| |  | | Brought to you by USATODAY.com | | Welcome to Climate Point, your weekly guide to climate change, energy and the environment. The most important news story this week - by far - is new research finding that Hurricane Maria likely killed at least 4,600 people in Puerto Rico , making it America's deadliest disaster in more than a century, as USA TODAY's John Bacon reports. The devastation is just unimaginable. And remember that Hurricane Maria, like most extreme storms these days, was almost certainly made worse by climate change. | | My name is Sammy Roth, and I'm a reporter based in Southern California. Here are some other things you might want to know: | MUST-READ STORIES: | | Hottest May on record: Stop me if you've heard this one: The U.S. just finished what will probably go down as its hottest May on record, exceeding a previous high set during the Dust Bowl , as USA TODAY's Doyle Rice reports. Much of the country was unusually cold in April, but that's the thing about climate change: It takes place over years, not days or months. A cold spell doesn't change the long-term trends. Climate scientist Ed Hawkins did some really striking visualizations of this phenomenon, using a blue-to-red color scale to illustrate long-term temperature increases in the U.S. and globally. |  | | The economic benefits of fighting climate change: A new study from researchers at Stanford University makes an eye-popping finding: Limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius - the "stretch" goal identified by the 2015 Paris agreement - would save more than $20 trillion globally this century , as Amina Khan reports for the Los Angeles Times. Yes, that is a big number, but it doesn't even take human health and ecosystem benefits into account. I don't have a comprehensive number for you on that, but another new study finds that limiting warming to 1.5 degrees could avoid 3 million cases of dengue fever this century, as Neela Banerjee reports for InsideClimate News. | ENERGY AND WATER: | | Warren Buffett is dropping another billion dollars on wind energy: MidAmerican Energy - an Iowa-based electric utility that's owned by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway - is already one of the country's biggest providers of wind power. And now MidAmerican says it will invest $922 million in more wind turbines, making it the first investor-owned utility to reach 100 percent renewable energy, as Donnelle Eller reports for the Des Moines Register. (It's actually a little more complicated than "100 percent"; MidAmerican says it will generate as much electricity from renewable sources as its customers use, but it will probably still need to buy some fossil-fueled power because the wind isn't always blowing exactly when people need energy. Still, it's a huge deal.) | | Contaminated drinking water in Oregon, and a climate connection: The latest drinking water crisis is playing out in Salem, Oregon, where officials said earlier this week that children less than 6 years old and people with compromised immune systems shouldn't drink the tap water due to the presence of toxins. Here's the story from Zach Urness, Natalie Pate and Bill Poehler at the Statesman Journal. It's a scary situation, and unfortunately the chances of it happening again may be on the rise. Urness reports global warming could increase the odds of the algae blooms that produced the toxins. |  | POLITICAL CLIMATE: | | The Colorado River's future could hinge on a little-known election: Forty million people depend on the Colorado River for water, but long-term drought, climate change and chronic overuse have reduced the river's flow. The Arizona Daily Star's Tony Davis reports there's new hope for a regional deal to leave more water in Lake Mead and avoid shortages, thanks to Arizona water agencies starting to work out their differences. But in California's Imperial County, there could be another obstacle to a regional deal. I wrote for The Desert Sun about next week's elections for the Imperial Irrigation District board of directors. Imperial controls the largest share of the Colorado, and local farmers who want more control over the water are spending big to influence the election results. | | NASA administrator changes course on climate change: USA TODAY's Ledyard King has more information on a story I mentioned last week: Newly confirmed NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine, who previously questioned the scientific consensus on climate change, now says he agrees with scientists that human activity is the dominant cause of global warming . That's a big deal, since NASA does stuff like measuring the Earth's temperature and tracking changes to the climate. It's also a reminder that political flip-flopping, for all the negative connotations, is not necessarily a bad thing. | AND ANOTHER THING: | | Fifty years ago, President Lyndon Johnson signed the National Trails System Act and the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. Those laws created federal protections for a wide range of glorious trails and gorgeous rivers, from the Appalachian and Pacific Crest trails to the Rio Grande and Delaware rivers. As a hiker of trails and admirer of rivers, I am grateful. | | Writing for USA TODAY, documentary filmmakers Ken Burns and Dayton Duncan discuss the importance of those landmark laws. While unspoiled areas are getting harder to find along national trails and scenic waterways, they write, those places still exist, and protecting them matters more than ever. Burns and Dayton also note that the pristine spaces we enjoy today didn't get protected by accident. Instead, they represent a "rare combination: when citizen activism and wise government join forces and demonstrate what Americans are capable of achieving, once they accept the responsibility we all share to make sure that scenes of visionary enchantment never have an end." | | That's all for this week. For more climate, energy and environment news, follow me on Twitter @Sammy_Roth. You can sign up to get Climate Point in your inbox here. |  | |
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