Schools Overheat Due to Climate Change

Schools are Overheating Due to Climate Change

Nearly 40% of schools in the U.S. were built before the 1970s, when temperatures were cooler and fewer buildings needed air conditioning. In recent decades, the number of school days with temperatures above 80F have increased. In large parts of the country, many schools experience a month of hot temperatures during school, and they still don’t have AC. In some places, this has led to school being cancelled or dismissing early due to the heat and lack of AC. A 2021 study suggests there are more than 13,700 public schools in the U.S. that need AC. It is estimated that the cost of this huge investment would exceed $40 billion. Researchers say that heat exposure not only effects the health of students and teachers by causing dizziness, headaches, and worsening asthma, but it also leads to reduced learning.

Anna Phillips and Veronica Penney, The Washington Post

AI Predicts Monsoon Rainfall 30 Days in Advance

A recent study has unveiled a pioneering method to accurately predict monsoon rainfall up to 30 days in advance. The South Asian monsoon, a key weather phenomenon that impacts more than a billion people, has posed accurate forecasting challenges beyond a few days. The research team behind the study used a combination of machine learning techniques and traditional numerical modeling to significantly improve the accuracy of monsoon rainfall forecasts. Not only can this approach be used for monsoon rainfall, but it has been shown to improve agricultural planning and has been used for urban infrastructure and disaster preparedness.

John Lopez, Tech Times

Abandoned Farms Could Help Fight the Climate Crisis

A team of researchers with the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center used machine learning to map nearly 30 million acres of U.S. cropland that has been abandoned since the 1980s. Of the abandoned cropland, more than half of it was changed to pasture or grassland, with about a third changing to forest, wetland, or remaining bare. This tool could help guide decisions about how to balance production of energy and food, and help fight climate change. The study findings help identify where crops such as switchgrass or sorghum can be grown. Switchgrass and sorghum trap carbon in the soil and serve as feedstocks for biofuels and replacements for petrochemicals. Researchers will use this data to model how much biomass could be grown on these lands and the potential amount of carbon dioxide that could be trapped from the atmosphere into the soil through these means.

Technology Networks

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