New words, taking action
In summer 2021, I added “heat dome” to my vocabulary, because we in the Northwest experienced extremely high temperatures for an extended period. A heat dome, we learned, is an area of extreme heat that gets trapped under a high-pressure dome.
Climate change is causing the frequency of heat domes to rise, so maybe instead of experiencing one every 50 or so years, we can expect it to happen again in the next 10 years. More recently, Californians have been introduced first-hand to an “atmospheric river.” Heat domes and atmospheric rivers are just two of the weather disruptions intensified by climate change. That’s the bad news.
But there is good news. The International Energy Agency reports that new policies around the globe are growing green energy and pushing down carbon emissions that contribute to climate change. For Americans, the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act includes a lot of legislation to address climate change. The IRA is expected to reduce US emissions by 40% by 2030, but this requires people and businesses to take advantage of the money on offer.
To find out how to save on appliances, electric vehicles, home improvement, and solar panels and help save the planet, you can go to a number of websites — this one will tell you how much you can save on specific items: rewiringamerica.org/app/ira-calculator. After that heat dome, I’m interested in the heat pump-air conditioner.
Margaret A. Davis
Moscow
