The World is Hot, on Fire, and Flooding. Climate Change is Here.
These are striking examples of climate change playing out in its deadliest forms, and they’re making the term “natural disaster” an outdated concept.
extreme weather events
Heat Waves Bother You? Under Trump Climate Policies, Add Another 12°F
Typical five-day heat waves in the U.S. will be 12°F warmer by mid-century alone, according to the U.S. National Climate Assessment (NCA), which the White House itself reviewed and approved last November.
This Hurricane Season, Puerto Ricans Are Imagining a Sustainable Future
A just recovery for Puerto Rico not only means rebuilding what Maria destroyed, but reclaiming the political and economic agency stifled by American colonialism.
Puerto Rico Confronts a New Hurricane Season — And Old Injustices
This was no mere “natural” disaster. The impacts of Hurricane Maria were to a large extent attributable to inequalities of race, income and — critically — access to political power.
FEMA ends Food and Water Aid to Struggling Puerto Rico
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will end food and water aid to Puerto Rico despite the island’s ongoing struggles, NPR reported on Monday. Officials have argued that the immediate humanitarian crisis following Hurricane Maria has ended. Puerto Ricans might contest that assertion.
Post-Fire Mudslide Problems aren’t New and Likely to Get Worse
In the popular press these flows were termed “mudslides,” but with some rocks as large as cars these are more accurately described as hyperconcentrated flows or debris flows, depending on the amount of sediment mixed with the water. Why did these deadly flows happen?
2017 Was a Record-Breaking Year: Climate-Related Disasters Cost the U.S. $300 billion
According to new analysis released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 2017 was the third warmest year on record in the United States — and the most costly year ever for weather and climate-related natural disasters.
Get Used to Saying ‘Bomb Cyclone.’ This is our Climate Now.
Now that one of the strongest nor’easters on record has swirled off to Canada, it’s time to talk about what everyone was thinking during the storm: Is this just what happens now? Short answer: yes. Get used to it. Wild storms like this week’s massive coastal cyclone will be part of winters in the Anthropocene.
Life in the Anthropocene: Field Notes from the Santa Rosa Fire
These firemen drove straight into a firestorm that was much larger than they expected. Once there, they looked around for something they could save – and set to work saving it. We live in the age of the Anthropocene, a firestorm that is likely to be so much larger than we expected. How can we, in an analogous way, find our own “Line of Sorrow” and work to save what can be saved?
Toxic Ashes and Charred Forests Threaten Water After North Bay Fires
The fires that burned wildlands and urban areas in Northern California this month now pose a threat to water quality, humans and wildlife as crews work to contain unstable hillsides and keep toxic debris from entering waterways.
Hurricane Maria Crushed Puerto Rico farms. This Activist Wants to Grow Resilience through Food.
Obviously, we are still in the emergency relief situation, but food takes time to grow. And so we really, really need to see this as an immediate issue. How do we get farmers back to farming? How do we get a roof over their heads? How do we get them seeds? How do we get them tools? Because it takes a while to not only be happier, but to be more autonomous.
‘It’s Global Warming, Stupid’: Five Years after Sandy, We’ve Learned Nothing
It’s been five years since Superstorm Sandy devastated the Northeast. The monster storm — which killed more than 100 people, destroyed entire communities, and inflicted more than $70 billion in damages — should have completely changed the way we approach climate impacts, resilience, and global warming policy. But it didn’t.