A dangerous heat wave and possible record-breaking temperatures are headed toward Nevada and parts of the West later this week and a new report showed climate change could increase the frequency of such events.

The Climate Central report found human-caused climate change added an average of 26 days of extreme heat globally than there would have been otherwise.

Fredi Otto, co-lead of World Weather Attribution and senior lecturer in climate science at the Grantham Institute for Climate Change and the Environment, said it will continue to be more difficult to keep vulnerable communities safe.

"Overwhelmingly we are in the era of loss and damage," Otto pointed out. "Climate change is not something happening somewhere else, or sometime in the future, it is here and now."

Experts like Otto are calling on policymakers to take action as the deadly heat can take a serious toll on those who work outside. After failed legislative attempts, the Nevada Occupational Safety and Health Administration is working on new requirements for businesses to implement their own rules to keep workers safe.

In Nevada last year, there were just under 350 heat complaints filed with OSHA, up from 210 the previous year.

Roop Singh, climate risk adviser for the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre, considers heat waves a silent killer, unlike other types of natural disasters. While the Biden administration has invested billions of federal dollars to help lower energy costs for Americans, data show assistance only reaches a small portion of those who need the help during the hot summer months.

Singh said national legislation could help make a difference.

"Can we build those in? Can there be national legislation around building codes for keeping your homes cooler?" Singh urged. "Worker safety laws, especially for people who are working outdoors, can also be really helpful."

Singh noted other measures to reduce the impact of hotter days include making cooling needs part of the social safety net, as well as designing towns and cities with cool spaces in mind.

Just last year, Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo vetoed a measure to accomplish those goals in Clark and Washoe counties. He argued it would create red tape for developers.


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The Conservation Fund, which works to protect land and nature across the U.S. has announced it has protected more than 1 million acres of working forests lands across the country, including in Oregon.

The organization's milestone comes as forests are rapidly disappearing -- as many as 13 million acres in the next few decades.

Brian Dangler, director of the Working Forest Fund with The Conservation Fund, said valuable work continues on the protected land which adds to the nearby economy.

"The beauty of these projects is that the receipts from the timber, the sustainable management of forests, timber harvest really helps local folks to keep the schools going, the fire department, the local services," he explained.

He added The Conservation Fund has helped protect forestland in the Columbia River Gorge near Hood River and Deep River Woods near Astoria. Nationwide, it's secured forests in 21 states. The organization uses community and private partnerships to protect nature.

Dangler said large, intact forests support jobs in rural communities, through logging, trucking, building roads and other activities.

"And, of course, the wildlife habitat that goes along with it. Good forest management usually improves wildlife habitat for lots of different species," he continued.

Dangler noted development is one of the biggest threats to forests, and said it's important to keep forestlands as units rather than smaller parcels.

"Eventually more and more development just nibbles away at these large, intact forests. It's very important for them to be large in landscape," he said. "It's like Humpty Dumpty -- you can't put it back together again when it gets fragmented so much."

Summer in Indiana produces a variety of festivals, outdoor concerts, and athletic competitions.

These attractions produce large crowds and hundreds of pounds of trash and food containers which could end up in a landfill.

"The Indianapolis Event Waste Guide" is an environmentally-focused publication with resources and contact information for nonprofits and vendors wanting to reduce waste.

Ecosystems Events Owner Julia Spangler said the publication is for events attended by a dozen or thousands of people.

"Bringing people together, especially if you're feeding them or decorating, often generates waste," said Spangler. "So, this guide is all about first, how to reduce the amount of waste generated in the first place, and then how to keep that waste out of the landfill."

Spangler described the publication as a "one-stop shop starting point" for recycling or composting food, waste, leftover lanyards, or banners.

In 2021, Indiana collected more than nine million tons of garbage, refuse, office waste and other similar materials.

The Indianapolis Event Waste Guide was released to coincide with the U.S. Olympic swimming trials held in Indianapolis last month.

As the state continues to draw large crowds at amateur and professional athletic competitions, event planners are looking for ways to reduce their carbon footprint.

Sustain Indy Community Manager, and City of Indianapolis Office of Sustainability Community Engagement Manager Lyndsay Trameri noted the guide is intended for local residents and out-of-town organizers.

"Just because you're planning an event in the town you live in," said Trameri, "that doesn't mean you're aware of all the different contacts and organizations that are local that can help you decrease your footprint."

Trameri added that city leaders have a plan for Indianapolis to be net zero emissions by 2050. Trameri said you can download the free guide on the Visit Indy website.

Weather researchers at Iowa State University say a shifting climate and warmer ocean temperatures are partially responsible for a record number of tornadoes this spring.

More than 100 were reported in Iowa, in May alone.

Eleven hundred tornadoes were reported regionwide in May -- from Texas to Minnesota, and from West Virginia to Georgia. That's more than twice the 30 year average.

One of the fiercest killed five people and injured dozens in rural Greenfield, Iowa.

ISU Severe Weather Meteorologist and Professor of Meteorology William Gallus said extreme heat from a changing climate has increased ocean temperatures, and is one contributing factor to this year's storms.

"Mexico and Texas were having record high temperatures," said Gallus. "That was allowing the Gulf of Mexico to rapidly warm up, get much warmer than normal, which means that is our main source of energy."

Gallus said the weather pattern known as El Niño -- characterized by warmer ocean temperatures that prompt more precipitation and provide fuel for severe weather -- is now shifting to La Niña, marked by cooler seas and drier weather.

That could cause the rest of the tornado season to be less active.

Gallus said the high number of tornadoes in the region was unusual, since climate change models predict Iowa and neighboring states west of the Mississippi should being seeing below average numbers, which they have in recent years.

"The long-term trend has been for tornadoes to be hitting more places east of the Mississippi River," said Gallus.

Gallus said data show tornadoes occurring on fewer days each year, but coming in clusters and with greater intensity.

He says some storms that have been listed as Category F3 are probably F5's, but measurement methods in some areas are not adequate to gauge the storms' intensity.




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