As Smoke Clears, Toll Of Horrific Maui Fires Grows: The wildfires blazing across Maui have killed at least 96 people and destroyed more than 2,700 buildings in and the historic, pre-colonial city of Lahaina. The fire that incinerated Lahaina is already the deadliest in the U.S. in more than 100 years, and the official death toll is all-but-certain to grow. Officials also warn the fires will leave behind a toxic cloud of particulate pollution. The science of how climate change exacerbates wildfires in Hawaii is not as developed as it is the the western contiguous U.S. However, flash droughts have desiccated Maui this year and Hurricane Dora set off "unusually strong trade winds," National Weather Service meteorologist Genki Kino told the AP, which helped drive the fires. Climate change is "leading to these unpredictable or unforeseen combinations that we’re seeing right now and that are fueling this extreme fire weather,” Kelsey Copes-Gerbitz of University of British Columbia’s faculty of forestry, told the AP. “What these ... catastrophic wildfire disasters are revealing is that nowhere is immune to the issue.” (Death toll: NPR, AP, The Guardian, CNN, AP, The Independent, Washington Post $, AP VIDEO; Lahaina: Honolulu Star Advertiser, Democracy Now, LA Times $, The Guardian; Climate change and add'l factors: AP, Inside Climate News, The Verge, The Guardian, Washington Post $, LA Times $, New York Times $, Vox, Bloomberg $, The Hill, New York Times $; Toxic smoke: AP, Washington Post $)

Climate Impacts Worsen Afghan Humanitarian Crises: Climate change-fueled drought and heat are exacerbating the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, Reuters reports. "It's been three years since the drought started, wells and the river have almost dried up. We don't even have enough drinking water, you can see all our land has dried up," said Abdul Hahad, a farmer from the Nahr-e-Shahi district in Balkh province. Despite contributing a negligible amount of historic climate pollution, Afghanistan is the sixth-most vulnerable country in the world when it comes to climate-related threats. More than one-third of the country's population, 15 million people, face acute food insecurity, and international refusal to recognize the Taliban government is limiting foreign development assistance. "People are facing a lot of hardship, some have left the village due to the lack of water," Hahad said. "But we'll keep planting crops even if there is a water shortage because we don't have any other option. It's the only thing we know how to do." (Reuters; Climate Signals background: Drought, Extreme heat and heatwaves)

Six to 11 Hurricanes Coming? Hurricane Season Heats Up As NOAA Updates Forecast: Private insurance companies are abandoning the state of Florida, and the state's "last resort" Citizens Property Insurance Corp., now its largest insurer, stands a one-in-four chance its reserves could be completely wiped out by one storm this year. Unfortunately, the rest of the 2023 Atlantic hurricane season could be more active than forecasters predicted three months ago due to the hot-tub-like water providing ample potential energy for storms. On Thursday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration updated its predictions and now says the 2023 season has a 65% chance of seeing an above-normal amount of hurricane activity (up from its 30% prediction in May). While the Pacific ocean's El Niño cycle usually disrupts Atlantic hurricanes, record-breaking sea surface temperatures in the Atlantic are offsetting that effect. The new NOAA forecast now predicts six to 11 hurricanes developing from between 14 to 21 named storms. (Updated NOAA forecast: NPR, Axios, ABC, Wall Street Journal $, Inside Climate News, Washington Post $, AP, NBC, CNBC, Vox, Gizmodo, NBC, Texas Tribune; Florida insurance woes: Bloomberg $; Climate Signals background: Hurricanes, Sea surface temperature increase)

DOE Offers 'A Fig Leaf For The Fossil Fuel Industry' With $1.2 Billion In DAC Funding: The federal government will give $1.2 billion to boost direct air carbon capture projects run by Occidental Petroleum and Climeworks in Texas and Louisiana, respectively, DOE announced Friday. The projects would not address the pollution, climate-heating or otherwise, caused by the extraction or combustion of fossil fuels, but would instead simply suck carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. “What worries me and a lot of other climate scientists is that it potentially creates a fig leaf for the fossil fuel industry … the idea that we can keep burning stuff and remove it later,” Jonathan Foley, executive director of Project Drawdown, told The Guardian. “We’ve been trying to fix the oil and gas damage, while at the same time trying to push the transition away from it,” Monique Hardin, of the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice, told The Guardian. “And now we have carbon-capture and sequestration to contend with,” added Hardin, whose group is a member of Louisiana Against False Solutions. (DOE announcement: The Guardian, CNBC, AP, Axios, The Hill, Bloomberg $, Utility Dive, Washington Examiner, Bloomberg $, LA Times $, Washington Post $, Inside Climate News, Houston Chronicle, New York Times $, Canary Media, Reuters; Community objections: The Guardian)

ENVIRONMENTAL (IN)JUSTICE: Climate costs imperils Detroit’s unique, diverse Jefferson Chalmers neighborhood (Planet Detroit), Monitoring air quality as a lesson in climate change, civic engagement and Latino community leadership (Inside Climate News), Storm chasing while trans (Atmos), When a steel plant closed in Pittsburgh, cardiovascular ER visits plunged (Inside Climate News), After a Pittsburgh coal processing plant closed, ER visits plummeted (Grist)

MAUI FIRES: How the Maui wildfires devastated Lahaina, hour by hour (Washington Post $, Reuters, AP, Bloomberg $, , Axios, Mother Jones, Axios), 

• PHOTO/VIDEO: Before-and-after satellite images show Maui devastation in stark contrast (AP, Bloomberg $, Wall Street Journal $, Axios)
• CHAOS: Maui officials say it was 'impossible' to warn everyone as wildfires spread quickly (NPR, CBS, The Guardian, CNN, CBS), Officials ask for patience as Maui residents question response (Washington Post $)
• ACCOUNTABILITY: Hawaii utility faces scrutiny for not cutting power to reduce fire risks (Washington Post $), Hawaii’s attorney general opens probe into wildfire response (LA Times $)
• HOPE AND GRIEF: People are mobilizing to help Maui fire survivors (NPR), Native Hawaiian sacred sites have been damaged in the Lahaina wildfires – but, as an Indigenous scholar writes, their stories will live on (The Conversation), This nonprofit is helping pregnant and postpartum people during the Maui wildfires (The 19th* News), Hawaii's poet laureate reflects on what's next for the island after the wildfires (NPR), Scorched by Maui wildfire, historic Lahaina banyan tree appears still standing (NPR), See how they held off flames at a haven for Hawaii’s endangered birds (New York Times $), Rebuilding Maui after deadly wildfires could cost more than $5 billion, officials project (CBS), ‘Breakfast, lunch & dinner,’ Maui hotel cook feeds evacuees (AP), As Maui rescue continues, families and faith leaders cling to hope but tackle reality of loss (AP)

EMPATHY: California mourns a wildfire disaster in Maui (New York Times $), They lost everything in the Paradise fire. Now they’re reliving their grief as fires rage in Hawaii (AP), Victim vignettes: Hawaii wildfires lead to indescribable grief as families learn fate of loved ones (AP)

COP28: COP28 boss ramps up finance push (Axios), After the hottest month in history, we need to do more (TIME, Sultan Al Jaber op-ed)

9:37 🚂 TO THE PETROCHEMICAL DYSTOPIA: In East Palestine, fear remains six months after train crash  (The Hill)

DENIAL: An insidious form of climate denial is festering in the Republican Party (Vox), Utilities say they want clean energy. So why are they opposing Biden’s plan? (LA Times $), Climate change is driving higher temperatures. Not a volcanic eruption  (The Hill)

GOP vs. ESG: Corporate America is rebranding ESG (Axios), 

CHINA: China avoids climate change discussion despite extreme weather (Reuters), Death toll in China mudslide rises to 21, with six people missing (AP, AP), China faces early attack from crop pests after extreme weather (Bloomberg $), China’s two climate directions (New York Times $)

ANXIETY: Climate change anxiety more common among least deprived, figures show (The Independent)

DRIFTWOOD ADRIFT: Tellurian's massive Driftwood LNG project hits another speedbump (Houston Chronicle)

TALK IT OUT: Can climate conversations be a solution? (Yes Magazine), How is sign language adapting to climate change? (BBC)

INFLATION REDUCTION ACT: How the Inflation Reduction Act has reshaped the US—and the world (TIME), Biden regrets climate law's name (E&E $), Democrats’ climate law set off a wave of energy projects in GOP districts. A backlash followed. (Politico), Manchin to skip Inflation Reduction Act anniversary event at White House despite pivotal role in its creation (Washington Examiner), Yes, inflation is down. No, the Inflation Reduction Act doesn’t deserve the credit (AP)

THE CLEAN ENERGY FUTURE IS: …a battle for hearts and minds (New York Times $), … arriving faster than you think (New York Times $), … roiling both friends and foes (New York Times $)

AGENCIES: Biden wants $12B for disaster aid. Is he too late? (E&E News)

EPA: EPA launches civil rights probe over Calif. water fight (E&E News), EPA overrules Texas plan to reduce haze from air pollution at national parks (Inside Climate News), EPA power plant carbon plan relies on unavailable tech, violates law: EEI, trade groups (Utility Dive), EPA to investigate California State Water Board for alleged civil rights violations (LA Times $)

DOE: DOE proposes 2-year reviews for transmission projects on federal land (Utility Dive), DOE rule would permit power lines quickly (E&E News)

TREASURY: Treasury finalizes first climate law rules on renewables (E&E $), Treasury to miss deadline for IRA clean hydrogen guidance (E&E $)

WHITE HOUSE: White House seeks $12B to refill the nearly broke disaster fund (E&E News)

THE HILL: Lawmakers grill feds over delays in Hurricane Ian response  (The Hill), This farm bill could reshape the food system. Here are 10 proposals at the center of the fight. (Civil Eats)

POLITICS: Anti-woke and fossil fuel industry operatives dominate ALEC's energy task force (EXPOSED), How liberals unintentionally made it harder to fight climate change (CNN)

ELECTIONS: Joe Biden approved drilling projects, now young climate voters are watching for 2024 (Teen Vogue), Vivek Ramaswamy says US ‘climate change agenda’ is a ‘hoax’  (The Hill)

TRIBES: After decades, a tribe's vision for a new marine sanctuary could be coming true (NPR), Navajo Nation’s economic growth rests with clean energy development (Navajo Times)

CITIES AND STATES: ‘We can get to zero deaths’: Phoenix heat tsar sees livable future for US’s hottest city (The Guardian), Groups blast 'corrupt situation' tied to La. civil rights probe (E&E $), Illinois governor vetoes effort to lift moratorium on new nuclear reactors (Energy News Network), Residents push back against plans for underground carbon dioxide storage in western Indiana (AP), America needs clean electricity. These states show how to do it. (Washington Post $)

• CALIFORNIA: Closure of 3 Southern California power plants likely to be postponed, state energy officials decide (LA Times $), Fires, landslides, rising seas: What drives Californians to stay in disaster-prone areas? (LA Times $), 
  • GOAT: In California, wildfires are prevented by crews of unlikely firefighters: Goats (NPR)

IMPACTS: Wildfires, rising heatwaves, hurricanes: Climate change's global impact (MSNBC), Climate change's multi-level sticker shock (Axios), Is climate change causing more record-breaking hail? (Scientific American), It took $1.7 billion to fix Fire Island’s beaches. One storm wrecked them. (New York Times $), Report: Severe storms in US this year lead to record insured losses (Axios), Rising flood risks threaten many water and sewage treatment plants across the US (AP), Russia evacuates 2,000 in Far East flooding (AP), Typhoon approaches western Japan, threatening to bring heavy rain and high winds during holiday week (AP)

• TOURISM: How climate change is impacting where and when tourists want to travel (Marketplace), Tourism in Alaska is being affected by the changing landscape of glaciers (NPR)

HEAT: 98 million people in the US may be exposed to dangerous heat today (Washington Post $), Heat singes the mind, not just the body (New York Times $), A slightly sadistic experiment aims to find out why heat drives up global conflict (NPR), Extreme heat drives Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs to declare state of emergency (AP), How hot is it, really? The number you see isn’t what you feel (Wall Street Journal $), Life-threatening heat is forcing Germany to ramp up defenses (Bloomberg $), Mishmash of how US heat deaths are counted complicates efforts to keep people safe as Earth warms (AP), More people feel the heat of climate change as July shatters temperature records (CBS), Some of the ways extreme heat will change life as we know it (ABC), The fastest-growing US cities are roasting in extreme heat (Axios)

OCEANS: The ocean is shattering heat records. Here’s what that means for fisheries. (Grist)

FOOD: Global heating likely to hit world food supply before 1.5C, says UN expert (The Guardian)

WILDFIRES: California turns to AI to help spot wildfires (Reuters), Two new nonfiction books confront the wildfires we face and how to deal with them (Yale Climate Connections)

KELP: It’s the ‘Swiss army knife of the sea’. But can kelp survive rising marine heat? (The Guardian)

RENEWABLES: In effort to cut costs, remote Alaskan village turns to renewable energy (Yale Climate Connections), Claim wind and solar may industrialise rural Wales (BBC), Green power gets pricier after years of declines (Wall Street Journal $), Maxeon Solar Technologies to build $1B New Mexico solar panel factory (Utility Dive), Singapore solar company plans major US manufacturing plant in New Mexico, pending federal loan (AP), UK renewable energy investment lagging behind rest of world, data shows (The Guardian)

BUILDINGS: 5 killed in Pennsylvania home explosion (CBS), It’s time to re-imagine the air conditioner (Slate), Researchers work to create white paint to combat warming temperatures from climate change (NBC), Denver house explodes and partially collapses, hospitalizing 1 (AP)

HEAT PUMPS UP NORTH: In northern Minnesota, early adopters make the case for cold-climate heat pumps (Energy News Network), Maine Gov. Janet Mills on the state's use of federal funding to combat climate change (NPR interview)

OIL & GAS: Argentine election won’t derail shale growth, oil executives say (Bloomberg $), Increasing demand for oil in US offset by weakness elsewhere (Houston Chronicle), Natural gas prices are spiking again. Here’s why (CNN), Natural-gas prices soar on Australian labor dispute (Wall Street Journal $)

PIPELINES: Federal court sides with Biden administration, clearing way for controversial Mountain Valley Pipeline  (The Hill, AP, Reuters, Politico Pro $, Washington Examiner)

HYDROGEN: Hydrogen-powered trucks look for a lane in the fight against climate change (Axios), Prospectors hit the gas in the hunt for ‘white hydrogen’ (The Guardian)

SUPERCONDUCTOR: Why LK-99 sparked a boost in the superconductor market (Wall Street Journal $)

GRID: Why lasers could help utilities make the electrical grids greener (NPR)

EVs: Air charging is here. But how safe is the technology? (Wall Street Journal $), Electric buses get billions in federal aid. A top maker just went bankrupt. (Washington Post $), Ford is losing a lot of money in electric cars — but CEO Jim Farley is charging ahead (NPR), Indonesia seeks to win EV race with 0% export duty, no sales tax (Bloomberg $)

STEEL: The 117-year-old steel maker that’s key to solving climate tech’s recycling issue (CNBC)

AGRICULTURE: Dutch farmer-turned-banker urges cleaner-farming shift amid nitrogen crisis (Bloomberg $)

BOOKS: Author walks out of Edinburgh book festival over sponsor’s fossil fuel links (The Guardian)

ART: Artists set sail for Marshall Islands hoping for climate wake-up call (Reuters)

RICH PEOPLE: A new green tax-credit market is for corporations. Some wealthy people want in. (Wall Street Journal $)

FINANCE: Maui fires come at a moment of turmoil for the insurance industry (New York Times $)

FILM: ‘King Coal’ review: Mining for stories in Appalachia (Wall Street Journal $)

WILDLIFE: Fossils are tackling one of conservation’s toughest questions (The Atlantic)

INTERNATIONAL: Germany economy ministry supports 'fair' distribution of wind power expansion costs (Reuters), India, the world's most populated country, is on track to achieve its climate goals: report (Salon), Europe cracks down after rise in 'direct action' climate protests (Reuters), Mayor of Montreal taking urgent action to fight climate change (CNN), South Africa's Exxaro sees lower profit as coal prices cool (Reuters), Vestas signs order for wind project offshore Poland (Bloomberg $)

• AUSTRALIA: Aussie regulator sues pension fund Active Super, alleges greenwashing (Reuters), Australia’s climate risks are making home insurance unaffordable (Bloomberg $), Fears many Australians will abandon home insurance as premiums jump 50% in high-risk areas (The Guardian)
• UK: Rishi Sunak ‘will rue his green group attacks come election time’ (The Guardian), Rishi Sunak must not retreat from climate pledges, says top Tory mayor (The Guardian)

• Maui resident: The heartbreaking moment I saw my house for the last time (CNN, Jeff Melichar op-ed)
• As temperatures soar and wildfires burn abroad, summer dread is returning to my body (The Guardian, Danielle Celemajer op-ed)
• After the shock and grief, Hawaii will reinvent itself again (New York Times, Lawrence Downes op-ed $)
• The shattering aftermath in Maui (CNN, Richard Galant op-ed)
• Maui fire shows that Hawaii paradise was a dream (CNN, Naka Nathaniel op-ed)
• How to make sure federal climate money helps everyone (New York Times, Farah Stockman op-ed $)
• It’s time for a new climate populism, to show how the super rich got us – and the planet – into this mess (The Guardian, Andy Beckett op-ed)
• Private jets are awful for the climate. It’s time to tax the rich who fly in them (The Guardian, Sen. Edward Markey op-ed)
• Why a floating speck of metal sent scientists’ hearts racing (New York Times, Andrew Cote op-ed $)
• What it’s like to swim in an ocean that’s 100 degrees (New York Times, Diana Nyad op-ed $)
• Congress needs to pay attention to the extreme heat crisis  (The Hill, Ashley Ward op-ed)
• To fight climate change, unleash American innovation (Newsweek, Gregory Zerzan op-ed)
• As paradise burned, DeSantis fiddled with climate-change education (Washington Post, Kathleen Parker op-ed $)
• The economic and health benefits of Michigan’s clean energy goals  (Energy News Network, Laura Sherman op-ed)
• EVs have big batteries. They should come equipped to power homes and the grid in emergencies (LA Times, Los Angeles Times Editorial Board $)
• Say goodbye to grass that’s only there for looks. California can’t afford to waste water (LA Times, Los Angeles Times Editorial Board $)
• As the world gets hotter, Arizona books offer lessons for the future (Washington Post, Mark Athitakis Perspective $)
• Forever chemicals’ are in our bodies and drinking water. We must stop using them (Sacramento Bee, Phil Ting and Andria Ventura op-ed $)
• My health is a victim of a warming planet (Newsweek, Rita Robles op-ed)
• Focus on reducing food waste, carbon emissions in new farm bill  (The Hill, Seth Teply op-ed)
• Going wobbly in the gas export markets? Not in the long term (NOLA.com, Staff Editorial)
• Climate complacency is killing us  (The Hill, William S. Becker op-ed)
• Sunak’s anti-green drive tells us this: We’re heading for the stupidest general election yet (The Guardian, Zoe Williams op-ed)
• Mike Pence’s plan to drill, baby, drill (Wall Street Journal, Wall Street Journal Editorial Board $)
• Proterra and the anatomy of an EV failure (Wall Street Journal, Wall Street Journal Editorial Board $)

Now You've Done It: Even Al Gore Is Getting Pissed At The Fossil Fuel Industry!

Ever since Al Gore's “An Inconvenient Truth” film (a science-y slideshow of the dangers of climate change) won an Oscar and earned Gore (half) a Nobel Peace Prize in 2007, deniers have used him as a punching bag. But as South Park's begrudging apology episode demonstrated, the times, like the climate, have changed.

And so has Al Gore. 

In a new TED Talk, Gore gives a "searing indictment of fossil fuel companies for walking back their climate commitments” and calls “for a global rethink of the roles of polluting industries in politics and finance." 

It's 25 minutes of recognition that, given the constant onslaught of fossil-funded disinformation, it's not enough to just present people with accurate information. If it were, Gore wouldn't still have to be out here giving a "blistering" talk on "what the fossil fuel industry doesn't want you to know." 

Apparently fed up with being a punching bag, Gore's finally punching back. (Proverbially, of course, with a slideshow.) 

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