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Climate

Donald Trump and Mohammed bin Salman.
AM Briefing

The Saudi Atom

On Trump’s power pledge, America’s offshore nuclear, and Japan’s offshore wind

Daily Briefing

Why It’s Still So Hard to Count Heat Wave Deaths

France’s deadliest heat wave since 2003 killed more than 2,700 people — and possibly as many as 5,700.

AM Briefing

Smokestacked

On EPA’s coal ‘wish list,’ nuclear M&A, and hybrid-electric planes

Green
AM Briefing

The Data Center Paradox

On solar PPAs, German EVs, and copper prices

Blue
Carbon removal.

EU Backs DAC

On British oil, Claude’s friend request, and Russian nuclear

Yellow
Wildfire smoke.

What Worries Me Most About This Wildfire Smoke

We didn’t know days like this could happen. Then we learned how bad they really are.

Blue
Adaptation

The East Coast’s New Forever Problem

Smoke is back. Again. It’s time to make a plan.

East coast smoke.
<p>Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images</p>

Heat kills more Americans than any other extreme weather event in the United States. But wildfire smoke — while not strictly “weather” — appears to kill even more. Current excess death estimates put American heat mortality at about 10,000 people per year, or possibly as high as 12,000. Recent studies on wildfire PM 2.5 exposure suggest a mortality of double that: 24,000 all-cause deaths every year.

Needless to say, wildfire smoke is definitely not something you want to inhale if you can avoid it. (And really, you should try to.) But for the 115 million Americans in the Great Lakes and Northeast regions of the country who’ve been exposed to hazardous air from the fires in Ontario and Minnesota this week, there’s a chance that the damage is already done. According to a wildfire smoke mortality estimation tool from Cornell University’s School of Public Health and the Northeast Regional Climate Center, the total mortality for this smoke event could already be as high as 424 people so far, including nearly 100 in Michigan and more than 50 in both New York and Wisconsin.

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AM Briefing

Oil’s Road to Damascus

On NRC moves, Blue Energy, and China’s solar and methanol breakthroughs

A Chevron facility.
<p>Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images</p>

Current conditions: The World Cup’s final match between Argentina and Spain is set to take place Sunday in New Jersey, where the thick orange haze of Canadian wildfire smoke is still hovering • Temperatures are soaring to 110 degrees Fahrenheit in Ethiopia’s northeast Afar province • Researchers just categorized the first major dust storm of Arizona’s monsoon season, which struck Phoenix earlier in the week, as a Category 3.

THE TOP FIVE

1. Iraq and Chevron want to build a pipeline through Syria to skirt the Strait of Hormuz

An oil pipeline built in 1926 from Syria to Iraq. A century later, another may be coming. Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

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