As canada burns from border to border

 

JEFFREY ST. CLAIR

+ As Canada burns from border to border, Rich Kruger, the CEO of Suncor, the country’s biggest CO2 emitter, pledges to accelerate its fossil fuel production: “I play to win. We’re in the business to make money and as much of it as possible.”

+ He’s not alone. Check out Bidenmentalism in action: US domestic crude oil production has reached 12.7 million barrels per day, up 600,000 barrels per day from one year ago, the highest level since 2020.

+ The IMF estimates that fossil fuels are being subsidized at rate of $13 million every minute or about $7 trillion a year.

+ A study published in PLOS Climate estimates that the richest 10 percent of Americans account for 40 percent of the greenhouse gas emissions. Sounds low to me.

+ Starting on May 27, 2023, State Farm will become the biggest company to stop offering insurance to California homeowners, attributing the decision to the rising risk of wildfires. The company, which held the most policies in the California property market in 2021, experienced about a 60% loss that year.

+ Allstate isn’t trailing far behind State Farm. It lost 32 cents on the dollar in the first six months of 2023 insuring homes…

+ Europe has already experienced at least 1,100 fires this summer, scorching more than 1,100 square miles of land–far above the average of 724 fires a year from 2006-2022.

+ The flooding in Slovenia is now the worst natural disaster in the country’s history. More than two-thirds of Slovenia is devastated with hundreds of villages still cut off from the outside world.

+ New Orleans endured more than a month with a heat index of at least 105 degrees, nearly doubling the record set in 2021. For nine consecutive days during that stretch temperatures felt like 115 degrees or higher.

+ For the third time on record (since 1851), three Atlantic tropical cyclones formed over 24 hour period (Tropical Depression 6, Emily, and Franklin). The historic outbreak of tropical cyclones was matched only by August 22, 1995, and August 15, 1893.

+ What are currently considered 1-in-100 year extreme sea level events are projected to occur at least annually in over half of the world’s tide gauge locations by 2100.

+ Terry Tempest Williams: “In Castle Valley (Utah), according to our town’s weather keeper, we have had 47 days this summer where the temperature exceeded 100 degrees Fahrenheit or hotter, and the average high was 107 degrees. At its peak the heat reached a sweltering 114 degrees. From Texas to Phoenix to the Four Corners, there has been no relief.”