Current conditions: Most of Alabama is under a flood watch • It will be so hot in Southern Australia this weekend that special bins have been set up to collect dead bats • Hazardous smog choked 54 of Thailand’s 77 provinces this week.
THE TOP FIVE
1. Biden talks up energy and economic wins during SOTU
President Biden’s final State of the Union address before the November election represented as good a chance as any for him to make his pitch to the American people — and he did so without ever saying the name of his most significant piece of legislation, the Inflation Reduction Act, wrote Heatmap’s Jeva Lange. Biden repeatedly boasted about “clean energy, advanced manufacturing,” and creating “tens of thousands of jobs here in America.” He further referred to a Stellantis plant in Belvidere, Illinois, that reopened partly due to a federal grant made possible by the IRA. The economic upsides of the IRA were largely separated from Biden’s brief mention of “confronting the climate crisis” in the second half of his speech. His lone new climate announcement pertained to a rather minor piece in his more extensive agenda: Biden promised to triple the Climate Corps of young people working in clean energy in a decade.
“The Biden administration has consistently moved its climate goals forward by not calling attention to the fact that they are climate goals,” Lange continued. “At the same time, using the State of the Union to draw attention to specific economic accomplishments that just so happen to be in the clean energy space allows Biden to go toe-to-toe with Donald Trump on the economy — an issue voters are more concerned about this election cycle than the climate — without letting such a talking point be dismissed as green liberal woo-woo.”
2. Rivian surprises with new R3 and R3X models
Rivian unveiled the much-anticipated R2 SUV yesterday, but surprised everyone with two other models, the R3 and the R3X. Here’s what we know about all three vehicles:
- R2: A mid-sized, five-seat electric SUV with up to 300 miles of range. Launching in early 2026, starting at $45,000.
- R3: An electric crossover “built on the same midsize platform as R2, but smaller and at a lower price point.”
- R3X: “A rally-inspired crossover designed for whatever you throw at it.” Deliveries will begin “after R2.”
3. Australia’s Great Barrier Reef suffers mass bleaching event
Two-thirds of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is showing signs of coral bleaching “consistent with patterns of heat stress that has built up over summer,” experts said today. This will be the fifth mass bleaching event in just eight years for the world’s largest living structure. Bleaching occurs when stressful conditions such as heat cause corals to expel the algae that lives in their tissues and turn white. “Bleaching of corals does not always result in coral mortality, with some corals being able to recover if conditions cool,” the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority said. But Richard Leck, WWF-Australia Head of Oceans, warned that “unless we see a significant drop off in temperatures in the next few weeks, the risk of significant coral mortality is high.”
The Great Barrier Reef pictured off the coast of Australia in August of last year.MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority will carry out aerial and in-water surveys to get a better understanding of the extent of the damage. Earlier this week the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration warned of widespread bleaching events in tropical reefs all over the world. Coral reefs support about a quarter of all marine life.
4. Utility company says it was ‘involved’ in Texas fire
The utility company Xcel Energy said yesterday that its equipment played a role in starting Texas’ Smokehouse Creek Fire. Fueled by strong winds, dry brush, and unusually high temperatures, the blaze has burned more than 1.2 million acres and is the largest fire in state history. Linda Moon, assistant director of the Texas A&M Forest Service, said power lines were to blame. The company faces nearly 300 lawsuits in Colorado for its alleged involvement in the 2021 Marshall wildfire.
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5. Cherry blossoms get their own climate ‘hockey stick’ graph
Following the news that Japan’s famous cherry trees have blossomed early, Our World in Data posted this graph showing the timing of peak cherry tree blossoms in Kyoto going back to the year 812. “We see that in recent centuries the peak blossom has gradually moved earlier in the year — due to higher temperatures from climate change,” the publication noted. Climate scientist Michael Mann, who popularized the “hockey stick” graph in 1998 that showed a spike in global temperatures, said “I recognize that shape, even when it's upside down…”
Our World in Data
THE KICKER
“Women’s leadership is the key to successful action in tackling climate change. Without their leadership, knowledge, and engagement in the implementation of climate-resilient development paths, it is unlikely that solutions for creating a sustainable and healthy planet will be implemented.” –Tomica Paovic from the United Nations Development Programme
The Great Barrier Reef pictured off the coast of Australia in August of last year.
AccuWeather
Maxar Open Data Program via Gupta et al., CVPR Workshop Proceedings. Lütjens et al., IEEE TGRS