Guardian - Record-breaking rain in recent months has drastically reduced the amount of food produced in the UK, farming groups have said. Livestock and crops have been affected as fields have been submerged since last autumn. It
has been an exceptionally wet 18 months. According to the Met Office,
1,695.9mm of rain fell from October 2022 to March 2024, the highest
amount for any 18-month period in England in recorded history. The Met
Office started collecting data in 1836. The UK will be reliant on imports for wheat in the coming year and potentially beyond because of the drastic reduction in yields.
Newsweek - Millions of Southern California residents could see one aspect of their water bill double. On
Tuesday, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California
passed a budget that solidified rate and property tax increases for its
customers over the next two years. Years of drought in California
contributed to the increase, as the district battles revenue declines
following widespread conservation efforts related to climate change. Two abnormally wet winters have aided in California's recovery from drought, but despite the state's improved water conditions, conservation efforts have had an impact on the MWD. "We've
been successful in conservation to the point where our sales are
declining, and we need to make that up somehow," MWD Board of Directors
Chair Adán Ortega Jr. said, according to a Los Angeles Times report. "We've made up the revenue and stabilized the past rates with the reserves, and we can't keep doing that."
Tom Dispatch - Facing the threat of overweening government interference from OSHA or state regulators, two brave Republican-run state governments have stepped in to protect employers from just such dangerous oversight. Florida and Texas have both passed laws prohibiting localities from mandating protections like rest breaks for, or even having to provide drinking water to, workers in extreme heat situations. Seriously, Florida and Texas have made it illegal for local cities to protect their workers from the direct effects of climate change. Apparently, being “woke” includes an absurd desire not to see workers die of heat exhaustion.
The European Court of Human Rights ruled yesterday
that countries have an obligation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to
protect people from the effects of climate change, marking the first
successful international court ruling on climate change. The decision
sets a legal precedent for climate litigation within the Council of
Europe's 46 member states, including the 27 EU nations (see the difference). Senior
Women for Climate Protection, whose members are primarily in their 70s,
argued their age and gender made them more vulnerable to the impacts of
extreme heat brought on by climate change and Switzerland's failure to
adequately regulate emissions violated their human rights. The ECHR said
Switzerland's emission reduction efforts were inadequate and identified
significant regulatory gaps. The Swiss government will need to decide
how to fulfill its climate change obligations. The court rejected two similar cases brought by six Portuguese youths
and a former French mayor, citing procedural issues and a lack of
territorial jurisdiction, respectively. The decisions come as new data revealed March was the 10th consecutive month to become the warmest on record.
WalletHub released its report on 2024’s Greenest States. WalletHub compared the 50 states in terms of 25 key metrics that speak to the current health of the environment and residents’ environmental-friendliness. The data set ranges from green buildings per capita to the share of energy consumption from renewable resources.
| Greenest States | Least Green States | |
| 1. California | 41. Arkansas | |
| 2. Vermont | 42. New Mexico | |
| 3. New York | 43. North Dakota | |
| 4. Maryland | 44. Wyoming | |
| 5. Washington | 45. Alaska | |
| 6. Minnesota | 46. Kentucky | |
| 7. Hawaii | 47. Mississippi | |
| 8. Maine | 48. Alabama | |
| 9. Connecticut | 49. Louisiana | |
| 10. Massachusetts | 50. West Virginia |
Key Stats
- Blue States are greener, with an average rank of 14.84, compared with Red States, which have an average rank of 36.16. (Rank 1=Greenest)
- South Dakota has the highest share of energy consumption from renewable sources, which is 18.3 times higher than in Delaware, the state with the lowest.
- New York has the highest share of people who do not drive to work, which is 3.2 times higher than in Mississippi, the state with the lowest.
- Vermont has the highest number of alternative-fuel stations per 100,000 residents, which is 8.1 times higher than in Louisiana, the state with the lowest.
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