September 16, 2017 By Sharon Gray in Newsletter
Article Synopsis – Humans aren’t well wired to act on complex statistical risks; we care a lot more about the tangible present than the distant future. The arrival of extreme events — hurricanes, wildfires, drought and torrential deluges — is not proof to many people that ...
Read More...September 15, 2017 By Sharon Gray in Newsletter
Article Synopsis – An internal Interior Department memo has proposed lifting restrictions on exploratory seismic studies in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, a possible first step toward opening the pristine wilderness area to oil and gas drilling. The Arctic refuge, which covers more than 30,000 square miles, has ...
Read More...September 14, 2017 By Sharon Gray in Newsletter
Article Synopsis – While changes in our planet’s atmosphere did not cause Hurricanes Harvey or Irma, the consensus among scientists is that the effects of climate change, such as rising sea levels and warmer oceans, made those storms far more destructive than they would have been ...
Read More...September 13, 2017 By Sharon Gray in Newsletter
Article Synopsis – Scripps Institute of Oceanography has published a paper stating that there is a 5 percent chance that the effects of climate change will be so catastrophic in the next three decades that most people will have trouble adapting. The chance that climate ...
Read More...September 12, 2017 By Sharon Gray in Newsletter
Article Synopsis – With millions of dollars of coastal real estate at stake, some real estate lobbyists are teaming up with climate change deniers and small government advocates to block public release of sea-level rise predictions and ensure that coastal planning is not based on them. Last ...
Read More...September 11, 2017 By Sharon Gray in Newsletter
Article Synopsis – A recent study found that at least eight islands in Micronesia and the Solomon Islands in the Pacific Ocean have disappeared due to rising sea levels. This is a trend that has continued for several decades, with low-lying, often coral atoll islands being ...
Read More...September 02, 2017 By Sharon Gray in Newsletter
Article Synopsis – Hurricane Harvey is what climate change looks like in a world that has decided, over and over, that it doesn’t want to take climate change seriously. Harvey is the third 500-year flood to hit the Houston area in the past three years, but Harvey is in ...
Read More...September 01, 2017 By Sharon Gray in Newsletter
Article Synopsis – Heavy rains and high tide have overloaded an aging drainage system, bringing Mumbai to its knees and paralyzing the financial capital of India. Train services have been affected, with many stranded at railway stations. The air traffic is also witnessing heavy delays. Citizens have been ...
Read More...August 31, 2017 By Sharon Gray in Newsletter
Article Synopsis – Urban planners and civil engineers say a combination of natural and man-made factors has created a chronic drainage problem in Houston that left the city especially vulnerable to Harvey’s torrential rains. Houston is just 50 feet above sea level and exceptionally flat, so ...
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