We're also covering rising seas near Miami and questions about how green electric vehicles are. |
 | | Jeremy White/The New York Times |
|
A small hint of big trouble in the oceans |
A northern branch of the Gulf Stream — the vast ocean current that runs from West Africa to the Americas, up the East Coast and back across the Atlantic to the British Isles — has served for ages as a kind of planetary heat pump that helps regulate the planet's climate. |
| PAID POST: A MESSAGE FROM Morgan StanleyThe Business Case for Tackling Plastic Waste Plastic waste is not just a sustainability issue; it's an economic issue. Morgan Stanley is committed to tackling the growing global challenge of plastic waste in the environment. Through the capital markets and partnering with our clients and employees, we will prevent, reduce and remove 50 million metric tons of plastic waste from entering rivers, oceans, landscapes and landfills by 2030. Learn more | |
Now, some scientists think melting ice from Greenland could be inhibiting this crucial northern branch of the current. If that's the case, they fear, the meltwater could tip the delicate balance of hot and cold that defines not only conditions around the North Atlantic, but life far and wide. |
Why it matters: Consequences could include faster sea level rise along parts of the Eastern United States and Europe, stronger hurricanes barreling into the Southeastern United States, and perhaps most ominously, reduced rainfall across the Sahel, the semi-arid swath of land running the width of Africa that is already a geopolitical tinderbox. |
Quotable: "We're all wishing it's not true," Peter de Menocal, president and director of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, said of the shifting ocean currents. "Because if that happens, it's just a monstrous change." |
 | | A flooded street during high tide in Miami Beach in 2015.Lynne Sladky/Associated Press |
|
Miami has a plan for rising seas. Not everyone is sold. |
Officials in Miami-Dade County have released an upbeat strategy for coping with two feet of sea-level rise by 2060, by elevating buildings, raising roads and encouraging more density on higher land. |
What's not on the list: Retreating from the coast. |
Experts questioned how realistic it is for Miami to keep putting up luxury homes right by the water as climate change keeps getting worse. At some point, they warn, living with rising seas will require not just buildings on stilts, but moving people inland. — Christopher Flavelle |
The big picture: Other cities and counties face similar climate challenges, and they'll watch to see whether Miami can adapt without crimping its coastal real-estate market. |
Quotable: "What adaptation actually means — and that's the scary part, I think, for many elected officials and administrators — is adaptation may mean ceding land," said Mike Hernández, a Democratic consultant who worked for the previous county mayor. "It's unfortunately not going to be pretty." |
 | | The New York Times |
|
How green are electric vehicles? |
Around the world, governments and automakers are increasingly promoting electric cars as a key solution to climate change. |
But there are still lingering questions about exactly how green all these new electric vehicles really are. What if they're charged up by power plants that burn fossil fuels? What about the materials they use, which are often mined in places with weaker environmental standards? And what happens to all those bulky batteries once they reach the end of their useful life? |
So, this week, my colleague Hiroko Tabuchi and I took a closer look at some of the biggest concerns about electric vehicles, and what can be done to address them. — Brad Plumer |
The grid factor: Battery-powered cars usually produce lower emissions than gasoline-powered cars, researchers have found — as long as they don't rely too heavily on coal-burning power plants for electricity. That means cleaning up the grid is key. |
Quotable: "The percentage of lithium batteries being recycled is very low, but with time and innovation, that's going to increase," said Radenka Maric, a professor at the University of Connecticut. |
Also important this week: |
- At the Interior Department: As Deb Haaland, President Biden's choice for Interior secretary, heads toward a showdown vote, the department she would head is moving ahead quickly on environmental policies.
- Read a Climate Book: In "Under a White Sky," Elizabeth Kolbert explores the human efforts to confront the effects of climate change, and all their unintended consequences.
- Climate Pledges: Global action is "very far" from what's needed to avert climate chaos, the United Nations announced.
- A New Energy Secretary: Jennifer Granholm will oversee an agency that plays a leading role in researching and developing new energy technologies.
|
And finally, something to watch: |
In 'Nomadland' a calamity that's familiar |
 | | Frances McDormand in a scene from 'Nomadland.'Searchlight Pictures, via Associated Press |
|
In the opening scenes of Nomadland, the poignant film by Chloe Zhao that won a Golden Globe for best drama on Sunday and is currently streaming on Hulu, we learn of an economic calamity that has afflicted so many of America's towns: The closing of a factory that was once the lifeblood of the community. |
So begins the story of Fern, a woman who has already lost her husband, and has now lost her job at a gypsum plant in Empire, Nev. "You know, we had an airport, public pool, a golf course," she tells an acquaintance. But after the plant's closure, the town empties out, and its ZIP code is soon discontinued." |
That part of the film is based on fact: USG shuttered its Empire mine and plant in 2011. It mirrors a tale playing out across America as the country transitions away from extractive industries like coal, iron ore and gypsum. |
Fern also hits the road, sleeping in her white van and making a living the best she can in the new economy. She works holiday shifts at an Amazon distribution center, where she befriends fellow senior nomads. She cleans toilets at RV parks. She helps out in the kitchen of a gritty diner. |
All throughout, there is a painful sense that Fern and her peers are rapidly being left behind. |
"The way I see it, the Titanic is sinking, and economic times are changing," says Bob, who she meets at a gathering of van-dwellers in Quartzsite, Ariz. "That kind of loss is never easy, and I wish I had an easy answer." |
But Fern is no defeatist. She builds out her battered van with the comforts of home and finds love, or at least the start of it. She bristles at any offer of charity. When a job center official suggests she go into early retirement, she answers defiantly: "I need work. I like work." |
It's clear she isn't done. But there are no easy answers for what lies next. — Hiroko Tabuchi |
| We'd love your feedback on the newsletter. We read every message, and reply to many! Please email thoughts and suggestions to climateteam@nytimes.com. |
|
