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The Russian government last week made public its plan to adapt its economy to both mitigate against the damages caused by climate change, but also “use the advantages” of warming, according to The Guardian.
Why This Matters: Russia is not ignoring the impacts of climate change — it is one of the most impacted nations — Russia is warming 2.5 times faster than the planet as a whole, on average
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Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison was called out in a major way this week when he refused to talk about the effect climate change had on the nation’s catastrophic wildfires. Students across Australia even plan to single him out at climate marches across the country. It begs the question, what sort of devastating natural disaster […]
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Australia’s wildfires have been devastating for wildlife and people alike but there’s another casualty that’s been largely overlooked in media coverage: its forests.
Why This Matters: Forestry groups worry about the immense economic/ecological impact of the burned forests.
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As wildfires continued to rage in the New South Wales region, the average temperature in Australia reached its highest point ever at 40.9 degrees Celsius (105.6 F), according to the Australian Bureau of Meteorology that exceeded the previous record set in 2013 at 40.3 Celsius (104.5 F). Major cities in Australia such as Sydney and […]
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In the aftermath of the recent PG&E shutdowns, we wrote about the hardships that Californians faced–especially those who didn’t have solar and battery storage available to them.
Fighting climate change means helping ease upfront costs of distributed energy so that it becomes available to low-income households as well as wealthier ones.
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Working to prevent wildfires in California has come with its own set of challenges. This year, California’s largest utility, PG&E, announced that it will cut off power on high-wind days to prevent sparks from turning into fires, which is a good safety precaution but has also proved cumbersome for residents and businesses. However, a newly-developed spray-on sticky gel might soon provide long-term protection against wildfires–something that other flame retardants haven’t been able to do effectively.Why This Matters: In California, about 70% of wildfires break out near known ignition hazards, such as roads which means that scientists and officials have a decent idea of the zones that can be blanket sprayed with flame retardants.
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Although the hottest story in the media right now is impeachment it’s important not to forget that a worsening drought is affecting Southern states from Texas to Georgia. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has extended a drought disaster declaration to numerous counties in the state due to significantly low rainfall and prolonged dry conditions that continue […]
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Climate change often compounds natural disasters such as fueling wildfires and increasing the risk for catastrophic flooding. While this results in billions of dollars of damage new evidence has revealed that these disasters are also stirring up toxic chemicals and making Americans sick. As the New York Times reported, “By knocking chemicals loose from soil, […]
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The U.S. heatwave over the weekend (and it was hot — New York and Boston both set high temp records on Saturday) overshadowed some disturbing new photos that emerged late last week of vast fires in Siberia due to dried out swaths of peatland (aka bogs or swamps) that are usually frozen and soggy at […]
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Wildfire season has returned to North America with deadly force as 28 fires continue to rage across in Alberta, Canada and have burned more than 700,000 acres of land while forcing over 11,000 people to evacuate. The fires have been burning since the end of May and despite military aid and fire fighting efforts, dry […]
Continue Reading 357 wordsHappy Monday #FriendsofthePlanet! We hope you had a great Cinco de Mayo and that you’ve recovered from Game of Thrones or the NBA or NHL Playoff excitement. How about that quadruple overtime game in Portland on Friday night not to mention the controversial finish in the Kentucky Derby! It is going to be another busy […]
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Wildfires across the Western United States have been made more intense and more frequent due to climate change and now a team of researchers from the University of Montana, the University of Colorado and the U.S. Forest Service have found evidence suggesting that low-elevation forests have been facing difficult recoveries after forest fires also as […]
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