Fireworks Contribute to Carbon Footprint

Fireworks Contribute to Carbon Footprint

Fireworks are often seen as beautiful and entertaining, and have been used in celebrations for centuries. But as fireworks become more advanced, so does their carbon footprint. Fireworks contain greenhouse gasses such as carbon, sulfur, and potassium nitrate, metallic compounds, and oxidizers as well as other ingredients to change their shape, color, and glitter intensity. After combustion, these components release CO2 in the environment, whether that be into the air and affecting local air quality or into nearby water sources causing contamination. According to one study, fireworks release about 60,340 metric tons of CO2 in the United States annually. This would be equivalent to more than 12,000 gas-engine vehicles each year. Previous research said that fireworks emitted about 123,422.5 metric tons of carbon per year worldwide.

Georgette Kilgore, 8BillionTrees.com

AI Causes Tech Companies to Fall Short of Climate Targets

Google set an ambitious plan to reach net zero with climate-changing gases by 2030. A recent report shows Google is nowhere near that goal yet, and is actually seeing an increase in emissions. Google emissions grew 13% in 2023 and have soared 48% since its baseline year in 2019. Google cited artificial intelligence and the demand it puts on data centers which require massive amounts of electricity for the emissions growth. Google says their approach to climate change will need to evolve to get them back on track. An increase of data centers also caused Microsoft’s emissions to grow 29% above its 2020 baseline. Global data center and AI electricity demand could double by 2026 as the demand for AI and tools such as ChatGPT continue to skyrocket.

Alexa St. John, Associated Press

Billion Dollar Disasters Are Soaring

Eleven separate billion-dollar weather disasters this year have together caused more than $25 billion in damage and 84 deaths. Severe thunderstorms and tornadoes in May pushed the weather disaster costs to their second-highest amount on record to date. Repeated and costly storm outbreaks are driving a surge in weather-related property damage and insurance payouts in the United States. Experts say more homes and businesses are being placed in areas prone to such storms. At the same time, experts also say that certain atmospheric ingredients are fueling the storms to become more frequent and stronger due to human-caused climate change. This time last year, the U.S. had already experienced 14 billion-dollar weather disasters, with the most ever on record for the year at 28.

Matthew Cappucci, The Washington Post

What’s in the works for ClimateWatch?

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