“Unprecedented”, “outside our historical database.”
Tornado warning in Coastal Washington. In November.
DW interview with Meteorologist Mathew Cappucci, who is emerging as a most valuable player among weather explainers.
FEMA Worker Tells of Avoiding MAGA Homes due to Threats of Violence
Big kerfuffle recently about purported incidents of FEMA workers neglecting or avoiding Florida homes with MAGA or Trump signs. One FEMA worker has been fired in connection with the alleged incident.
That worker, Marn’i Washington, is now speaking out, and her story is that workers encountered extreme hostility at houses with MAGA signage.
This tracks with documented incidences of threats against FEMA workers, misinformation, conspiracy theories, and paranoia fed by right wing news sources, and unfortunately, the Republican Presidential Candidate.
We have a political party, now in control of the highest levels of government, who not only have an agenda of denying the catastrophic effects of climate change, but are positively motivated to undermine any coordinated response to those effects.
Reminder: Project 2025, the blueprint now being implemented for the Trump administration, proposes the breakup of FEMA.
The fired FEMA employee accused of telling her survivor assistance team not to go to Florida homes with yard signs supporting President-elect Donald Trump tells “Dan Abrams Live” she is being used as a scapegoat for a common agency practice.
“Firstly, I’m being framed,” said Marn’i Washington Monday. “There’s no violation of the Hatch Act. I was simply following orders.”
Washington told NewsNation the instruction to avoid certain houses based on campaign signs was from her direct superior based on previous team encounters, adding that “safety precautions are not politically driven.”
Instead, they’re trend-driven and can change day by day, she said.
“It just so happened that, unfortunately, most of the hostile encounters, those running trends, did have those campaign signs,” Washington explained.
“So again, it’s a collective effort in order for everyone to feel comfortable, in order to render the servitude. I don’t have a horse in that race. My orders come from my superior, and I simply just execute,” she added.
Continue reading “FEMA Worker Tells of Avoiding MAGA Homes due to Threats of Violence”Not Just on TV Anymore. East Coast Gets Taste of Wildfire
The guy being interviewed here at 1:10 made me think of the “I didn’t think leopards would eat MY face” meme.
Winter Weather Bombs Becoming More Frequent
The Weather Prediction Center issued excessive rainfall risks beginning Tuesday and lasting through Friday as the strongest atmospheric river — long plumes of moisture stretching far over the Pacific Ocean — that California and the Pacific Northwest has seen this season bears down on the region. The storm system has intensified so quickly that it is considered a “ bomb cyclone,” explained Richard Bann, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service Weather Prediction Center.
The areas that could see particularly severe rainfall as the large plume of moisture heads toward land will likely stretch from the south of Portland, Oregon, to the north of the San Francisco area, he explained.
Jonathan Overpeck for University of Michigan:
Although some may find this hard to believe, even in an era of global warming winter means snowstorms. This will always be true where temperatures are near or below freezing. Our most recent example is the major winter storm that just pummeled the East Coast with near-hurricane strength winds, snow and coastal flooding, causing widespread power outages, travel challenges, economic impacts and unfortunately even some fatalities as snow piled up along the East Coast, from the Mid-Atlantic states to the Canadian border.
This latest winter storm joins a host of others over the past decade or so (remember Snowpocalypse? Snowmageddon? Snowzilla?). Just like the most recent storm, all of these caused major disruptions and seem to be emerging as an all too regular wintertime hazard in the eastern U.S.
As a climate scientist, I’m often asked if climate change is making these big snowstorms worse or more frequent, and what this means for the future if we allow the climate crisis to continue.
The short answer is that global warming is making these kinds of winter storms, often called “bomb cyclones” for their associated rapid drop in atmospheric pressure and rapid development, more likely and more destructive.
What’s going on?
Emerging evidence shows that in the eastern U.S., big winter storms are becoming more frequent and severe for a couple of reasons. First, as the globe warms in response to relentless emissions of greenhouse gases, the Arctic warms much faster than the rest of the world, due to the amplifying effect of snow and especially sea ice loss. This loss of snow and ice makes the planet less reflective and increases the absorption of solar radiation. The weaker temperature contrast between the high and low latitudes makes the jet stream more sinuous, which allows cold Arctic air to penetrate southward, creating “polar vortex” events that can mean more extreme cold, storminess and snow in the eastern U.S.
Continue reading “Winter Weather Bombs Becoming More Frequent”Meteorologist: No, “They” Aren’t Modifying the Weather
But, “we” most definitely are…
Climate Concerned Conservative Speaks Up
A little late, but ok, what was it you had to say?
My question is, what do you think History will remember about the Republican Party of 2024?
Editor’s note: This is an op-ed by Benji Backer, author of The Conservative Environmentalist and founder and chairman of the American Conservation Coalition, the largest right-of-center youth-led environmental organization.
I’ve got a bold prediction: I believe there is a real chance that President-elect Donald Trump could do something big that is pro-environment.
Before I make my case — and offer some advice to the new administration as well as my fellow activists — let’s acknowledge one thing at the start: A second Trump presidency will bring with it some setbacks for the climate community.
More oil and gas development will happen. The U.S. will likely leave the Paris Agreement. There may be an undoing of certain parts of the Inflation Reduction Act — hopefully not a lot of it, especially the successful clean energy investments across the country.
Still, the question in front of us remains: do we throw up our hands in defeat, or do we continue working to make progress under the new administration?
The reality is that Trump doesn’t have a solidified ideology surrounding climate and the environment, which were not priority issues in this election cycle, particularly not for his campaign. (Though, in his first debate, Trump did release talking points explicitly saying that America needs to meet increased energy demand and decrease its carbon pollution.)
Continue reading “Climate Concerned Conservative Speaks Up”Farmer: Solar Helps Diversify Income – Bankers Love That!
Art McClintic is a farmer, and long time school board member in Alma, Michigan. He hopes to site solar on a major portion of his Gratiot County, Michigan farm.
Farmers, landowners and local officials are the most trusted messengers on clean energy, and I’m going to continue to talk to them and get their stories.
Trump DOE Pick is a Doozy
US president-elect Donald Trump has selected a campaign donor and fossil fuel executive to serve as energy secretary in his second administration.
Chris Wright, the chief executive of oilfield services company Liberty Energy, is a vocal advocate of oil and gas development, including fracking, a key pillar of Trump’s quest to achieve US “energy dominance” in the global market.
Wright has been one of the industry’s loudest voices against efforts to fight climate change and could give fossil fuels a boost, including quick action to end a year-long pause on natural gas export approvals by the Biden administration.
Wright also has criticised what he calls a “top-down” approach to climate by liberal and left-wing groups and said the climate movement around the world is “collapsing under its own weight”.
Consideration of Wright to head the administration’s energy department won support from influential conservatives, including oil and gas tycoon Harold Hamm.
Hamm, executive chairman of Oklahoma-based Continental Resources, a major shale oil company, is a longtime Trump supporter and adviser who played a key role on energy issues in Trump’s first term.
Hamm helped organise an event at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in April where industry leaders and lobbyists were reportedly asked to donate $US1 billion ($A1.5 billion) dollars to Trump’s campaign, with the expectation Trump would curtail environmental regulations if re-elected.
The Energy Department is responsible for advancing the energy, environmental and nuclear security of the United States.
Climate experts, environmental organizations and advocacy groups are reacting to Donald Trump’s cabinet picks, which include climate deniers, fossil fuel advocates and people with no political experience.
Continue reading “Trump DOE Pick is a Doozy”Energy Disruption Will Keep Gathering Strength
If you read my last post, on whether Trump can stop the energy transition, do so now, then come back to this.
Don’t bet against an energy transition that will continue, and even accelerate.
The speaker mentions projections from the European think tank Rystad, which I think are still valid.
Taking a global view, a new narrative has emerged on the premise that 1.5°C is no longer a credible target for global warming. In Rystad Energy, however, we remain optimistic, as we believe several recent developments may have been overlooked by more pessimistic forecasts.
First, two new policy commitments that will curb heating have come into play: the global methane pledge made last year has the potential to curb heating by 0.2°C, while the follow-up pledge to end deforestation could reduce warming by a further 0.1°C. Second, disruptive technologies – referring to innovations that are cheaper and better than existing technologies – tend to penetrate markets much faster than anticipated. This is now the case for electric vehicles, which have seen sales numbers soar and which are likely to push gasoline and diesel cars out of the market within a decade or two.
The same goes for solar cells and wind turbines in the power market, which are now delivering power at a cost significantly below fossil fuel levels. Our studies of supply chain capacities show that solar PV capacity is poised to grow by 1000 GW per year in new installations by 2030, which is the capacity needed to deliver 1.6°C according to our calculations. A similar story is developing for wind and batteries, as the current pace of expansion will deliver the capacity needed to push coal and gas out of the power market in the 2030s.
Can Trump Stop the Clean Transition?
Just came back from a meeting with farmers and landowners in Central Michigan, many if not most of them Trump voters. All of them working to expand clean energy development in their area.
Every month they learn more about the importance of the energy transition, most specifically for family farmers, who see clean energy as a means to diversify income and keep operations viable.
We discussed the prospects for the coming 4 years, and agreed that the momentum was favoring faster clean deployment, but also that our roles as local renewable advocates have never been more important.
If you want something to do, other than wring your hands about the path forward, let me know. I’m putting together a team.
A Biden-era law providing a decade of lucrative subsidies for new solar, wind and other clean-energy projects would be near-impossible to repeal, however, thanks to support from Republican states, while other levers available to the next president would only have marginal impact, analysts say.
“I don’t think a Trump president can slow the transition,” said Ed Hirs, energy fellow at the University of Houston. “This is well under way.”
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The production boom started under former President Barack Obama and has continued through the Trump and Biden presidencies. Even so, Trump’s campaign has sought to claim credit, saying his efforts to slash regulatory red tape during his 2017-2021 term paved the way, and arguing he could further expand U.S. fossil-fuel production in a second term by rolling back Biden’s climate initiatives.
Renewable energy sources such as solar and wind are the fastest-growing segments on the power grid, according to the Department of Energy, driven by federal tax credits, state renewable-energy mandates, and technology advancements that have lowered their costs.
President Joe Biden in 2022 signed into law the Inflation Reduction Act, opens new tab guaranteeing billions of dollars of solar and wind subsidies for another decade as part of his broader effort to decarbonize the power sector by 2035 to fight climate change.
Continue reading “Can Trump Stop the Clean Transition?”