If you’re worried about the planet getting too hot, you always have the choice of looking at the doughnut or looking at the hole.
The doughnut this week, of course, is the imminent passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, which is really about addressing the warming of the planet, reducing some healthcare costs and trimming the national debt a weeny bit.
The bill is a dramatic turn of events for President Biden and the Democrats. It includes serious money for a litany of climate initiatives.
Here’s the lede from a story from Inside Climate News:
“Although Senate leaders have included plenty of favors for the fossil fuel industry in the big climate package they hope to advance this week, most analysts have concluded these concessions amount to consolation prizes in a deal where clean energy is the clear winner.”
If you tend to look at the hole, there’s a lot of sobering developments around the world.
Here’s a New York Times headline:
Facing Energy Crisis, Germans, Warily, Give Nuclear a Second Look
And, of course, the increasingly affluent folks in developing countries want their air conditioners running and their gas tanks full. They are not terribly worried about global warming. So, they want to BURN MORE COAL.
This is a recent Reuters report:
Global coal demand to match record high this year, IEA says
On a happier note for Floridians, NOAA says the 2022 hurricane season will still be quite active, but it won’t be as bad as the agency predicted at the start of the season.
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NEWS
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Coastal flooding in the U.S. on the rise as sea levels climb, scientists say
Wall Street Journal
Flooding along U.S. coasts has become more frequent in recent years and is likely to worsen, government scientists said in a new report. Unusually high tides driven by rising seas sloshed water onto coastal areas more than 500 times over the past year, according to the report.
How a Summer of Disasters Shows the US Isn’t Prepared for Climate Migration
Inside Climate News
From hurricanes to flash floods, to increasingly destructive wildfires, climate-driven natural disasters are forcing more Americans out of their homes and triggering waves of relocations as some regions of the country become too burdensome or dangerous for many people to continue living in them.
Report: Florida hasn’t addressed 87% of task force recommendations to combat algal blooms
Treasure Coast Newspapers
It’s been almost three years since a governor-appointed task force of water quality experts made their recommendations for combatting harmful algal blooms.
Still, 87% of the Blue-Green Algae Task Force‘s suggestions haven’t been fully adopted, either with new laws or any meaningful regulatory action from state government agencies, according to a report from a coalition of twelve Florida environment groups.
Florida among leading states in EV adoption
Axios Tampa Bay
Florida is second in the nation in electric vehicle ownership, but trails far behind California, where nearly 40% of the nation’s EVs are registered.
Yes, but: Unlike California, Florida offers EV buyers no state incentives, making its high adoption rate all the more remarkable.
But, but, but: We’re a long way from a “tipping point” for electric vehicle adoption in the U.S., Axios’ Joann Muller reports.
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INVADING SEA OPINION
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As Florida grows, we can’t pave over paradise
Kipp Frohlich, Conservation Florida
Maybe you haven’t given it much thought or even realized it, but I’m guessing you have enjoyed public lands. Perhaps, you have some great memories of camping in one of Florida’s award-winning state parks.
Maybe you took your child to hunt in one of the many wildlife management areas. You might get your exercise by riding a mountain bike on a single-track trail in a state forest or rack up your miles on one of the many “rails to trails” in the state.
Faith communities have significant role in restoring Florida waters
Joseph Bonasia, Florida Rights of Nature Network
“Soil, water, mountains: everything is, as it were, a caress of God,” Pope Francis says in Laudato Si’, On Care for Our Common Home. Floridians who live a faith-based life and often call Florida “paradise” would agree. They appreciate the vital spiritual component in our relationship to the natural world.
Because Christian communities throughout the world celebrate Sept. 1 through Oct. 4 as the Season of Creation, now is a perfect moment to examine this relationship.
“Human life,” Pope Francis writes, “is grounded in three fundamental and closely intertwined relationships: with God, with our neighbor, and with the earth itself.” Yet, the planet is in a state of environmental crisis.
That ‘inconvenient truth’ of climate change made even Joe Manchin feel the heat
By Leonard Pitts Jr.
“There’s a choice we’re making. We’re saving our own lives.”
from “We Are The World”
Yes, this is early.
That ritual where the columnist assigns the year a theme doesn’t usually begin until December. But the view from this pew is that, where 2022 is concerned, said theme is already clear.
