When it Rains it Pours, and Sewage Hits the Fan
Record rainstorms across the U.S. in the past year have continued to make national news, causing billions of dollars of flood damage and killing dozens. But what has barely made headlines are that these floods often cause massive overflows of untreated sewage into streams, rivers, bays, canals, and even streets and homes. Climate Central has… Read More
‘Ghost Forests’ Appear As Rising Seas Kill Trees
Bare trunks of dead coastal forests are being discovered up and down the mid-Atlantic coastline, killed by the advance of rising seas. The “ghost forests,” as scientists call them, offer eerie evidence of some of the world’s fastest rates of sea level rise. Forests provide habitat and protect against global warming, but they’re declining worldwide … Read More
Soaring Ocean Temperature ‘Greatest Hidden Challenge’
The soaring temperature of the oceans is the “greatest hidden challenge of our generation” that is altering the make-up of marine species, shrinking fishing areas and starting to spread disease to humans, according to the most comprehensive analysis yet of ocean warming. The oceans have already sucked up an enormous amount of heat due to … Read More
Dredging Brings Severe Flood Risk to Wilmington, N.C.
Even as Carolinians brace for the possibility of flooding from a tropical storm this weekend, ships at the Port of Wilmington are offloading clothes and chemicals produced abroad while others depart laden with weaponry and tobacco. The port is a 24-hour-a-day cog in the region’s military- and agriculture-heavy economy, but its operations come at a… Read More
Drought-Hardy Yards Could Ease Californian Heat Waves
As drought-stricken residents of Los Angeles’s hottest neighborhoods replace thirsty lawns with native plants, pavers and bare soil, new research has shown how their local climates could begin tipping back in the direction of their desert-like origins. In a region beset this year by drought and powerful heat waves, the widespread adoption… Read More
Alaskan Village Votes to Relocate Due to Climate Change
A Native American village in Alaska has voted to relocate its entire population of some 600 people due to the threat of rising seas, officials said on Thursday. Shishmaref, located on a tiny island north of the Bering Strait that separates the United States and Russia, is losing up to 10 feet of shoreline each year, according to … Read More
How a Volcano Hid the Acceleration of Sea Level Rise
An uptick in sea level rise caused by greenhouse gas pollution during the past two decades has been hiding behind a volcano. The eruption of Mount Pinatubo in Indonesia in 1991 sent tens of millions of tons of sulphur dioxide into the stratosphere.… Read More
Climate Change’s Fingerprints All Over California Wildfires
Reports this week from the front lines of the Sand Fire in Southern California painted the scene as apocalyptic. The drought-fueled blaze was explosive, fast-moving and devastating, burning through 38,000 acres in the Santa Clarita Valley and forcing the evacuation of more than 10,000 homes. If the state’s wildfire season holds true to forecasts… Read More
