Currently in Philadelphia — October 18, 2023: Best day to be outside this week

The weather, currently.

The forecast yesterday was predicting some fog would arrive very late last night, but I’m hoping you were asleep by then. That should all be cleared away by this morning and it looks like the clouds will retreat, so we’ll have a bit more sun than yesterday.

But temperatures will be around the same, topping out at 64˚F. While temperatures are expected to stay in the mid-to-high 60s through the weekend, today might be the last full day of sunshine before some rain clouds start to roll in, so tonight would be a good day for some after-work hiking and/or biking.

— Abe Musselman

What you need to know, currently.

The UN Climate Change Conference, COP28, is about a month and a half away. However, after last year's conference — which emphasized Climate Finances — wealthy nations are still falling far behind on financial commitments.

The majority of these promises are already overdue. In 2009 wealthy nations promised to pay $100 billion per year in climate finance to the Global South by 2020.

Earlier this month the UN's main fund created to support these goals — the Green Climate Fund — announced that it had raised $9.3 billion, falling short of a $10 billion target. This comes nowhere near the $200-$250 billion the UN estimates developing nations will actually need each year by 2030.

The US and China, the globe's two largest polluters, failed to contribute to the fund at all.

At least years COP, held in Egypt, countries also agreed to create a “Loss and Damage Fund.” A fund where wealthy nations would contribute funds to assist developing nations as they recover from inevitable climate disasters, i.e. loss and damages.

Almost a year later, there is no clear path forward for the creation or execution of this fund.

— Abbie Veitch

What you can do, currently.

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One of my favorite organizations, Mutual Aid Disaster Relief, serves as a hub of mutual aid efforts focused on climate action in emergencies — like hurricane season. Find mutual aid network near you and join, or donate to support existing networks: