"Scorching heat across five continents set 1,400 records this week and showed how human-caused global warming has made catastrophic temperatures commonplace."
When heat waves hit your area, as they did for much of the United States in June, local responses can (and should) go well beyond individual behaviors to address broader area actions — from cool pavements to urban trees. For environmental journalists, that means community-level heat response is an important climate story angle. TipSheet explains, then offers a dozen story ideas, along with reporting resources.
"Global fossil fuel consumption and energy emissions hit all-time highs in 2023, even as fossil fuels' share of the global energy mix decreased slightly on the year, the industry's Statistical Review of World Energy report said on Thursday."
"The chemical plume from the February 2023 train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, spread air pollutants to at least 16 states, according to research published Wednesday in the journal Environmental Research Letters."
"Hundreds of people died during this year’s Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia as the faithful faced intense high temperatures at Islamic holy sites in the desert kingdom, officials said Wednesday as people tried to claim their loved ones’ bodies."
"A number of wildfires in New Mexico and California have spawned evacuations, with intense blazes developing quickly and making damage assessments difficult for local officials."
"A scorching heat wave roasting the country and leading up to the summer solstice was expected to intensify in the coming days, potentially breaking records and impacting more than 135 million people, meteorologists warned Wednesday."
"Two months after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation preventing local governments from requiring heat protections for outdoors workers, Tampa Bay-area Democratic U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor is calling on the Biden administration to finalize federal workplace protections against heat-related injury and illness."
"Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel’s lawsuit seeking to shut down part of a petroleum pipeline that runs beneath the Straits of Mackinac belongs in state court, a federal appellate panel ruled Monday."
"Nearly 73 million people in the United States were under extreme heat alerts Monday as a heat wave moved eastward, and the mid-Atlantic and New England were likely to see highs in the 90s as the week progresses. Excessive humidity will make it feel even more oppressive."
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