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Hi friend,
Normally, I include a list of wild weather events in this newsletter only as a bullet-point summary.
This week is a little different because it’s a shit-show out there.
I mean, can you imagine being woken up at 3am by the sounds of gas tanks exploding, people screaming, and smoke from wildfires choking the air? And then realising that the only way to escape the fast-spreading fires is to RUN INTO THE OCEAN and watch the flames turn everything you know and own to a crisp?
This is the reality for 13,000 residents of Lahaina, in Hawaii, who no longer have a place to call home after wildfires flattened their town and left at least 93 people dead, making it the deadliest wildfire in the US in 100 years.
The devastation is hard to comprehend. Take a look at these before and after photos.
We don’t know what caused the fires yet, but the winds from Hurricane Dora, combined with a high-pressure system, fanned the flames, causing them to spread rapidly and without warning.
If climate change didn’t cause the fires, it certainly made things worse.
And it should be a wake-up call for all of us.
Extreme weather events are happening faster than scientists expected, and this week, we got a small taste of what they have been warning us about for years – and what’s to come:
Temperatures in Iraq soared to 50°C,
Towns in the Andes mountains have reached 38°C or more, while Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires, saw temperatures above 30°C – in the middle of winter,
Phoenix, Arizona shattered its own 1974 heatwave record, with temperatures reaching 43°C for 31 straight days, and
An ongoing heatwave in Spain and Portugal has caused more wildfires.
Not even the cacti can take the heat anymore, with some leaning, losing arms, and falling over.
In fact, it’s getting so hot so fast that scientists are now looking beyond climate change and El Nino for other factors that heat up the Earth.
One surprising – and ironic – source of added warmth could be cleaner air resulting from new shipping rules. Another possible cause is 165 million tons (150 million metric tons) of water spewed into the atmosphere by a volcano. Both ideas are under investigation.
And while some countries fry in the scorching heat, desperate for a drop of rain, others are getting way too much of it.
Northern China, which is still grappling with flooding and damage caused by Typhoon Doksuri two weeks ago, is preparing for the arrival of Typhoon Khanun this week, which has already battered parts of Japan and the Korean Peninsula. The Hebei province has upgraded its emergency response to the highest level after Doksuri dumped more than a year’s worth of rain in a week and it’s uncertain how much more Khanun will bring.
In Norway, Storm Hans brought the heaviest rains the country has seen in 25 years, causing rivers to swell to their highest levels in at least 50 years.
And in Juneau, Alaska, officials declared an emergency after record glacial flooding destroyed at least two buildings and forced residents to evacuate.
Antarctic sea ice – the delicate ecosystem on which our lives and future depend – has reached record lows. Scientists are “astonished” at how quickly things are changing. If left unchecked, we have no idea what’s coming.
For the first time on record, Antarctic ice has failed to "substantially recover" over winter, in what scientists call a "once in 7.5-million-year event". One physicist said it could tip the world into a new state. "That would be quite concerning to the sustainability of human conditions on Earth, I suspect."
If we haven’t seen the crises with our own eyes or experienced first hand the loss and devastation as a result of extreme weather events, it’s easy to take the stance of “it will never happen to me”.
The sad reality is that the situation in Hawaii will be old news next week. We’ll carry on living our lives, oblivious to the suffering of those across the ocean. There’ll be more extreme events but as long as it’s not affecting us or our families, we won’t take much notice.
But we have a narrow window for change, and that window is closing fast. We’d be ignorant to keep shoving our heads in the sand and hoping the problem will go away. It won’t. It’s only just beginning.
— Tarryn ✌️
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This week's climate and sustainability news worth noting
🌡️ Global ocean temperatures smashed another record, after setting a new record just two weeks ago. At the end of July, the average global ocean surface temperature hit 20.96 degrees Celsius. On 4 August, temperatures set a new record of 20.98 degrees Celsius, far above average for this time of year.
🚨 Liberia is preparing to grant the exclusive rights of over 1 million hectares of forest – about 10% of the country's land area – to Blue Carbon LLC, a private company set up less than a year ago by Sheikh Ahmed Dalmook Al Maktoum, a member of the ruling family in Dubai. Blue Carbon LLC will be tasked with marketing the carbon credits obtained from conservation or reforestation projects for the next 30 years. I don’t know how to feel about this, but alarm bells are ringing. Carbon credits are bullshit and this is a prefect example of rich nations buying the right to pollute and plunder while taking advantage of poorer nations. Blue Carbon LLC is planning similar moves in Zambia and Tanzania. I don’t want to say the “G” word, but if it looks like a duck and walks like a duck…
🌲 Leaders from the eight Amazon nations failed to reach an agreement on a goal for ending deforestation in the Amazon rainforest. Marcio Astrini of environmental lobby group Climate Observatory said in response: “The planet is melting, we are breaking temperature records every day. It is not possible that, in a scenario like this, eight Amazonian countries are unable to put in a statement – in large letters – that deforestation needs to be zero.”
🙌 Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, the DRC, Ecuador, Guyana, Indonesia, Peru, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, and Venezuela have signed the “United for Our Forests” pact to demand that developed countries pay to help poorer nations combat climate change and preserve biodiversity. Leaders from the countries want financing mechanisms to be developed for the world to pay for the critical services provided by forests. They also want richer nations to deliver on a promise to provide US$100 billion in climate financing annually to developing countries.
🇮🇳 India is considering amending the 1980 Forest Conservation Act. The government says the changes are meant to help India meet its commitments to combat climate change by planting trees, and “eliminate ambiguities” in rules that govern how officials legally define forests and regulate their use. But conservationists say the move is “ecocide” and will open forests to development, harm biodiversity, and weaken the rights of Indigenous people.
🇨🇭 A group of about 2,400 Swiss women aged 64 and over has sued Switzerland for violating their rights by failing to curb emissions. The case, the first of its kind to be heard at the European Court for Human Rights, is among a growing number of lawsuits using human rights grounds to argue that governments are not doing enough to stop climate change.
🇦🇺 From next year, half of all new Australian aid investments worth over US$2 million will include a climate change objective, rising to 80% by 2028. Projects will also have gender-equality objectives, according to a new policy.
💡 The US has banned the sale of most incandescent bulbs. The move is expected to save Americans nearly US$3 billion a year on their utility bills and cut carbon dioxide emissions by 222 million metric tons.
🏴 The Welsh government has launched a new publicly owned energy company, intended to push the country towards its goal of having a 100% renewable electricity mix by 2035. Ynni Cymru will work to scale up community-owned renewable energy generation across Wales. It will allocate £750,000 to 11 projects over the next three years, in the first instance.
Well, that's interesting
Chimp Haven, a sanctuary for 300 research chimpanzees, is running extreme-weather practice drills to teach the chimps to take shelter inside when employees sound the alarm.
The sanctuary has 30 social groups of chimps, each living in its own designated space. Each group has been assigned a unique auditory cue, like a cowbell or bicycle alarm.
When the employees sound an alarm, the chimps that have been trained to respond to that particular sound know to move their butts inside, where they’ll likely get a tasty treat.
One small thing you can do
Donate to Maui relief efforts.
If you have $25 to spare, here’s a list of places you can donate towards the Maui relief efforts:
Because lots of little actions combined can add up to something remarkable.
I'll leave you on this somber note...
Maui rebuilds together.
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