Climate Change Will Lead to Wetter Winters in the U.S.

🦅 Balancing Wind Energy and Bird Collisions

As the world continues to transition away from fossil fuels, wind energy is growing quickly. One known consequence of wind turbines is the potential for deadly collisions between blades and birds/bats. One experiment is underway in Wyoming, with a potentially game-changing and simple solution. Wyoming is a critical habitat for many species, including tens of thousands of golden eagles. It is also a huge migration corridor between Alaska and Mexico. Wyoming is also home to the largest wind farm in the continental U.S.. The Teton Raptor Center’s conservation director says that wind turbines kill an estimated hundreds of thousands of birds and bats each year. Since golden and bald eagles have federal protections, collisions are an expensive problem for utility companies. One wind energy company had to pay more than $8 million in fines in 2020 after killing at least 150 eagles over a decade. A scientist with the Renewable Energy Wildlife Institute is studying a solution of painting a single blade black on a wind turbine. The birds are more likely to see the turbine and can better avoid collisions. A reduction of over 70% in collisions was found in the study. White-tailed eagles experienced the largest drop in fatalities.

Will Walkey, Science Friday via Wyoming Public Media

❄️ Climate Change Will Lead to Wetter Winters in the U.S.

A scientist at the University of Illinois Chicago is studying how winter precipitation in the U.S. will change by the end of the 21st century. The study uses 19 Earth system models to investigate winter precipitation. The study found that overall, winter precipitation and extreme weather events will increase across most of the country. An increased frequency in “very wet” winters, those ranking in the top 5% of U.S. historical total winter precipitation is expected. These types of previously rare winters would happen every four years in some parts of the country. A shift from snow to rain in many parts of the country appears likely, and will have dramatic implications on agriculture, water resources, and flooding. Across the entire U.S., the study suggests an increase in mean winter precipitation of 2-5% per degree of warming by 2100. The Northeast and the Midwest will likely see the sharpest increases.

Rob Mitchum, University of Illinois Chicago

🇨🇳 United Nations Climate Talks, COP29

COP29, the UN’s climate conference featuring nearly 200 countries, wrapped up in late November. A lot happened, but we’ll try and sum up the main takeaways. Wealthier countries will provide developing countries with climate finance of $300 billion per year by 2035. However, the developing countries say that is a “paltry sum” and pushed for more. Wealthier nations were the source of 75% of the growth in emissions over the past decade, and they need to cut emissions. New national climate action plans by each country will outline how they will limit their planet warming gases over the next decade and are due to be published in the spring. Attendees of the COP questioned how host countries of this conference are selected after the last three were held in countries with economies built on oil and gas exports, seemingly at odds with what the conference aims to do. If the U.S. does not participate in future climate talks during the Trump presidency, China is expected to become the next leader in climate. China is becoming more transparent about its climate finance and support to global south countries. Many countries shared concerns about the Trump administration potentially upending years of careful climate negotiations.

Matt McGrath, BBC News