8 June 2015 (VICE News) – VICE News is closely tracking global environmental change. Check out the Tipping Point blog here. The state of São Paulo is experiencing its worst drought in decades. Reservoirs that millions of people rely upon for drinking water are running dry and outbreaks of dengue fever have brought about an […]
By Meagan Wohlberg4 June 2015 (Vice) – It usually takes at least a few months before forestry officials in the Northwest Territories start talking about firefighter fatigue, but all 28 fire crews had the last weekend of May off in order to avoid impending burnout. The proactive measure is just one indicator that this year’s […]
By Nadia Drake5 June 2015 (National Geographic) – More than 3,000 starving sea lion pups have washed up on California’s beaches since January—easily 15 times more than in a normal year. “It’s unprecedented,” says Sarah Wilkin, national marine mammal stranding and emergency response coordinator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. And those are the […]
By Mike Carlowicz 27 May 2015 (NASA) – In the third week of May, it was warmer in Fairbanks, Alaska, than in Washington, D.C. The small town of Eagle, Alaska, was hotter on May 23 than it has been on any day in Houston or Dallas this year. In what has become a frequent occurrence […]
By Elizabeth Harball, Scott Detrow27 May 2015 (Scientific American) – Large swaths of Houston were underwater yesterday after more than 10 inches of rain fell on the city during a 24-hour window. The bulk of the rain came during intense Monday night thunderstorms, bringing America’s fourth-largest city to a standstill by yesterday morning. Major highways […]
By Todd C. Frankel 29 May 2015 ALONG THE SALTON SEA, CALIFORNIA (Washington Post) – The bone-dry lake bed burned crystalline and white in the midday sun. Ecologist Bruce Wilcox hopped out of his truck and bent down to scoop up a handful of the gleaming, crusty soil. Wilcox squeezed, then opened his fist. The […]
By Jim Forsyth25 May 2015 (Reuters) – Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Monday likened the ferocity of flash flooding that killed at least three people to a tsunami, and authorities said a dam had given way in a state park. Abbott declared states of disaster in 24 counties and flew over the area south of […]
By Alex DeMarban21 May 2015 DEADHORSE (Alaska Dispatch News) – Unprecedented flooding continues to interfere with daily operations on the North Slope oil patch after surging waters wiped away swaths of the Dalton Highway and isolated a section of Deadhorse, the jumping-off point for the sprawling industrial region. “This is just epic,” said Mike Coffey, […]
By Jessica Rosenthal20 May 2015 California (FOX News Radio) – The obvious solution to California’s drought is water. A lot of it. A NASA analysis late last year found the state needs 11 trillion gallons to get out of the drought. And if it’s not coming from the sky, water agencies, politicians and regulators have […]
By Alister Doyle and Geert De Clercq, with additional reporting by Michel Rose and Jessica Chen; Editing by Ahmed Aboulenein and Pravin Char21 May 2015 PARIS (Reuters) – Top European companies urged governments on Thursday to set a goal of slashing greenhouse gas emissions to net zero well before 2100, saying that going green can […]