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Temperature check

Climate change is turning up the heat on planet Earth, and this summer, we really felt it. In recent weeks, scientists have observed the four hottest days in recorded history, with global surface air temperature peaking at 62.8 degrees Fahrenheit. That may not seem super warm, but remember, it’s an average. In many places, it felt much hotter. For example, temperatures reached a scorching 125.2 degrees Fahrenheit in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, during the Hajj, an annual religious pilgrimage to the holy city.

The blistering heat resulted in the deaths of at least 1,300 people. In the U.S., multiple states broke temperature records as stifling heat domes lingered for days this summer. India, Pakistan, Japan, China, Europe – all experienced deadly and unprecedented temperature spikes. The global emergency prompted United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres to issue an urgent call to action to protect people and economies, while President Biden put forward new rules to prevent heat-related illnesses in the workplace. By the time July rolled around, the Earth had endured 13 straight months of record-breaking warmth.

Scientists are clear this trend is driven primarily by the continued burning of fossil fuels, but the historically strong El Niño weather pattern – which brings warmer and drier temperatures to the Northern Hemisphere – made things even worse. Now that El Niño is gone, temperatures are likely to level out a bit. Just how low they go will provide climatologists with a clearer view of how severely human behavior has altered the global climate. Either way, there’s growing certainty that 2024 will be the hottest year since records began.

AI: Climate hero or villain?

Will artificial intelligence make the climate crisis better or worse? Right now it appears to be doing more harm than good. Why? Because the data centers that power AI technology devour huge amounts of electricity. And unfortunately, a lot of that electricity comes from burning fossil fuels and results in planet-warming emissions. Here are some quick stats:

• A single ChatGPT query requires roughly the same amount of energy as burning a light bulb for 20 minutes. Tens of millions of ChatGPT queries are carried out every day.
• By 2026, data centers could consume as much electricity per year as the entire country of Japan!
• Google’s emissions rose 48% this year compared to five years ago because of AI.

The race is on to figure out how to control AI emissions, especially in big tech. Amazon, for example, recently paid big bucks for a data center that runs on nuclear power, which it will use to run its AI operations. Other companies argue AI will make up for its carbon footprint by identifying innovative new solutions to the climate crisis. That’s still uncertain, but it is already being used in interesting ways, like measuring melting icebergs, monitoring deforestation, and more accurately predicting severe weather. And if all else fails, Europe is exploring the far-out idea of building data centers in space, where they would be powered by the sun’s rays.

Climate Corps gets to work

This summer, the Biden administration swore in the first class of the American Climate Corps, a national program that will train young people in the skills needed to tackle the climate crisis. So far the program has 9,000 members stationed across the country and doing all kinds of jobs, like deploying clean energy, helping to conserve landscapes, building climate resilience, and working toward environmental justice. The goal is to recruit 20,000 members in the program’s first year. The training these young people receive will position them to meet the growing demand for workers in the booming clean energy industry. According to the Energy Department, the number of clean energy jobs grew 4.2% last year, which is more than double the rate of overall U.S. job growth.

Here’s the American Climate Corps pledge, which was written by author Barbara Kingsolver:

I pledge to bring my skills, respect, and compassion to work every day, supporting environmental justice in all our communities.

I will honor nature’s beauty and abundance, on which we all depend, and commit to its protection from the climate crisis.

I will build a more resilient future, where every person can thrive.

I will take my place in history, working with shared purpose in the American Climate Corps on behalf of our nation and planet, its people, and all its species, for the better future we hold within our sight.

Headwinds

America’s struggling offshore wind industry has been in the headlines this summer for all the wrong reasons. A manufacturing defect caused a massive turbine blade to break apart and tumble into the ocean at the Vineyard Wind 1 project, a large-scale commercial offshore wind farm south of Nantucket.

The wind farm halted operations and tried to do damage control, but local outrage grew when large pieces of fiberglass debris began washing ashore. The bad news couldn’t have come at a worse time for the U.S. offshore wind industry, which is reeling from high inflation and supply chain woes. The incident also deepened political divides about the safety and environmental impacts of offshore wind. Creating clean energy from offshore wind farms has been a major priority for President Biden, but recent data suggests that America is falling short of its offshore wind goals.

Methane Madness

When it comes to greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide (CO2) tends to get the lion’s share of the attention. But climate advocates have been sounding the alarm about another pollutant: methane. Agricultural activities (cow burps!), oil and gas facilities, and landfills all produce large amounts of methane, which experts say is responsible for about one-third of the global temperature rise we’ve seen on Earth since the Industrial Revolution.

Earlier this summer, Denmark became the first country in the world to announce plans to tax farmers for the methane their livestock emit. The proceeds will help pay for the agriculture sector’s green transition, though of course, some farmers are up in arms about the plan. Other countries are experimenting with adding special methane-reducing ingredients to animals’ food. Meanwhile, two new methane-spotting satellites have launched into orbit in the last six months, serving as eyes in the sky to help identify major emitters, especially leaky oil and gas operations.

A little bit of good news