Please invest in Our Daily Planet today, by making a one time or monthly contribution.
We do not charge our readers a subscription fee for our content. We want to continue to grow our readership, particularly among millennials and public servants. Voluntary contributions from readers will help us employ interns and freelance journalists, expand our content, and reach a larger audience.
If you make a contribution of $150 or more, you will become an official “Friend of the Planet” and receive a Friend of the Planet T-shirt or water bottle.
Our Daily Planet is a daily morning email (M-F) to keep you informed of the stories shaping our environment. If these issues matter to you, we’d like to be the best ten minutes of your morning.
Why This Matters: Heat waves in the summer in the south and southwest seem like par for the course. But they are actually getting worse and are more deadly than other severe weather. Scientists who study heat waves report that they now occur more frequently and are longer than they were in the 20th century. Indeed, they say there has been “a significant increase in the co-occurrence of meteorological drought and heatwaves over the U.S. since the 1960s, particularly over the southern states.” This is not just a string of bad luck — this increase in hot weather is caused by climate change. Climate scientists now say there is ample evidence to connect individual extreme heatwaves to climate change, and the media should.
Beating The Heat in Phoenix
A recent study found that when it comes to adaptation, there is a significant gap between planning and implementation. In Phoenix, in order to bridge this gap, a coalition of county officials, and environmental and community organizations created heat action plans for three of the hottest neighborhoods in the city by engaging directly with the residents. Erin Stone reported for the Arizona Republic, that all three neighborhoods have largely Latino and Black populations and “decades-old discriminatory policies that created a disparity in investments in infrastructure, green spaces and other amenities compared to predominantly white communities.”
The project was called “Nature’s Cooling Systems” and it used storytelling and lived experience to facilitate understanding of complex ideas, and level the playing field between residents, organizations, and experts. This deep engagement in each neighborhood resulted in three different “heat action plans” that reflected each neighborhood’s unique priorities and histories, far beyond the “typical heat mitigation recommendations of adding more shade, installing cool or green roofs, and using ‘cooler’ materials.” The researchers, Stone reported, built maps of hot spots in each neighborhood using temperature data and insight from residents” so that the city officials could “understand the local concerns of each neighborhood and assist in adjusting existing heat mitigation strategies, such as the City of Phoenix Tree and Shade Master plan, to better fit the needs of individual neighborhoods.”
by Natasha Lasky, ODP Staff Writer This March will continue to bring more severe weather to the United States. An atmospheric river event — the “Pineapple Express” — is forecast to induce a rainy season in Washington and Oregon, as well as an increased risk of avalanches in the Pacific Northwest. As the Pineapple Express […]
We feel so badly for everyone in Texas suffering through days of bitter cold, many without heat. But the people at the northern U.S. end of the polar vortex are reeling from the cold as well. Low-temperature records are being broken in the northern plains — it’s so cold there that even Siberia was warmer. […]
After snowstorms swept across the South this week, 14 states are expecting power outages, frozen roads, and dangerous conditions. Hundreds of millions will be impacted by the storm. Millions will be experiencing rolling blackouts in the coming days due to stress on the Southwest Power Pool (SPP).
Why This Matters: Although it might seem that this polar vortex is an exception to global temperature rise, research says that erratic, far-reaching polar systems like the one we’re seeing now can be directly related to warming temperatures in the Arctic.
Subscribe to the email that top lawmakers, renowned scientists, and thousands of concerned citizens turn to each morning for the latest environmental news and analysis.
Want the lastest climate news summarized for you each morning?
Our Daily Planet is your daily dose of the stories shaping our world and the ways that you can take action. From the climate crisis to the protection of biodiversity, if these issues matter to you then please subscribe & stay informed!
Your privacy is Important! We promise never to use your email address to send you spam or advertisements.