the city’s website. Italy’s Prime Minister, Guiseppe Conte, is scheduled to visit the city and spend the night soon. The country has also invested billions of euros in flood-protection technologies, but this technology has yet to be implemented. This flood-protection system, which is scheduled to go online in 2022 and involves offshore underwater dams, may have prevented the disaster if it had been operative. However, flood barriers are just one of the measures necessary for the city to combat climate change, as elements like the navigability of the canals are also involved.

Climate Change

Restructuring our Communities may be the Key to Fighting Climate Change

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The real estate market of the future is bound to be impacted by the effects of climate change. Though no one can predict exactly how climate change will change the way we buy, sell, and live in houses, it’s likely that efforts to mitigate the impacts of climate change will play a role in transforming our home lives. One proposal for adopting a more sustainable lifestyle involves rethinking the way we conceptualize our communities, and creating towns that are entirely self-sufficient, where the town generates its own food, electricity, and other commodities. Building communities in this way has a number of benefits: a town that is self-sufficient is resistant to changes in global and economic forces, and locally-grown food often tastes better and creates jobs for the community.

James Ehrlich, entrepreneur and founder of RegenVillages, intends to create communities of this nature in order to lay the groundwork for the sustainable living of the future. Unlike most typical real estate developers, Ehrlich has a love of farming and a deep concern for the environment, and the communities he envisions helping to create are nothing like the communities of today. Ehrlich envisions small, self-contained villages with abundant farms and fishing opportunities, and solar panels on the roofs of all of the houses. In these theoretical communities, residents do not drive vehicles, which pollute the atmosphere; rather, residents walk or bike, and taxis and autonomous cars serve as transportation. These communities are intended to be built on the outskirts of cities to which residents commute, and a specialized piece of software called “Village OS,” which will connect regenerative infrastructure to smart houses, is in development.

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Achieving sustainability is an essential component to adapting to life under climate change and mitigating its worst effects. Because of the environmental costs of manufacturing goods in factories and shipping goods by plane, boat, and truck, many environmentalists believe that a transition towards locally-sourced resource consumption will become increasingly necessary as time goes on to cut down on carbon emissions. Producing electricity locally also has environmental benefits, as the efficiency of energy production via solar panels or windmills near the source of consumption is greater than using electricity over long distances. Because Ehrlich’s communities are designed with walkability in mind, the houses do not even have driveways, and the communities’ design is meant to encourage environmentally-friendly means of transportation to the greatest possible extent.

Ehrlich is already planning to construct one of these communities on a 61-acre plot of land near Amsterdam. This community is planned to have 300 units, and the plans feature a number of greenhouses and other amenities for residents to enjoy. Ehrlich intends for his communities to allow residents to get back in touch with nature and develop a more grounded relationship with their environment and the resources they consume. As far as Ehrlich is concerned, urbanization is a trend that will begin to fade as people start to desire more quiet and peaceful lifestyles. Ehrlich has invested most of his life savings into the project, and has had difficulties with securing investors and managing land rights. Ehrlich considers the ultimate commitment to be one in which you invest your own resources in an idea that you believe in, and he has done exactly that, due to his conviction of the necessity of transforming the way we live in the face of climate change to allow prosperity for generations to come.

Climate Change Protest

TIME Special Report Emphasizes Threat of Climate Change

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TIME magazine this week took the unusual step of devoting an entire issue to the subject of climate change, with every story printed in the magazine offering a different take on the subject. The issue, entitled “2050: The Fight for Earth,” recognizes the 30th anniversary of when TIME recognized the endangered Earth instead of their usual person of the year in 1989. The climate-focused edition of the magazine imagines a planet roughly thirty years in the future, exploring various outcomes depending on humanity’s reaction to the crisis through interviews with activists, celebrities, and experts. The editors of TIME suggest that while humanity has woken up to the reality of the crisis, we are ill-equipped to handle it, and hope that devoting an issue to the subject will prompt further discussion and action about reducing the causes of climate change and adapting to its effects.

TIME hopes to bring further attention to the subject with the use of digital media. The magazine’s website hosts a page devoted to the issue, offering links to the stories present in the issue and a link to download an app which grants smartphone users an immersive 3D journey through the Amazon rainforest, including areas which have been destroyed by wildfires, narrated by Jane Goodall. Called TIME Immersive, the app includes a new section devoted to visualizing the Amazon rainforest, and uses augmented reality technology to superimpose models of the rainforest onto real-world environments, allowing the user to view the models from different angles in real-time. As the user explores these virtual environments, Jane Goodall describes the extent and scope of environmental destruction, its various causes, and potential solutions. As the app is free and available for both iOS and Android, it’s worth checking out.

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In one of the issue’s featured articles, Bill McKibben, an author and environmental expert, imagines a future in which humanity has survived the worst effects of climate change, but life on Earth is dramatically different. In the article, McKibben predicts that while humanity has witnessed the destruction of forests in California due to wildfires and other extreme weather events, engineers have succeeded in developing cheap renewable energy in the form of solar panels and wind turbines, which have reduced carbon emissions dramatically. McKibben imagines that the threat of climate change becomes a decisive factor in ensuring a victory for a Democratic presidential candidate in 2020, especially among women, who are disproportionately displaced by climate change worldwide, and young people, who turn out to vote in record numbers. This candidate, McKibben asserts, removes the filibuster in order to pass sweeping, unprecedented legislation to end subsidies for oil and gas companies, tax carbon emissions, and invest in green energy.

The cost of adapting to the effects of climate change is massive

Despite this optimistic view, however, McKibben asserts that the worst effects of delaying action on climate change for several decades are unavoidable and yet to come, and the runaway effect will accelerate global warming and sea level rise. As a result, extreme weather events continue to displace millions of people, creating an unprecedented humanitarian and political crisis, and ancient carcasses will be released from melting ice sheets, releasing germs and diseases once thought extinct. The cost of adapting to the effects of climate change, which includes constructing massive seawalls to deal with sea level rise and building infrastructure to protect against hurricanes and other weather events, is massive, and the overall mood of humanity is changed: though we are thankful we survived climate change, we have a different outlook on man’s dominion over nature and the threat of natural forces.

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Another climate activist, Andrew Blum, gives a different take. Blum, a journalist, describes the various technological innovations that will be necessary for tackling the climate crisis. While continuing to invest in solar and wind is necessary, Blum argues that other approaches must be explored as well. Improving the electricity grid to allow for more interconnection and storage of energy is essential, Blum claims, as is innovating with safer and cleaner nuclear energy options and managing carbon in the atmosphere with sequestration.

As the major stories featured in this week’s issue are available for free online, they are worth taking a look at. TIME’s dedication of an entire issue to climate change reflects the urgency and importance of the problem; and as the climate crisis continues, more and more outlets are likely to follow suit.