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<p><i><font size="+1"><b>August 21 , 2020</b></font></i></p>
[opinion - Guardian declares new reality]<br>
<b>The climate crisis has already arrived. Just look to California's
abnormal wildfires</b><br>
In the last decade, amid drought and searing heat, California has
entered the 'era of megafires' and has become the 'examplar for
climate change extreme events today'<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/aug/21/the-climate-crisis-has-already-arrived-just-look-to-californias-abnormal-wildfires">https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/aug/21/the-climate-crisis-has-already-arrived-just-look-to-californias-abnormal-wildfires</a><br>
<p><br>
</p>
[PBS video report - 3 min]<br>
<b>Extreme heat, strong winds and intense lightning create
California tinder box</b><br>
Aug 20, 2020<br>
PBS NewsHour<br>
California has suffered a devastating week, with a blistering heat
wave, intense lightning storms and raging wildfires overwhelming
firefighters and forcing residents to evacuate in the middle of a
pandemic. Gov. Gavin Newsom says the state's resources are being
pushed to their breaking point. Meanwhile, thick smoke is causing
dangerous air pollution in San Francisco. Stephanie Sy reports.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKiiwa-sAeQ">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKiiwa-sAeQ</a><br>
<p><br>
</p>
[maps.google.com]<br>
<b>Google Maps is tracking the spread of America's wildfires hour by
hour</b><br>
There's no word on when the feature could launch in other countries.<br>
As wildfires continue to tear through parts of California and
Colorado, Google has launched new tools to help people stay informed
about their progress. Starting today, Google search queries for
information about the fires will turn up more than just news stories
and alerts -- they'll also display maps of the fires' boundaries.
The Google Maps app will display the same wildfire boundaries to
people attempting to enjoy the height of summer nearby, and will
also provide warnings and "ambient alerts" to those who begin to
approach affected areas.<br>
<br>
But here's the most important part: That crucial fire map
information is being updated hourly...<br>
- - <br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.engadget.com/google-maps-california-colorado-wildfire-tracking-hourly-142455609.html">https://www.engadget.com/google-maps-california-colorado-wildfire-tracking-hourly-142455609.html</a><br>
<p><br>
</p>
[stay ready to go]<br>
<b>250,000 acres burning across the Bay Area as state scrambles to
find firefighters</b><br>
Residents should have bags packed, "nose pointed out driveway," Cal
Fire says<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2020/08/19/with-367-wildfires-raging-cal-fire-to-all-citizens-of-california-be-ready-to-go/">https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2020/08/19/with-367-wildfires-raging-cal-fire-to-all-citizens-of-california-be-ready-to-go/</a><br>
- -<br>
[text and video from Capital Weather Gang]<br>
<b>California wildfires more than double in size and force,
degrading air quality; tens of thousands evacuate</b><br>
SAN FRANCISCO -- Hundreds of thousands of acres of unpopulated land
continued to burn across California on Thursday, as dozens of
lightning-sparked wildfires moved quickly through dry vegetation and
threatened the edges of cities and towns in the state's northern and
central regions.<br>
<br>
Evacuations surged Thursday as authorities worried that high heat
and gusty winds could cause the fires to spread rapidly. By midday,
several of the major fires had more than doubled in size, in some
cases jumping across major highways, as crews struggled to contain
the blazes.<br>
<br>
Many of the fires began days ago, as a heat wave and an unusual
series of storms produced more than 20,000 lightning strikes. The
resulting fires -- and "complexes" of many small fires -- have
merged into major conflagrations in many parts of the state...<br>
Thousands were under evacuation orders in Central and Northern
California as dozens of major wildfires continued to ravage parts of
the state on Aug. 19. <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://wapo.st/2CINKRT">https://wapo.st/2CINKRT</a> <br>
The immediate trigger of most of the more than two dozen large fires
burning in the Bay Area was an unusual August thunderstorm outbreak,
which lit up the night skies above San Francisco on Sunday and
Monday and moved inland, where lightning discharges struck trees and
grasses at a time of year when vegetation is at its driest.<br>
<br>
Between midnight Saturday and midnight Wednesday, there were 20,203
cloud-to-ground strikes in California, according to Chris Vagasky of
Vaisala, which operates the National Lightning Detection Network.
The total number of lightning discharges, which includes lightning
that jumped from cloud to cloud without hitting the ground, was
equivalent to 11 percent of California's average annual lightning
activity, he said via a message on Twitter.<br>
<br>
The storms were the result of moisture moving north from former
Tropical Storm Fausto near the Baja Peninsula and the sizzling heat
across the state.<br>
The long-lasting and intense heat wave has played a key role in
these blazes. Multiple monthly heat records have been set in the
past 10 days, including in Death Valley, Calif., where one of the
hottest temperatures on Earth, a high of 130 degrees Sunday, was
recorded.<br>
Death Valley soars to 130 degrees, potentially Earth's highest
temperature since at least 1931<br>
<br>
One measure of fire risk is known as the Evaporative Demand Drought
Index, or EDDI. It measures the "thirst" of the atmosphere and can
help predict fire risk. In part because of the heat's ability to
speed up evaporation, the EDDI in Central and Northern California
preceding these fires soared to record levels, indicating a high
fire risk.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2020/08/20/california-wildfires-evacuations/">https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2020/08/20/california-wildfires-evacuations/</a><br>
- -<br>
[What is EDDI?]<br>
<b>The Evaporative Demand Drought Index (EDDI</b>) is an
experimental drought monitoring and early warning guidance tool. It
examines how anomalous the atmospheric evaporative demand (E0; also
known as "the thirst of the atmosphere") is for a given location and
across a time period of interest. EDDI is multi-scalar, meaning that
this period--or "timescale"--can vary to capture drying dynamics
that themselves operate at different timescales; we generate EDDI at
1-week through 12-month timescales.<br>
<br>
This webpage offers a frequently updated assessment of current
conditions across CONUS, southern parts of Canada, and northern
parts of Mexico; a tool to generate historical time series of EDDI
for a user-selected region; introductions to the EDDI team; and a
list of resources for users to explore EDDI and its applications
further.<br>
<a href="https://psl.noaa.gov/eddi/">https://psl.noaa.gov/eddi/</a><br>
EDDI examines atmospheric evaporation demand <br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://psl.noaa.gov/eddi/pdf/EDDI_UserGuide_v1.0.pdf">https://psl.noaa.gov/eddi/pdf/EDDI_UserGuide_v1.0.pdf</a><br>
- - <br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://twitter.com/RobElvington/status/1296130055983308800">https://twitter.com/RobElvington/status/1296130055983308800</a><br>
12 weej EDDU categirues for August 13, 2020<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://twitter.com/RobElvington/status/1296130055983308800/photo/1">https://twitter.com/RobElvington/status/1296130055983308800/photo/1</a><br>
- -<br>
<b>Viewing the fire temperature product from GOES-W, you can see the
locations of the numerous fires around the Bay Area.</b><br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://twitter.com/DrewTumaABC7/status/1296122058644979712">https://twitter.com/DrewTumaABC7/status/1296122058644979712</a>
<p><br>
</p>
[2 min history video of data map]<br>
<b>Animated Maps: California Wildfires from 1910-2019</b><br>
Aug 19, 2020<br>
Esri<br>
Wildfires are a fact of life in California--and not a new one.
Living in the state has always meant forging an uneasy alliance with
the natural cycle of fires. What has changed in recent years is
their frequency and ferocity, largely driven by climate change. In
2018, California experienced the Mendocino Complex Fire and the Camp
Fire--respectively the largest and most destructive wildfires in the
state's history--but there were over 50 others that year.
Collectively, they consumed nearly 1.6 million acres, enough space
to hold five cities the size of Los Angeles.<br>
<br>
This animated map displays a century of California wildfires in
under two minutes.<br>
<br>
This animated map was made using Esri's ArcGIS Pro, Cinema 4D,
Redshift, and Adobe After Effects. Please visit
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://ow.ly/fm2950xgu0B">http://ow.ly/fm2950xgu0B</a> for more information about ArcGIS Pro.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://youtu.be/o58Te06fOkw">https://youtu.be/o58Te06fOkw</a><br>
<br>
<p><br>
</p>
[Yale compiled general reports]<br>
<b>13 major climate change reports released so far in 2020</b><br>
These free studies and reports contain the latest authoritative
information about food security, U.S. flood risks, renewable energy,
and much more.<br>
By Michael Svoboda, Ph.D. | Wednesday, August 19, 2020<br>
If measured by the number of reports put out in just the first half
of this year, the coronavirus has not slowed the work of the
international, national, and non-governmental organizations keeping
an eye on climate change.<br>
<br>
And that's a good thing. Because although it has temporarily reduced
the amount of greenhouse gases entering the atmosphere, the
coronavirus crisis has done nothing to slow the climatic effects of
the carbon dioxide already there after decades of fossil fuel
combustion. The planet is still warming, the oceans are still
acidifying, and more and more humans are experiencing the
consequences.<br>
<br>
In this edition of our bookshelf feature, Yale Climate Connections
highlights a baker's dozen of these reports, selected to reflect the
broad range of concerns that intersect with climate change,
including water, national security, media, health, food, finance,
energy, and climate and environmental justice...<br>
- - <br>
The descriptions of the 13 reports are adapted from copy provided by
the organizations that published them. All of the reports, those
profiled below and those included in the larger downloadable list,
are available free, in pdf form online. In some cases, however,
interested readers may need to register with the organizations that
released them.<br>
<br>
<b>State of the Climate 2019: Special Supplement to the Bulletin of
the American Meteorological Society</b>, edited by J. Blunden and
D.S. Arndt (BAMS 2020, 435 pages,... a 10-page executive summary is
also available) <br>
<blockquote>Compiled by NOAA's National Centers for Environmental
Information and published as a supplement to the Bulletin of the
American Meteorological Society, State of the Climate provides a
detailed update on global climate indicators, notable weather
events, and other data collected by monitoring stations and
instruments located on land, water, ice, and in space. State of
the Climate in 2019 is the 30th issuance of the annual assessment,
which has been published by the Bulletin since 1996. The main
function of each volume is to document the status and trajectory
of many components of the climate system. As a series, however,
the report also documents the status and trajectory of our
capacity and commitment to observe the climate system.
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.ametsoc.org/ams/index.cfm/publications/bulletin-of-the-american-meteorological-society-bams/state-of-the-climate/">https://www.ametsoc.org/ams/index.cfm/publications/bulletin-of-the-american-meteorological-society-bams/state-of-the-climate/</a><br>
</blockquote>
<b>The First National Flood Risk Assessment: Defining America's
Growing Risk, by Flood Modelers</b> (First Street Foundation 2020,
163 pages,
...https://firststreet.org/press/2020-first-street-foundation-flood-model-launch/<br>
<blockquote>The nonprofit research and technology group First Street
Foundation has publicly released flood risk data for more than 142
million homes and properties across the country. The data assigns
every property in the contiguous United States a "Flood Factor"
based on its cumulative risk of flooding over a thirty-year
mortgage. When adjusting changing sea levels, warming sea surface
and atmospheric temperatures, and changing precipitation patterns,
the Foundation's model finds the number of properties with
substantial risk grows to 16.2 million by the year 2050. "The
First Annual National Flood Risk Assessment: Defining America's
Growing risk" highlights these significant national, state, and
city findings of the First Street Foundation Model.<br>
</blockquote>
<b>World Water Development Report 2020: Water and Climate Change</b>,
by UN Water (UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization
2020, 235 pages, free download available
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.unwater.org/publications/world-water-development-report-2020/">https://www.unwater.org/publications/world-water-development-report-2020/</a>)<br>
<blockquote>Climate change will affect the availability, quality and
quantity of water for basic human needs, threatening the effective
enjoyment of the human rights to water and sanitation for
potentially billions of people. The alteration of the water cycle
will also pose risks for energy production, food security, human
health, economic development, and poverty reduction. The 2020 UN
World Water Development Report focuses on the challenges that can
be addressed through improving water management. Combining climate
change adaptation and mitigation, through water, is a win-win
proposal, improving the provision of water supply and sanitation
services and combating both the causes and impacts of climate
change, including disaster risk reduction.<br>
</blockquote>
<b>The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2020:
Transforming Food Systems for Affordable Healthy Diets</b>, by
FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP and WHO (United Nations 2020, 320 pages, free
download
availablehttp://www.fao.org/3/ca9692en/online/ca9692en.html)<br>
<blockquote>This year, the UN's annual State of Food Security and
Nutrition in the World includes a special focus on transforming
food systems for affordable healthy diets. It analyses the cost
and affordability of healthy diets around the world, by region and
in different development contexts. New analysis is presented on
the "hidden" health and climate-change costs associated with our
current food consumption patterns, as well as the cost savings if
we shift towards healthy diets that include sustainability
considerations. The report also offers policy recommendations to
transform current food systems and make them able to deliver
affordable healthy diets for all - crucial to all efforts to
achieve Zero Hunger - Sustainable Development Goal No. 2.<br>
</blockquote>
<b>WHO Global Strategy on Health, Environment, and Climate Change:
The Transformation Need to Improve Lives and Wellbeing through
Healthy Environments</b>, by WHO (UN-WHO 2020, 36 pages, free
download available
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240000377">https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240000377</a>)<br>
<blockquote>The burden of disease attributable to the environment is
high and persistent (~ one quarter of all deaths), and further
health concerns are posed by global climate change and rapid
urbanization. To respond to this situation, a new global strategy
on health, environment and climate change has been developed to
transform the way we tackle environmental risks by accounting for
health in all policies and scaling up disease prevention and
health promotion. It needs to be supported by a strengthened
health sector, adequate governance mechanisms, and enhanced
communication, thereby creating a demand for healthy environments.
The new strategy is timely - it responds to and is in line with
the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda and the GPW13.<br>
</blockquote>
<b>Cooling Emissions and Policy Synthesis Report: Benefits of
Cooling Efficiency and the Kigali Amendment</b>, by UNEP-IEA (UNEP
and IEA 2020, 50 pages, free download available
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.unenvironment.org/resources/report/cooling-emissions-and-policy-synthesis-report">https://www.unenvironment.org/resources/report/cooling-emissions-and-policy-synthesis-report</a>)<br>
<blockquote>In a warming world, prosperity and civilization depend
more and more on access to cooling. But the growing demand for
cooling will contribute significantly to climate change, both
through the leaking of HFCs and other refrigerants, and through
emissions of CO2 and black carbon from the mostly fossil
fuel-based energy powering air conditioners and other cooling
equipment. By combining energy efficiency improvements with the
transition away from super-polluting refrigerants, the world could
avoid cumulative greenhouse gas emissions of up to 210-460
gigatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (GtCO2e) over the next
four decades. This is roughly equal to 4-8 years of total annual
global greenhouse gas emissions, based on 2018 levels.<br>
</blockquote>
<b>The 2035 Report: Plummeting Solar, Wind, and Battery Costs Can
Accelerate Our Clean Electricity Future</b>, by Sonia Aggarwal and
Mike O'Boyle (Goldman School of Public Policy 2020, 37 pages, free
download available <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.2035report.com/">https://www.2035report.com/</a>)<br>
<blockquote>Most studies aim for deep decarbonization of electric
power systems by 2050, but this report shows, with the latest
renewable energy and battery cost data, that we can get there in
half that time. The U.S. can achieve 90% clean, carbon-free
electricity nationwide by 2035, dependably, at no extra cost to
consumers, and without new fossil fuel plants. On the path to 90%
over the next 15 years, we can inject $1.7 trillion into the
economy, support a net increase of more than 500K energy sector
jobs each year, and reduce economy-wide emissions by 27%. This
future also retires all existing coal plants by 2035, reduces
natural gas generation by 70%, and prevents up to 85,000 premature
deaths by 2050. But without robust policy reforms, this future
will be lost.<br>
</blockquote>
<b>Addressing Climate as a Systemic Risk: A Call to Action for U.S.
Financial Regulators</b>, by Veena Ramani (Ceres 2020, 68 pages,
free download available
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.ceres.org/resources/reports/addressing-climate-systemic-risk">https://www.ceres.org/resources/reports/addressing-climate-systemic-risk</a>
- registration required)<br>
<blockquote>This Ceres report outlines how and why U.S. financial
regulators, who are responsible for protecting the stability and
competitiveness of the U.S. economy, need to recognize and act on
climate change as a systemic risk. It provides more than 50
recommendations for key financial regulators to adopt, including
the Federal Reserve Bank (the Fed), the Office of the Comptroller
of the Currency (OCC), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
(FDIC), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the
Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CTFC), state and federal
insurance regulators, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA),
and the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC).<br>
</blockquote>
<b>Gender, Climate & Security: Sustaining Inclusive Peace on the
Frontlines of Climate Change</b>, by UN Women (UN Environment
& Development Programs 2020, 52 pages, free download available
here)<br>
<blockquote>Climate change is a defining threat to peace and
security in the 21st century - its impacts felt by everyone, but
not equally. Gender norms and power dynamics shape how women and
men of different backgrounds experience or contribute to
insecurity in a changing climate. Grounded in a series of case
studies from research and programming experience, this report
offers a comprehensive framework for understanding how gender,
climate and security are inextricably linked. The report assesses
entry points for action across existing global agendas and
suggests concrete recommendations for how policymakers,
development practitioners and donors can advance three
inter-related goals: peace and security, climate action and gender
equality.<br>
</blockquote>
<b>Evicted by Climate Change: Confronting the Gendered Impacts of
Climate-Induced Displacement,</b> by Care International (Care
International 2020, 33 pages, free download available
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://careclimatechange.org/evicted-by-climate-change/">https://careclimatechange.org/evicted-by-climate-change/</a>)<br>
<blockquote>This report outlines the causes and consequences of
climate-induced displacement, and how the triple injustice of
climate change, poverty and gender inequality must be met by
transformative action. In this report, CARE draws on key
scientific findings as well as its own experience and, most
importantly, the experiences of the people CARE seeks to support
in managing compound risks: women and girls in vulnerable
situations. To tackle climate-induced displacement in a
gender-transformative and human-rights based way, CARE calls on
all relevant actors to do their part to build a safer, more
equitable, inclusive and resilient future that harnesses the power
of women and girls within their communities.<br>
</blockquote>
<b>Defending Tomorrow: The Climate Crisis and Threats Against Land
and Environmental Defenders,</b> by Global Witness (Global Witness
2020, 52 pages, free download available
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/environmental-activists/defending-tomorrow/">https://www.globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/environmental-activists/defending-tomorrow/</a>)<br>
<blockquote>For years, land and environmental defenders have been
the first line of defense against climate breakdown. Time after
time, they have challenged those companies rampaging through
forests, skies, wetlands, oceans and biodiversity hotspots. Yet
the crucial role they play, businesses, financiers and governments
fail to safeguard the vital and peaceful work of these defenders.
The climate crisis is arguably the greatest global and existential
threat we face. As it escalates, it will exacerbate many other
problems. The question is whether we want to build a better,
greener future for our planet and its people. The answer lies in
following the leadership, the campaigns and solutions that land
and environmental defenders have been honing for generations.<br>
</blockquote>
<b>Breaking the Plastic Wave: A Comprehensive Assessment of Pathways
Towards Stopping Ocean Plastic Pollution</b>, by Pew Charitable
Trust and System IQ (Pew Charitable Trust 2020, 153 pages, free
download available
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/articles/2020/07/23/breaking-the-plastic-wave-top-findings">https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/articles/2020/07/23/breaking-the-plastic-wave-top-findings</a>)<br>
<blockquote>Plastic has become ubiquitous. From wrapped food and
disposable bottles to microbeads in body washes, it's used widely
as packaging or in products because it's versatile, cheap, and
convenient. But this convenience comes with a price. Plastic waste
is entering the ocean at a rate of about 11 million metric tons a
year. How did we get here? We have produced vast quantities of
plastic products but have had few ways to regulate their use or
properly manage their disposal. "Breaking the Plastic Wave" shows
that we can cut annual flows of plastic into the ocean by about
80% in the next 20 years. But no single solution can achieve this
goal; rather, we can break the plastic wave only by taking several
immediate, ambitious, and concerted actions.<br>
</blockquote>
<b>Adapting to a Change Climate: How Collaboration Addresses Unique
Challenges in Climate-Change and Environmental Reporting</b>, by
Caroline Porter (Center for Cooperative Media 2020, 24 pages, free
download available here)<br>
<blockquote>As part of its collaborative journalism program, the
Center for Cooperative Media (CCM) at Montclair State University
tracks journalism collaborations. In early 2019 the number of
climate change-related collaborations seemed to be ticking upward,
spurred by the launch of Covering Climate Now, the biggest such
collaboration on record. CCM decided to take a look at how
journalists are working together to tackle the topic and all of
its related issues. The result is the new report researched and
written by Caroline Porter. Based on her assessments of 40
climate-related collaborations, she found that there are some
climate change-specific reasons that journalism collaborations
make sense, beyond the usual economic reasons for such efforts.<br>
</blockquote>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2020/08/13-major-climate-change-reports-released-so-far-in-2020/">https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2020/08/13-major-climate-change-reports-released-so-far-in-2020/</a><br>
<p> - -</p>
[more from Yale]<br>
"Readers can also find a link to a much longer list of reports,
which provides a measure of depth rather than breadth. Food
security, for example, is the subject of six separate reports
released since the start of the year, but only one is included in
this month's baker's dozen."<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://yaleclimateconnections.org/dl/YCC_2020_Reports.doc">https://yaleclimateconnections.org/dl/YCC_2020_Reports.doc</a><br>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
[Slate]<br>
<b>California Reveals That the Transition to Renewable Energy Isn't
So Simple</b><br>
By ALEX TREMBATH and ZEKE HAUSFATHER - AUG 19, 2020<br>
The recent "heat storm" in California has pushed grid operators to
impose rolling blackouts for the first time since 2001. A
combination of heavy air conditioning usage, the unplanned
unavailability of some power plants, limited options for importing
power from neighboring states, and insufficient solar and wind
generation have led to an imbalance of electricity generation and
consumption. As Stephen Berberich, president of the California
Independent System Operator, or CAISO, which oversees operation of
the state's electric grid, told Sammy Roth of the Los Angeles Times,
"We thought there would be adequate power to supply the demand. … We
were wrong."<br>
<br>
The blackouts are designed to affect customers for no more than an
hour or two. Some may find that little more than mildly
inconvenient. Others more prone to heat stress or in possession of
medicines that require refrigeration might be more worried, with
good reason. The aggregate reaction could prove substantial,
especially if we face more rounds of shortages in the coming months
and years. The last time this happened to us Californians, we
altered long-held plans to partially deregulate electricity systems,
recalled Gov. Gray Davis, and pushed Enron, one of the energy
services providers found guilty of gaming electricity markets, into
bankruptcy...<br>
- - <br>
But California's experience also underscores a growing consensus
among energy scholars: that variable renewable energy technologies
are unlikely to meet the grid's power demand by themselves. They
will play an important role, but more firm generating sources, like
next-generation nuclear reactors, natural gas plants with carbon
capture technologies, enhanced geothermal, and others that can
balance out variable renewables, will be required.<br>
<br>
To be clear: Rising energy costs and the ongoing reliability crisis
cannot be blamed entirely on California's growing solar and wind
sectors. But this month's challenges surface the complexities and
difficulties of energy transitions, and the imperative of
maintaining a flexible and diverse supply of energy technologies. If
this month's blackouts continue, there is a risk California's
ratepayers will come to associate them with the state's clean energy
transition.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://slate.com/technology/2020/08/california-blackouts-wind-solar-renewable-energy-grid.html">https://slate.com/technology/2020/08/california-blackouts-wind-solar-renewable-energy-grid.html</a><br>
<p>- -</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<br>
<p>[Data]<br>
<b>Google searches for climate refugee up 41% in past week </b><br>
Worldwide-Thursday, August 13, 2020 - Wednesday, August 19, 2020<br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
[Digging back into the internet news archive]<br>
<font size="+1"><b>On this day in the history of global warming -
August 21, </b></font><br>
<p>August 21, 2007: U.S. District Judge Sandra Brown Armstrong rules
that the George W. Bush administration violated the 1990 Global
Change Research Act (signed into law, ironically enough, by Bush's
father) by not producing a legally required climate assessment
report. The report would finally be released in May 2008.<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.climatesciencewatch.org/2007/08/22/court-rules-that-bush-admin-unlawfully-failed-to-produce-scientific-assessment-of-global-change/">http://www.climatesciencewatch.org/2007/08/22/court-rules-that-bush-admin-unlawfully-failed-to-produce-scientific-assessment-of-global-change/</a>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/swcbd/PRESS/global-warming-08-21-2007.html">http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/swcbd/PRESS/global-warming-08-21-2007.html</a>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/swcbd/PROGRAMS/policy/energy/complaint-national-assessment.pdf">http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/swcbd/PROGRAMS/policy/energy/complaint-national-assessment.pdf</a>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20080705212954/http://www.usda.gov/oce/global_change/sap_2007_FinalReport.htm">http://web.archive.org/web/20080705212954/http://www.usda.gov/oce/global_change/sap_2007_FinalReport.htm</a>
<br>
<br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
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