Planet Week: Heat waves could be deadlier than all infectious diseases combined
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.
Stockpiles of ammonium nitrate blew up in Beirut, killing more than 150 and drawing attention to the dangers of the industrial chemical. Heavy rains pounded countries, from the United States to South Korea to Yemen. And Canada said au revoir to its last ice sheet.
In case you missed it, here’s what else happened around the planet:
Monday, August 3
Coal falls in half-year for first time on record
Let’s kick off the week with some good news for the planet. New data out Monday showed that global coal capacity decreased in the first-half of 2020, the first time that’s ever been recorded, reports The Hill. Put simply, more coal-fired power plants retired than opened during that time.
That decline was chalked up to two things: decreased power due to COVID-19-related shutdowns and Europe’s phase out of coal from its energy sector. Now, however, as the world opens back up, experts worry about a coal-fueled recovery for China, where most coal production is concentrated.
Heat waves will kill more people than all infectious diseases combined
New research suggests, if the world keeps spewing emissions into the atmosphere, by 2100, heat-related deaths could surpass the current death rate of all infectious diseases combined.
Along with mass death, the economy will take a big hit, too, with poorer countries with older populations hardest hit. In fact, the warmest regions in the Global South could see their heat-related death rate exceed 200 deaths per 100,000.
“The poorer locations are… unable to spend as much to adapt,” Amir Jina, co-author of the study, wrote to Earther. “Essentially, it appears that wealthier places pay for climate change impacts with money, and poorer places pay with their lives.”
Tuesday, August 4
BP’s ambitious climate plan
BP — yes, that BP — wants to become a global leader in renewable energy, by cutting carbon and dropping oil. The British oil giant announced Tuesday that for the next decade, it’ll spend $5 billion a year on reducing its emissions, with the aim to become net zero by at least 2050. Most notably, BP aims to cut over a third of its emissions from oil and gas production by 2030, a big step for, well, an oil and gas company.
“In the arms race of emissions announcements, most oil and gas peers have conveniently ignored the global need to produce and use less oil and gas,” said Andrew Grant, head of oil and gas at Carbon Tracker, in a statement. “BP’s production cut of 40% by 2030 makes them unquestionably the industry leader.”
The plan, as of now, is a bit vague. Many are still skeptical, and understandably so, given BP’s environmental record and, oh, I don’t know, decades of fueling climate change. Read more at Grist.
We should name heat waves like we name hurricanes
People prepare for weeks when they hear a named tropical storm or hurricane heading their way. Now, a new coalition is pushing for heat waves to receive similar treatment — hoping names and strength ratings help people better understand the rising dangers.
“A heat wave is an abstraction,” Ed Maibach, director of the Center for Climate Change Communication at George Mason University, told CBS News. “Naming something is a good way to make it more concrete. Concrete ideas are also more actionable in that people can more easily figure what to do, or what not to do.”
As climate change brings extreme heat to billions of people around the world, naming heat waves could be the difference between life and a whole lot of death. Read the full story by Reuters.
Thursday, August 6
Atlantic hurricane season is one of worst on record
Speaking of hurricanes, the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season is off to a record start, with Tropical Storm Isaias becoming the earliest ninth-named storm ever recorded. Now, experts predict this activity is likely to keep its pace.
On Thursday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration revised its forecast from May, now predicting we could see as many as 25 named storms this year, 11 of which could be hurricanes, reports The Wall Street Journal.
For those keeping track at home, the average hurricane season since 1995 sees about 12 storms, half of which are hurricanes. How we create more resilient cities in a climate-changed future will be both a challenge and an opportunity, as we wrote this week in Planet Days.
Droughts in Europe… x7
Keeping with the trend of extreme weather: Europe could see extreme droughts seven times more often by 2100, according to a new study. But researchers said sharply reducing global emissions would lessen the frequency of these events “to a very negligible number.”
“The findings indicate that introducing measures to reduce future carbon emissions may lower the risk of more frequent consecutive drought events across Europe,” Rohini Kumar, one of the authors of the study, told The Guardian. “On the one hand, we need to step up our efforts to reduce greenhouse gases worldwide, and at the same time deal with strategies to adapt to climate change.”
Over the last two decades, Europe has lost $119 billion to extreme droughts, a figure only expected to grow as climate change continues unchecked. Read more at DW.
Pandemic lockdowns lead to “negligible” cooling
COVID-19 lockdowns could end up cooling the Earth in the next 10 years … by a “negligible” 0.01 degrees Celsius, according to a study published Thursday.
Essentially, all those lockdowns and emission drops don’t mean anything for the long-term health of the planet. Instead, we need green recoveries, which, according to the study, have a 55% chance of keeping global temperatures under 1.5 degrees Celsius by mid-century.
“Our paper shows that the actual effect of lockdown on the climate is small,” said study co-author Harriet Forster, in a statement. “The important thing to recognise is that we’ve been given a massive opportunity to boost the economy by investing in green industries — and this can make a huge difference to our future climate.”
For a quick read, check out BBC’s coverage of the study. To dive deeper, Wired has more.
Bonus
Penguin poop
Some good news in Antartica: There are nearly 20% more emperor penguin colonies than previously thought, according to new research.
Scientists came to this conclusion after satellites captured images of smudges — or penguin poop — on sea ice, where these penguins breed, reports CNN. But this discovery comes with a warning: If the climate keeps warming, ice will disappear, leaving these same penguins out in the cold.
See you next week,
Brandon and Sam