The Environmental Digest is a short daily newsletter that delivers the hottest climate change news directly t to your inbox.
Sustainability Thursday
US Homebuyers Weigh Climate Risk in Picking a House
According to a new survey by a popular real estate firm Zillow, more than 80% of US homebuyers are factoring in climate risks when they shop for a new house.
Considering that the majority of today’s home shoppers are Millennials and Gen Z, most say their major concern is flood risk, followed by wildfires, extreme temperatures, hurricanes and drought.
Notable Quote
"Climate risks impact where most prospective buyers shop for a home," said Zillow senior population scientist Manny Garcia. "While all generations juggle trade-offs like budget, floor plans and commute times, younger home shoppers are more likely to face another consideration: They want to know if their home will be safe from rising waters, extreme temperatures and wildfires."
Stats
83% of all prospective buyers in each region of the United States consider at least one climate risk when shopping at home. Research says that people in the West are most likely (59%) to consider climate risk to be extremely impactful when choosing a home, followed by Northeast (50%), the South (79%), and the Midwest (42%).
Turns out, younger home shoppers are driving the market. The median age of today's home buyer is 39, and first-time buyers make up 50% of all buyers. Millennial and Gen Z shoppers — who comprise 54% of all home buyers — are most likely to weigh in climate change into their future purchases.
Politics & Environment
China Needs to Pay Up Amidst Climate Change
“If they want to be global economies, they need to act like global economies,” said John Kerry, the US special presidential envoy for climate in an interview in Bucharest on Thursday, per Bloomberg.
When asked if China should contribute to a “loss and damage” fund to help the poorest nations cope with climate-fueled disasters like floods and droughts, he said that large economies need to step up and China seems reluctant so far.
At the UN climate summit in Egypt last year, delegates agreed to create a loss and damage fund, although most of the details have not been cleared yet. Hopefully, it is going to be decided at COP28, held in Dubai at the end of November.
Environment and Science
Carbon Pollution Boosted Heat for Billions This Summer
Earth just had its hottest Northern Hemisphere summer, creating a ripple effect with record-shattering and dangerous between the months of June and August, per Climate Central.
Using the Climate Shift Index (CSI), Climate Central’s daily temperature attribution system, finds that anthropogenic (human-caused) climate change made the unprecedented heat far more likely.
Some Stats
Almost half (48%) of the world’s population experienced at the least 30 days with the index levels of 3 or higher, which means that between 1.5 and 4.2 billion people felt a very strong influence of climate change this summer.
Heat at CSI level 3 or higher persisted for at least half the June-August period in 79 countries throughout Central America, the Caribbean, the Arabian Peninsula, and parts of Africa.
Countries with the lowest historical emissions experienced three-to-four times more June-August days with CSI level 3 or higher than G20 countries (the world’s largest economies).
What does it mean?
Leaders of global economies truly cannot ignore or deny the effects of climate change. Assistance has to be provided to countries that had nothing to do with it and with the clock ticking closer to irreversible damage, actionable steps have to be taken.
Climate Tidbits
Take advantage of savings from the Inflation Reduction Act and check out this guide from the New York Times to help you save money and fight climate change.
Steel manufacturing is an essential aspect of the global economy and it is becoming cleaner. 43% of planned steel plants started to use electric arc furnaces using scrap metal improving plant capacity and lowering the carbon footprint per the Global Energy Monitor report.
Environment and Water
The Imperfect Fry: Potato Farmers in Minnesota are Struggling Amid Drought
Minnesota, a state know for its 10,000 lakes just blew through their water limits amid the raging drought that dried up waterfalls and turned ponds into puddles per New York Times.
Farmers had to drench their fields with water to irrigate potatoes and other water intensive crops like corn, soybeans, and sugar beets, collectively pumping 6.1 billion gallons more groundwater than allowed under the state permits. The limits were designed to protect aquifers that supply drinking water to millions of people.
A third of the overuse happened on land affiliated with one company, R. D. Offutt Farms known for supplying long, smooth potatoes that make the iconic McDonald’s French fries.
Officials in Warren, Minn., partly surrounded by sugar beet fields, had to physically lower the pump at the town’s well by 63 feet in order to keep providing drinking water to more than 1,500 residents, including those in a hospital and nursing home.
While potato farming is not the only big agricultural user of groundwater in Minnesota, shows how a host of seemingly unrelated factors — the demands of industrial French fry production, for example, or the fact that people will spend more money for fries with fewer unappetizing dark spots — can send water use soaring.
Thank you for your support! Find us in your inbox tomorrow!