LAND & WATER

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CURRENT NEWS

Jul 29 2021

Yale Environment 360

The Race for EV Parts Leads to Risky Deep-Ocean Mining

By Tatiana Schlossberg

Nauru, lying about halfway across the vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean between Australia and Hawaii, is the world’s smallest island nation. But in the emerging industry of deep-sea mining, it punches far above its…

Jul 27 2021

The Scientific American

Enlist the Ocean in Combatting Climate Change, Experts and Advocates Argue

By Sara Schonhardt Photo: Jeffery Greenberg , Getty Images

Climate scientists and marine advocates are calling on governments worldwide to look beyond green policymaking when it comes to climate change. They say a critical shade is missing in the fight against global warming.

Jul 19 2021

Courthouse News Service

Climate Change Is Putting the Pressure on Crucial Coral Species in the Atlantic

By Carson Mccullough Photo: Maoz Fine

Earth’s ongoing climate crisis has put a trio of critical stony coral species on a path towards an uncertain future that could have dire ramifications for their underwater biodomes, according to new research released Monday.

Jul 09 2021

Yale Climate Connections

Many cities want to plant trees. Why are some residents reluctant?

By YCC Team Photo: Payton Chung

To help limit climate change, the city of Pittsburgh intends to plant 100,000 new trees by 2030. The effort will focus on bringing more shade to low-income neighborhoods that lack green space. But some residents…

Jul 01 2021

Gothamist

How Trees Act As NYC’s “Natural Air Conditioning Units”

By Ben Yakas

You may have noticed that it's been a tad bit zesty outside this week—New York City has been under a heat advisory since Monday as record-breaking temperatures have made the city feel like the gooey,…

Jun 25 2021

The Washington Post

Battling America’s ‘dirty secret’

By Sarah Kaplan Photo: Kaci Merriwether-Hawkins

Climate change raises the risk from failing sewage systems. So Catherine Coleman Flowers is working for a new way to deal with waste.

Jun 22 2021

National Geographic

Why ‘tiny forests’ are popping up in big cities

By Elizabeth Hewitt

It’s a warm June afternoon, and in a thicket of elm and willow trees, a magpie chatters. A beetle crawls over a leaf. The forest, next to an 18-story building and a train line, is…

May 26 2021

Yes Magazine

In California’s Drier Future, What’s the Best Investment for Securing Water?

By Kate Wheeling

Once again, California is in a drought. Much of Northern California and the Central Valley are experiencing “acute water supply shortfalls,” and the Sierra Nevada snowpack, a critical water source for Californians up and down the state…

May 18 2021

The New York Times

What to Save? Climate Change Forces Brutal Choices at National Parks.

By Zoë Schlanger Photo: David Mcnew/Getty Images

For more than a century, the core mission of the National Park Service has been preserving the natural heritage of the United States. But now, as the planet warms, transforming ecosystems, the agency is conceding…

May 06 2021

The Nature Conservancy

U.S. Conservation and Restoration Plan a Blueprint for Nature

By Lynn Scarlett

The White House today released its “America the Beautiful” initiative for a locally led and voluntary effort to reach the U.S. goal to conserve 30 percent of the country’s lands and waters by 2030. In…

Apr 11 2021

Los Angeles Times

Op-Ed: How to save beaches and coastlines from climate change disasters

By Michael W. Beck Photo illustration by Nicole Vas

The frequency of natural disasters has soared in recent decades. Total damage topped $210 billion worldwide in 2020. With climate change, the costs attributed to coastal storms will increase dramatically. At the same time, coastal…

Apr 06 2021

Triple Pundit

What’s Crucial in Biden’s Infrastructure Bill: Water Investments

By Kate Zerrenner Photo by Fredrick Lee

Last week, the White House announced the American Jobs Plan, a far-reaching, economy-wide infrastructure and jobs investment proposal.

KEY RESOURCES

Science Empowering Communities In The Face Of Flooding

10/06/20

Surging Waters: Science Empowering Communities in the Face of Flooding is a report produced by AGU, a global not-for-profit scientific society dedicated to advancing the Earth and space sciences for the benefit of humanity.

The United Nations world water development report 2020: water and climate change

10/01/20

UNESCO World Water Assessment Programme.

EPA

Climate Ready Estuaries

06/13/20

CRE shares NEP examples to help other coastal managers, and provides technical guidance and assistance about climate change adaptation.

Storm Surge Inundation Map

06/12/20

This story map illustrates historical hurricane tracks, strike frequency, and potential areas of coastal flooding and inundation from storms by combining the National Hurricane Center’s (NHC’s) hurricane strike dataset.

What is Digital Coast?

06/11/20

This NOAA-sponsored website is focused on helping communities address coastal issues and has become one of the most-used resources in the coastal management community. The dynamic Digital Coast Partnership, whose members represent the website’s primary…

Association of State Floodplain Managers

06/10/20

The mission of ASFPM is to promote education, policies and activities that mitigate current and future losses, costs and human suffering caused by flooding, and to protect the natural and beneficial functions of floodplains -…

DATA

06/09/20

Find and download data for your coastal management needs.

Together, we’re connecting the dots

03/27/20

We connect the dots between your actions and our collective impact to create more environmental and social good.

Western Kentucky University Stormwater Utility Survey 2019

01/30/20

This is a very exciting year for stormwater utilities. First, New London formed the first stormwater utility in Connecticut. Secondly, New Jersey passed a state law that allows communities to form stormwater utilities in the…

SeaLevelRise.org

10/29/19

People truly need to understand the causes of sea level rise and the impact it has on our communities. By working together, we can develop smart solutions to protect against this ever-growing problem. Our communities can make…

Flood IQ

10/01/19

Flood iQ covers the East coast and the Gulf coast, and visualizes your risk of sea level rise flooding today and up to 15 years in the future. It is a web based application created…

Flood Resilience Portal

09/16/19

The Flood Resilience Portals are online spaces for sharing practical knowledge (including ‘solutions’) about why and how to build community flood resilience. They bring together all of the knowledge generated and exchanged through the Zurich…

The New York Times

The Great Flood of 2019: A complete picture of a slow-motion disaster

09/14/19

This year's flooding across the Midwest and the South affected nearly 14 million people, yet the full scale of the slowly unfolding disaster has been difficult to fathom. The volume of water is only one…

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MORE NEWS

Wired

The Ongoing Collapse of the World’s Aquifers

By Matt Simon Photo by ED Wray 01/19/21

AS CALIFORNIA’S ECONOMY skyrocketed during the 20th century, its land headed in the opposite direction. A booming agricultural industry in the state’s San Joaquin Valley, combined with punishing droughts, led to the over-extraction of water from…

The Guardian

‘There’s a red flag here’: how an ethanol plant is dangerously polluting a US village

By Carey Gillam Photo: Carey Gillam 01/10/21

Situation in Mead, Nebraska, where AltEn has been processing seed coated with fungicides and insecticides, is a warning sign, experts say

The Washington Post

Early Biden Climate Test: Groups Demand Tougher Rules on Building

By Christopher Flavelle Photo: Mario Cruz for Shutterstock 01/06/21

President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. has promised to help communities prepare for the effects of climate change. A new demand for tougher building standards could test that commitment.

The Washington Post

Battling America’s ‘dirty secret’

By Sarah Kaplan Photo: Kaci Merriwether-Hawkins 12/17/20

Climate change raises the risk from failing sewage systems. So Catherine Coleman Flowers is working for a new way to deal with waste.

Highcountrynews

A wetter and warmer Alaska means dangerously slippery slopes

By Victoria Petersen 12/17/20

n hour before sundown on Dec. 2, Lilly Ford and her family heard a “strange, low rumble” outside of her home in Haines, Alaska. It lasted about a minute as a 600-foot-wide slurry of timber,…

NASA

Sea Level Projections Drive San Francisco’s Adaptation Planning

By Alan Buis 12/14/20

As a utilities planner for the City and County of San Francisco, David Behar knows that access to the latest information about sea level rise is crucial to his job -- and his city.

NASA

New High Tide Flooding Projection Tool Aids U.S. Coastal Decision Making

By Alan Buis 12/10/20

A new tool developed with funding from NASA’s Earth Science Division helps decision makers and others assess how sea level rise and other factors will affect the frequency of high tide flooding in U.S. coastal…

Cal Matters

Rising seas: California’s affordable housing faces worse floods

By Julie Cart Photo: Anne Wernikoff for CalMatters 12/07/20

For low-income Americans, the number of homes at risk of flooding could triple by 2050, researchers say. Three Bay Area cities are among the top at-risk communities.

State of the Planet

Rooftop Camera Will Track How Local Forests Change With the Climate

By Sarah Fecht 11/02/20

A new rooftop camera at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory will help researchers study how the local forest is responding to the weather, seasonal shifts, and the changing climate.

The Center for Public Integrity

Deadly bacteria lurk in coastal waters. Climate change increases the risks

Illustration: Joanna Eberts 10/20/20

Health workers see Vibrio as a rare danger, if they’ve heard of it at all. But it’s already causing more cases of flesh-eating disease. And it’s poised to get worse.

Spectrum News 1

Nonprofit Shares Importance of Water Conservation

By Taylor Bruck 10/19/20

Water is life for everyone and everything in this world. With the urgency of climate change, water guru Erin Huber doesn’t take it for granted.

Reuters

How thawing permafrost could fuel climate warming

10/05/20

In the coldest regions of planet Earth, ice binds together soil, rock, sand and organic matter. This layer of permafrost can begin just centimeters below the Earth’s surface.

High Country News

Energy dominance or climate action: Trump, Biden and the fate of public lands

By Paige Blankenbuehler Photo: Andrew Miller/High Country News 10/01/20

In Grand Junction, Colorado, the presidential election is a choice between two distinct energy futures.

NASA Global Climate Change

Emissions Could Add 15 Inches to Sea Level by 2100, NASA-led Study Finds

By Kate Ramsayer 09/17/20

An international effort that brought together more than 60 ice, ocean, and atmosphere scientists from three dozen international institutions has generated new estimates of how much of an impact Earth’s melting ice sheets could have…

Guardian

‘This land is all we have left’: tribes on edge over giant dam proposal near Grand Canyon

By Cody Nelson Photo: Lisa Winters/Grand Canyon Trust 08/12/20

Developers want to build a vast hydroelectric power facility that would flood sacred lands, threaten waterways and put habitats at risk

Climate News Network

250 million coastal dwellers will face rising floods

By Tim Radford Photo: Master Sgt Bill Huntington, USAF 08/06/20

Once again, researchers confirm that coastal dwellers can expect worse floods, more often and more expensively. The post 250 million coastal dwellers will face rising floods appeared first on Climate News Network.

NASA Global Climate Change

Keeping a Steady Eye on Sea Level Change from Space

07/07/20

Over the course of nearly three decades, an uninterrupted series of satellites has circled our planet, diligently measuring sea levels. The continuous record of ocean height that they've built has helped researchers reveal the inner…

Washington Post

Trump lifts limits on commercial fishing at ocean sanctuary off New England

By Dino Grandoni Photo: Patrick Semansky/AP 06/05/20

Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument is the first in the Atlantic. Trump said a prohibition against fishing hurt Maine’s commercial fishing industry.

EcoWatch

Trump Just Lost the ‘Clean Water Case of the Century’

By Olivia Rosane Photo: Reinhard Dirscherl / ullstein bild / Getty Images 04/24/20

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled against the Trump administration Thursday in a case Earthjustice called "the clean water case of the century." The case concerned a...

Climate News Network

US coasts face far more frequent severe floods

by Tim Radford Photo: Beth Carey, via Wikimedia Commons 04/24/20

For US coasts, high-water hazards have just become more hazardous: a lot more hazardous, say scientists. The post US coasts face far more frequent severe floods appeared first on Climate News Network.

Yale Climate connections

Downloadable tool helps people choose the right plants for their rain gardens

04/10/20

As downpours become more common, many people are installing rain gardens – landscaped depressions in the ground that can capture excess stormwater. But not every plant works well in every rain garden.

Washington Post

A green solution to an aging stormwater system

By Frances Stead Sellers 04/09/20

Climate change means more floods, which overwhelm urban sewers and send raw sewage into rivers and streams. Philadelphia is aiming to capture rainwater before it flows into city drains.

EcoWatch

Flooding in 23 States Likely This Spring, Says NOAA

By Jordan Davidson Photo: Scott Olson / Getty Images 03/20/20

Another wet spring and floods are on the way, says the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Fortunately, the agency predicted Thursday that this year's flooding...

EcoWatch

Protecting Wetlands Yields Staggering Economic Benefit, Study Finds

By Kimberly M.S. Cartier Photo: Bkamprath / iStock/ Getty Images Plus 03/13/20

By Kimberly M.S. CartierMangrove forests, marshes and seagrass beds protect inland areas from storm surges and strong winds. Over long periods, coastal wetlands like these build...

Climate News Network

Rising tides will leave no choice for US millions

02/26/20

Time and tide wait for no-one. As sea levels rise, the rising tides will become more impatient. Millions of Americans will have to migrate. The post Rising tides will leave no choice for US millions…

Los Angeles times

Most California cities refuse to retreat from rising seas. One town wants to show how it’s done

By Rosanna Xia Photo by Robert Gauthier 02/24/20

Ten miles north of Monterey and a world away from Santa Cruz, Bruce Delgado gazed up a towering sand dune. Careful not to step on the beach buckwheat that protects rare butterflies or the sea…

EcoWatch

Trump Admin’s Clean Water Rollback Will Hit Some States Hard

By Tara Lohan 02/22/20

By Tara LohanThe Santa Fe River starts high in the forests of New Mexico's Sangre de Cristo mountains and flows 46 miles to the Rio Grande....

The New York Times

Trump Opens National Monument Land to Energy Exploration

By Coral Davenport Photo: Francisco Kjolseth/The Salt Lake Tribune, via Associated Press 02/06/20

The Trump administration finalized plans to open land once in Utah’s Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument to mining and oil and gas exploration.

Washington Post

These southern Utah sites were once off-limits to development. Now, Trump will auction the right to drill and graze there.

By Sarah Kaplan and Juliet Eilperin 02/06/20

The Trump administration is greenlighting drilling and logging at Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante....

ecoRI news

Local Efforts to Address Climate Crisis Make Difference

Photo: Frank Carini/ecoRI News 01/20/20

During a weeklong bonus session of the General Assembly in September 2017, both the House and Senate approved bills that require Rhode Island municipal planning board members to undergo training related to the impacts of…

The Boston Globe

Trump’s EPA is said to cut scientists out of new water policy that threatens New England wetlands

By David Abe Photo by Craig F. Walker 01/18/20

With the Trump administration poised to roll back key protections for much of the nation’s wetlands, scientists at the US Environmental Protection Agency are accusing the agency’s political appointees of ignoring their advice and barring…

The Guardian

Water wars: Early warning tool uses climate data to predict conflict hotspots

By Saeed Kamali Dehghan Photo: Michele Cattani/AFP 01/08/20

Tension over water scarcity is increasing across the globe. A new system flags up where this threatens to erupt into violence....

Huffpost

The Water Crisis In Cities Everywhere Is Worsening Already Terrible Inequality

By Maanvi Singh 12/14/19

While the rich can drill wells and keep swimming pools filled, poorer residents line up for water and struggle to survive. ...

Floods predicted to uproot 50 million people a year as climate heats up

12/04/19

Population growth, more intense rainfall and melting ice are likely to cause more frequent and severe floods, researchers warned on Tuesday.

How coastal communities can prepare for the challenges of storms and rising seas

11/13/19

Major coastal storms commonly kill hundreds of people and wreck homes, businesses and communities. The three major storms in 2017 – Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria – generated some $265 billion in damages and over…

The New York Times

Rising Seas Will Erase More Cities by 2050, New Research Shows

By Denise Lu and Christopher Flavelle 10/29/19

Rising seas could affect three times more people by 2050 than previously thought, according to new research, threatening to all but erase some of the world’s great coastal cities.

Washington Post

Scientists triple their estimates of the number of people threatened by rising seas

By Chris Mooney Photo by Matt McClain/The Washington Post 10/29/19

150 million could live below the high tide line by 2050, new research finds.

Rising Seas Threaten Low-Lying Coastal Cities, 10% of World Population

10/25/19

In a new report, CIESIN researchers help to identify urban populations at risk from sea level rise. Their updated data set is meant to inform adaptation strategies. ...

ecowatch

Great Lakes Flooding: The Warning Signs That Homes Must Be Moved

By Daniel Macfarlane 10/17/19

By Daniel Macfarlane Every fall, I take my environmental studies class camping at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore on Lake Michigan. Some years the beach...

PEW

America’s Coastal Habitats Are Beautiful, Vital, and Worth Protecting

By Holly Binns, Ted Morton Photo by Vicki Jauron/Getty Images 10/16/19

Increasingly vulnerable ecosystems sustain marine life, filter water, safeguard shorelines

The New York Times

In Houston, a rash of storms tests the limits of coping with climate change

By Christopher Flavelle Photo: Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle 10/02/19

After Hurricane Harvey hit in 2017, Houston jumped to the front of the pack in adapting to the threat of climate change. It passed tougher building codes, offered more buyouts for flood-prone homes and budgeted…

bloomberg

River Flows All Across the Globe Are Dropping

By Eric Roston 10/02/19

Groundwater pumping in some of the world’s critical watersheds exceeds safe levels. It’s causing surface waters to fall at an alarming rate.

Rising Seas Threaten Hundreds of Native American Heritage Sites Along Florida’s Gulf Coast

09/30/19

By Jayur Mehta, Tara Skipton Native North Americans first arrived in Florida approximately 14,550 years ago. Evidence for these stone-tool-wielding, megafauna-hunting peoples can be found...

inverse

‘No state in the country is spared’ from f‘No state in the country is spared’ from flooding risks, new report sayslooding risks, new report says

By Nina Pullano Photo by National Geographic 09/25/19

The United States is getting wetter, and people across the country, from local government officials to scientists, all need to help communities prepare for an uptick in flooding, a new report says.

US drinking water pollution could cause 100,000 cancer cases

09/19/19

Contaminated drinking water—most of which currently meets legal quality standards—could cause an estimated 100,000 cancer cases in the U.S., according to a new report.The study—which was published today in the journal HeliyonHeliyon and looked at…

un news

Nature ‘one of most effective ways’ of combatting climate change

By Inger Andersen 09/19/19

World leaders will be gathering at the United Nations in New York next week at a Climate Action Summit convened by the UN Secretary-General António Guterres and Ms. Andersen will be there to promote the…

The Guardian

‘Bigger picture, it’s climate change’: Great Lakes flood ravages homes and roads

By Tom Perkins Photo by Colter Peterson/AP 09/03/19

Depths of lakes that hold about 90% of US’s freshwater spiking to record levels, from 14in to nearly 3ft above long-term averages

politico

The toxic waste threat that climate change is making worse

By Zack Colman Photo by Steve Helber 08/26/19

More than 100 ponds and landfills containing coal ash lie in areas FEMA has designated as high-risk flood zones, according to a POLITICO analysis.

The New York Times

How to Rebound After a Disaster: Move, Don’t Rebuild, Research Suggests

By Kendra Pierre-Louis Karsten Moran 08/22/19

What should communities do as climate change escalates threats like sea-level rise? Until now, much of the focus has been on disaster response, with very little discussion of orderly, strategic retreat from areas at risk.…

The Economist

One way or another the deluge is coming- A world without beaches

08/17/19

The ocean covers 70.8% of the Earth’s surface. That share is creeping up. Averaged across the globe, sea levels are 20cm higher today than they were before people began suffusing the atmosphere with greenhouse gases…

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