What Cities & Countries Are Doing To Survive Climate Impact
Dear Friends & Neighbors,
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Perhaps no place in the United States more clearly illustrates the dangers of global warming than Phoenix, Arizona. 2020 was their hottest year on record, with 53 days reaching at least 110 degrees F. And heat-related deaths there have more than doubled over the last 5 years. But while these trends are truly disturbing, there is hope. Because of its extreme circumstances, Phoenix has been forced to explore innovative solutions and is learning how to adapt urban life to hotter and hotter temperatures. In this episode of Weathered, we delve into the latest science of the “urban heat island” effect, learn about the looming threat of a potential “Katina-like event” that threatens their electrical grid, and explore the gamut of options being pursued by scientists and activists to make life safer and more livable in America’s hottest city. Weathered is a show hosted by meteorologist Maiya May and produced by Balance Media that helps explain the most common natural disasters, what causes them, how they’re changing, and what we can do to prepare, in the video published on June 7, 2021, by PBS Terra, as “How America’s Hottest City is Innovating to Survive | Weathered“, below:
Cool roofs and cool pavements may be receiving incentives in the future. So, be sure to keep our eyes and ears open for these future developments. Phoenix, Arizona is coming up with innovative ways to beat the heat, in the video published on Oct. 4, 2022, by Tomorrow’s Build, as “Redesigning America’s Hottest City Before It Melts“, below:
Temperature records 🌡 are being smashed across Europe 🇪🇺– and it is going to get hotter. Greece 🇬🇷 is hoping to recruit more volunteer firefighters 👩🚒 to tackle its increasingly long wildfire 🔥 season, while city authorities look to urban design and green innovation 💚 to confront climate change ☀️, in the video published on July 23, 2023, by ARTE.tv Documentary, as “The new normal: Extreme temperatures in Europe | ARTE Europe Weekly“, below:
Extreme temperatures in the northern hemisphere are continuing, Canada has had its worst wildfire season in history and fires are burning across Greece, Spain and Croatia. Climate scientists say we need to become accustomed to prolonged heat events like this that may be repeated across the southern hemisphere this summer. Adam Harvey reports, in the video published on July 20, 2023, by ABC News In-depth, as “Is the northern hemisphere heatwave an omen for a brutal summer for Australia? | 7.30” below:
Arctic temperatures are rising at least three times faster than the global average. That’s causing a whole raft of very unwanted consequences in our global climate system. Now a new research paper has analysed the fundamental long term changes in the way heat is carried into the Arctic Ocean from the much warmer Pacific and Atlantic oceans. And it’s not great news! In the video published on July 23, 2023, by Just Have a Think, as “Arctic heat is coming our way. And fast!“, below:
Sea levels are rising due to climate change. Many coastal cities are at growing risk of flooding. Architects are trying to react to this development with new ideas, such as floating cities. But this concept is not without its problems. Architect Koen Olthuis is constructing a floating city in the Maldives, sustainably cooled with sea water. In the Netherlands, Sacha and Jan live in a waterborne section of the Steigereiland neighborhood. It’s based on a complicated feat of engineering – but also depends on cooperation and solidarity. If one home is too heavy, it raises the one next door. Yet Sacha and Jan like its collaborative nature. The residents of the floating neighborhood all love living by the water, not far from the heart of Amsterdam. In Germany, a University of Kiel project goes even further. Biologist Martina Mühl is researching the possibility of implementing aquaculture very close to home, so residents can tap their own fresh local supply of fish and seafood. Hamburg and Bremen have been responding to rising tides by constructing ever higher levees. But soon even this will no longer be enough to cope with the growing impact of climate change. This documentary shows possible alternatives to levees and how we might be able to cope with the rising sea levels in the future, in the video published on June 6, 2023, by DW Documentary, as “Floating cities as an innovative response to climate change | DW Documentary”, below:
Heatwaves are becoming more frequent, more intense and more deadly. But what is a heatwave, why are they so dangerous and how are they affected by climate change, in the video published on May 25, 2023, by The Economist, as “Heatwaves: how hot can it get?” below:
Climate change could force hundreds of millions to flee their homes in the coming years. What can countries do to prepare for this mass migration? In the video published on Feb 9, 2023, by The Economist, as “Climate-change migrants: what acan be done?” below:
China is the world’s biggest polluter — and now one of its largest producers of clean energy. Which way will China go in the future, and how will it affect the global environment? Data scientist Angel Hsu describes how the most populous country on earth is creating a future based on alternative energy — and facing up to the environmental catastrophe it created as it rapidly industrialized, in the video published on Sep 19, 2018, by TED, as “How China is (and isn’t) fighting pollution and climate change| Angel Hsu“, below:
Around the world, governments are tapping into renewable sources to fuel the growing demand for energy. But as the conversation steers away from the costs of clean energy to the best practices, CNBC’s Nessa Anwar evaluates which countries are having the most success and the challenges that still lie ahead, in the video published on Nov 28, 2019, by CNBC International, as “Who is leading in renewable energy?|CNBC Explains“, below:
Vertical farming is an innovative agricultural practice that involves growing crops in vertically stacked layers or vertically inclined surfaces, typically within a controlled environment, in the video published on May 22, 2023, by Fact Lab, as “Vertical Farming” below:
Vertical farming saves water, land, and energy — and it could be how we grow food on Mars, in the video published on May 22, 2021, by Freethink, as “Vertical farms could take over the world | Hard Reset by Freethink“, below
Will the cities of the future be climate neutral? Might they also be able to actively filter carbon dioxide out of the air? Futurologist Vincente Guallarte thinks so. In fact, he says, our cities will soon be able to absorb CO2, just like trees do. To accomplish this, Guallarte wants to bring sustainable industries and agriculture to our urban centers, with greenhouses atop every building. But in order for Guallarte’s proposal to work, he says, cities will have learn to submit to the laws and principles of nature. Urban planners also have big plans for our energy supply. In the future, countries like Germany could become energy producers. In Esslingen am Neckar, residents are working on producing green hydrogen in homes, to be used as fuel for trucks. It’s a project that‘s breaking new ground, says investor Manfred Norbert. Our future cities will be all about redefining a new normal. Architects and urban planners are expecting to see entirely new approaches to communal living, as well as new urban concepts for autonomous supply chains. The repurposing of old buildings, and the generation of food as well as energy, are other important topics. The architect Arno Brandhuber thinks the current building stock available, and the possibilities it offers, have been underestimated. His spectacular business headquarters are located in an old silo in Berlin’s Lichtenberg district. His most provocative project, something he calls his “Anti-villa,” is a repurposed East German factory for cotton knitwear. It‘s a prime example of sustainable design, in the video published on Nov 13, 2022, by DW Documentary, as “Future cities: Urban planners get creative | DW Documentary“, below:
How many millions of people will be forced to leave their homes by 2050? This documentary looks at the so-called hotspots of climate change in the Sahel zone, Indonesia and the Russian Tundra. Lake Chad in the Sahel zone has already shrunk by 90 percent since the 1960s due to the increasing heat. About 40 million people will be forced to migrate to places where there is enough rainfall. Migration has always existed as a strategy to adapt to a changing environment. But the number of those forced to migrate solely because of climate change has increased dramatically since the 1990s. It is a double injustice: after becoming rich at the expense of the rest of the world, the industrialized countries are now polluting the atmosphere with their emissions and bringing a second misfortune to the inhabitants of the poorer regions. One of them is Mohammed Ibrahim: as Lake Chad got hotter and drier, he decided to go where the temperatures were less extreme and there was still a little water, trekking with his wife, children and 70 camels from Niger to Chad and then further south. The journey lasted several years and many members of his herd died of thirst. Now he and his family are living in a refugee camp: they only have seven camels left. Mohammed is one of many who have left their homelands in the Sahel – not because of conflict and crises, but because of the high temperatures. He’s a real climate refugee, in the video published on May 1, 2019, by DW Documentary, as “Fleeing climate change – the real environmental disaster |DW Documentary“, below:
If you feel compelled to help some of the climate refugees, please feel free to contact International Rescue Committee by clicking HERE.
Gathered, written, and posted by Windermere Sun-Susan Sun Nunamaker More about the community at www.WindermereSun.com
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