People Are Talking About

PEOPLE ARE TALKING ABOUT

PEOPLE ARE TALKING ABOUT

09/12/23

...billion dollar disasters. 2023 is #1 with 4 months still to go

Record Number of Billion-Dollar Disasters Shows the Limits of America’s Defenses

By Christopher Flavelle 09/12/23
The United States has suffered 23 billion-dollar disasters so far in 2023, a record for this point in the year that highlights the country’s struggle to adapt to the effects of climate change. The list,…
09/06/23

...unprecedented rain, floods, fires, smoke and deadly heat

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America Could Be in for a Rough Fall

By Lois Parshley 09/06/23
On Labor Day, you could drive from Minnesota’s border with Canada all the way to where Louisiana hits the Gulf of Mexico and not encounter a high under 90 degrees. The heat hasn’t broken: Today,…
08/28/23

...hurricanes, particularly Idalia

Tracking Hurricane Idalia

By William B. Davis, Judson Jones, Bea Malsky, John Keefe and Madison Dong 08/30/23
Idalia remained a Category 3 hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico as of early Wednesday Eastern time, according to the National Hurricane Center. The hurricane had sustained winds of 120 miles per hour. Idalia was…
08/25/23

...Fossil Fuel Subsidies Just Keep Growing

The staying power of fossil fuel subsidies

By Ben Geman 08/25/23
Well over a decade after high-profile international vows to rein in subsidies for producing and using fossil fuels, they remain deeply woven into government policies. Driving the news: Two new reports reach similar conclusions, 14…
08/15/23

...The Inflation Reduction act, on its first birthday

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Investing In America

08/15/23
For decades, the U.S. exported jobs and imported products, while other countries surpassed us in critical sectors like infrastructure, clean energy, semiconductors, and biotechnology. Thanks to President Biden’s Investing in America Agenda – including historic…
08/14/23

...a Montana ruling in favor of 16 youths in a landmark climate case

Montana Kids Just Won Their Landmark Climate Lawsuit. Here’s Why.

By Dana Drugmand 08/14/23
Sixteen young Montanans have accomplished something unprecedented in U.S. history – holding their government accountable for exacerbating the climate crisis and thereby violating their fundamental constitutional rights. In a ruling released August 14, 2023, district…

Montana youth ruling

08/14/23
On March 13, 2020, sixteen Montana youth (collectively Plaintiffs or Youth Plaintiffs) filed a Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief (Doc. 1) against State of Montana, the Governor, Montana Department of Environmental Quality, Montana Department…
08/11/23

...Maui and the 2nd deadliest wildfire in U.S. history

How a perfect storm of climate and weather led to catastrophic Maui fire

By Susanne Rust, Hayley Smith and Dorany Pineda 08/11/23
Drought. Howling winds. Plummeting humidity. Tinder-dry grass. A historic city of exposed wood structures in a thirsty rain shadow. To a Californian, many of the factors that appear to have coalesced into a catastrophic fire…
08/04/23

...Republican assault on climate progress

A Republican 2024 Climate Strategy: More Drilling, Less Clean Energy

By Lisa Friedman 08/04/23
During a summer of scorching heat that has broken records and forced Americans to confront the reality of climate change, conservatives are laying the groundwork for future Republican administration that would dismantle efforts to slow…
06/19/23

...insurers abandoning homeowners as climate-driven extreme weather accelerates

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Climate Change Is Destabilizing Insurance Industry

By Thomas Frank 03/23/23
The president of one of the world’s largest insurance brokers warned Wednesday that climate change is destabilizing the insurance industry, driving up prices and pushing insurers out of high-risk markets. Aon PLC President Eric Andersen…
06/07/23

...wildfire smoke traveling thousands of miles from home

‘The fire equivalent of an ice age’: Humanity enters a new era of fire

By Shannon Osaka, Michael E. Miller and Beatriz Ríos 06/10/23
When the sky over New York City turned a thick, silty orange on Wednesday, 8 million residents woke up in a new era. Until this week, the East Coast had remained cocooned, thousands of miles…
05/26/23

...Supreme Court abandons wetlands

‘Devastating’ Supreme Court Decision Leaves Wetlands Unprotected

By Andy McGlashen 05/26/23
The majority of the nation’s wetlands where many birds raise their young, congregate in winter, and rest during migration—and which filter out pollutants and buffer communities from flooding and storm surges—lost legal protections on Thursday…

Supreme Court ruling on wetlands

05/25/23
Petitioners Michael and Chantell Sackett purchased property near Priest Lake, Idaho, and began backfilling the lot with dirt to prepare for building a home. The Environmental Protection Agency informed the Sacketts that their property contained…
05/25/23

...El Nino is back! what does that mean for weather and economics

Opinion: El Niño is back. What does that mean for an already overheated California?

By Justin S. Mankin and Christopher W. Callahan 05/25/23
During the El Niño of 1983, Californians counted their blessings. The warm Pacific waters sloshing eastward certainly brought heavy spring rains and record snow. But the state largely escaped the flood risks being frantically managed…
05/23/23

...the Colorado River and who gets it’s dwindling water

The breakthrough deal to protect the Colorado River, explained

By Anumita Kaur 05/23/23
After nearly a year of negotiations, three states agreed to conserve an unprecedented amount of their water supply to protect the drought-stricken Colorado River. The deal, shared by state and federal officials on Monday, marks…
05/18/23

…HEAT and all its ramifications

Cities Must Be Redesigned for a Future of Extreme Heat

By Akshat Rathi and Oscar Boyd 05/18/23
On this week’s Zero, Akshat Rathi talks to Eleni Myrivili, global chief heat officer for UN Habitat, about how cities can better cope with heat waves. By 2050, almost 70% of the world’s population will…
05/17/23

…wildfires

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There’s no escape from wildfire smoke

By David Wallace-Wells 05/17/23
In Western Canada, fire season comes early by American standards — beginning, usually, right around now. In Alberta, by today’s date, only about 1,000 acres have burned in recent years. This season so far, the…

Climate Forward – The New York Times

By Somini Sengupta 06/08/23
New York City used to have deadly smog. Pittsburgh had bad air. Also Los Angeles. It got a lot better. Until it didn’t. Wildfire smoke has reversed the gains this country made in cleaning up…
03/20/23

...the newly released IPCC Report

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Carbon Brief’s definitive guide to the entire IPCC sixth assessment cycle

03/24/23
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has now published the synthesis report of its sixth assessment report (AR6). This forms the final part of the sixth assessment cycle, which kicked off in 2015. The…
01/18/23

...replacing gas stoves with electric

Gas stoves can harm your health — and scientists have known that for decades

By Jonathan Lambert 01/18/23
The United States’ never-ending culture wars have moved to the kitchen, as Republicans turn up the heat on nascent efforts to shift Americans away from gas stoves...
01/15/23

..."atmospheric rivers" generating floods in California

Flood watch covers nearly all of California amid severe storms

By Todd C. Frankel, Timothy Bella and Others 01/15/23
Nearly 26 million people in California were covered by a flood watch Saturday, mostly between San Francisco and Los Angeles, as fresh rain and storms move through the state, bringing fresh flooding, mudslides and traffic…
01/10/23

...wrapping up climate in 2022 and the news isn’t all bad

Assessing the U.S. Climate in November 2022

12/08/22
The average temperature of the contiguous U.S. in November 2022 was 41.0°F, which is 0.7°F below average, ranking in the middle third of the record. Generally, temperatures were above average from the Midwest to the…