Worst Heat Dome In Decades Stifles Midwest: A massive heat dome is bringing extreme temperatures to huge swaths of the middle of the contiguous 48 states. About 126 million people are under a heat alert with temperatures breaking records at least as old as 1950 and — the dome itself is more intense than during the August 1936 "Dust Bowl" but is producing slightly lower surface temperatures. Climate change, mainly caused by the extraction and combustion of fossil fuels, is making extreme heat and heatwaves more frequent and intense. In addition to the obvious human health concerns caused by heat indeces of 120°F, the extreme heat will stress power grids and crops during the final weeks of the growing season at a time when global food supplies are increasingly dependant on U.S. harvests in the wake of the Russian war in Ukraine along with other climate-fueled disasters. The extreme heat could also lead to a spike in methane pollution. During the record breaking heatwave across Texas earlier this summer, satellite imaging observed veritable geysers of methane pollution from Permian Basin oil and gas operations  forced to shut down due to the extreme heat for which they were unprepared. (Extreme heat: Washington Post $, Axios, New York Times $); Grid: Bloomberg $, E&E $); Crops: Reuters; Permian methane pollution: Bloomberg $; Climate Signals background: Extreme heat and heatwaves)

Climate Change Made Early Summer Canadian Wildfires Twice As Likely — WWA: Climate change made the massive wildfires in Canada that choked the eastern U.S. with toxic smoke earlier this summer twice as likely, a new analysis from World Weather Attribution finds. The international team of scientists, using established, peer-reviewed methods, also determined human-caused climate change made wildfire seasons of this severity seven times more likely to occur. “The word ‘unprecedented’ doesn’t do justice to the severity of the wildfires in Canada this year,” Yan Boulanger, a research scientist at Natural Resources Canada and part of the WWA team, told The Guardian. “From a scientific perspective, the doubling of the previous burned area record is shocking. Climate change is greatly increasing the flammability of the fuel available for wildfires – this means that a single spark, regardless of its source, can rapidly turn into a blazing inferno.” The WWA report only assessed wildfires in Canadian wildfires in May and June of this year, but the entire Canadian wildfire season has been superlative breaking — doubling the total acreage burned of the next-worst year and forcing the evacuation of more than half the population of the Northwest Territories, including numerous Indigenous towns and the entire provincial capital of Yellowknife. (The Guardian, AP, NPR, New York Times $, CNN, ABC, Deutsche Welle, Bloomberg $, Weather Channel, E&E $, Reuters, NBC, CBC, AFP via Barron's, The Globe and Mail, Politico Pro $; Climate Signals background: Wildfires)

Storms Harold, Franklin Hit Texas, Hispaniola: Less than two weeks after NOAA increased its forecast for the 2023 Atlantic hurricane season, four named storms formed in just 39 hours, with Tropical Storm Harold making landfall in southern Texas and Tropical Storms Franklin dumping heavy rain on the Island of Hispaniola. Harold brought some (welcomed) heavy rain to South Texas and knocked out power to thousands of homes and businesses. Franklin is expected to linger over Haiti and the Dominican Republic and could dump as much as 15 inches of rain over the central part of the island, raising concerns of deadly mudslides and flooding. (Atlantic season: Axios; TS Harold: AP, New York Times $, CNN, ABC, AP, The Hill, Washington Post $; TS Franklin: AP, AP; Climate Signals background: Hurricanes, Extreme precipiation incease)

(ENVIRONMENTAL) RACISM: ‘We suffer for everybody else’s comfort’: LNG facility proposed in Chester draws pushback (Philadelphia Inquirer), After a month at sea, 37 Senegalese survivors of a deadly migration [to Spain] attempt to […] return home (AP), Postcards from Tulsa: A reporter’s reflections on the 102nd anniversary of the Tulsa massacre (The 19th* News)

HILARY: A tropical storm came to the desert, and migrant farmers faced a new danger (LA Times $), Thinking about playing in Hilary floodwater? ‘stay out,’ experts say. (Washington Post $), As Tropical Storm Hilary shrinks, desert and mountain towns dig themselves out of the mud (AP, LA Times $), Dramatic before-and-after images show flooding, destruction from Hilary (LA Times $), Post-Tropical Cyclone Hilary threatens Oregon, Idaho after soaking Southern California, Nevada (The Hill, CNN), Hurricane Hilary soaked an already wet California. Is the drought over? (Vox), Southern California’s historic storm shows climate risk (LA Times $)

MAUI FIRES: Maui confronts the challenge of finding more than 800 missing people after the deadly wildfires (AP), On Maui, returning home means confronting toxic risks (Grist), As Maui fire losses mount, schools struggle with a plan to reopen (Washington Post $), FEMA launches website to debunk Maui wildfire rumors (E&E $), Hawaii officials urge families of people missing after deadly fires to give DNA samples (AP), In deadly Maui fires, many had no warning and no way out. Those who dodged barricades survived (AP), Lahaina inferno began after firefighters departed a ‘contained’ scene (New York Times $)

CLIMATE LITIGATION: Montana youth climate ruling could set precedent for future climate litigation (NPR)

CLIMATE DIPLOMACY: Large investments expected at first Africa climate summit (Reuters), 

European climate czar steps down to take part in Dutch elections (New York Times $), What happens when great power conflict and climate action collide? (New York Times $)

DENIAL & DISINFO: Many Republicans reject link between disasters and warming, poll finds (Washington Post $, Washington Post $), Many Americans still struggle with health misinformation, new poll finds (CNN), Wildfires and extreme weather are driving climate denialism online (Bloomberg $)

THE KIDS NEED HELP: Youth activists experience a mental toll from the climate crisis (Bloomberg $)

EPA: Watchdog urges EPA to improve environmental justice coordination (E&E $), ‘Down your throat’: Biden pushes CCS on polluted places (E&E News), EPA’s ozone do-over faces backlash (E&E News)

DOI: Biden administration approves fourth commercial-scale offshore wind project (The Hill, E&E $), Biden revived rules designed to prevent another deepwater horizon disaster (New York Times $, The Hill, E&E $), Feds deny ESA shield for Alaska wolves vulnerable to logging (E&E $), Interior unveils oil crackdown to help endangered whale (E&E $)

WHITE HOUSE: Biden to talk energy, climate in India (E&E $)

ELECTIONS: Joe Manchin could lose his pivotal Senate seat — to another coal baron (Grist)

CITIES AND STATES: Environmental groups sue to block Virginia’s RGGI exit (Utility Dive), Some states reject federal money to find and replace dangerous lead pipes (AP), States have big hopes for renewable energy. Get ready to pay for it. (Politico Pro $), California shifts EV perks to low-income drivers (E&E $)

FERC: Free ridership'? FERC chair wary of transmission impasses. (E&E $), Legal battle over climate brews between FERC, blue states (E&E News)

IMPACTS: Wildfires torment Greece. California digs out from Hilary. What to know in extreme weather now (AP), Extreme August arrives with a warning: Expect more (New York Times $), Islands have a disaster-response problem (The Atlantic), Weighing the cost of climate change (CNN)

HEAT: Scientists find new technique for predicting record-breaking heat waves (Washington Post $), Why cooling centers sit empty (Grist), Finding climate havens (New York Times $)

• WORKERS: UPS workers approve new contract with hard-fought pay and safety gains, ending strike threat (NBC)

WILDFIRES: Wildfire smoke linked to increased risk of dementia, study says (Washington Post $), 5 ‘surprising’ areas where wildfire risk is rising (The Hill), Canada's unprecedented wildfires could soon get worse, experts say (ABC), Living with wildfire: How to protect more homes as fire risk rises in a warming climate (The Conversation), Major wildfires in Greece, Spain’s island of Tenerife burn out of control, prompting evacuations (AP), Wildfire rages on Spanish tourist island of Tenerife (AP)

• GREECE: European firefighters and planes join battle against wildfires that have left 20 dead in Greece (AP, Reuters, Bloomberg $, Washington Post PHOTOS $)

HURRICANES: Chemical safety board warns of hurricane threats (E&E $)

(DE)FORESTATION: Forests managed by Indigenous nations face a $100 million funding gap (Grist), Canada pension joins startup at $100 million reforestation fund (Bloomberg $)

• ROLLERCOASTER HEADLINES: A cocaine warlord is saving the Amazon with his campaign of terror (Bloomberg $)

BOOZE: The wine industry has been ‘very adaptive’ to climate change, says Penfolds’ chief winemaker (CNBC)

RENEWABLES: For this immigrant-led clean energy company, perspective is everything (Energy News Network), Investors, buyers losing interest in ‘speculative’ renewable projects (Utility Dive), Solar boom spreads to Timberlands and self-storage rooftops (Wall Street Journal $)

BUILDINGS: Why efficient buildings are key to decarbonizing the power grid (Canary Media)

• GAS EXPLOSIONS: Family and friends honored a life lost after a home explosion in Mooresville [North Carolina] (WCNC, WSOC-TV, WYFF, New York Times $, CBS, USA Today)

STORAGE: Closed-loop pumped hydro least likely storage tech to contribute to global warming: NREL (Utility Dive)

LNG: Greens cite NEPA in fighting court defeat on LNG tanker passage (E&E $), Australia LNG strikes would need to last over a month to spike prices, analysts say (Reuters), Europe’s natural gas prices soar on looming LNG strike in Australia (OilPrice), European gas surges on Australia LNG talks and Norway outages (Bloomberg $), Germany’s BASF inks LNG supply deal with Cheniere (Bloomberg $)

METHANE: Bacteria that ‘eat’ methane could slow global heating, study finds (The Guardian), Jeff Bezos’ blue origin rocket tests in Texas are emitting so much methane you can see it from space (Fortune)

OIL & GAS: US oil and gas firms spend more on shares than exploration and development (OilPrice), Critics drill Big Oil over new carbon technology moves (Axios), Ex-OPEC president charged with bribery in UK (OilPrice), Exxon prepares a sixth offshore oil project in Guyana (OilPrice), Resource-poor Dominican Republic seeks deal with oil-rich Guyana (Bloomberg $), Saudi Aramco looks to expand downstream business in China (OilPrice)

• DEFINITELY NOT A METAPHOR: Two tankers have collided in Egypt’s Suez Canal, disrupting traffic in the vital waterway (AP)

COAL: Seaborne coal volumes hit record highs in 2023 (OilPrice)

NUKES: Is nuclear energy the answer to a sustainable future? Experts are divided (CNBC), Japan to start releasing treated radioactive water into the ocean this week (Axios)

UTILITIES: Green Mountain Power partnership with Motor to provide Vermont customers easy access to EVs (Utility Dive)

GRID: ArcLight, other private equity power plants in PJM face growing financial challenges: report (Utility Dive)

EVs: EVs require so little maintenance, it’s almost a problem (Heatmap $)

• SEND HOT NEWS ONE TO TEST, YOU COWARDS: A new scooter every 90 seconds. India’s EV revolution has begun (CNN)

AVIATION: The FAA reauthorization bill would preserve a future for leaded gas (Washington Post $)

AGRICULTURE: The next pandemic could strike crops, not people (Grist)

BUSINESSES: Businesses have 'blind spot' when it comes to climate risk, new survey finds (Axios)

CARBON PRICING: Traders in CO2 credits saddled with vast stranded-asset pile (Bloomberg $)

FINANCE: Climate change is making debt more expensive – new study (The Conversation), IBM sells weather business to private equity firm Francisco Partners (Reuters)

REDUCE, REUSE …: Mining companies want to turn scrap metal into green-energy treasure (Wall Street Journal $)

KIDS: How to cut back on plastic toys and other tips for a more eco-friendly playtime (LA Times $)

WILDLIFE: Damselfish in distress: Warmer seas might be clouding their brains (New York Times $), This songbird’s genes may show how climate change has sped up evolution (Washington Post $)

INTERNATIONAL: How will India find the climate finance it needs to go green? (Context, explainer), Germany set to miss net zero by 2045 target as climate efforts falter (Climate Home, Bloomberg $), How a lack of capacity on power grid is holding back UK economic growth (FT $), Investment in new Australian wind and solar farms stalls amid ‘raft of barriers’, report finds (The Guardian)

• 100 days to COP28: Can it deliver climate action? (Context, Debbie Hillier and Barbara Rosen Jacobson op-ed)
• The Hawaii fires are a dire omen of the climate crisis’s cost to Pacific peoples (The Guardian, Kiana Davenport op-ed)
• Boycotting COP28 only hurts Africa and the Global South (Bloomberg, Ndileka Mandela op-ed $)
• It is no longer possible to escape what we have done to ourselves (New York Times, Serge Schmemann op-ed $)
• We need to work out a way forward on rising migration – the alternative is mass drownings (The Guardian, Gaia Vince op-ed)
• We need better strategies for the approaching climate breaking point (The Hill, Stuart Mackintosh op-ed)

After Hottest Month In Human History, Deniers Resort To Endorsing Adaptation As Climate Solution

Between July's record-breaking heat around the world, to the devastating wildfires in Canada and Hawai’i, to Hilary dropping years’ worth of rain in a day in California, extreme weather is making it increasingly difficult for deniers to act like nothing is happening. 

As a result, we're likely going to see a bit of a shift in rhetoric as deniers attempt to remain at least remotely credible, particularly at more 'elite' outlets like the National Review, the self-styled arbiter of conservative politics. The Review has long published all manner of climate disinfo, but last Friday, a long piece by Joel Kotkin and Hügo Krüger struck a slightly different tone: “Adaptation Is the Answer.” 

Yes, we've officially made it one step further down (up?) the denial ladder, from “It's not happening!,” to “It's not our fault!” to “It's not that bad!” to, finally, with the evidence piled up, “We can just adapt!” 

Kotkin and Krüger cite humanity's survival through past changes, as evidence that humanity can adapt to the severe climatic changes occurring on a scale and pace we've never before experienced. Likehaven't been any advancements in technology and infrastructure and urban design that might make it a shade harder to adapt than it was "between the seventh and third millennia B.C." 

But the most serious problem with their argument is that adaptation to climate change without reducing fossil fuel emissions would mean humanity could never stop adapting. The authors even admit this themselves, citing Galveston, Texas' seawall, built in response to a hurricane in 1900, as an example. "Texas is now considering building an even bigger seawall," the authors write, "to withstand future storms." But it won’t stop there; as soon as Galveston finishes a new seawall, it'll be time to start working on the next one! In fact, it already is!

And that's not even to mention the sorts of adaptations that require more than just building a wall, like places burned by wildfires, or protecting people from dying during extreme heatwaves.  

Adaptation may be the answer if the question is "What should we be doing to protect people from the symptoms of climate change, while also reducing the climate pollution causing the problem in the first place?"

And it seems it's also the answer to the question of "What argument will deniers resort to using when climate impacts become undeniable?" 

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