| | | | | Welcome. This week, the joy of Old Ladies Against Underwater Garbage and the rise of the electric Ford Mustang. But first, the three things that could save your home from the next wildfire. | | Two similar-looking huts — one built to typical construction standards and the other incorporating measures informed by wildfire research — were subjected to a wildfire simulation in San Diego. (California Building Industry Association) | | On a concrete pad in San Diego, firefighters dab flaming drops of fuel outside two nearly identical sheds. As the mulch around them burns, a row of fans starts to blow, simulating how a windstorm intensifies wildfires. Once the flames approach the huts, something remarkable happens: One structure is quickly consumed in a tower of flames, leaving little but ashes. The other hut emerges unscathed. Why do some homes burn in wildfires while others do not? Researchers, insurers and government officials have been scrambling to answer this question, made urgent by a decade of deadly conflagrations: the Western fires in 2015, Paradise in 2018, Lahaina in 2023 and Los Angeles this year. The investigations have involved sifting through the ashes of real wildfire disasters. Researchers have also blasted embers into massive wind tunnels and torched purpose-built homes in deliberate infernos like the one in San Diego. While it can be tempting to attribute the survival of some buildings to luck, more often it’s a matter of design. Three simple things, it turns out, confer most of the protection you need against wildfires: using fire-resistant materials for roofs and exterior siding, installing screens on vents and clearing five feet of nonflammable space around your house. Here’s how to increase the chances that your home is among the ones left standing. Read the full column. Write me with your questions at climat...@washpost.com. I read all your emails. |  | Field Sample Plastic is everywhere, including in our bodies. Scientists have gathered evidence linking the chemicals in plastic to an array of health problems. The greatest risks — and the most dangerous outcomes — appear to involve pregnant women and their children. | | The Washington Post interviewed more than two dozen scientists, former regulators and industry officials, and reviewed nearly 50 academic studies to find out what effects phthalates may be having on our bodies and what could be done about it. Read the full story about plastics and pregnancy. | Learning Curve Electric vehicle sales in the United States are booming, but may be about to stall out. EV sales hit 130,000 in July, the second-highest total on record in the United States, roughly 12 percent of all new car sales. | | Yet Congress’s decision to end the EV tax credit and the Trump administration’s hostility to charging stations are throwing up roadblocks to growth. “We’re going to have a whipsaw effect,” said Karl Brauer, executive analyst for ISeeCars.com. “There’s no such thing as a free lunch.” Read the full story about the future of EVs. | Snapshot “Why does diving for trash in a pond make people so happy?” asked Susan Baur, 85, founder of the group Old Ladies Against Underwater Garbage (OLAUG). It could be the state of flow that she and her fellow divers experience in the water. “There’s nothing like cold water, icky garbage and a little bit of danger to get you out of your head,” she said. | | Susan Baur, 85, is the founder and director of OLAUG. (Maggie Penman/The Washington Post) | | After a dive, the swimmers pile the trash on a tarp and admire their haul. (Maggie Penman/The Washington Post) | The Second Degree Last week, I shared my column about bike buses. You shared my enthusiasm. Kim of Silver Spring, Maryland, responded that biking to school is a “family-friendly neighborhood adventure.” Each month, Kim’s street is thronged with schoolchildren and families who take off together for the local elementary school. “It brings me back to a gentler time and I am so happy that the kids get to experience this,” she wrote. “It is what ‘neighborhood’ should mean.” Another reader summed up my sentiment: “I can’t really explain why, but this article brings me so much joy.” Although my children are still learning how to ride bikes, I’m excited to join them on their way to school soon. Want to start your own? Bike Bus World has you covered. |  | On the Climate Front From The Post: Can filtering seawater provide for a thirsty world? This is how much we can cool the planet by burying carbon underground. Are this restaurant’s bug dishes the future of protein? Florida’s fix for its struggling insurance market hurt homeowners, data shows. From elsewhere: As temperatures rise, reports CNN, people are eating more sugar (and frozen desserts). Canary Media finds utilities are trying to replace power lines with solar and batteries. The Mach-E is outselling the original, gas-powered Mustang, reports Electrek. Insect populations are crashing even in undisturbed landscapes, notes the journal Ecology. |  | | Amy Hershey “left the leaves” in her Bethesda garden. Insects returned and the birds followed. “I have seen such a difference in the moth and butterfly population in my garden,” she wrote. “Every native pollinator plant is just teeming with life, many little creatures I have never seen before.” Send me your photos and stories at climat...@washpost.com | | A skipper butterfly and Northern Flicker | | Sign up here to get Climate Coach in your inbox every Tuesday. See you next Tuesday, Michael Coren, Climate Coach | | |
