Climate Proposals, Greening Antarctica, and Midwest Climate Refuge

📑 UK’s Climate and Nature Bill Proposal

Over 1,000 climate scientists, academics, and medical professionals have signed a letter urging the UK Parliament to support a new bill to tackle the climate and nature crises. The letter states that July 2024 was the 13th consecutive month where global temperatures reached 1.5C above pre-industrial averages. More than 45,300 species are threatened with extinction, including 41% of amphibians, 26% of mammals, and 12% of birds. 6 of the 9 planetary boundaries (safe operating spaces for humanity) have already been crossed, and breaching these limits increases the risk of generating large-scale, abrupt, or irreversible environmental changes. They estimate that the breakdown of nature will significantly worsen the economy, with up to a 12% reduction in GDP. The proposed bill aims to halt and reverse nature’s destruction by 2030 by radical, integrated plans involving all parts of the government.

Josiah Mortimer, Byline Times

🌱 Climate Change is Turning Antarctica Green

A recent study revealed that the icy Antarctic Peninsula has experienced a nearly twelve-fold increase in plant cover over the last 35 years. The landscape is still dominated by snow, ice, and rock, but the rate of greening on the peninsula has accelerated by 37-45%. The greening has mostly come from the expansion of mosses, which help build up soil and can serve as the foundation for other plants to colonize. Antarctica is warming twice as fast as the global average, and as the climate continues to warm, the greening will continue to increase. However, the increased plant life and soil formation could potentially house invasive species, threatening the highly specialized plants and animals of Antarctica. The carbon dioxide-fueled greening is threatening drylands across the planet, including the world’s largest desert, Antarctica.

Shreya Dasgupta, Mongabay

🏢 Businesses Find Refuge from Climate Change in the Midwest

MIT Technology Review Insights and the Michigan Economic Development Corp interviewed 300 senior-level executives who work across 14 industries. All of them reported that their companies have been harmed to some degree by climate change. Three quarters of those surveyed said their companies have considered relocating due to climate risks, with nearly a quarter saying they already have relocated at least in part due to climate change. 6% said they plan to move their businesses within the next 5 years. Nearly half of the participants said they believe the Midwest is the nation’s least vulnerable region when it comes to climate risks. The Midwest is described as a “climate haven” due to its relatively mild climate. It is also near the Great Lakes, which contains one-fifth of the world’s freshwater and provides alternative shipping ports away from the Gulf and Atlantic coasts that are susceptible to hurricanes.

Kristoffer Tigue, Inside Climate News