3Qs: What is ‘global weirding’?

By Angela Herring22 March 2012 Auroop Ganguly — an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering who heads Northeastern’s Sustainability and Data Sciences Lab — explains how global climate change and extreme weather, such as hurricanes and heat waves, could affect water sustainability, critical infrastructures and human health. What is the difference between global “weirding” […]

As climate changes, Louisiana seeks to lift a highway

By Juliet Eilperin18 March 2012 GOLDEN MEADOW, Louisiana – Here on the side of Louisiana’s Highway 1, next to Raymond’s Bait Shop, a spindly pole with Global Positioning System equipment and a cellphone stuck on top charts the water’s gradual encroachment on dry land. In 1991 this stretch of road through the marshlands of southern […]

3.7 million Americans threatened by rising sea levels – ‘Like an invisible tsunami’

By JUSTIN GILLIS 13 March 2012 About 3.7 million Americans live within a few feet of high tide and risk being hit by more frequent coastal flooding in coming decades because of the sea level rise caused by global warming, according to new research. If the pace of the rise accelerates as much as expected, […]

As sea levels rise, Kiribati eyes 6,000 acres in Fiji as new home for 103,000 islanders

9 March 2012 (AP) – Fearing that climate change could wipe out their entire Pacific archipelago, the leaders of Kiribati are considering an unusual backup plan: moving the populace to Fiji. Kiribati President Anote Tong told The Associated Press on Friday that his Cabinet this week endorsed a plan to buy nearly 6,000 acres on […]

North Carolina lifeline built on eroding sands ‘is totally a lost cause’

By CORNELIA DEAN5 March 2012 RODANTHE, N.C. — Last August, when Hurricane Irene sliced across the Outer Banks, it cut Highway 12, Hatteras Island’s lifeline, in two places. Engineers rushed to repair the damage, filling and repaving a washed-out stretch of roadway here and building a bridge over a newly formed inlet a few miles […]

Australia real estate developer enlists prominent climate science deniers in fight against ‘worldwide idiocy about sea level rises’

By Ben Cubby6 March 2012 CRACKS are appearing in the state’s response to rising sea levels, with one council facing potential legal action from a developer and other residents worried about planning controls and insurance risks. Lake Macquarie Council recently updated its recommendations for about 10,000 people living up to three metres above the average […]

Rising tide of sea-level warnings drowned out by wave of shoreline development

By Tom Horton January 2012 Sea-level around the Chesapeake Bay is rising. Larger-than-ever storm surges are a certainty. Land is sinking further. The time has come to plan an orderly human retreat from more development along the watershed’s low-lying edges. The science that backs this advice gets drowned out when developers wave big money at […]

As climate changes, ‘100-year floods’ may happen every three to 20 years

By Jennifer Chu, MIT News Office13 February 2012 Last August, Hurricane Irene spun through the Caribbean and parts of the eastern United States, leaving widespread wreckage in its wake. The Category 3 storm whipped up water levels, generating storm surges that swept over seawalls and flooded seaside and inland communities. Many hurricane analysts suggested, based […]

Louisiana planning for 1-meter sea level rise by 2100

By CAIN BURDEAU, The Associated Press7 February 2012 NEW ORLEANS – A scientific report [Recommendations for Anticipating Sea-Level Rise Impacts on Louisiana Coastal Resources during Project Planning and Design, pdf] issued by Gov. Bobby Jindal’s administration predicts that the Louisiana coast could see about 3 feet of sea level rise along the already low and […]

Australia real estate developer complains about sea level predictions

30 January 2012 (ABC) – Lake Macquarie Council’s effort to manage the impact of rising sea levels has again raised the ire of developer Jeff McCloy, this time over his plans to develop the former Pasminco smelter site. A council flood study found thousands of lakeside properties would be in danger of flooding by 2100 […]

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