Category: ARTICLES_REPORTS_WARMEST_YEAR_2021 ClimateJustice_MN EXTREME_WEATHER_CN Water_SLR_MN

Natural disasters like hurricanes, tornadoes and wildfires – all made worse by the climate crisis – have something in common: they disproportionately cripple poor, Black and minority communities. Dozens of studies demonstrate how climate-aggravated natural disasters and pollution hurt minority communities in ways that barely touch wealthy white communities. There’s a very clear divide between those who are causing climate change, and those who are bearing the brunt of it. Ultimately, the floods, storms and fires will come for all of us, but it’s going to hit some of us sooner and faster, while doing more damage. If we really believe we are all in this fight against the climate crisis together, then we are going to have to fold climate justice into our efforts.

Sea levels around the United States will rise up to a foot over the next 30 years due to climate change, as much as they have risen in the previous century, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) projected in a report on Tuesday.

A new report led by scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration warns that the U.S. should prepare for 10-12 inches of relative sea level rise on average in the next 30 years. The rise is due to both sinking land and global warming. And given the greenhouse emissions released so far, the country is unlikely to be able to avoid it.

When a mysterious series of temblors emanated from the uninhabited South Sandwich Islands, scientists all over the world found themselves scratching their heads in confusion.

After Hurricane Ida slammed into the Louisiana coast in August 2021, it took more than 100 lives and cost billions of dollars in damage. To some here, the storm was just one more justification for a desperate measure to preserve the coast by intentionally flooding parts of the state.

A major update to a popular NOAA tool used to inform planning and decision-making in coastal communities is now online. Coastal County Snapshots, available on NOAA’s Digital Coast platform, turns complex data into easy-to-understand charts, graphics, and information.

Scientists have discovered a series of worrying weaknesses in the ice shelf holding back one of Antarctica’s most dangerous glaciers, suggesting that this important buttress against sea level rise could shatter within the next three to five years.

Virginia’s Tangier Island is rapidly disappearing. Rising sea levels are exacerbating erosion and flooding, and could make the speck of land in the Chesapeake Bay uninhabitable within the next few decades. For years, island residents, policy makers and others have debated whether to attempt to save the island or relocate its small community elsewhere.

From ghost forests to sinking farmland, coastal salt marshes are rapidly shifting as the oceans rise. The Local Motives team, Nate Murray and Cody Pfister, traveled to New Jersey and Maryland to understand the impact of sea-level rise. In the past, marshes migrated naturally in response to changes, but now those shifts are happening much more quickly and as marshes move inland, they run into human development and farm land.

Rising sea levels paired with recent storm surges have been causing faster than usual erosion on Hawaii’s beaches and shorelines. “The coastal issues that are related to climate change are sort of the canary in the coal mine,” coastal hazards specialist Tara Owens told This Week co-anchor Martha Raddatz, who reported from Hawaii as part of ABC News’ ‘Climate Crisis: Saving Tomorrow’ series.