Climate Point: Earth shifts on its axis and Nestle doesn't have right to forest water

USA TODAY: Earth shifts on its axis, and Nestle gets slapped on water

Friday, April 30

View of edge of earth with Europe and Africa visibale as the sun comes around the edge of the horizon.

Earth shifts on its axis, and Nestle gets slapped on water

Plus: An octopus takes an Oscar. And can wildlife own property?

Welcome to Climate Point, your weekly guide to climate, energy and the environment. In Palm Springs, Calif., I'm Janet Wilson. If the world feels like it's been off its rocker of late, you're not imagining it.

The Earth's axis has shifted, and climate change is likely the cause, a new study suggests. As Doyle Rice reports for USA Today, melting glaciers around the world have redistributed enough water to cause the North and South Poles to move eastward since the mid-1990s. And, Rice adds, glaciers are melting fast than ever, with half of the loss in Alaska and Canada.

On that unsettling note, here are some other stories that might be of interest.

Worker in blue jumpsuit and white hardhat installs solar panels on a rooftop

Getty Images

MUST READ:

Cash (still) on the barrels. Part of the promise of renewables is that amping up wind and solar will provide a "just transition" to new, good-paying jobs for millions of oilfield and other workers in polluting industries that will be phased out. But while it's true the number of "clean" jobs is rapidly rising, installing those solar panels or erecting massive wind turbines pays less than traditional oil jobs and often doesn't include health or retirement benefits. Saijel Kishan has the lowdown for Bloomberg Businessweek.

Kernels of truth. In California's Kern County oil patch, long one of the most productive in the nation, a new UC Santa Barbara study concludes that phasing out the lion's share of the state's oil and gas production could cost that region an average 1,700 jobs annually, as The Bakersfield Californian's John Cox explains. On the other hand, the county's death rate would drop a whopping 25% because of reduced air pollution. The study comes amid Gov. Gavin Newsom's latest gambit to eliminate fracking, as I report for The Desert Sun.

Exhausting. Speaking of deadly air pollution, Blacks, Latinos and Asian-Americans continue to die at far higher rates from exposure to soot and other fine particles, no matter their income level, according to a new study that the Washington Post's Juliet Eilperin and Darryl Fears cover. Exposure to the particles accounts for 85,000 to 200,000 premature deaths each year.

Just in: California's forest offsets program is actually adding millions of tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere — the exact opposite of its intent. Looking forward to a closer read of this fine work from Lisa Song at ProPublica and James Temple with MIT Review.

In a remote area of the San Bernardino forest, a pipe hisses with the sound of mountain spring water it carries to Nestle North America tanks where it is then transported to Ontario, Calif., for bottling.

Jay Calderon, The (Palm Springs, Calif.) Desert Sun

WATER CLEAN AND DIRTY

Put a cork in it. Nestle likely does not hold rights to much of the water it pipes from a national forest 70 miles east of Los Angeles for its Arrowhead bottled water label, state investigators concluded. The multinational (or the company that has bought its North American operations) must "cease and desist" taking millions of gallons from a wild-flowing creek. The finding must be finalized by the California water board, and Nestle's successor is vowing to fight back. Ian James with the Arizona Republic, who broke this story in 2015, and I have the details for The Desert Sun and USA Today.

Running dry. The mighty Colorado River and its reservoirs, which provide drinking and irrigation water for nearly 40 million people across the West, are reaching critically low levels after poor winter snows aggravated by hotter, drier weather. That could lead to large water use cuts in Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico , with Arizona farmers hit particularly hard, as Ian James, Felicia Fonseca with the Associated Press and others are reporting. Arizona could lose a fifth of its water supply if the first-ever federal shortage is declared.

Globally, James tells us, millions of wells are at risk of running dry, from the United States and Mexico to India.

ElectraMeccanica's three-wheeled electric vehicle is called the Solo.

ElectraMeccanica Vehicles

POLITICAL CLIMATE

Never mind. California will likely be able to resume using its own, tougher tailpipe emissions policies, U.S. EPA and Department of Transportation officials have decided, with efforts announced to reverse course on Trump-era decisions that even some automakers opposed. Mark Olalde with The Desert Sun tracks the latest.

Roll over. And speaking of rollbacks, Congress has restored Obama-era methane gas regulations that Trump officials reversed, making use of the Congressional Review Act that gives the legislators a way to overturn decisions made by a departing president. It's a big deal because methane is a fast-acting greenhouse gas , and lots of it is still pouring skyward. In fact, even tougher regs could be coming, as Valerie Volcovici reports. GOP Senators Lindsey Graham, Susan Collins and Rob Portman joined the Democratic majority to vote to reinstate the methane standards.

Cabinetry. Biden's pick for the No. 2 spot at Interior did legal work for coal, oil and natural gas companies, per Timothy Cama and Emma Dumain at E&E News. The Senate has confirmed his No. 2 pick for EPA , Indiana environmental law and policy expert Janet McCabe, as Sarah Bowman reports for the Indianapolis Star.

Yes in my backyard. A Phoenix law professor worried about wildlife is ceding ownership of a parcel of land she owns to wildlife. That's right, the rabbits, quail and others will legally own it. Karen Bradshaw, who worries about biodiversity loss, told Anton Delgado with the Arizona Republic that there's strong precedent for making animals landowners: any elderly people set up trusts ceding their property to their pets.

Diver Craig Foster becomes fascinated with an octopus, and visits her for hundreds of days in a row, in "My Octopus Teacher."

NETFLIX

AND ANOTHER THING

Tentacles of love. This year's Academy Awards are fading in the rear view mirror (rest in power Chadwick Boseman), but if you haven't seen "My Octopus Teacher," which won for best documentary feature, I strongly urge you to make time for this wonderful little creature and the man who fell in love with it. It shows that in some places, the world is still exactly where it should be.

As the film's main human, Craig Foster, says, "A lot of people say that an octopus is like an alien. But the strange thing is, as you get closer to them, you realize you're very similar in a lot of ways. ... you feel as though you're on the brink of something extraordinary."

Scientists agree that to maintain a livable planet, we need to reduce the atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration back to 350 ppm. We're above that and rising dangerously. Here are the latest numbers, note how we've climbed in just a year:

The latest atmospheric emissions.

Janet Loehrke / USA Today

Have an extraordinary week. For more climate, energy and environment news, follow me @janetwilson66. You can sign up to get Climate Point in your inbox for free here. And if you are interested in California news, sign up for USA Today's In California here.