CLIMATE NEWS
Deadly Bacteria Is a Growing Threat to Beach Vacations Across the US
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Climate change is warming once-cool lakes and reservoirs, fueling a rise in dangerous bacteria outbreaks and algae blooms.
August 17, 2024
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​Bacteria tend to grow in warm conditions and between 1985 and 2009, lakes and ponds warmed at a rate of roughly 0.6F (0.3C) per decade. That shift is increasing the risk of blooms in historically cold places. The bacteria can cause a host of symptoms, including blisters, rashes, diarrhea, muscle weakness, and liver damage, to name a few. Outbreaks can also tax ecosystems.
Science
The Aspen Institute Is Calling for a Systemic Approach to Climate Education at the University Level
August 17, 2024
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Arizona State and UC San Diego will begin requiring climate courses this academic year. Columbia, Harvard and Stanford are going even further, creating schools devoted to climate change.
“You’d be surprised at how many businesses need to know about climate and climate change to be successful,” said Harris.
Water scarcity and temperature changes can harm the food industry. Sea level rise can alter iconic tourism destinations. Extreme weather can raise insurance premiums.
Climate change affects all industries, making climate education ever more crucial for students of all disciplines as they prepare to enter the workforce, said Harris.
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Florida is building the world's largest environmental restoration project
Lucy Sherriff
"It is the single most important project to store, clean and send water from Lake Okeechobee to nourish the Everglades and supply clean drinking water to millions in South Florida," Meenakshi Chabba tells BBC Future Planet. Chabba is an ecosystem scientist at the Everglades Foundation, one of the non-profit organisations that advocated for the project.
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​As well as protecting the drinking water of South Floridians, the reservoir is also intended to dramatically reduce the algae-causing discharges that have previously shut down beaches and caused mass fish die-offs. (Read more about the pollution causing harmful algal blooms).
This vicious cycle also increases reinsurers’ rates. Reinsurers globally raised prices for property insurers by 37 percent in 2023, contributing to insurance companies pulling back from risky states like California and Florida. “As events are getting bigger and more costly, that has raised the prices of reinsurance in those areas,” said Carolyn Kousky, the associate vice president for economics and policy at the Environmental Defense Fund, who studies insurance. “It’s called the hardening of the market.” ...
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"The usual suspects — climate change plus El Niño — go a long way toward explaining the excess heat of this summer," Marvel said. She cautioned that other sources of internal variability may be at play too and historically have led to unexpected outcomes.
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"There is always the possibility that something is going on that we've missed, but the Earth system is a strange beast even when it's not being disturbed," Marvel said...
Among the most concerning evaluations are the flows of phosphorus and nitrogen, which are both widely used as crop fertilizers and freely run out into ecosystems, wreaking havoc by, for example, triggering dangerous algal blooms. The researchers find that humans are releasing far more chemicals that contain these elements into the environment than the boundary limits the scientists calculated...
"These 'green solutions' won't prevent the impacts of climate change, but they offer us a way to try and mitigate some of the effects while blending in with Mother Nature's constraints," he said. "Climate change is very dynamic, and the rate of problems are happening at such a pace that this will be a good snapshot in time to see if projects like these are worthwhile as we see climate change happening over the next 10 to 15 years.”....
Some states – including California, Florida, Louisiana and Texas – are facing more significant storms and extreme swings in precipitation.
Landlocked states won’t have to adapt to sea level rise, though some – including Appalachian states like Kentucky and West Virginia – have seen devastating flooding from rainstorms...
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At a new factory under construction in Washington State, a startup called Twelve will soon begin using captured CO2, water, and renewable electricity to make jet fuel that could eventually compete on cost with conventional jet fuel. Alaska Airlines will be one of the first customers when the factory begins production next year...
