Weekend Climate Pledge:
As you enjoy barbecues and outdoor gatherings with friends, family, and loved ones this long weekend, try to use a reusable cup every time you have a drink and ditch the solo-cups
- My favorite plastic cup alternative: Ball Reusable Aluminum Cups
- Be unapologetically obnoxious with your Stanley Mug: Stanley Quencher
- Or, be a showstopper and cup your hands while you take little sips-
This Week’s Climate News:
Hurricane Idalia - Remember my first article “Ocean Soup”? This past week we saw Florida and other south-eastern states be ravaged by Idalia thanks to, you guessed it, the boiling soupy water in the Gulf of Mexico. Hurricane Idalia was aggressively accelerated by the high water temperatures in the gulf and especially along Florida’s coastlines. When surface water is warm, the storm sucks up heat energy from the water, kind of like a straw, which then acts as fuel for the storm to grow stronger. Hurricane experts are projecting a busier than usual hurricane season this year due to rising ocean temperatures and shifting wind patterns.
A Ricis (Rice Crisis) - Climate change has been reaping impacts on India’s agricultural sector, however not in terms of drought. In this case, heavy rains have flooded rice farms leading officials to impose an export ban on Indian rice. Being one of the staple foods for a majority of the world, the ban has signaled panic of potential for a food crisis. For context, India is currently responsible for nearly a quarter of global rice production and is the second largest producer of rice behind China.
$3B for an Emergency we could’ve Avoided - FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) has recently announced a nearly $3 billion investment into building resiliency against climate change - fueled extreme weather events for communities. Although I tease it, I think this is very important in two ways:
- We cannot reverse climate change and its impacts with the snap of a finger, especially since we are not even on the right PATH to averting severe damage from climate change by 2050, so climate resilience is going to be a growing investment plane and extremely necessary to keep at-risk communities safe.
- The dollar amounts will only get bigger, do you see it now? If we don’t invest, enable, and prioritize sustainability and climate change, its going to cost us A LOT OF MONEY. And for the climate-denying folks in the room, where do you think that money comes from? Most likely taxpayer dollars (your pocket), or the government’s magic wand (further inflation), OR we can work, invest, and expand climate professions and technologies and WE can make money while abating climate change.
But who am I, just some 26 year old blogger working in the eye of the storm ;)
Stay safe everyone, and enjoy the holiday weekend!
-Chris
