Monday, June 1 is the official start day of hurricane season (Photo courtesy of NASA)
Today is the first day of the Hurricane season,
but we’ve already seen a tropical depression off
the Atlantic coast. Lester Graham reports:
Transcript
Today is the first day of the Hurricane season, but we’ve already seen a tropical depression off the Atlantic coast. Lester Graham reports:
The Weather Channel noted that tropical depression was farther North earlier than any potential hurricane in the 159 years of storm records.
You can’t help but wonder whether climate change is having an effect here.
Jeff Masters is a former hurricane hunter, now with Weather Underground.
He says that’s not what’s happening. He says this storm was getting stronger by following the the gulf stream.
“There just happened to be a little blip of warm water associated with the gulf stream that this storm took advantage of. It was a very small storm so it was very lucky. It was able to stay over the warmest part of the gulf stream.”
Masters says it’ll be decades before we’ll be able to tell if climate change is actually affecting hurricanes.
Forecasts this year call for a pretty average hurricane season.
Masters says an El Niño event could occur later. That’s important, since the number and intensity of Atlantic storms are usually reduced during an El Niño year.
For The Environment Report, this is Lester Graham.
Jack Spicer of Preservation Chicago is on a campaign
to save the venerable 'wood frame window,' like these
on his Chicago home. (Photo by Shawn Allee)
Each winter presents some homeowners with a choice: whether to replace old,
wooden windows with modern, energy-efficient ones before cold winds blow
again. Each year, more homeowners choose the replacement windows, often made from vinyl or aluminum. Shawn Allee found some historical preservationists want homeowners to think twice about that:
Transcript
Each winter presents some homeowners with a choice: whether to replace old,
wooden windows with modern, energy-efficient ones before cold winds blow
again. Each year, more homeowners choose the replacement windows, often made from vinyl or aluminum. Shawn Allee found some historical preservationists want homeowners to think twice about that:
If you think century-old windows have to be rickety and leaky, Jack
Spicer would like you to come to his place.
He’s eager to show off windows on his Chicago two-flat, built in 1908.
“So, here’s an example of the way an old-fashioned wood window
looks from the outside a hundred years later. These windows are
longer-lasting and obviously better looking than any replacement window you
can find.”
It’s no surprise Spicer makes this pitch.
He’s with a group called Preservation Chicago, and he’s on a campaign
to save wood-frame windows from the onslaught of vinyl and aluminum-framed
replacements.
Spicer’s losing ground, even in his own neighborhood.
“This apartment building replaced their windows. The next building
replaced all their windows. If you look across the street at this huge
courtyard building, there’re about 48 units in there. Those windows were
fine, and those windows are now trashed. They went into a dumpster and are
now in a landfill somewhere.”
But if old wood-framed windows are so great, why do so many US homeowners
replace them?
“Somebody told them it would save them money if you put in brand-new
replacement windows. Everybody’s taught that – you read about it, you
see the ads. All the replacement window (companies) tell you, if you’re
American and you love your children, you’ll replace your windows. Well,
we’re getting over that now, I hope.”
Spicer insists replacing your windows is not an environmental slam dunk.
He says if old wood-frame windows are properly sealed and have storm
windows, they’ll hold heat almost as well as replacements.
I ask Spicer for numbers on this, and he sends me to Mike Jackson, with
Illinois’ Historic Preservation Agency.
“Several years ago, Vermont as a state did a study and they looked
at repairing windows, adding storm windows, replacing windows, and what it
really came down to was, how leaky are your windows? If they were
reasonably tight, there wasn’t a lot of savings to replacing your windows
at all.”
Jackson says a new furnace or insulation are better pay-offs, and
replacement windows often last just a few decades.
“We’re throwing away items that lasted for a hundred years with
simple technologies and replacing them with more complex things with
shorter life spans. In our line, the reason they call them replacement
windows is because you have to keep replacing them.”
Well, people in the replacement window industry don’t take kindly to
this.
One rep told me the short life span of replacement windows is overblown –
high quality ones last longer.
And he told me, if energy prices rise in the future, replacement windows
become more competitive.
So, is it worth replacing old, wooden windows?
“There’re many factors and that’s why it’s, in our opinion,
not so clear-cut.”
Christian Kohler studies window technology at the Lawrence-Berkeley
National Laboratory.
He says replacement windows are better on energy, but it could take decades
to get a good payback and by that time, you might need to replace them
again.
Anyway, Kohler says there’s an alternative.
If your wood windows are in good condition, you can add storm windows that
have what’s called a “low – E” coating.
The coating helps retain heat.
“It’s applied to glass and it’s virtually invisible. It
doesn’t have a color or anything.”
Kohler says if preservationists want to keep wood windows around on account
of their looks or long-term value, it still makes sense to crack down on
leaks and get good storm windows.
It doesn’t make sense to waste energy on account of beauty when you
don’t have to.
The classic photograph of the Earth, taken by the Apollo 17 crew on December 7, 1972 traveling toward the moon (Photo courtesy of NASA-JSC Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth)
2008 is on track to be one of the
ten warmest years on record. Rebecca Williams
has more:
Transcript
2008 is on track to be one of the ten warmest years on record. Rebecca Williams has more:
Scientists keep track of how hot and how cold it gets in places all over the planet. And this time of year they tally up the data.
Karsten Shein is with the National Climatic Data Center. He says 2008 was a cooler year – but it still ranks as one of the top ten warmest years in the past century.
“We do see there are periods where temperatures have gotten cooler for a short period of time and periods where temperatures have gotten warmer for a short period of time but over the entire period of record we’ve seen a general warming trend.”
Shein says many places around the planet continue to have more extreme weather – more rain, more heat waves and more snow.
31% of low-income people said they kept their home so cold it felt unsafe. 20% said they had their electricity or gas shut off for some amount of
time.
(Photo by Gerald Downing, courtesy of FEMA)
Now that the price of oil has
dropped, the cost of heating your home
won’t be as high as experts were predicting
this summer. But millions of Americans
are still struggling to pay their heating
bills. Rebecca Williams reports in some
rare cases having your heat shut off can
mean being evicted from your home. And,
in the worst case, it can even mean losing
your children:
Transcript
Now that the price of oil has
dropped, the cost of heating your home
won’t be as high as experts were predicting
this summer. But millions of Americans
are still struggling to pay their heating
bills. Rebecca Williams reports in some
rare cases having your heat shut off can
mean being evicted from your home. And,
in the worst case, it can even mean losing
your children:
Demetria Salinas has three kids. Money is tight and she’s worried about
getting through the winter.
“I’m kinda nervous because I mean what if we don’t have enough to pay the
bills, then what do we do?”
She says she tries to save on heat by putting extra sweaters on her kids, and
turning the furnace off.
“Put the gas on for a little bit and turn it off, and when it gets a little bit
colder, put it back on. But it does definitely mean layering up, even in the
house.”
She says that’s hard on her kids.
Many parents are in these impossible situations. The National Energy
Assistance Director’s Association has found low-income people often have
to choose between paying their heating bills and feeding their kids.
31% said they kept their home so cold it felt unsafe. 20% of low income
people said they had their electricity or gas shut off for some amount of
time.
Phil Thompson works for Capital Area Community Services in Lansing,
Michigan. His agency helps people pay their bills and talks with utility
companies to buy people more time. He says usually utilities won’t shut
heat off in the coldest days of winter.
“Most utility companies are sympathetic to the situation of not having heat
in the wintertime. There’s always those horror stories of a senior or
handicapped individual who froze because their utility was turned off.
They’re going to do everything they can to keep that from happening.”
But Thompson says he sees a lot of people get their heat shut off in the
spring, and it can still get cold then.
Now, in some states, if the heat is shut off – even for just a little while – you
can be evicted.
“In some cases where there’s small children it’s very possible that Child
Protective Services would get involved and possibly remove the kids from
the household when there’s no utilities.”
That’s right – the state can take kids away if the utilities are shut off.
We talked with foster care workers in several states, and they all said that
this is rare. They said they do everything they can to keep families together,
and they can sometimes help pay heating bills. But they also said a home
with no heat is often a sign that something else is wrong.
Andrea Yocum is an investigator with Child Protective Services north of
Detroit.
“Typically there’s other reasons why they’re removed for example, if the
family’s just not willing to pay their bills because they’re using the money
for other things like drugs or alcohol.”
But Yocum says sometimes it’s just not the family’s fault.
“I have had families that were evicted as a result of their landlord not paying
their bills, and utilities turned off the same because the landlord’s not taking
care of what’s happening within the home.”
If families are evicted, it can be temporary, maybe just a couple days until
the heat’s back on. But for families living in poverty, having the heat turned
off again can happen as soon as the next bill is late.
There is some good news this year. There’s federal money that states use to
help people pay their heating bills. Because fuel prices were expected to go
up, Congress doubled that pot of money this year. Most states are reporting
they’re in a better position to help people now.
But winter is just beginning and they’re already getting a lot more people
asking for help with their heating bills than in the past.
Drier areas will
find a warmer climate makes things tougher, but other areas might benefit
(Photo by Patrick Tregenza, courtesy of the USDA Agricultural Research Service)
Farmers are starting to see signs
of climate change. One crop that’s more
susceptible to change than most is the wine
grape. Lester Graham reports not everybody
thinks that’s bad:
Transcript
Farmers are starting to see signs
of climate change. One crop that’s more
susceptible to change than most is the wine
grape. Lester Graham reports not everybody
thinks that’s bad:
Vineyards are likely to be especially affected by climate change.
Gregory Jones is a research climatologist at Southern Oregon University. He says
growing grapes for wine is always a tricky business, and climate change will make it
tricker.
Gregory Jones: “Pinot noir is produced in a cool climate and cabernet sauvignon in
a warm climate, and you cannot produce one in the other without having it affect
style, quality and flavor.”
So, grape growers across the nation are watching things closely. Drier areas will
find it tougher, but other areas actually might benefit.
Bill Hendricks is showing me his vines. Pinot grigio, cabernet franc, cabernet
sauvignon.
Hendricks says grape growers in central Michigan – where he is, Virginia, Missouri, California – they’re all beginning to see changes.
“They see it coming. You know, the record year of ’99—what, 2001 I also think.
Like, last year we were about ten days above norm. This year we’re four days above
norm.”
As the climate changes, some vineyards might have to switch to different varietals –
different kinds of grapes.
(sound of the peninsula)
More than 200 miles northwest of Hendrick’s vineyards, on a peninsula jutting into Lake Michigan, there’s a wine
growing area called Leelanau. It’s known for its white wines. It’s always been a little too
cool for red wine grapes, but things are changing.
Chalie Edson is the vintner at Bel Lago Vineyard and Winery. He says he doesn’t
want to call the warmer seasons global warming.
“Not being a climatologist, I’m going to answer
‘no.’ It’s tempting to say ‘Yes, yes. It’s getting warmer.’ Whether that translates into
overall increase of warmth in expected temperatures in the years to come, I think that’s still
somewhat speculative. But, I sort of hope that it happens.”
Yep, you heard right. Global warming would be beneficial to Edson. You might be
wondering, ‘why?’ Well, because this climate is better suited to white wines, and red wines
sell better.
“People come to northern
Michigan just like they come to any other winemaking region and they ask for reds.
We’ve made some really great progress in the last ten years in making reds as the
winemakers learn better how to utilize the fruit that we have here. And we’ve also
had a string of really warm vintages.”
But right now, Leelanua County is known for its white wines.
Climatologist, Gregory Jones says there’s a real question whether wine
consumers will be able to keep up with the changes.
“If you’re in a historic region that’s always produced pinot noir and all of a sudden
you really can’t do that, you know, because the climate’s changed, then you’re going
to grow merlot and you’re going to do it very well in that same place, but the
consumer has to be retrained.”
And so Burgandy wines might not come from Burgandy in the future, and wine
drinkers will have to try to keep up.
(sound of bottles clinking and price-tag gun clicking)
At Plum Market in Ann Arbor, Michigan, wine buyer Rod Johnson says climate
change has been a good thing for wine – so far.
“So, places like Michigan which traditionally have been too cold is suddenly seeing a
lot of different wines like pinot grigio and riesling, even pinot noir being able to be
grown here. So that’s beneficial. Same thing in Germany. They’ve had great year
after great year after great year in Germany where it used to be they were too cold.
When we get to the point that we’re hurting the wine business, I think there will be a
lot more hurt going elsewhere in the world.”
So if those dry California areas or Mediterranean areas get too warm and too dry for
wine grapes, that’ll probably be the least of their worries.
A recent study showed climate change was resulting in
stronger hurricanes, and some years, Florida, with all of its
orange groves, has been devastated by those storms. (Photo courtesy of the USDA)
Florida’s orange producers have
escaped any devastating hurricanes so far
this season. But in recent years, the big
storms have been worse. They’ve contributed
to a 40% decline in orange crops
in the last five years. Julie Grant reports
that has some companies looking elsewhere
for oranges:
Transcript
Florida’s orange producers have
escaped any devastating hurricanes so far
this season. But in recent years, the big
storms have been worse. They’ve contributed
to a 40% decline in orange crops
in the last five years. Julie Grant reports
that has some companies looking elsewhere
for oranges:
Matthias Guentert is president of Symrise. The company
makes flavorings for beverages and processed foods.
When Symrise was deciding where to open its new citrus
headquarters – Guentert says they considered Florida – but
then chose to open in Brazil instead. One reason: Florida’s
increasingly unpredictable weather.
“Weather has been affecting people in Florida and in the
south of the US in the last years. And when it comes to
making a decision like this, it does play into it.”
A recent study showed climate change was resulting in
stronger hurricanes, and some years, Florida, with all of its
orange groves, has been devastated by those storms.
becoming more intense. Lester Graham reports the authors
speculate it might be because of climate change:
Transcript
A new study finds the worst hurricanes are becoming more intense. Lester Graham reports the authors speculate it might be because of climate change:
James Elsner is a climatologist at Florida State University. He and his team have been studying wind speeds in hurricanes…
“Well, we found the strongest tropical cyclones, globally, are increasing in intensity.”
Elsner says this is exactly what computer models suggested should happen as the oceans warmed due to climate change. The theory goes that warmer water gives the storms more energy…
“There’s a clean connection with the theory that I think allows us some speculation that as the seas continue to warm, the strongest storms should get stronger.”
And that could mean more damage to coastal areas, put more people at risk, and cause more damage and oil spills at offshore drilling platforms.
Due to the price of natural gas and crude oil, it is predicted that it will cost you much more to heat your home this winter
(Photo by John Ferguson, courtesy of FEMA)
As summer winds down, you’re
probably not thinking about your
heating bill. But that’s something
market analysts are thinking about
right now. And reporter Kyle Norris
finds the predictions of what it will
cost to heat your home are going up
in a big way:
Transcript
As summer winds down, you’re
probably not thinking about your
heating bill. But that’s something
market analysts are thinking about
right now. And reporter Kyle Norris
finds the predictions of what it will
cost to heat your home are going up
in a big way:
This year the average cost of heating your home is going to cost a good
chunk more than what it did last year.
Doug MacIntyre is an analyst with the US Energy Information
Administration.
“We’re estimating that, on average, the household using natural gas to
heat their home will be spending 24% more than last year. For heating
oil we think the increase will be even higher with house holds spending
about 36% more than they did last year.”
Those predications are made by looking at the cost of things like natural
gas and crude oil. And by analyzing the weather forecast for the up-
coming winter.
MacIntyre says he does not expect these expensive heating costs to go
away anytime in the next few years.
Produce section of a supermarket in VA. (Photo by Ken Hammond, courtesy of the USDA)
Food prices are going up worldwide. A new survey
by the American Farm Bureau Federation finds supermarket
checkout costs have risen nearly 8% this year.
Julie Grant has more:
Transcript
Food prices are going up worldwide. A new survey
by the American Farm Bureau Federation finds supermarket
checkout costs have risen nearly 8% this year.
Julie Grant has more:
Retail food prices usually increase 3% per year. But over the last year the
cost of flour, cheese, bread, meat, oil, and produce is up – by more than
double the average.
The United Nations has predicted prices will stabilize in the long term. But
that consumers worldwide will face at least 10 more years of rapidly rising
food prices.
Commodity prices for corn, wheat, soybeans and other staples have been
skyrocketing over the past year – to more than double 2006 prices.
The higher costs are due in part to weather affecting crops, and growing
demand in China and India.
Economists also point toward the increased use of grains for ethanol and
other biofuels, putting pressure on food prices.
The migrant children spend a lot of time with their families. In their culture, life revolves around family and community events. (Photo by Gary Harwood )
Educators say most migrants need more schooling to improve their lives, but foreign-
born Hispanic students have the highest dropout rate in the US. (Photo by Gary Harwood )
When the growing season comes to an end, migrant workers' children are pulled out of school and often don't return until the end of the school year. (Photo by Gary Harwood )
Lots of farm workers in the U.S. are migrants from Mexico and other southern places.
Many farm owners say they couldn’t be profitable growing food without these migrants.
But the workers are growing something of their own: children. The children are often uprooted. Julie Grant reports on the challenges of educating children whose lives are dictated by the growing season:
Transcript
Lots of farm workers in the U.S. are migrants from Mexico and other southern places.
Many farm owners say they couldn’t be profitable growing food without these migrants.
But the workers are growing something of their own: children. The children are often
uprooted. Julie Grant reports on the challenges of educating children whose lives are
dictated by the growing season:
In this farm town another house or trailer empties nearly every night. The growing season
is over and migrant workers are leaving, headed to Florida, Texas, Mexico, or someplace
else. That means their children will be pulled out of school. Cyndee Farrell is principal
of the elementary school:
“They’ll just not show up. Sometimes we get word, ‘Oh, we’re leaving tomorrow.’ Other
times, if the weather changes over the weekend or whatever happens and they just decide,
oh, we’re going to leave, they pack up and go. They know they can count on us being here when
they return, and we make it work.”
The migrant children leave as most students are just settling in to the semester.
For some migrants, it’s the only schooling they’ll get until they return to Ohio in April or
May, just a few weeks before the end of the school year.
Lisa Hull teaches reading to 4th and 5th graders. She says the migrants add a whole new
culture to this rural school. They laugh a lot and almost always seem happy.
But she says they don’t treat the classroom like the American kids:
“They don’t value education as well as i would say a normal, typical American would.
They have a different lifestyle. They’re easy going. We’re into all the possessions and
stuff, whereas they don’t really care if they have anything.”
The migrant children spend a lot of time with their families. The families are close and
they stay close. In their culture, life revolves around family and community events. One
person’s birthday is usually reason enough for an entire migrant neighborhood to
celebrate.
(Sound of knocking on door)
“Where is everybody?”
It’s Friday night and neighbor Pat Moore drops in on the Soto Family. They’ve just come
in from weeding lettuce in the fields. They’ve been migrating to rural Ohio from outside
Mexico City for more than a decade. The three ‘boys’ are all grown now and have
become U.S. citizens. They all graduated from Mexican high schools. 21 year-old
Alberto Soto also wanted a diploma from an American high school, so he stayed in this
town of Hartville on his own one winter:
“That year, I saw the snow for my first time. Here, it was too cold.”
The whole family is gathered in the living room: all three brothers, two younger sisters.
The mother and father don’t speak English, but they sit and listen, as Alberto Soto
explains why he stayed in Ohio that year:
“To finish my high school, I was in 12th grade. So I think that was important for me.
To get my diploma so I can get a better job, so they can pay me more. An easy job. Not
too hard like in the fields.”
Soto says he cried when his family left. He was lonely. But even after staying that
winter, he still hadn’t learned enough to graduate. He quit school and he’s been working
in the fields with his family since then. His 19 year-old brother Marco Soto has also
become an expert at weeding lettuce. Marco says it’s hard, boring work and he wants to
do something else:
“I think everything is going to be the same every year. And you are not going to learn something to do something because here, is almost the same. Like what you do everyday is going to be the same, like if you want to stay here for the rest of your life, it’s gonna be the same thing and you are not going to learn anything.”
Educators say most migrants need more schooling to improve their lives, but foreign-
born Hispanic students have the highest dropout rate in the U.S. The migrant
neighborhoods in the Hartville area are looking dark these days, but they’ll spring back to
life when the growing season begins again. The public school teachers say they’ll do
their best to keep working with the students who return.
Monday, June 1 is the official start day of hurricane season (Photo courtesy of NASA)
