By Chelsea Harvey 8 February 2018 (ClimateWire) – Ending financial assistance for fossil fuel companies has long been discussed as a tactic to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and encourage investment in renewables. Oil, natural gas and coal companies worldwide receive hundreds of billions of dollars each year in tax breaks or other subsidies—and some experts […]
By Alex Harris 9 February 2018 (Miami Herald) – When most people think about climate change — if they do at all — what usually comes to mind is melting glaciers, starving polar bears and flood waters lapping at the doors of Miami Beach condo buildings. The popular thought is that the future impacts of […]
By Scott Moore 4 February 2018 (The National Interest) – When it comes to Pakistan, President Trump’s Twitter feud with one of America’s most important partners in the fight against terrorism has dominated the news. But beneath the headlines, a massive water crisis is unfolding that has profound implications for the country’s stability and security. […]
By Dino Grandoni 8 February 2018 (The Washington Post) – Scott Pruitt has repeatedly questioned the scientific consensus that rising levels of carbon dioxide from human-fueled activity are warming the planet during his year in the job as Environmental Protection Agency chief. The examples began piling up almost from the start. Just a month into […]
By Bianca Padró Ocasio 6 February 2018 (Orlando Sentinel) – A rat infestation closed down a government office in Kissimmee that was storing donations destined for Puerto Rico, contaminating boxes of supplies that were never sent to the island. The office of the Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration “does not have the budget to finance […]
By Justine Calma 5 February 2018 (Grist) – The unprecedented brutality of the 2017 hurricane season showed the potential that natural disasters have to destroy livelihoods, displace families, and uproot entire communities. The most recent example, of course, is the situation in Puerto Rico post-Maria. Experts estimate the U.S. territory will lose close to 500,000 […]
SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO, 12 February 2018 (AP) – An explosion and fire at an electric substation threw much of northern Puerto Rico into darkness late Sunday in a setback for the U.S. territory’s efforts to fully restore power more than five months after Hurricane Maria started the longest blackout in U.S. history. The island’s […]
11 February 2018 (Desdemona Despair) – The year 2017 was the second-worst year for wildfires in the U.S., according to data published by the National Interagency Fire Center. Nationwide, wildfires burned a total 10,026,086 acres, just 99,063 acres shy of the record, 10,125,149 acres, set in 2015. In December, 2017 was on track to be […]
By Dino Grandoni 7 February 2018 (The Washington Post) – A group of Democratic senators is demanding that Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt recuse himself from repealing one of President Obama’s signature environmental rules, which is intended to curb the release of greenhouse gases from the nation’s power plants.Late Tuesday, the four senators — […]
By Patricia Mazzei And Agustin Armendariz 6 February 2018 (The New York Times) – The mission for the Federal Emergency Management Agency was clear: Hurricane Maria had torn through Puerto Rico, and hungry people needed food. Thirty million meals needed to be delivered as soon as possible. For this huge task, FEMA tapped Tiffany Brown, […]
