The Trump administration announced that power plants built exclusively to serve data centers (ones that never connect to the public grid) are now exempt from the Clean Air Act’s Acid Rain Program.

Link: https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2026-07/epa-issues-clarification-on-islanded-power-generators-and-acid-rain-program-provisions.pdf

❝ The Rhine River’s water levels risk dropping to an unprecedented low as heat waves grip Europe, creating a bottleneck for the delivery of coal and fuels inland while raising shipping costs.

Water levels at Kaub, a key chokepoint for shipments heading to southern Germany and Switzerland, have already fallen to 28 centimeters, the lowest since 2018, according to German federal data. Forecasts show the barge clearance level could decline even more this week, potentially reaching 24 centimeters on Friday, which would be the lowest in data going back to 1990.

The river, which snakes roughly 800 miles (1,290 kilometers) from Switzerland to the North Sea, carries resources including coal, oil products and iron ore, plus goods in containers. As well as impacting water networks, the heat and dryness that have hit the continent this year have stressed power systems, strained public health services and caused major wildfires.

The falling levels on the Rhine are already disrupting freight. The cost to ship diesel from Rotterdam to Karlsruhe — further inland from the closely watched Kaub chokepoint — has climbed to the highest since Bloomberg began compiling the data in 2009.

The situation is unlikely to improve soon with Europe facing another heat wave. Temperatures in Frankfurt are forecast to reach as high as 39C on Thursday, according to Atmospheric G2, while little rainfall is expected in the coming days.

“With every centimeter it’s getting more difficult,” said Florian Krekel at Germany’s WSV, which manages the country’s waterways. “There’s no rain in sight.”

The disruption is also showing up in coal logistics and supplies. Inventories of the fuel at ports in the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp hub have risen about 75% since the spring, according to DBX Commodities Ltd., while barge loadings to move those supplies inland have been cut by three-quarters.

“The Rhine has effectively locked the door on inland coal delivery, and Rotterdam is where the trucks are queuing up,” DBX Commodities chief executive officer Alexandre Claude said. ❞


Heat Wave Drives Rhine to Record Lows, Disrupting Coal and Diesel Deliveries - Bloomberg
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-28/heat-pushes-rhine-toward-36-year-low-in-risk-to-energy-supplies

mrzute, ale to k letu patri

Hungary is partially shutting down its Paks Nuclear Power Plant by turning off one of its four reactors. This partial stop is caused by record-low water levels and high temperatures in the Danube River, which provides the cooling water needed to run the facility safely

This documentary, in the form of a satellite map, traces the history of weather modification world wide between the years 1952 and 1999 as recorded by the United Nations World Meteorological Organization. This map includes data on the apparatus involved, agents applied and the techniques used in each event. It also includes both positive and negative results of some of the completed projects, funding sources such as government agencies and private companies.
Interactive Map of 50 years of U.N. tracking Weather Modification Projects (1952-1999) • Live Earth Monitoring & Educational Resources • ClimateViewer Maps
https://climateviewer.org/history-and-science/geoengineering-and-weather-modification/maps/50-years-of-united-nations-tracking-weather-modification-projects-1952-1999/

Kevin Ovenden - Even if the city of Bordeaux is not...
https://www.facebook.com/share/19JtgAnfgL/

Even if the city of Bordeaux is not evacuated, as contingencies are now being made for, the fact that a *European* city of over a million people is in this position ought to mark a turning point.

Of course there are two points taken for granted: 1) we have had so many turning points not taken, and 2) devastation due to climate breakdown and other environmental crises has ripped through the rest of the world at frightening levels, especially in the poorest countries.

All that said, such a peacetime emergency evacuation is, I think, unprecedented.

If I were trying to construct artful conjectures about relativising climate breakdown and downplaying action - revolutionising action - today both to adapt and to tackle the sources of the environmental crises, then I wouldn't choose this month or the next to do so.

A city of one million people faces emergency evacuation in days. Not in years due to rising sea levels or loss of natural fresh water supply.

Days.

Interesting interview with Earth scientist Bill McGuire.

One of the most concerning points he discusses is a new (as yet unreviewed) paper suggesting that current satellite observations aren't matching our understanding of Earth's energy imbalance. In other words, the planet appears to be warming faster than existing models can fully explain. As this paper has not yet been peer reviewed, these findings should be treated as provisional until they have undergone independent scientific scrutiny. If they do hold up, they suggest we could exceed 2°C of warming by around 2040, approach 3°C by around 2050, and continue rising thereafter, pushing Earth's climate towards temperatures not experienced for millions of years.

The video also explores the economic consequences of climate breakdown.

The Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, the professionals who assess financial risk for banks, insurers and pension funds argue that many economic models are fundamentally underestimating climate risk. Their concern is that most financial institutions treat climate impacts as isolated events, rather than recognising that droughts, crop failures, floods, migration, conflict and supply chain disruption can cascade into one another, creating far greater economic damage than the sum of the individual parts.

Their warning is stark. Without immediate action to change course, severe climate impacts are not only plausible but could threaten future global prosperity.

To illustrate the scale of the disagreement, many mainstream economic models still rely on assumptions originating from a model published in 2000, which estimated climate change would reduce global GDP by only around 3% by 2100. By contrast, actuarial risk assessments, produced by people whose job is to price and underwrite multi billion dollar financial risks, warn of around a 15% reduction in global GDP by 2050, rising to as much as 50% by 2100. Some actuarial scenarios even suggest the possibility of widespread societal breakdown beginning around the 2040s, with catastrophic human consequences later this century.

It does make you wonder whether the old contrarian slogan, "We are the carbon they want to get rid of," has ended up applying in the opposite direction.

The Insurance Industry Predicts Mass Death: How Do We Live A Good Life?
https://youtu.be/9Q93ZE54yaE?is=q0M2JBIgKLEgw6ZZ&t=4m0

As the planet heats, public doubt grows: The social structure behind rising climate change scepticism in Germany

In 2024, global heating exceeded 1.5 °C for the first time. Paradoxically, as the climate crisis becomes ever more evident, climate change scepticism (CCS) has recently grown (rather than declined) in Germany, a high-emissions country with enormous responsibility.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959378026000919?via=ihub

XCHAOS:

XCHAOS: pise se, ze je to spis do 30ti stupnu, treba Bolivie do 22, Paraguay do 24 atd.

Jeden ze soudku racionalniho chovani

...

Colombia bans all new oil and mining in its Amazon rain-forest. The protected area is the size of Sweden and covers 42% of the country.

Night Sky Today on X: "JUST IN🚨: Colombia bans all new oil and mining in its Amazon rain-forest. The protected area is the size of Sweden and covers 42% of the country. https://t.co/0IibPGmNot" / X
https://x.com/i/status/2081512638253506981

On July 25th, global sea-surface temperatures set a record high anomaly of 0.80°C above the 1991-2020 mean, breaking the previous record of 0.76°C set in January, 2024.

I had to extend the y-axis to show yesterday's SST anomaly.

Prof. Eliot Jacobson on X: "Breaking News! Code: y-Axis Alert! / UFB!!! On July 25th, global sea-surface temperatures set a record high anomaly of 0.80°C above the 1991-2020 mean, breaking the previo...
https://x.com/i/status/2081412532913512884