Bearing the Fruit of Climate Change

Bearing the Fruit of Climate Change

Climate change is threatening to turn sublime summer stone fruits disgusting, or rob us of their pleasures entirely. Stone fruits, such as peaches, plums, cherries, mangoes, raspberries, blackberries, and olives, have been struggling over the past few years. A deep freeze last February caused a severe loss of stone fruit in the northeastern United States. One farmer estimated that the Hudson Valley lost 90% of its stone fruit. Connecticut estimates it lost 50 to 75%. Another freeze in May damaged other crops such as strawberries and blueberries. Last year, Georgia lost 90% of its peach crop. Unusually warm winters are robbing the trees and crops of the period of cold they need to bloom in the spring. What buds do emerge, have been killed off by cold snaps in the spring.

Zoë Schlanger, The Atlantic

Australian Kids Feel the Burden of the Climate Crisis

The climate change burden facing young people is inherently unfair, but they have the potential to be the most powerful generation when it comes to creating change. In a recent study of 1,500 children, results showed that more children are discovering they are living in a climate crisis, with many of the children feeling sad, anxious, angry, powerless, confused, and frightened about what the future holds. In the survey, 43% are worried about the future impact of climate change, with 25% believing the world will end before they grow up. Action on climate change was the most frequent theme discussed by the kids, with around 16% of them implying that governments and politicians are responsible for taking action. Research shows that where climate change is taught in schools, it is primarily represented as a scientific and environmental issue rather than a political challenge.

Chloe Lucas, Charlotte Earl-Jones, Gabi Mocatta, Gretta Pecl, Kim Beasy and Rachel Kelly, The Conversation

EPA Ruling on EVs

A recent ruling from the Environmental Protection Agency will require automakers to ramp up sales of electric vehicles (EV) while slashing carbon emissions from gasoline-powered models, which account for about 1/5th of America’s contribution to global warming. Automakers will not be required to dramatically boost EV sales until after 2030, however. Another way for automakers to comply to the ruling is by boosting sales of plug-in hybrid vehicles, which have proved to be more popular with consumers as public charging stations lack. It is estimated that the ruling will prevent 7.2 billion metric tons of carbon emissions from entering the atmosphere through 2055, and also reduce fine particulate matter and nitrogen oxides, preventing up to 2,500 premature deaths from air pollution annually starting in 2055.

Maxine Joselow, The Washington Post

What’s in the works for ClimateWatch?

Our goal is to bring you the latest in climate issues, trends, forecasts, innovations, and more. One way we’re hoping to do that in the future is by including an in-depth analysis from one of our experts! Stay tuned for that, you won’t want to miss it.