How people are fighting climate change on multiple fronts, amid climate skepticism
The Trump Administration has claimed that greenhouse gases don’t endanger people. And last month, the Environmental Protection Agency said it intends to rescind a landmark 2009 legal opinion — effectively ending all its climate regulations.This all comes on the cusp of a rapidly-warming planet fueling extreme weather events. A hotter planet poses an existential crisis on multiple fronts, said Alan Weisman, journalist and author of “Hope Dies Last: Visionary People Across the World, Fighting to Find Us a Future.” “We’re all feeling the heat right now, but we’re not the only creatures on earth that are suffering from climate change,” he said. “Many of [the] species that we're dependent on pollinate our food [and] become our food. Species enrich our soil, filter the air and produce oxygen. They are all also threatened by climate change.” While mankind needs to address this problem, Weisman said his research allowed him to uncover hope in the many ways people are taking climate action in their own hands — from fusion energy technology at The Massachusetts Institute of Technology to winning climate lawsuits in the Netherlands.“It’s a combination of different things, in a lot of different places, that are each contributing to helping to slow down climate change before it gets out of control.” To hear the full conversation, click play on the audio player above or subscribe to the Climate Cast podcast.
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As some governments pull away from climate issues, others are working on solutions
Despite efforts from some governments to slowly pull away from climate regulations and actions, one writer discovered a climate revolution through a combination of technology, science and community.“I was looking for our realistic hopes, when we're standing at an existential brink,” said Alan Weisman, author of “Hope Dies Last: Visionary People Across the World, Fighting to Find Us a Future.”“Hope is an active verb, and in place after place I found things that just completely surprised me,” he said.For example, Weisman discovered a modular, wireless energy-sharing system in one of the world’s largest refugee camps in Bangladesh, where solar-powered houses connect via Wi-Fi for peer-to-peer energy exchange.“By the end of it, I was so amazed by the solutions that people were coming up with who simply refuse to quit trying,” Weisman said. “These are not people who wait around for miracles to happen.”To hear the full conversation, click play on the audio player above or subscribe to the Climate Cast podcast.
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Toxic blue-green algae thrive as Minnesota lakes grow warmer
Minnesota’s clear, cool lakes are heating up over the summer, and those warmer waters can produce a toxic agal bloom.“Blue-green algae is bacteria,” said Kim Laing, a surface monitoring manager with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. “It often looks like pea soup [or] green paint; sometimes it might have a smell to it. It thrives in warm, shallow, nutrient-rich lakes.” Water that’s warmer than 75 degrees along with calm, sunny weather is a perfect recipe for blue-green algae, he said. “We have had three to four degrees higher average July and August surface water temperatures in Minnesota lakes than compared to 50 years ago,” Laing said. “Our waters are warming, we have less ice during the winter.” This means ripe conditions for blue-green algal blooms, which can be harmful to people and their pets.To hear the full conversation, click play on the audio player above or subscribe to the Climate Cast podcast.
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With eliminated tax credits, solar power heads into uncertain times
President Donald Trump’s massive budget bill eliminates tax credits and incentives for small and large scale solar and wind projects in Minnesota. It’s also projected to increase electricity bills across the state. The clean energy industry in Minnesota is now trying to figure out a new path forward in the wake of the massive federal budget bill where credits will dry up at the end of the year. “There’s no phase-down period,” said All Energy Solar co-founder and CEO Michael Allen. “At the end of 2025, the residential tax credit is being eliminated, the commercial tax credit has a slightly longer extension, but it’s still also pretty painful for the industry and ultimately on the commercial side.” Allen explained that energy still needs to be produced — somewhere — and the utility industry will likely buy or generate electricity from traditional sources: oil, coal and gas. “If you look at it from a cost comparison, solar and wind consistently beat out those traditional forms of electricity when it comes to cost,” Allen said. “The expectation is that consumers in Minnesota will ultimately have to pay higher electricity prices because of these adjustments to the tax credits.” Allen added, from policy standpoint, the clean energy industry will look to individual states to step up, including Minnesota which has a 100 precent carbon-free goal by 2040. To hear the full conversation, click play on the audio player above or subscribe to the Climate Cast podcast.
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Business affected by climate change consider a move to the Midwest
Will Minnesota become a climate refuge for business? A survey conducted by MIT Technology Review Insights, in conjunction with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, asked 300 senior level executives in 14 industries how climate change is impacting their company’s bottom line. The overwhelming answer was that many companies have been harmed, to some degree, by climate change. And nearly half said Minnesota and the Midwest are the best places to relocate their business to minimize climate impacts.“Texas, California, New York — these are three states that actively experience the consequences of climate change,” said Kristoffer Tigue, a reporter for the Minnesota Star Tribune. Tigue said insurance premiums have also skyrocketed nationwide, and some states impacted by extreme weather events, like California, home insurance is no longer available. The Midwest offers a refuge from those issues. “It's milder thanks to our location in the middle of the country. We don’t get major wildfires, and we definitely don’t experience hurricanes and we tend to have an abundance of natural resources, including water.” Tigue explained that climate change is just one factor that would determine whether a business decides to relocate, and that just 6 percent of executives who took part in the survey said they’re considering a move in the next five years.To hear the full conversation, click play on the audio player above or subscribe to the Climate Cast podcast.
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