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“There’s a huge number of homes out there that cannot hold a [set temperature] for even a minute – if the AC shuts off, that house is getting hot,” a Texas energy efficiency expert said.
Some hyper-wealthy people are pledging donations to fight climate change and protect ecosystems. Is it a positive, even “game-changing” development? Or should governments constrain carbon-spewing luxuries?
After a record-mild autumn and a freakishly warm December, much of Texas could sink into its worst drought in a decade. That prospect is ominous – a reminder of the state’s catastrophic heat wave and drought in 2011.
From 1950-2017, the world produced 8.3 billion metric tons of plastics. Global production has skyrocketed – it totaled 381 million metric tons (MMT) in 2015 alone. Now, humans create 242 MMT of plastic waste each year.
Facing new federal regulations and global momentum for a crackdown on oil and gas emissions, will Texas finally admit methane’s threat? Or will state officials keep resisting climate action?
The U.N.’s weather agency predicted a “looming” global water crisis created by changing climate and growing population. A Texas water expert asks: Will the state adequately adapt its “fragile” water and power infrastructure?
A new national poll found increases in Americans’ agreement that global warming is happening, their worries about it and support for climate action. Will the surge translate into passage of bills stalled in Congress?
Fossil fuels don’t dominate the Texas economy as they did in the past. But they still provide “a huge amount of the money that goes into the coffers” of public office-seekers, said a TCU political scientist.
Warmer ocean waters can rapidly strengthen storms. Ocean warming has been unceasing for 50 years, the IPCC recently reported. And this trend “will likely continue until at least 2300 even for low-emission scenarios.”
“Unprecedented” climate changes lie ahead, some “irreversible.” Parts of the IPCC’s latest update may prompt a defeatist response, but the report also says there’s still time to avoid the worst, researchers stress.
Human-caused warming of the earth is “unequivocal,” the new scientific assessment’s authors declared. “This report must sound a death knell for coal and fossil fuels,” the UN secretary-general said.
Researchers are documenting impacts of extreme cold and heat on animals and the plants they rely on for food and habitat. The deaths of hundreds of thousands of animals were recorded in February’s winter storm, for example.
Republicans and Democrats in the Legislature co-sponsored a measure to ensure Texas plays a leading role in the transition to electric vehicles. The House bill easily won committee approval but never came to a floor vote.
The curbs on leaks of climate-changing methane from oil and gas operations restore Obama-era rules that Trump junked. Texas has a record of suing to stop climate-protecting measures and refusing to implement them.
Historically, Republicans have voiced more support for renewables than concern about climate change. But their enthusiasm for clean energy appears to be eroding in another possible sign of partisan polarization.
Amid soaring temps, Texas’ grid operator said unexpected shutdowns at power plants had stressed the system. Nearly 80% were “thermal” generators (mostly natural gas-fueled in Texas) and not renewable sources.
A new assessment pinpoints threats to a haven for water lovers and wildlife. The National Wildlife Federation report also identifies proactive measures that state and local leadership can pursue to prepare.
In this first installment of Digest: Heat, rain, drought, megadrought and blackouts. In each edition of this new feature we’ll present selective overviews of recent developments with a common theme or close connections.
Texas shrimpers and many others around the world use the fishing method. One study’s lowest projection showed trawling can release as much carbon into the water as Canada, the 11th biggest climate polluter, emits to the air.
The project in the largely Black Sunnyside neighborhood features intersecting efforts to advance clean energy sources and address residual impacts of long-ago policies linked to environmental racism.
Your tax-deductible donation to Texas Climate News will be received and transferred to TCN by our official fiscal sponsor, the nonprofit Institute for Journalism and Natural Resources (IJNR).
Thank you for your crucial support.
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