Blogging the End of the World™
By Elizabeth Shogren 2 April 2018 (Reveal) – National Park Service officials have deleted every mention of humans’ role in causing climate change in drafts of a long-awaited report on sea level rise and storm surge, contradicting Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s vow to Congress that his department is not censoring science. The research for the […]
By Huileng Tan 6 April 2018 (CNBC) – Once globally vilified for extensive air pollution due to heavy coal usage, China now talks a big game about its environmental efforts after the U.S. withdrawal from the Paris climate pact.But, beyond its borders, the country has been the world’s biggest investor in coal power.”Chinese banks’ and […]
By Tanvi Misra 27 February 2018 (CityLab) – In Philly’s Center City live its richest residents—those who can pay the premium for that walkable, amenity-rich, green neighborhood. But just across the river, blocks away from the lush, expanding campuses of the University of Pennsylvania and Drexel University, the visual landscape of the city changes: Pawn […]
5 Mar 2018 (Central Banking) – The assets of “other financial institutions” grew to their highest level since 2002 in 2016, the Financial Stability Board says. Total assets of OFIs increased by 8% to $99 trillion in 2016, the body says in its 2017 report on the global shadow banking sector, published today (March 5). […]
Dr Jonathan D Quick 18 March 2018 (The Guardian) – Somewhere out there a dangerous virus is boiling up in the bloodstream of a bird, bat, monkey or pig, preparing to jump to a human being. It’s hard to comprehend the scope of such a threat, for it has the potential to wipe out millions […]
By L.A. McKeown 12 April 2018 (TCTMD) – New data show a surprising pattern of increased emergency department (ED) visits for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular problems on days when wildfires are burning in California. Researchers say the fine particulate matter created by the fires poses significant risk beyond the state’s borders, and in particular to people […]
By Oliver Ralph 21 March 2018 (Financial Times) – Lloyd’s of London has reported its first loss in six years as a series of natural catastrophes took their toll on the insurance market.The underwriters at Lloyd’s faced claims for hurricanes in Florida and the Caribbean, earthquakes in Mexico and wildfires in California in what chief […]
11 April 2018 (University of Tasmania) – An international study in Nature Communications co-authored by researchers from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes and the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) reveals that marine heatwaves have increased globally over the past century in number, length and intensity as a direct result of […]
By Danny Vinik 27 March 2018 SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (Politico) – As Hurricane Maria unleashed its fury on Puerto Rico in mid-September, knocking out the island’s electrical system and damaging hundreds of thousands of homes, disaster recovery experts expected that only one man could handle the enormity of the task ahead: Mike Byrne. But […]
12 April 2018 (Rhodium Group) – Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico more than six months ago, devastating the island’s economy and the electrical grid. Efforts to restore full electricity service continue. As of the beginning of this week, more than 100,000 Puerto Ricans were still without power. What was already the largest blackout […]