Planet Week: Atlantic hurricanes are outta control
Welcome to Planet Week, where we highlight the last week of environmental news and what it means for our Planet.
Welcome to Planet Week, where we highlight the last week of environmental news and what it means for our Planet.
Last week, the United States Federal Reserve called climate a stability risk and applied to join a group of banks to manage climate risks. Researchers found that fireplaces pose a greater health risk than traffic. And Ford announced an electric van.
In case you missed it, here’s what else happened around the Planet:
Sunday, November 8
What’s next for Joe Biden’s climate plan
After a drawn out Election Week with razor thin margins, Joe Biden was elected the 46th president of the United States of America. Now, the real work begins. Shortly after the race was called, Biden launched his transition website, outlining his administration’s plans to address four main priorities, including climate change.
Biden entered the general election with the most ambitious climate plan of any major party candidate, and his recent actions show that plan may be more than just talk. Already, Biden has committed to reentering the Paris Agreement, expanded climate talks with foreign leaders, and stocked his transition team with climate experts.
But how the administration works through a Republican party is another factor. NPR, Grist, and Vox all write how a Biden administration can pursue real climate action, with moves such as political compromise, foreign policy moves, and executive actions. Regardless of how much he can do, Biden poises American for a 180-degree turn on climate change.
Monday, November 9
Trump’s last (anti-science) stand
Trump spent four years pissing on the environment, and he’s not done: Last week, the White House moved to replace the head of a federal climate program with a climate-change skeptic, reports The New York Times.
The U.S. Global Change Research Program contributes climate knowledge to the government, as a basis for federal regulations. Michael Kuperberg, the program’s executive director since July 2015, was expected to head the program’s fifth edition of the National Climate Assessment but will instead be replaced by David Legates, who has questioned the severity of the climate crisis and has worked closely with climate denial groups.
The Trump administration has used the aftermath of a crazy election to oust several top officials, so Kuperberg’s replacement isn’t a surprise, but it could have wide-ranging effects, reports The Washington Post
It’s official: 2020 is the most active Atlantic hurricane season on record
After 170 years of record keeping, this year’s Atlantic hurricane season is officially the most active. On Monday night, Subtropical Storm Theta formed over the Atlantic, marking the 29th storm of this year, reports CNN.
Theta is the latest in a record-breaking year that’s not yet over. As Theta headed eastward in the Atlantic, Eta was bumbling around the Gulf of Mexico, making landfall for the fourth time, when it hit the Florida Gulf Coast on Thursday. Today, Iota, the 30th storm of the season, strengthened to a Category 4 hurricane en route to Central America.
The science of climate change and hurricanes is tricky, but many experts believe that warmer waters have contributed to more intense and frequent hurricanes.
Tuesday, November 10
The McPlant is here
McDonald’s is late to the plant-based party, but we should be happy they’re here. On Monday, the fast food chain announced the McPlant, a “plant-based burger crafted for McDonald’s, by McDonald’s,” which customers can expect on the menu in 2021.
In Planet Days this week, we wrote about how individuals have used their purchasing power to force companies to change, which has coalesced in the rise of plant-based foods. Joining other big chains’ plant-based options, the McPlant is just one more example of the massive market shift underway.
Wednesday, November 11
Renewables are set to overtake coal and gas
The International Energy Agency’s 2020 report predicts renewable energy sources — including wind, solar, hydro, and bioenergy — will overtake the capacity of oil and coal by 2025.
Global energy demand has dropped 5% annually during the pandemic, the largest drop since World War II. Yet, clean electricity generation is expected to grow by 7% in 2020, due to record capacity additions and developers rushing to take advantage of expiring incentives in both China and the U.S. Carbon Brief has the full story.
Hurricanes are lasting longer over land
Climate change is probably driving our active Atlantic hurricane season, but research out last week suggests its messing with hurricanes’ behaviors, too. A study published Wednesday in Nature found that hurricanes are lasting longer and spreading more damage after they make landfall.
“[This research] means the havoc will not be constrained to the coastal areas but will creep further inland, which of course then catches people unprepared for such big storms,” Pinaki Chakraborty, a senior author of the study, told HuffPost.
The researchers looked at hurricanes that have hit North America in the last 50 years, finding that hurricanes don’t lose nearly as much power as they used to once they strike land. The researchers say that warmer ocean waters are driving this change, which is obviously a problem if the Planet continues to warm. Read more in National Geographic.
Thursday, November 12
Great tits are under threat
Climate change will destroy a lot of good things, including, but not limited to, great tits.
Great tits, ahem, are a bird species native to Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East, North Africa, and they are the focus of new research from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and the University of Oxford. Researchers found our current climate change is moving fast, shifting seasons, and threatening the food sources species rely on — we can, however, still turn things around.
“If the changes happen too fast, species can become extinct,” Emily Simmonds, an associate professor at the NTNU Department of Biology, told The Independent. “The good news is that the populations will be able to survive scenarios with lower or medium warming trends.”
Bonus
A new marine sanctuary in the Atlantic
Tristan da Cunha, a British Territory in the South Atlantic, announced the creation of a marine sanctuary three times the size of the United Kingdom. The area is home to 85% of the endangered northern rockhopper penguins, 11 species of whales and dolphins, and a majority of the world’s sub-Antarctic fur seals, reports The Associated Press.
“Our life on Tristan da Cunha has always been based around our relationship with the sea, and that continues today,” James Glass, the territory’s chief islander, said in a statement. “That’s why we’re fully protecting 90% of our waters, and we’re proud that we can play a key role in preserving the health of the oceans.”
See you next week,
Brandon and Sam