Extreme weather

The National Flood Insurance Program Is Broken

September 17, 2023 Krista Egger, Next City. Create! climate crisis, Extreme weather, Floods, Insurance

The most expensive type of disaster in the United States is flooding. Hurricanes, a major source of flooding, make up seven of the 10 costliest disasters in United States history, from Katrina in 2005 to Ian in 2022. Together, these storms alone have cost $800 billion, adjusted for inflation. Half a century ago—before any of these storms occurred—the federal government created the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), a public sector alternative to fill in the gaps in higher-risk areas where commercial insurance is unavailable. But as the frequency and severity of flooding events have increased—and as insurers continue to add to the list of states they refuse to insure—the NFIP has become massively oversubscribed, amassing more than $20 billion in debt on behalf of its five million policyholders.

Six Of Nine Planetary Boundaries Have Now Been Exceeded

September 16, 2023 Cristen Hemingway Jaynes, EcoWatch. Educate! climate crisis, Extreme weather, Human Rights, Sustainability

A new study by an international team of 29 scientists from eight countries provides the third update to the planetary boundaries framework. The update shows how human activities are increasingly impacting our planet, thus augmenting the risk of triggering drastic changes in Earth’s overall conditions. The nine planetary boundaries represent the limits within which humans can continue to thrive and develop. “The planetary boundaries framework draws upon Earth system science,” the study said. “It identifies nine processes that are critical for maintaining the stability and resilience of Earth system as a whole. All are presently heavily perturbed by human activities.

US Sets Record For Billion-Dollar Disasters In A Single Year

September 14, 2023 Cristen Hemingway Jaynes, EcoWatch. Educate! climate crisis, Disasters, Extreme weather

With nearly four months still to go in 2023, the U.S. has already set a record for the most natural disasters that have cost $1 billion or more in a single year. Since 1980, there have been 371 climate– and weather-related disaster events in the U.S. with costs and damages reaching or exceeding $1 billion, a press release from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) said. The estimated costs include a consumer price index adjustment. Altogether these disasters cost more than $2.6 trillion. This year, there have been 23 confirmed climate and weather-related disasters in the U.S. that killed a total of 253 people and resulted in losses of more than $1 billion each.

Private Equity Profits From Climate Disaster Clean-Up

September 9, 2023 Nina Lakhani, The Guardian. Educate! Capitalism, Disasters, Extreme weather, Fossil Fuels, Recovery

Private equity firms are increasingly profiting from cleaning up climate disasters in the US, while failing to better protect workers and often also investing in the fossil fuels that are causing the climate emergency, new research has found. The demand for skilled disaster restoration or resilience workers, who are mostly immigrants and refugees from Latin America and Asia, is soaring as greenhouse gases released by burning fossil fuels heat the planet, provoking more destructive storms, floods and wildfires. As the disaster industry has become more profitable, at least 72 companies that specialize in disaster cleanups and restoration have been acquired by private equity firms since 2020.

Disaster Relief Often Leaves Disabled People Behind

September 7, 2023 Bianca Gonzalez, Next City. Create! climate crisis, Disability Rights, Disaster Recovery, Extreme weather

When disaster strikes, disabled people and low-income communities are hit the hardest and face higher mortality rates. They also take longer to recover. Germán Parodi and Shaylin Sluzalis were protesting in Washington, D.C., for disability rights as they found out Hurricane Maria was on its way to Puerto Rico in 2017. Now the co-directors of The Partnership for Inclusive Disaster Strategies, they were deployed as part of a disabled first responder team. Parodi, who was born and raised on the island, lives with a mobility disability, while Sluzalis lives with an invisible disability. “Being culturally aware of the dynamics of the island … and knowing how to interact with people with different types of disabilities opened doors that we were being told wouldn’t open in some neighborhoods,” says Parodi.

The Climate Culprits Hiding Their Role In California’s Extreme Weather

August 23, 2023 Rebecca Burns, The Lever. Educate! California, climate crisis, Corporatism, Extreme weather, State legislature

One of the nation’s most important climate fights is currently playing out under the radar in California, where state residents are weathering an unprecedented tropical storm. Oil and industry lobbying groups are spending millions in a last-ditch attempt to block first-of-its-kind legislation that would require thousands of large companies doing business in the state to fully disclose their carbon emissions, a move that would effectively set national policy. In the final weeks of California’s legislative session, which ends in mid-September, Assembly members are expected to vote on the climate transparency bill.

Environmental Racism Links Lahaina And Katrina

August 16, 2023 Monica Moorehead, Workers' World. Educate! climate crisis, Environmental racism, Extreme weather, Hawaii, Hurricane Katrina, Lahaina, neo-colonialism, Wildfires

August 29 will mark the 18th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, one of the deadliest hurricanes in U.S. history, which devastated much of the Gulf Coast (specifically Louisiana and Mississippi) and disproportionately struck New Orleans. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration states that this Category 4 hurricane caused at least $108 billion in structural damage, leading to more than one million people being displaced, many permanently, especially the poor and people of color. According to livescience.com, an estimated 1,833 people died in the hurricane and the flooding that followed. (Aug. 27, 2015) That flooding, mainly caused by broken levees, overwhelmed the Ninth Ward, a predominant working-class Black neighborhood in New Orleans.

‘Era Of Global Boiling’ Has Arrived, United Nations Chief Says

July 30, 2023 Cristen Hemingway Jaynes, EcoWatch. Educate! climate crisis, Extreme weather, Global South, Global Warming

As heat waves and wildfires cause chaos in North Africa, Europe and North America, climate scientists from the United Nations (UN) have announced that it is almost certain this July will be the warmest month ever recorded. At a press conference on climate Thursday, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned, “The era of global warming has ended; the era of global boiling has arrived,” a UN press release said. “Today, the World Meteorological Organization and the European Commission’s Copernicus Climate Change Service are releasing official data that confirms that July 2023 is set to be the hottest month ever recorded in human history,” Guterres said.

New Study Finds The Gulf Stream Could Collapse Between 2025 And 2095

July 27, 2023 Cristen Hemingway Jaynes, EcoWatch. Educate! climate crisis, collapse, Extreme weather, Gulf Stream

The Gulf Stream is a strong current of warm water that flows from the Gulf of Mexico into the Atlantic Ocean, and runs from the East Coast of the United States across the Atlantic and north past Western Europe. Without the Gulf Stream, which is part of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), a system of ocean currents that is vital to Earth’s climate, places like England would be much colder. A new study by Susanne Ditlevsen and Peter Ditlevsen, researchers with the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, has concluded that the AMOC is at risk of collapsing around mid-century, much earlier than scientists had previously thought.

‘Concrete Coffins:’ Surviving Extreme Heat Behind Bars

July 25, 2023 Jamiles Lartey, The Marshall Project. Educate! climate crisis, Criminal Justice and Prisons, Extreme weather, health, Human Rights, Prisons

Sweltering doesn’t even describe it. This week, more than a third of the U.S. population was under excessive heat warnings and heat advisories. Dozens of major cities and states have set new temperature records in recent weeks, including Baton Rouge, Louisiana, which logged its hottest June ever. Less than an hour from the city is Louisiana State Penitentiary, better known as Angola prison, where the state set up a temporary youth jail last fall, in a building that once housed adults awaiting execution. A federal court filing this week from the Louisiana American Civil Liberties Union alleges that the youth at Angola face inhumane conditions, in large part because they are regularly kept in non-airconditioned cells for up to 72 hours.

The Climate Crisis Is Most Detrimental To The Black Community

July 23, 2023 Forrest Palmer, Black Agenda Report. Educate! Black America, climate crisis, Extreme weather, Racial disparities

There was no more defining moment in modernity than the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. Within that revolution domestically to the United States, the most significant incident was the Titusville, Pennsylvania oil drilling find , which began our internal deluge of oil. This was the beginning of the troika of oil, coal and gas being the foundation of our modern economy. As the saying goes “there are no free lunches”. With this abundance of cheap energy, the release of carbon in our environment has caused a constant rise in our temperatures globally over the past approximately 180 years .

The Eco Collapse We Were Warned About Has Begun

July 23, 2023 Jose Seoane, People's Dispatch. Educate! climate crisis, collapse, Environment, Extreme weather

In 2023, different climatic anomalies have been recorded that set new historical records in the tragic progression of climate change at the global level. Thus, in June, the surface temperature in the North Atlantic reached the maximum increase of 1.3 degrees Celsius with respect to preindustrial values. In a similar direction—although in lower values—the average temperature of the seas at the global level increased. On the other hand, the retraction of Antarctic ice reached a new limit, reaching the historical decrease of 2016, but several months earlier in the middle of the cold season. The combination of these records has led scientists who follow these processes to warn of the danger of a profound change in the currents that regulate temperature and life in the oceans and globally.

As Skies Turn Orange, Media Hesitate To Mention What’s Changing Climate

July 19, 2023 Olivia Riggio, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting. Educate! climate crisis, Extreme weather, Media, Wildfires

Skies on the US’s East Coast turned an apocalyptic orange in early June, as wildfire smoke from Canada blew south. On Wednesday, June 7, New York City’s air quality ranked the worst in the world, with an Air Quality Index rating of more than 400 out of 500—deemed “hazardous” for any individual. Scientists expect forest fires to increase with the advance of climate disruption—mainly driven by fossil fuel consumption. Hotter, dryer weather, an increase in the type of brush that fuels these fires, and more frequent lightning strikes all contribute to this outcome (NOAA, 8/8/22; UN, 2/23/22; PNAS, 11/1/21; International Journal of Wildland Fire, 8/10/09).

World Passes Highest Average Global Temperature Recorded

July 7, 2023 Paige Bennett, EcoWatch. Educate! climate crisis, Environment, Extreme weather, Global Warming

The average global temperature reached a new high on July 3 at 17.01 degrees Celsius (62.6 degrees Fahrenheit), the highest average since records initially began in the 19th century and since satellite monitoring began in the 1970s. July 4 was even hotter, reaching 0.17 degrees Celsius (0.31 degrees Fahrenheit) higher. The high temperatures come after scientists strongly predicted an El Niño event to happen and push the world to record high average temperatures. “The average global surface air temperature reaching 17C for the first time since we have reliable records available is a significant symbolic milestone in our warming world,” said climate researcher Leon Simons

Sudden Heat Increase In North Atlantic Seas Could Have Devastating Effects

June 21, 2023 Cristen Hemingway Jaynes, EcoWatch. Educate! Biodiversity, climate crisis, Extreme weather, Global Warming, Oceans

Scientists have warned that an extreme marine heat wave off the UK and Ireland coasts is posing a major threat to marine species. According to the official blog of the UK’s Met Office, the global sea surface temperatures for April and May of this year were the highest since records began in 1850. Last month was the warmest May on record in the North Atlantic, with temperatures about 1.25 degrees Celsius higher than average over the 1961 to 1990 reference period. “The extreme and unprecedented temperatures show the power of the combination of human-induced warming and natural climate variability like El Niño,” said Daniela Schmidt, a professor of earth sciences at the University of Bristol.

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