Climate Crisis AM Editions 2/28/24
Rivian scored worst among EV companies in the new Consumer Reports auto brand survey. The study ranks 34 brands based on road tests, reliability scores, and safety rankings. Consumers widely use it for car purchases. Brands receive scores that can run between zero and 100. Among all brands, BWM came in first with a score of 82. Tesla finished 18th with a score of 65. Rivian had a score of 55, which put it in 30th place. This adds to several challenges Rivian has, which include low unit sales and poor financials. The EV industry is troubled by slowing sales, partly because of the range of battery charges, the time it takes to charge a car, and the low number of battery chargers nationwide.
More EV Challenges —Ford’s Ongoing Trouble
EV Cutbacks —The Plan At Mercedes
Cape Town, South Africa, is running out of drinking water. One solution is to cut down or burn thousands of trees. These trees use up large amounts of groundwater, and the activity may be the only solution city residents have. According to The Washington Post, “Projections by hydrologists working for the Greater Cape Town Water Fund — a consortium of government, businesses and conservation groups — show that getting rid of foreign tree species can produce an extra two months’ worth of water for Cape Town much more cheaply than other solutions such as desalination.”
Food Shortages And Global Instability
Brazil’s government says climate change plays a role in global instability, negatively affecting food supply in several places worldwide. According to Reuters, “Brazil’s Environment Minister Marina Silva said on Tuesday that the world is currently witnessing wars with devastating losses and that significant instability could further arise if governments fail to address climate change issues.” The observation is not new. As far back as 2016, the IMF pointed out that low-income countries often have food supply problems that can trigger high prices which “lead to a significant deterioration of democratic institutions and a significant increase in the incidence of anti-government demonstrations, riots, and civil conflict.”
Climate change can cause a drop in the weight of fish. The AAAS recently published a paper titled “Climate change shrinking fish.” The University of Japan studied the oceans off Japan’s east coast. “During the 2010s, while the number of Japanese sardine and chub mackerel moderately increased, the effect of climate change warming the ocean appears to have resulted in more competition for food, as cooler, nutrient-dense water could not easily rise to the surface.” The researcher suggested that government policy to affect the negative trends in climate change was the only answer to the problem. This, in turn, has been suggested as the solution to virtually every climate change issue in the world.
