Alex Kim

Western wildfires: A growing threat across the country

17Feb

By Climate 360 NewsNo Comments

Featured, Kent State University, Loyola Marymount University, Science

Western wildfires: A growing threat across the country

By Alex Kim, Grace Springer Smoke rising in this California forest as the blaze continues. Photo via Flickr As I’m writing this article in February, there is a wildfire burning in Laguna Beach, California, that forced evacuations — an occurrence that used to be rare at this time of year, but not anymore. Parts of Southern California are experiencing a heatwave that’s fueling winter wildfires that can potentially send smoke thousands of miles outside of California. Jana Houser, Ph.D., is a professor of meteorology at Ohio University. She told Climate360, “We [Ohioans] can periodically notice the effects of wildfires out west when the fires become so numerous and large that their smoke enters the jet stream of the upper atmosphere.” In July 2021, Public Health Dayton ...

14Jan

By Climate 360 NewsNo Comments

Economy, Energy, Loyola Marymount University, Technology

Lithium: Not as clean as we thought

By Alex Kim All Electric Ford F-150 Truck at LA Car Show, 2021. Photographed by James Turner. While electric cars reduce fossil fuel emissions once they are on the road, the production of the lithium-ion batteries that power them causes more displacement and CO2 emissions than the production of regular gas-powered cars. Disposal of the batteries at the end of their life cycle is also a growing concern. “There are carbon dioxide and other greenhouse emissions that come with the process of extraction,” said Zeke Hausfather, a scientist at climate research nonprofit Berkeley Earth told Climate360. “[It's] not like CO2 comes out of the lithium, but it does take energy to mine things — today many of those systems involve emitting CO2.”&nbs...

14Dec

By Climate 360 NewsNo Comments

AUTHOR

Written Content Creator, LMU I’m a sophomore transfer from Otis College of Art and Design, and I am currently majoring in Journalism. I’m the diversity/inclusion chair member for Delta Sigma Phi, and love making music and chillin with friends!

COP26 Week 2: Summit “heats up” as representatives struggle to finalize plan

17Nov

By Climate 360 NewsNo Comments

Economy, Loyola Marymount University, Policy

COP26 Week 2: Summit “heats up” as representatives struggle to finalize plan

By Alex Kim The second week of COP26 focused on drafting a global climate accord by the end of the summit, as criticisms continued to swirl around pledges that were made. Day Eight: Sunday, Nov. 7 A counter climate summit began on Sunday, Nov. 7, because of the “greenwashing” and inaction from investors and world leaders of the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26). The purpose of The People’s Summit for Climate Justice is to bring attention to ideas and solutions which, it believes, have not been effectively addressed at COP26. Some of the key points that the counter-summit advocated for were the Global Green New Deal – a UN proposition from 2009 that has never been passed – and corporate liability for th...

COP26 Week 1: Catalyst for change or performative gesture?

16Nov

By Climate 360 NewsNo Comments

Economy, Energy, Loyola Marymount University, Policy

COP26 Week 1: Catalyst for change or performative gesture?

By Alex Kim The first week of COP26 was packed with action. From new agreements to failings of old ones the first week leaves us with a lot to discuss. Day One: Sunday, Oct. 31 The opening days of the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) brought out representatives and activists from the global community to discuss climate change and find ways to mitigate its effects on the planet. Though not formally invited, climate activist Greta Thunberg was swarmed by hundreds of people concerned with climate change upon her arrival to the convention in Glasgow, Scotland. Representatives from around the globe were calling on world leaders to take direct action to prevent the global climate from rising more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above  “pre-industrial levels....