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<ul class="summary-list"><li>California has spent decades battling droughts and water insecurity.</li><li>Startups like Epic Cleantec are innovating with on-site water reuse.</li></ul>Despite enduring droughts for <a target="_blank" href="https://ca.water.usgs.gov/california-drought/california-drought-runoff.html">much of the past 15 years</a>, California continues to lead the nation in <a target="_blank" href="https://www.usgs.gov/special-topics/water-science-school/science/water-qa-which-states-use-most-water">water consumption</a>.During these <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/california-drought-could-impact-agriculture-tourism-wildlife-2021-6">dry periods</a>, some of the state's local governments began to look for ways to <a target="_blank" href="https://andthewest.stanford.edu/2023/in-times-of-scarcity-californias-best-new-source-of-water-reuse/">diversify their water supplies</a> away from lengthy pipelines and expensive, out-of-state sources.In 2012, San Francisco's Public Utilities Commission began developing the Onsite Water Reuse Program to investigate whether water reuse, also known as water recycling, in buildings could be a solution to California's water problem."There weren't any state or national regulations," Paula Kehoe, the director of water resources at the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, told Business Insider. Kehoe and her team created a permitting program to streamline the adoption of on-site water-reuse systems developed by private businesses.As the US faces a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/articles/2023/09/25/more-federal-funding-needed-to-improve-drinking-water-epa-study-finds#:~:text=Water%20utilities%20throughout%20the%20United,Environmental%20Protection%20Agency%20(EPA).">$625 billion cost to address the nation's need to repair drinking- and clean-water infrastructure</a>, on-site water reuse is quickly becoming a strong alternative to the historically slow and expensive process of building large water-recycling plants.With droughts predicted to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://apnews.com/article/california-droughts-gavin-newsom-recycling-c22de8f25b9d6a2bf69277a7185abc0f">reduce California's water supply by 10%</a> over the next 20 years, the success of these systems could lay the foundation for how the state sources its water over several decades.<h2 id="8b14ae19-3316-4bcf-9798-263a2b1e1e25">Silicon Valley is investing in on-site water recycling</h2>In 2015, during the height of California's drought and after three years of development, San Francisco unveiled the Onsite Water Reuse Program requiring all new buildings of 250,000 square feet or more to install an on-site water-treatment system for nonpotable uses, a cap that was lowered to 100,000 square feet in 2021.The city's tech background and proximity to Silicon Valley gave some <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gradiant-water-startup-helps-businesses-recycle-water-2023-7">startups an opportunity</a> to enter the market. In 2019, Epic Cleantec, a maker of on-site water-reuse systems, emerged to meet the necessary demand for new large buildings.Aaron Tartakovsky, Epic Cleantec's cofounder and CEO, developed the company to address the water-reuse needs of large city buildings.He told BI he took inspiration from the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/solar-careers-in-demand-workforce-shortage-2024-7">solar industry</a>, which he said had turned to local installation projects after prioritizing large-scale solar-panel farms. "Can we do the same thing for water and wastewater?" Tartakovsky said. "Can this be water's solar moment?"<div type="image" title="Aaron Tartovsky, founder of epic cleantec" height="2268" width="3024" msid="111870886" hostid="261" sizebytes="137524"></div>Epic Cleantec's on-site systems can recycle building gray water for nonpotable uses, including toilet flushing and irrigation, through their filtration and disinfection process. The company's systems also incorporate an energy-saving mechanism to limit the amount of wasted heat."We have big tanks in these buildings that are collecting all this heated wastewater," Tartakovsky said. "Rather than just sending all that heat away, we are using heat exchangers to take all of that energy from the water and then to reuse that energy within the building."Epic Cleantec has six active projects in California, including a recent system in San Francisco's Salesforce Tower that the company says is the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://epiccleantec.com/projects/salesforce">largest on-site water-reuse system in a US commercial high-rise</a>.The company has also entered the hotel sector with a recycling system in the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Beverly Hills. Recycled water is being used for on-site irrigation.In a drought-conscious state, Tartakovsky said the on-site recycling systems had become more appealing to tenants looking for ways to contribute to the state's water-conservation mindset.The adoption of on-site water reuse can also be a sensible decision for developers. "They're not working with us just because it's a nice thing to do and it's good for the planet," he said. "They're doing it because it makes business sense — it saves them a lot of money to incorporate technologies like ours into these projects."<h2 id="075e558b-3852-4981-bc08-a5e2095ce6fb">Water reuse to overcome hurdles</h2>While large plants and on-site water systems in major buildings have been California's <a target="_blank" href="https://andthewest.stanford.edu/2023/in-times-of-scarcity-californias-best-new-source-of-water-reuse/">more established methods</a> of water reuse, the state's biggest hurdle is retrofitting systems for existing buildings.As part of San Francisco's water-recycling initiative, the city published a list of 30 vendors that provide on-site systems that can be installed in existing buildings and new constructions to collect different types of water, including rainwater, gray water, and black water.While most of the vendors offer reuse systems and water management for new constructions, some companies, such as <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bioclere.co.uk/bioclere.php">Bioclere</a>, Phoenix's <a target="_blank" href="https://dewater.com/markets/aquacell-water-recycling/">Aquacell</a>, and <a target="_blank" href="https://innovatreat.com/">Innovatreat</a>, make systems designed to be retrofitted into existing buildings and community infrastructure.<div type="image" title="Epic Cleantec One Water system installed" height="2626" width="1751" msid="111870887" hostid="261" sizebytes="125772"></div>Erik Porse, the director and associate cooperative extension specialist at the California Institute for Water Resources, told BI these retrofits are more difficult to install because of the limitations of size and existing water pipes. "If you have a larger facility, like more area, then you can think about on-site treatment of some sort," he said. "But if you're kind of working in an existing building, like a small building, it can be kind of tough to integrate in lots of treatments."California's <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/california-central-valley-farms-groundwater-dought-2023-7">agriculture sector</a> also relies on water-reuse systems for nonpotable water — a key part of crop irrigation. Since the state has the highest agricultural output in the country, recycled water is important for maintaining crops, especially in times of drought. California is the leader in <a target="_blank" href="https://watereuse.org/educate/water-reuse-101/agricultural-reuse/">using reused water for agriculture</a> across the US.However, the extent to which recycled water is used in agriculture depends on a state's guidelines, many of which are underdeveloped. For example, Iowa is one of the highest producers of crops but does not have any regulations for the use of reused water in agriculture. Instead, the state is experimenting with <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cals.iastate.edu/inrc/news/2024/new-report-shares-latest-research-potential-ag-drainage-water-recycling">drainage-water recycling</a>, or collecting water from farming, and local infrastructure that captures used drainage and rainfall for reuse in on-site irrigation.Nonpotable water can also help in one of the country's newest sources of water loss: data centers. States like <a target="_blank" href="https://www.newsweek.com/why-ai-so-thirsty-data-centers-use-massive-amounts-water-1882374">Iowa</a> and <a target="_blank" href="https://grist.org/technology/surging-demand-data-guzzling-water-ai/">Virginia</a> have seen massive strains on their <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-data-energy-centers-water-energy-land-2023-10">water supplies</a> due to the increased construction of these facilities. "Those data centers use huge amounts of water to cool themselves," Tartakovsky said.Tartakovsky hopes Epic Cleantec's recent expansions to states such as Texas, Florida, and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hawaii-water-crisis-climate-change/">Hawaii</a> can help in ways beyond water scarcity. "A lot of people think you only need it in the Western states, but in places like the East Coast, a lot of times what they have is wastewater-infrastructure issues," he said. "We have pipes and sewers that were put in place anywhere from 30 to 100 years ago."<h2 id="8d5654cd-d3b7-4f2e-89c8-d5d9a678cdde">Rethinking our relationship with water</h2>To help promote the safety of its recycled water, Epic Cleantec partnered with a brewery near San Francisco, Devil's Canyon Brewing Co., to make a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/half-moon-bay-brewery-california-recycled-wastewater-nasa-astronauts-2023-7">safe-to-drink beer</a> out of its nonpotable water. The beer could not be sold commercially since the state has not cleared nonpotable water for drinking, but Tartakovsky credits the campaign with highlighting the company's purification process.Other states could learn from the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.gov.ca.gov/2022/04/14/state-expands-save-our-water-public-awareness-campaign-as-drought-intensifies/">public-awareness campaigns</a> California has promoted for several decades to help residents embrace water reuse. During times of drought, the state has encouraged water conservation and water recycling, such as the use of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.latimes.com/lifestyle/story/2022-06-21/gardening-with-recycled-water">recycled water for plants</a>. "We've seen a pretty big evolution in California cities, especially in Southern California, that folks understand that water reuse is a treatment technology that we use in the state, and it's important, and it provides supply resilience," Porse said.In Texas, a fellow drought-prone state, the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://takecareoftexas.org/water">Take Care of Texas </a>campaign similarly encourages community support for water conservation so the state can survive in times of water scarcity.Porse told BI that in California as public support grows, so will government regulations. In 2023, California made progress toward establishing recycled water for <a target="_blank" href="https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/press_room/press_releases/2023/pr20231219-dpr-regulations-adoption.pdf">direct potable reuse</a> and allowing recycled water to be used in the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/california-drinking-toilet-water-sewage-waste-drought-climate-crisis-solution-2023-12">state's drinking-water supply</a>.For Kehoe, the key to creating stronger water infrastructure is a partnership between communities that endures beyond times of scarcity."We always talk about water conservation as a way of life," Kehoe said. "It's not just during the drought."

Droughts are threatening California's water supply. The state is racing to save what's left. 

New Delhi, About 90 per cent of the Himalayan Region will experience drought lasting over a year if global warming increases by 3 degrees Celsius, according to new research. The findings, published in the journal Climatic Change, show that 80 per cent of the increased human exposure to heat stress in <keyword id="19895063" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="india" source="keywords">India</keyword> can be avoided by adhering to Paris Agreement's temperature goals of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared to 3 degrees Celsius warming. The team led by researchers at the University of East Anglia (<keyword id="20773290" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="uea" source="keywords">UEA</keyword>) in the UK quantified how climate change risks to human and natural systems increase at a national scale as the level of global warming increases. A collection of eight studies -- all focusing on India, Brazil, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, and Ghana -- shows that the risks of drought, flooding, declines in crop yields, and loss of biodiversity and natural capital greatly increase for each additional degree of global warming. It found that in India pollination is reduced by half at 3-4 degrees global warming compared to a quarter reduction at 1.5 degrees. Limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius allows half the country to act as a refuge for biodiversity, compared with 6 per cent at 3 degrees, the researchers said. The team found very large increases in the exposure of agricultural land to drought with 3 degrees Celsius warming - more than 50 per cent of the agricultural land in each of the countries studied is projected to be exposed to severe droughts of longer than one year over a 30-year period. However, limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius would reduce the increase in exposure of agricultural land to drought by between 21 per cent (India) and 61 per cent (Ethiopia) as well as reduce economic damages due to fluvial flooding. This happens when rivers and streams break their banks and the water flows out onto the adjacent low-lying areas. Avoided increases in human exposure to severe drought are also 20-80 per cent lower at 1.5 degrees Celsius than 3 degrees Celsius across the six countries, the researchers said. Economic damages associated with sea-level rise are projected to increase in coastal nations, but more slowly if warming was limited to 1.5 degrees Celsius, they said. The researchers warned that more effort is needed to reduce global warming, as currently the policies in place globally are likely to result in 3 degrees Celsius of global warming. One paper explored the risks to plants and vertebrates due to increases in global warming, and another developed a new natural capital risk register for each of the six countries that also included the projected changes in the risk stemming from future human population changes. This combination shows that many areas in the six countries are already at high natural capital risk at 1.5 degrees Celsius when effects of increasing human population are accounted for. The findings also showed that an expansion of protected area networks is necessary in order to deliver climate resilient biodiversity conservation. "The results presented in this collection confirm the need for the implementation of climate policies aligned to the Paris Agreement limits if widespread and escalating climate change risk is to be avoided," said lead author of the paper, Professor <keyword id="20773288" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="rachel-warren" source="keywords">Rachel Warren</keyword>, from the UEA. "They provide additional confirmation of the rapid escalation of climate change risks with global warming found in the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change (IPCC) 2022 report, which identifies how the risk of severe consequences increases with every additional increment of global warming," <keyword id="20540591" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="warren" source="keywords">Warren</keyword> said. Although these studies focus on the risks to six countries only, other nations are projected to experience similar issues, the researchers said. Greater emphasis needs to be placed on both climate change mitigation and climate change adaptation to avoid large increases in risk to both human and natural systems, they said. "For example, a good way to combat the effects of climate change on natural systems and soak up carbon from the atmosphere is to restore ecosystems to their natural state, especially if warming can be held to 2 degrees Celsius or less. This has the additional benefit of restoring the natural capital bank in these areas," said study co-author <keyword id="20773289" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="jeff-price" source="keywords">Jeff Price</keyword>, also from the UEA. The work focuses on developing countries as they tend to be more vulnerable to climate change than others.  Spanning the continents of Asia, Africa, and South America, the case studies present examples of both large and small countries and cover a range of levels of socioeconomic development. The risks assessed are the additional risks due to anthropogenic or human-induced climate change corresponding to the elevated global warming in comparison with a baseline of levels of risk in 1961-1990, when warming was approximately 0.3 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. Together the studies provide a harmonised assessment for the six countries of projected changes in exposure of humans and land to climate-related hazards, such as drought, water stress, fluvial and coastal flooding, and the projected effects of climate change on biodiversity, as well as the economic and societal implications of climate risks.

About 90% of Himalayas will face year-long drought at 3 degrees warming says new study

<ul class="summary-list"><li>California approved a measure allowing it to convert wastewater into drinking water.</li><li>The measure comes as the region has battled<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/satellite-images-show-california-mega-drought-drying-up-lakes-forest-2021-7"> severe drought </a>over the past few years.</li></ul>Californians could soon have sewage waste coming out of their taps — purified, of course.California's State Water Resources Control Board recently approved regulations allowing water systems to convert wastewater, like sewage and toilet water, into purified water that <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/orange-county-purest-drinking-water-filtered-sewage-2019-10">Californians can drink</a>.According to the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/press_room/press_releases/2023/pr20231219-dpr-regulations-adoption.pdf">board's</a> December 19 press release, the measure would give California the "most advanced standards in the nation" to repurpose wastewater in a way that meets drinking standards. The process, known as direct potable reuse, would allow water systems to add millions of gallons of drinking water to their supplies while reducing the amount of waste that flows into oceans."This is an exciting development in the state's ongoing efforts to find innovative solutions to the challenges of extreme weather driven by climate change," E. Joaquin Esquivel, chair of the Water Resources Control Board, said in a statement."On top of helping us build drought-resilient water supplies, direct potable reuse offers energy savings and environmental benefits," he continued. "And most importantly, these regulations ensure that the water produced is not only safe, but purer than many drinking water sources we now rely on."<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/california-drought-aerial-photos-dried-lakes-reservoirs-2021-7">California has experienced the driest period in its history</a> over the past few years. While heavy rainfall this year led the US Drought Monitor to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/21/us/california-drought-hilary.html">declare</a> most of the state drought-free in August, the ongoing climate crisis continues to exacerbate water scarcity concerns.And while California's latest regulations are new, drinking converted wastewater isn't. Texas, for example, started employing the method in 2013, a brewery in California's Half Moon Bay <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/half-moon-bay-brewery-california-recycled-wastewater-nasa-astronauts-2023-7">switched to recycled wastewater</a> to combat drought over the summer, and Colorado's water board approved the process last year.California's water board wrote in its press release that once the new regulations are finalized by the Office of Administrative Law next year, water systems in the state can start submitting plans to begin purifying wastewater."We want to just use it as much as we can," Rebecca Kimitch, press office manager for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, <a target="_blank" href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/4362918-california-toilet-to-tap-water-direct-potable-reuse-proposal-what-to-know/">told</a> The Hill. "Using it once and then sending it to the ocean — that's not being as efficient and as sustainable as we can be."

Purified toilet water could soon be flowing through Californians' taps as the state battles drought

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Rising housing costs have helped push Americans into parts of the country more vulnerable to climate change. </li><li>US counties that have the most at-risk homes are all growing in population.</li></ul>The skyrocketing cost of housing has pushed many Americans to trade their lives in big coastal cities like New York and San Francisco for more affordable ones in Sunbelt cities and Southern suburbs. But that move could cost more in the long-run. These more affordable regions of the country are also facing much more severe impacts of climate change, including extreme heat, wildfires, floods, and droughts. People are pouring into flood-prone Florida, moving into Houston not long after Hurricane Harvey devastated the city in 2017, and relocating to parts of the West and Southwest dealing with the worst droughts and wildfires in the country. Rather than leaving areas at high risk of natural disasters and other climate issues, more Americans are moving into them. US counties that have the most at-risk homes are all growing in population, while those with the fewest at-risk homes are almost all losing residents, according to <a href="https://www.redfin.com/news/climate-migration-real-estate-2021/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a 2021 Redfin analysis</a>.The pandemic exacerbated this trend. There's been a recent spike in people moving from more expensive cities to lower-cost, smaller places farther from large metros and closer to natural amenities, in part due to the rise in remote work. These locations – like Bend, Oregon, which is vulnerable to wildfires — tend to be more at risk of natural disasters. The number of loan applications for homes in high-risk areas rose from 90,462 in February 2020 to 187,669 in February 2022, <a href="https://www.freddiemac.com/research/insight/20221109-migration-environmentally-risky-areas-consequence" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Freddie Mac reported</a>.In the longer-term, this trend will put many more Americans at risk of losing their homes to wildfires and floods, or being hurt or killed by extreme heat, or suffering from a lack of water. Rich people are already <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/79781c20-051d-41c4-bd2c-31ceffb763e8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">better able to protect themselves</a> from natural disasters and other climate impacts, whether by fleeing, <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/11/kim-kardashian-kanye-west-history-private-firefighting/575887/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">hiring private firefighters,</a> or retrofitting their homes. But if lower-risk cities continue to price people out, the burden of climate change will fall even more disproportionately on less affluent communities. Experts say there are ways that local, state, and federal governments can help to reverse this dangerous trend. A recent Brookings Institution <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/articles/how-to-nudge-americans-to-reduce-their-housing-exposure-to-climate-risks/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> recommended several ways that policymakers can encourage Americans to seek climate safety. First, the researchers say that Congress and the the Federal Housing Finance Agency should work with mortgage lenders and property insurers to factor climate risk into their rates, charging homeowners more based on how much risk they're taking on.Often, homebuyers don't know what kinds of climate risks their property faces, so state and local governments should develop rules about what information needs to be disclosed to a potential homebuyer and then impose higher taxes on riskier property. "Higher fees in risky areas serve two purposes: they encourage price-sensitive households to choose safer locations, and they also provide local governments with more revenue to upgrade the climate resilience of infrastructure," Jenny Schuetz and Julia Gill of Brookings write.Zoning and other land-use regulations, they argue, should be reformed to encourage more dense development in safer places and less sprawl into particularly climate-impacted areas. Homeowners and landlords in riskier places also need to do more to retrofit homes to make them more fire and wind proof and more energy efficient. The researchers recommend that local policymakers think more carefully about where to invest infrastructure — including roads, schools, and water and sewage capacity — in climate-impacted areas to either discourage or encourage people to move to certain areas.

Middle class Americans are moving straight into fire and drought because they can't afford to live in the cities that are safer from climate change

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Climate preparedness was in its early stages in southwest Florida, where Ian caused the most damage. </li><li>Millions in government funding have been earmarked for coastal-restoration projects. </li></ul>In the days after Hurricane Ian destroyed homes and cut off power in Jennifer Hecker's community near Punta Gorda, Florida, she was rushing to arrange a boat for her staff so they could start testing water for pollution. Diesel slicks, building debris, raw sewage, industrial chemicals — the remnants of the Category 4 hurricane were choking floodwaters and putting public health at risk.Hecker is the executive director of the <a href="https://www.chnep.org/about-the-chnep">Coastal &amp; Heartland National Estuary Partnership</a>, one of 28 groups around the country that the Environmental Protection Agency set up to protect areas where freshwater meets the ocean and the surrounding wetlands. Hecker's group conducts research to improve water quality and restore estuaries, which are natural buffers against coastal erosion and flooding."This hurricane is going to be a turning point for many communities," she told Insider from an office near Sarasota. "We have to become more resilient, because these storms are becoming more severe and more frequent due to changes in our climate." The state and the Biden administration combined are spending billions to help communities prepare, but those efforts were just getting underway when Ian made landfall last week. Now those working to build up Florida's natural defenses are calling for more urgent action. Emerging from one of the costliest disasters in US history, with <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Business/hurricane-ians-damage-reach-65-billion/story?id=90693223">estimates of up to $75 billion</a> in damage and 100 deaths and counting, how and where to rebuild southwest Florida's coastal towns in this era of climate crisis will be a major question for residents and local and state officials.<h2>The cost to prepare Florida for future storms will be staggering</h2>Lee and Collier counties, where Fort Myers and Naples are located, suffered some of the most catastrophic damage. As the planet warms and sea levels rise, storms like Hurricane Ian — with its massive storm surges and rainfall — are more likely. Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state's Republican-controlled legislature created a resiliency fund last year that awards grants to communities for projects to mitigate flooding and sea-level rise — marking the first statewide strategy to protect coastal and inland infrastructure with dedicated spending. The DeSantis administration awarded <a href="https://protectingfloridatogether.gov/sites/default/files/documents/FY2021-22_Resilience_RFGP_Awards.pdf">$404 million</a> through June, and <a href="https://www.flgov.com/2022/06/08/governor-ron-desantis-announces-more-than-500-million-building-upon-his-historic-commitment-to-enhancing-community-resiliency/">another $500 million was included</a> in the latest state budget.But the costs for beefing up Florida's defenses are sure to be massive. One estimate put the price of building seawalls in Lee and Collier counties alone <a href="https://www.climatecosts2040.org/files/state/FL.pdf">at more than $3.5 billion per county</a>. The report didn't factor in other adaptation measures, such as upgrading stormwater and sewer systems or raising roads. Hecker said preparedness efforts in her region of southwest Florida have been limited so far."This is something my organization has prioritized," Hecker said. "We are assisting the 10 counties we serve with conducting comprehensive vulnerability assessments that look at the impacts of climate change, which clearly are already underway."Hecker said the effort received more than $4.5 million over five years from the EPA under the bipartisan infrastructure law, which President Joe Biden signed last year. The estuary partnership is using the money to hire contractors to help cities and counties conduct the assessments and inform coastal-restoration projects like oyster and mangrove reefs. The state resiliency fund is also providing <a href="https://protectingfloridatogether.gov/sites/default/files/documents/RF%20statewide%20plan%20PFT%5B2%5D.pdf">nearly $600,000</a> over several years for a specific shoreline project in Punta Gorda.Nationwide, the infrastructure law authorized more than $50 billion over five years for state, local, and tribal governments to upgrade infrastructure to better withstand droughts, wildfires, floods, hurricanes, and other natural disasters. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration <a href="https://www.noaa.gov/infrastructure-law#:~:text=It%20provides%20nearly%20%243%20billion,resilience%2C%20and%20weather%20forecasting%20infrastructure.">also received $3 billion</a> for coastal restoration and improving weather-forecasting capabilities."These kinds of grant programs want to see that local governments and agencies are coordinating amongst themselves, rather than having a bunch of sharp elbows," said Brad Cornell, a policy director for Audubon Florida, which works to conserve wildlife habitat. "If they're not working together, we can't solve this problem effectively." Cornell lives a mile from the beach in Naples and said his house was spared by Hurricane Ian, though he lost power for several days. He is part of the <a href="https://www.fgcu.edu/swflresiliencycoalition/#ParticipatingJurisdictions">Southwest Florida Regional Resiliency Coalition</a>, aimed at uniting the municipal governments in Lee, Collier, and Charlotte counties with natural-resource managers to study the region's climate vulnerabilities and identify the best ways to mitigate them. The coalition, hosted by Florida Gulf Coast University, is in its formative stages and only had a few meetings before Ian struck. As of July, Collier and Lee counties "elected to take a hiatus" and "will reconsider their formal relationship sometime in the future," <a href="https://www.fgcu.edu/swflresiliencycoalition/files/NEWS-071322-Email-to-all.pdf">according to meeting minutes</a>, although cities in those counties are participating. The county managers' offices didn't return Insider's request for comment. "The coalition is way overdue," Cornell said, adding that Hurricane Ian might motivate officials to come to the table. "We can't keep playing roulette," he said. "I've lived in Florida for 30 years and evacuated three times. This time, the storm surge was devastating."Storm surges — when wind forces push water onshore — are one of the biggest threats to lives and property during hurricanes and storms. <h2>It's not just the coasts, everywhere in Florida is vulnerable</h2>Millions of people <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/09/28/florida-population-growth-hurricane-ian-path/">have moved to coastal areas in southwest Florida</a> in recent decades and fueled new property development, leaving the region more vulnerable to storm surges and flooding. Hecker said moving inland isn't a simple or realistic solution. Farther inland in Orlando, homes flooded up to the rooftops due to unprecedented rainfall during Hurricane Ian. Southern Florida is built on top of porous rocks, so rising seas also bubble up from underground, she noted. Many people also don't have the resources to pack up and leave. "There really isn't a place in Florida that isn't vulnerable," she said. "It's really just the degree of vulnerability. We're the third-most-populous state in the country, so you can't just say everyone needs to move out."Stronger buildings, road systems, and other infrastructure that can withstand hurricanes will be key, Hecker said. Some of the poorest residents were living in the lowest-lying neighborhoods, so environmental justice needs to be considered when rebuilding as well. Restoring coastal mangrove forests, wetlands, and reefs that act as natural buffers would also make communities like Naples more protected during storms, Cornell said. "That's where floodwaters can go rather than pushing it through drainage canals and pumps and all the infrastructure we built to pretend like we're building resilience," he said.

Hurricane Ian hit southwest Florida just as the state put historic amounts of money into climate resilience. Now officials have to move faster.

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">SevereStudios.com via APDamage from Hurricane Michael at Mexico Beach, Florida in October 2018.</div></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>On Tuesday, 28 commissioners and 17 countries around the world banded together to form the Global Commission on Adaptation.</li><li>Their task for the next year will be to figure out the best ways to both fight and cope with the dramatic, disastrous effects of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ipcc-climate-change-report-why-2-degree-warming-is-dangerous-2018-10">life on a hotter planet</a>.</li><li>The program is led by Bill Gates, Ban Ki-moon, and World Bank CEO Kristalina Georgieva.</li><li>The commission also includes 25 other leaders from around the globe, including the mayors of Miami and Paris, as well as China's environment minister.</li><li>The 17 countries on board include big players in the world's energy economy, like Canada, Mexico, China, India, Germany, and the UK. (The US is not on the list.)</li><li>Scroll down for a full list of who's involved.</li></ul>The bad <keyword id="6355005" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="news">news</keyword> about our planet <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ipcc-climate-change-report-why-2-degree-warming-is-dangerous-2018-10">released last week</a> from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) suggests that time is running very short to get serious about the threat of disastrous floods, storms, fires, droughts, and extreme poverty that could soon hit as a result of climate change.The news is so dire, it's prompted a new last-ditch effort to help the world better deal with these coming disasters.Dubbed the Global Commission on Adaptation, it will be led by philanthropist Bill Gates, former UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon, and World Bank CEO Kristalina Georgieva."We are at a moment of high risk and great promise," Gates said in a release, before the commission was announced Tuesday in The Hague."We need policies to help vulnerable populations adapt, and we need to ensure that governments and other stakeholders are supporting innovation and helping deliver those breakthroughs to the people and places that need them most."<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Jemal Countess/Getty ImagesBill Gates and Melinda Gates with United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at the United Nations on September 25, 2015 in New York City.</div></div></div>To that end, his new commission is beginning a two year plan: first, they will spend approximately one year researching and developing the best ways to deal with life in a warmer world.Next September, they'll present their best ideas from that brainstorm at the 2019 United Nations Secretary General's Climate Summit.Then, begins the second "year of action," where those ideas are put into practice around the world. "If everyone does their part, we can reduce carbon emissions, increase access to affordable energy, and help farmers everywhere grow more productive crops," Gates said.In some of the hottest zones around the equator, that might mean adopting new farming techniques for crops, like growing corn or coffee designed to be more drought-resistant.Georgieva suggested some places might want to switch from consuming chickens to breeding and eating more ducks, because ducks can swim through a flood.Other coastal areas might plant more mangrove trees, to help <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/r-mangroves-coral-reefs-could-cut-flood-insurance-premiums-lloyds-2017-6">reduce the impact of devastating floods, while saving cash on seawalls</a>.In cities, the commission may suggest ways to better regulate emissions through stricter building code rules."We are the last generation that can change the course of climate change," Georgieva said. "And we are the first generation that has to live with its consequences." <div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/40238275@N02/3979119182/in/photolist-74C2v9-hyEgxU-gdDifG-fHkuTT-fHkzdg-fHCkzy-fHkDi6-fHCaDY-fHC6VQ-eMNbmu-7y7Cjg-fHCec1-gdDwrm-gdDbJo-gdE2pD-dVQzmY">Steve Shattuck/Flickr</a>Natural adaptations like mangroves are around 30 times cheaper than manmade seawalls, according to a recent report from Lloyd's of London.</div></div></div>That means that we must both adapt to our rapidly warming world, and try to reduce emissions that will heat the planet up further, all at the same time.The commission assumes that it's probably too late to stop or reverse dangerous, damaging effects of climate change altogether, but their plan aims to both mitigate those effects, while also reducing pollution and saving money.Georgieva estimates that every one dollar spent on this kind of climate resilience, could save $4 to $7 in damages later. Humans have already heated things up more than one degree Celsius since preindustrial times, and recently <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hothouse-earth-climate-change-tipping-point-2018-8">scientists warned that we could be on track to hit a dangerous tipping point</a>, triggering an unprecedented temperature spike around the world.Already, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hurricane-florence-how-climate-change-affects-rainfall-2018-9">we're getting a glimpse of</a> life on a warmer planet: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hurricanes-and-rain-getting-stronger-2018-6">wetter rainstorms</a>, more intense heat waves, and rising seas.Currently, the commission argues there's a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/french-president-emmanuel-macron-global-finance-climate-business-2018-9">lack of decent incentives</a> to invest in new ideas about how to deal with these problems, and the ideas that are out there aren't getting shared quickly and efficiently enough.The commission is worried that if swift action isn't taken now, we could have problems finding enough food, water and energy to stay alive in the coming decades, especially in the developing world."Decisions are still being made with short-term risk, not long-term risk in mind," Moon said on the call. <div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/pennymaycock/14333442687/">Flickr / babar141</a>Ducks may be a smarter food source than chickens in the near future, the commission suggests, because they can swim through a flood, if needed.</div></div></div>Ironically, those who will be at greatest risk of losing their homes, businesses, and lives to climate change are the ones who've contributed the least to warming the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels like coal and gas for energy."Our estimate is that most likely we would see some hundred million people falling back in <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gates-foundation-goalkeepers-2018-report-ceo-sue-desmond-hellman-2018-9">extreme poverty</a> by 2030 as a result of climate change," Georgieva said during a press call before the commission was announced. Moon said the commission will aim to help some of those "poorest and most vulnerable" living in some of the hottest zones of the world adapt to climate change with new kinds of climate-related insurance.Here's the full list of the countries and commissioners that have signed on to participate in the initiative so far.<h2>Countries:</h2><ul><li>Argentina</li><li>Bangladesh</li><li>Canada</li><li>China</li><li>Costa Rica</li><li>Denmark</li><li>Ethiopia</li><li>Germany</li><li>Grenada</li><li>India</li><li>Indonesia</li><li>Marshall Islands</li><li>Mexico</li><li>Netherlands</li><li>Senegal</li><li>South Africa</li><li>United Kingdom</li></ul><h2>Commissioners:</h2><ul><li>Ban Ki-moon, former Secretary-General of the United Nations </li><li>Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation </li><li>Kristalina Georgieva, CEO, World Bank </li><li>Hilda Heine, President, Marshall Islands </li><li>Keith Mitchell, Prime Minister, Grenada </li><li>Akinwumi Adesina, President, African Development Bank </li><li>Elhadj As Sy, Secretary General, IFRC (International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies) </li><li>Michelle Bachelet, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights </li><li>Patricia Espinosa, Executive Secretary, UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) </li><li>Christiana Figueres, Former Executive Secretary, UNFCCC </li><li>Li Ganjie, Minister of Ecology and Environment, China </li><li>Anne Hidalgo, Mayor, Paris </li><li>Emma Howard Boyd, Chair of the Environment Agency, UK </li><li>Naoko Ishii, CEO and Chairperson, Global Environment Facility </li><li>Peter Damgaard Jensen, CEO, PKA Ltd. </li><li>Agnes Kalibata, President, AGRA </li><li>Loren Legarda, Chair, Senate Finance Committee, Philippines </li><li>Strive Masiyiwa, Founder and Chairman, Econet Wireless </li><li>José Antonio Meade, Former Finance Minister, Mexico </li><li>Gerd Müller, Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development, Germany </li><li>Muhammad Musa, Executive Director, BRAC </li><li>Cora van Nieuwenhuizen, Minister of Infrastructure and Water Management, Netherlands </li><li>Sheela Patel, Chair, Slum/Shack Dwellers International </li><li>Feike Sijbesma, CEO, Royal DSM </li><li>Francis Suarez, Mayor, Miami </li><li>Shemara Wikramanayake, CEO, Macquarie Group Ltd </li><li>Erik Solheim, Executive Director, UN Environment </li><li>Andrew Steer, President and CEO, World Resources Institute </li></ul> <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/is-activated-charcoal-safe-for-eat-drink-teeth-whitening-2018-9">What activated charcoal actually does to your body</a></h3> <div> </div> </div>

Bill Gates and Ban Ki-moon are recruiting mayors, heads of state, and finance pros around the world on a last-minute quest to save us from catastrophic heat, drought and flooding

<keyword id="20241095" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="Manu-Bhaker" source="keywords">Manu Bhaker</keyword> is a distinguished Indian sport shooter who recently made history by winning the <keyword id="20257145" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Bronze-Medal" source="keywords">bronze medal</keyword> in the Women's <keyword id="22586728" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="10-metre-air-pistol" source="keywords">10-metre air pistol</keyword> event at the 2024 <keyword id="4833237" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="paris-olympics" source="Orion">Paris Olympics</keyword>. This achievement marks the first time an <keyword id="20129532" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Indian-woman" source="keywords">Indian woman</keyword> has won a medal in <keyword id="19909929" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Shooting" source="keywords">shooting</keyword> at the <keyword id="19933819" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Olympics" source="keywords">Olympics</keyword>, making her a trailblazer in the sport for her country. <h2>Early life and quick rise to prominence</h2>Born on February 18, 2002, in Goria village, Jhajjar district of Haryana, Manu Bhaker displayed an early talent in various sports, including boxing, tennis, and skating, before ultimately committing to shooting. Her father, Ram Kishan Bhaker, a Chief Engineer in the Merchant Navy, reportedly supported her initial training with a significant financial investment of Rs 1.5 lakhs. Bhaker's career took off at a young age. At just 16, she won a <keyword id="20342188" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Gold-Medal" source="keywords">gold medal</keyword> at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, becoming the youngest Indian to achieve this feat. Her success continued with victories at the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup, where she secured multiple gold medals over the years, including in the 10-metre air pistol and mixed team events. <div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="112101410" title="Paris Olympics 2024: After Manu Bhaker’s bronze yesterday, India has the chance to win 5 more medals today" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div>At the 2018 ISSF World Cup in Guadalajara, Mexico, she clinched the gold in the Women's 10-metre air pistol event, becoming the youngest Indian to win a gold medal in this competition. That same year, she set a new Commonwealth Games record in the women's 10m air pistol event, scoring 240.9 points to secure the gold. Her successes extended beyond individual events to team performances as well. Bhaker, alongside partners, has consistently excelled in mixed team events. For instance, she won multiple gold medals in the 10m air pistol mixed team events with different partners at various ISSF World Cups in 2019. Additionally, Bhaker's contributions were instrumental in winning the team gold for India in the women's 25m pistol team event at the 2022 Asian Games. Despite heading to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics as a top medal prospect, Bhaker faced significant challenges, including a malfunction in her pistol, which impacted her performance. This experience, however, did not deter her. Instead, it became a pivotal learning moment that fueled her determination to excel in future competitions. <h2>Triumph in <keyword id="19916613" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Paris" source="keywords">Paris</keyword></h2>At the Paris Olympics 2024, Manu Bhaker secured a historic bronze medal in the women's 10m air pistol event. This remarkable achievement not only marked India’s first medal at the 2024 Games but also made Bhaker the first Indian woman to win an Olympic medal in shooting. She scored a total of 221.7 points, finishing behind South Korea's Oh Ye Jin, who set an Olympic record, and Kim Yeji, who claimed silver. <div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="112097005" title="Bite-sized tradition: Why do Olympic winners bite their medals?" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div>Bhaker's performance in Paris was a testament to her resilience and determination. Despite a challenging start, she maintained her composure and shot consistently high scores. Her journey to the bronze medal involved intense competition, particularly in the final rounds where she narrowly missed out on the silver but still secured her place on the podium, ending India’s 12-year drought in Olympic shooting medals. Manu Bhaker's journey is a remarkable example of overcoming adversity and striving for excellence. With her historic Olympic medal, she has set a new benchmark for future generations of Indian shooters. Her story will undoubtedly inspire many young athletes to follow in her footsteps.

Who is Manu Bhaker, the first Indian woman to win a Bronze Medal in Shooting at the Olympics?

Boost in domestic <keyword id="19914449" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="manufacturing" source="keywords">manufacturing</keyword> due to PLI (production linked incentive) schemes and increase in <keyword id="19916774" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="exports" source="keywords">exports</keyword> on account of free trade agreements are expected to bridge the country's <keyword id="20201391" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="trade-deficit" source="keywords">trade deficit</keyword> further, <keyword id="20613906" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="Economic-Survey" source="keywords">Economic Survey</keyword> said on Monday. However, it said that fluctuations in <keyword id="19936629" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="commodity-prices" source="keywords">commodity prices</keyword>, especially for critical imports like oil, metals, and agricultural products, can impact India's trade balance and inflation levels. The Survey said that though ongoing geopolitical headwinds impacted India's merchandise exports, lowering international commodity prices ensured a lower trade deficit in FY24 than in FY23. The country's merchandise trade deficit narrowed to USD 240 billion in 2023-24 from USD 265 billion in 2022-23. It added that changes in trade policies by major trading partners or geopolitical developments can affect India's export opportunities and market access. "In the coming years, India's trade deficit is expected to decline further as the <keyword id="19981334" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="PLI-scheme" source="keywords">PLI scheme</keyword> is expanded and India creates a globally competitive manufacturing base in several product categories," the Survey said. It added that the recently signed FTAs (free trade agreements) are expected to increase the <keyword id="22374533" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="global-market-share" source="keywords">global market share</keyword> of the country's exports. The PLI scheme for sectors like mobile manufacturing, information technology (IT) hardware, pharmaceutical, telecommunications, and food product are helping to increase manufacturing and cut imports. India has implemented <keyword id="20000557" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="FTA" source="keywords">FTA</keyword> with Mauritius, Australia and the UAE. It added that a narrowing merchandise trade deficit and rising service exports have improved the CAD (<keyword id="20054874" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="current-account-deficit" source="keywords">current account deficit</keyword>), ending with a surplus of 0.6 per cent of GDP in Q4 of FY24. However, the risks to the performance of India's external sector are on the downside due to the persistence of current <keyword id="19955176" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="geopolitical-tensions" source="keywords">geopolitical tensions</keyword> and policy uncertainty, it said. Some of the challenges listed by the survey includes fall in demand from major trading partners like the US, rise in trade cost, and volatility in commodity prices. Attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and drought in the Panama Canal have resulted in trade flows being re-routed, increasing journey time and costs. India's merchandise trade relies heavily on maritime trade, so disturbances in major shipping routes can impact its economy. "It is critical to explore what these changing paradigms mean for India. Policies need to be a mix that straddles security concerns with economic considerations," the survey said, adding India's push towards manufacturing in complex and niche sectors through schemes such as PLI and Make in India aims to balance these goals. Further, the survey emphasised on the need to focus on improving India's competitiveness in many product areas. For example, it said, India has tremendous potential in becoming a large global exporter in agricultural commodities. Fostering stronger regional trade ties and adding more markets for Indian goods will help mitigate global demand fluctuations. "In an era when global economic growth is likely to be buffeted by geopolitical tensions and protectionism, growing India's exports of goods and services will be a stiffer challenge than before," it cautioned. Commenting on this, Rumki Majumdar, Economist, Deloitte India, said that despite global uncertainties, India's exports are recording positive growth rates. "That shows the resilience of our exports amidst global uncertainties," she said, adding, "by transforming our export basket and focusing on higher margins and value addition across various sectors, India will easily achieve its ambition of USD 2 trillion in exports by 2030-31."

India's trade deficit expected to decline further: Economic Survey

Climate Action 15: 2024's top global innovators powering green solutions

<ul class="summary-list"><li>An ag-tech company has developed an army of resilient crops by growing them with salt water.</li><li>These crops are better at surviving salty soils, which is a growing problem in our warming world.</li></ul>Saltwater is <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/potato-farmers-destroy-potatoes-covid19-even-in-a-food-shortage-2020-6">bad news for most crops</a>, but not for a series of tomatoes, alfalfa, onions, and rice sprouting in a lab in Israel.These crops are the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/things-that-wouldnt-exist-without-gmos-2015-8">non-GMO</a> brainchild of Ṛcā Godbole, a plant molecular biologist and co-founder of SaliCrop. And they don't just grow, they thrive on salt water.Over the last four years, SaliCrop has been testing its <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-soil-health-fights-climate-change-2023-6">seed enhancement technology</a> on tomatoes in southern Spain, where devastating drought has triggered severe salinization, the process where soils become too salty for crops to grow efficiently.<div type="image" title="An aerial view of a harvesting truck loading tomatoes into a trailer." height="675" width="900" msid="108901209" hostid="261" sizebytes="209370"></div>With SaliCrop's seeds, however, participating tomato farmers have seen a 10% to 17% increase in crop yields, earning them an extra $1,600 per hectare, SaliCrop CEO Carmit Oron told Business Insider.Spain is just one of many places worldwide with a serious salinization issue. A perfect storm of years-long irrigation, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/world-hottest-year-ever-history-climate-crisis-2024-1">warming global temperatures</a>, and sea level rise have made 20% to 50% of irrigated soils worldwide too salty to be fertile. This costs the global economy an estimated $27 billion per year in lost crops.Meanwhile, the number of mouths to feed continues to grow with the global <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/graphics-showing-population-change-world-2019-7">human population</a> projected to reach nearly 10 billion by 2050, the UN estimates. "How do we grow more on lands that are becoming degraded? This was the main question and the motivation for establishing SaliCrop," Oron said.Godbole founded SaliCrop with Sharon Devir, an agricultural engineer, with a grand mission: Help farmers who face the challenges of our rapidly changing world and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/crispr-genetic-modification-agriculture-food-2018-4">prevent starvation</a> for potentially billions of people."We believe this solution is a must," Devir told BI.<h2>SaliCrop's saltwater success</h2>Scientists at SaliCrop are developing an army of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wild-seeds-of-domesticated-crops-boost-food-security-2019-12">resilient crops</a> that can grow under the stresses of our changing world, like saltier soils and warmer temperatures.Salt naturally occurs in soils everywhere, but too much of it can make it <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/woman-who-fed-people-during-housing-crisis-finds-garden-ruined-2023-4">harder for plants to absorb water</a> and nutrients, which stunts their growth, reduces crop yields, and ultimately threatens global food production.<div type="image" title="Rice seedlings planted in salty soil." height="1414" width="2121" msid="108901214" hostid="261" sizebytes="602392"></div>Across the globe, more than 1.5 billion people live with soils that have become too salty to grow crops efficiently. And it's predicted to only get worse.In India, for example, 44% of the land is already saline, and researchers estimate that salinization will affect 50% of the country by 2050.The problem farmers worldwide can't escape is <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/climate-change-global-warming-extreme-heat-inflation-global-economy-impact-2024-3">warmer average temperatures</a>, which speed up evaporation in the soil, concentrating the salt within that soil — especially in arid regions.<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sea-levl-rise-flooding-risk-higher-estimates-2019-10">Flooding from rising sea levels</a> also poses a threat, particularly to coastal farmlands, because it deposits more salt into the soil and groundwater. Poor irrigation practices, such as insufficient water application, using saline water, and not maintaining adequate drainage can also lead to salty soils.<div type="image" title="Irrigation machines watering a grassy farm field." height="1414" width="2121" msid="108901218" hostid="261" sizebytes="256520"></div>To help farmers combat all these factors, SaliCrop is working to bring its solution to eight different countries, and is already fielding calls from seed companies in Europe, India, and Africa that are seeking immediate solutions to improve their crop yield, Oron said."Plants have certain environmental stress-inducible genes that act as <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/plants-talk-to-each-other-scientists-record-for-first-time-2024-1">internal alarms</a>," Godbole explained in a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/salicrops-novel-seed-enhancement-tech-makes-deserts-bloom-302060421.html">press release</a>. "When there is too much salt, or too much heat, these alarms go off and the plant enters defense mode."Godbole figured out a way to harness those alarm bells by exposing plants to stress early in their growth cycle. In this case, that means watering crops with salt water in their lab. That way, when they're planted in salty soil, the crops already have <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/plants-shriek-with-high-pitched-ultrasonic-clicks-when-stressed-study-2023-3">their defenses up</a>, which makes them less sensitive to salty conditions.Based on their test data, this strategy cuts crop losses due to stress in half, and it only takes about a year to achieve that result, Devir said."We calibrate our technology to each crop, to each species, and even to each batch of species," Devir said. This allows them to precisely target the best resilience response and maximize yield for each type of crop.<h2>Seeding the future with non-GMO crops</h2>"We believe that it's a matter of one to two years until we will have a global footprint with our solution," Devir said. So far, SaliCrop has been working with farms 25 acres to 250 acres in size. Globally, over 3,700 acres — just over four times the size of NYC's Central Park — of farmland grow SaliCrop seeds.<div type="image" title="Aerial view of a tractor harvesting alfalfa." height="1409" width="2127" msid="108901219" hostid="261" sizebytes="299864"></div>But SaliCrop isn't the only company targeting a non-GMO solution. Red Sea Farms, for example, is a Saudi Arabian company that uses selective breeding to grow crops that can be irrigated with salt water. In Sweden, a company called OlsAro is growing salt-tolerant wheat by using AI to select traits that improve its resilience.Worldwide, up to 783 million people <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/global-food-crisis-higher-prices-shortages-civil-unrest-2022-8">face chronic hunger</a>. The UN has set an ambitious goal to eradicate hunger by 2030, but it'll need innovative solutions to improve agricultural productivity in the face of climate change.Non-GMO resilient crops are one possible answer. "SaliCrop is a good example of how you can bring to the world a cheap, reliable solution with no negative environmental effect, just to produce more food," Devir said. "We believe in it."

Scientists are growing crops with salt water that could help save us from starvation 

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Elizabeth Yeampierre helped prevent a real estate investment company from rezoning her neighborhood.</li><li>Where the developer saw profits, Yeampierre saw how it could push out the local working class.</li></ul>For many <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/millennials-priced-out-of-cities-into-suburbs-housing-crisis-2024-1">urban developers</a>, progress looks like sleek and shiny multi-use developments, complete with apartments, office space, and restaurants all within walking distance.But when Elizabeth Yeampierre thinks about these enclaves, she sees who they often push out: lower-income folks, the working class, and people of color."A lot of the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/advancing-cities">green solutions</a> right now result in the displacement of the people who have been breathing in toxic air for generations," said Yeampierre, who has a mind to upend the status quo.<h2>Upending the status quo</h2><div type="image" title="Downtown Manhattan streets covered in cars and smoke." height="1414" width="2120" msid="106812522" hostid="261" sizebytes="191270"></div>Yeampierre was born and raised in New York, and trained as a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/civil-rights-moments-historic-past-150-years-2019-1?amp">civil rights</a> lawyer before she started working on climate change and environmental justice in the Big Apple.She was the first Latina chair of the Environmental Protection Agency's National Environmental Justice Advisory Council, is on a host of advisory boards nationally and in New York City, and founded the NYC Climate Justice Youth Summit to help young people of color understand the overlap between racial justice and climate change.She's long been interested in how efforts to fight climate change can displace the communities that have traditionally been most impacted by the climate crisis — especially people of color, who are at <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9363288/#:~:text=Multiple%20studies%20of%20heat%2C%20extreme,is%20not%20always%20the%20case.">higher risk</a> for climate-related health issues than white people, according to research.To that end, Yeampierre helped prevent developer Jamestown Properties, which manages billions of dollars worth of real estate globally, from rezoning her <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sunset-park-brooklyn-home-prices-restaurants-tour-2017-10">Brooklyn neighborhood, Sunset Park</a>.Where Jamestown Properties saw a bright future in redeveloping 6 million square feet on the Sunset Park waterfront, Yeampierre saw the ways her community could be left behind.Business Insider reached out to Jamestown Properties for comment, but the company did not respond.In 2020, UPROSE — a Sunset Park community organization focused on sustainability and resiliency that Yeampierre is executive director of — joined a local coalition and pressured the city not to rezone.They won.Then, Yeampierre worked with her community to go one step further.<h2>A new vision for Sunset Park</h2><div type="image" title="Aerial image of NYC." height="1414" width="2121" msid="106812523" hostid="261" sizebytes="302310"></div>Situated along the scenic New York Bay in southwestern Brooklyn, Sunset Park is a diverse neighborhood that many working class individuals call home.Nearly half of residents are immigrants, three-quarters of households speak languages other than English, and in 2021, <a target="_blank" href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KVzPQ0hTLMos7izlQp3ENoLVkevyCr-5/view">42% of households</a> made less than $50,000.After defeating Jamestown Properties, Yeampierre, together with UPROSE, proposed an alternative future for Sunset Park: one that's <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/global-economy-outlook-super-cycle-ai-tech-interest-rates-decarbonization-2024-1">decarbonized and revitalized</a>, full of working-class jobs, renewable energy, locally grown food, and a burgeoning green economy.This future and how to achieve it by 2035 is outlined in a development report called the Green Resilient Industrial District Plan 2.0. And even Yeampierre's critics are getting on board, Yeampierre told Business Insider.<h2>Working class jobs and clean energy</h2><div type="image" title="Hydroponic gardens from UPROSE." height="850" width="1282" msid="106812524" hostid="261" sizebytes="88964"></div>The GRID Plan 2.0 "will incentivize the local economy while putting us on a path to resilience" by providing jobs for working-class residents, Yeampierre said.Chief among the changes is pivoting jobs from <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/carbon-emissions-2022-record-renewables-growth-solar-wind-iea-2023-3">carbon-based industries to green energy</a>. "The idea is, if you're bringing in these working-class jobs in this sector, people will be able to live here and work here," she said.GRID 2.0 also involves a large focus on renewable energy, with shared rooftop solar and offshore wind replacing the neighborhood's two power plants that burn fossil fuels.<a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/wells-fargo-us-residential-solar-sector-to-outperform-in-2024-1032958696">Rooftop solar</a> is an important part of any plan to decarbonize New York's buildings, said Chris Halfnight, senior director of research and policy at Urban Green Council, a nonprofit focused on decarbonization in the Big Apple."Rooftop solar helps ensure buildings are using clean electricity, and also makes them more resilient with an on-site source of power," he told BI via email.But rooftop solar will never be able to fully meet the city's electricity demands, he said, which is why large-scale efforts to decarbonize electricity production — like <a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/offshore-wind-industry-hits-rough-waters-amid-rising-costs-1032675804">offshore wind</a> — are important."We need to decarbonize utility-delivered electricity with renewable energy from outside the five boroughs," Halfnight said.GRID 2.0 also includes a plan to help protect Sunset Park from food and supply shortages that are a growing concern in the face of the global climate crisis.Climate change has led to consequences like more extreme drought, severe storms, and destructive flooding that can disrupt supply chains for local communities. To help protect Sunset Park from complete chaos in the face of an extreme weather event, UPROSE is focused on growing more food locally.UPROSE already grows hydroponic gardens at its headquarters and hopes to add more open spaces for urban agriculture with GRID 2.0.<h2>Leading by example</h2>As communities across the US confront both climate change and social justice, Yeampierre would like her work in Sunset Park to serve as an example of environmental progress that also supports people of color and other communities who are disproportionately impacted by the climate crisis.While there are no cookie-cutter solutions to addressing the climate crisis in a socially just way, the Grid Plan 2.0 can serve as inspiration for other maritime neighborhoods from Boston to Houston, Yeampierre said."We need to share what's working, what isn't working, the mistakes that we've made," she said. Because when it comes to finding solutions for climate change, "We just don't have any time anymore."

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