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Paris and climate change

September 8, 2025 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Paris is associated with climate change by virtue of the 2015 international agreement seeking to limit the amount of warming taking place on the planet. But Paris is well aware that the world is not making much progress in meeting the goals of that agreement and the French capital is already suffering from the impact of the warming climate.

France has had multiple heat waves this summer that have seen multiple record high temperatures across the country. Eight of the 10 hottest summers recorded in Paris have occurred since 2015.

Paris officials have performed heat crisis simulations to learn what the effects of extreme heat situations would be. One simulation looked at the impact of temperatures reaching 122 degrees. The consequences to many of the city’s functions and systems would be dire. This might seem outlandish, but in 2019, temperatures in Paris reached 109 degrees, and climate change is warming Europe at more than twice the global average. With its zinc roofs, squares paved with stone, and highest population density in Europe, Paris is especially ill-suited to hot weather.

Paris is taking steps to prepare for a warmer future. It is pulling up asphalt parking places and road centers to plant trees, 15,000 last winter alone. It is putting up more shade structures and water misters. Paris is insulating older buildings – 7,000 a year now and a goal to reach 40,000 a year by 2030. Paris is registering isolated older or disabled people, so that they can be checked on during heat waves.

It is a race against time. Paris is trying to prepare for the changes to come.

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Paris Braces for a Future of Possibly Paralyzing Heat

Photo, posted September 30, 2018, courtesy of Pedro Szekely via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Trends in rooftop solar

October 8, 2024 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Rooftop solar power in the United States has increased by a factor of ten over the past decade and the majority of that growth has been in the past six or seven years. At this point, about 7% of American homes have solar panels on their roofs – about 5 million in total.

Rooftop solar really began experiencing widespread use about 20 years ago. Over that time period, the amount of electricity that panels are able to produce has grown substantially and the cost of solar power systems has dropped dramatically.

Twenty years ago, the median sized residential solar system generated 2.4 kilowatts of power. In 2023, the median size was 7.4 kilowatts. Roofs haven’t gotten bigger; solar panels have gotten better.

More importantly, 20 years ago, the average cost of installing solar power was $12 a watt. In 2023, the cost was $4.20 a watt.

Americans in fact pay considerably more for solar power than citizens in many other countries. The reason is not the price of the equipment; it is so-called soft costs. These include labor, financing, and permitting. Driving down soft costs is complicated and difficult. For one thing, it is important for solar industry jobs to have high pay and good benefits.

The cost of solar also varies significantly by state. California is the leading state for solar power and its median solar cost is the $4.20 a watt, the same as the national average. Nevada has the lowest cost at $3.40 a watt and Utah has the highest at $5.20 a watt.

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Bigger and Less Expensive: A Snapshot of U.S. Rooftop Solar Power and How It’s Changed

Photo, posted September 18, 2011, courtesy of Team Massachusetts 4D Home via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Enforcing the Green Amendment

August 13, 2024 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

In November 2021, 70% of New Yorkers voted to include environmental rights in the Bill of Rights of the New York State Constitution. The amendment recognizes and protects the rights of all New Yorkers to clean water and air and a healthful environment. It places these rights on the same constitutional level as other enshrined freedoms, such as the right to freely speak and the right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures.

Since its passage, the Green Amendment has been at the center of controversy over how or even whether it is enforced. The state has taken the position that the amendment does not empower citizens to dictate the actions of agencies like the state Department of Environmental Conservation.

A lawsuit filed in 2022 by residents who live near the High Acres Landfill in Monroe County demanding environmental cleanup resulted in a ruling that complying with the Constitution is not optional for a state agency. That ruling was appealed, and the case is currently before an appeals court.

A similar lawsuit is now going on against the state’s largest landfill in Seneca Falls. Once again, the position taken by the state Attorney General is that the Green Amendment does not alter the DEC’s enforcement discretion as to whether to force the landfill operators to take action.

Environmental activists have been staging protests at the state Capital, urging the governor, the state attorney general, and the DEC to shift their approach to applying the Green Amendment. Until this issue is resolved in the courts, it is unclear whether this amendment, put in place by 70% of voters, will actually protect the citizens of New York and its environment.

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New York’s Green Amendment Guarantees the Right to a ‘Healthful Environment.’ Activists Want the State to Enforce It

Photo, posted April 22, 2023, courtesy of Pedrik via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Are we really serious about eliminating fossil fuels?

December 15, 2023 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Almost all the countries around the world have pledged to take action to reduce planet-warming emissions by expanding the use of renewable energy sources and phasing out fossil fuels. But very few countries seem to be taking the fossil fuel phase-out seriously.

Almost all the top 20 fossil-fuel producing countries plan to produce more oil, gas, and coal in 2030 than they do today. Countries are doubling down on fossil fuel production, which will make it virtually impossible to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius.

Despite having an administration that takes climate issues very seriously, the United States is now the world’s biggest crude oil producer and is ramping up exports of natural gas. Brazil, under its environmental champion President da Silva, plans to increase oil production by 63% and more than double its gas output over the next decade. India, which has promised to expand renewable energy production, will more than double its production of coal by 2030. Canada, which has a net-zero commitment enacted as law, will boost its oil output by 25% in the next 12 years. Meanwhile, countries like Saudi Arabia and Russia aren’t even pretending to make the transition away from fossil fuels.

Governments and citizens around the world may be serious about the climate crisis and are taking various actions. But the world cannot address climate change without tackling its root cause. The overwhelming force of greed and the power wielded by the fossil fuel industry has created a dynamic that is making real progress nearly impossible as fossil fuels continue to power the world.

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Coming Soon: More Oil, Gas and Coal

Photo, posted June 22, 2020, courtesy of John Morton via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Even The Common House Sparrow Is Declining | Earth Wise

March 17, 2021 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

According to the first-ever comprehensive assessment of net bird populations published in 2019, nearly three billion birds have disappeared in the United States and Canada since 1970. The study, by researchers from the Cornell University Lab of Ornithology, found that North American bird populations have lost 2.9 billion breeding adults during that timespan. Forests lost one billion birds, and grassland birds declined 53%.

According to a newer study from Cornell University, it appears that even the common house sparrow is declining. In parts of its native range in Europe, house sparrow numbers are down nearly 60%. Researchers from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology sought to clarify the status of the species in the U.S. and Canada by using 21 years of citizen science data collected through its Project Feederwatch program.

Project FeederWatch is a winter-long survey of birds that visit feeders at backyards, nature centers, community areas, and other locales. For the study, which was recently published in the Wilson Journal of Ornithology, the research team reviewed recorded observations of house sparrows during their non-breeding season. These sightings from nearly 12,500 sites were used and cross-referenced with the National Land Cover database to determine whether the U.S. sightings came from rural or urban locations.

From 1995 to 2016, researchers found that Feederwatch sites reporting house sparrows declined 7.5%, and the mean flock sizes declined 22%. House sparrow populations declined in urban areas, but actually remained stable in rural areas.

The researchers say a lack of green space and nesting sites in urban areas are likely factors in the population declines.

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Study finds even the common house sparrow is declining

Nearly 3 Billion Birds Gone

Photo, posted May 14, 2014, courtesy of Jacob Spinks via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Trouble On The Colorado

April 4, 2019 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

The 1450-mile-long Colorado River begins in the Rocky Mountains and wends its way to the Gulf of California, creating the Grand Canyon along the way, and providing water to some 40 million people. The amount of Colorado River water promised to users is far more than actually flows between its banks, and that amount is dropping.

An unrelenting drought since 2000 has resulted in the water levels of the two largest reservoirs of Colorado River water – Lake Mead and Lake Powell – being at all-time lows.

Lake Mead, just outside of Las Vegas, is the reservoir of Hoover Dam, which provides power for millions of people in Southern California, Nevada, and Arizona. The last time Lake Mead was full was in 1983. It has slowly declined and now is 40% full.

If the lake level drops another 7 feet to 1075 feet above sea level, it will trigger a Tier 1 declaration, mandating cuts to water allocations to Arizona and other states. If the level drops to 1050 feet, it would reach Tier 2 at which point Hoover Dam would have to stop generating electricity because water levels would be too low to flow through it. If the lake level drops all the way to 895 feet, it would be below the level at which water can be piped out of it. This is known as the “dead pool”.

These scenarios are no longer doomsday fantasies. Water managers in the Southwest see the writing on the wall and are busy making contingency plans and developing ways to use less water from the Colorado River. The booming city of Phoenix in particular is hard at work finding alternative ways to provide water for its millions of citizens. On the Colorado, drought in the new normal.

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On the Water-Starved Colorado River, Drought Is the New Normal

Photo, posted October 24, 2016, courtesy of Sharon Mollerus via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.