By Emmanuel Martinez 29 February 2016 (Reveal) – Reveal reported in early January about the water tank program in Tulare County, California. What began as an emergency response measure to the drought was becoming the norm for hundreds of families who no longer had running water. At the crisis’ peak, Tulare County reported about 1,400 […]
By Stacy Morford1 March 2016 (Earth Institute) – In the years before the Syrian conflict erupted, the region’s worst drought on record set in across the Levant, destroying crops and restricting water supplies in the already water-stressed region. A new study shows that that drought, from 1998-2012, wasn’t just the most severe in a century […]
NEW ORLEANS, 29 February 2016 (Associated Press) – The nation’s boom in cheap natural gas — often viewed as a clean energy source — is spawning a wave of petrochemical plants that, if built, will emit massive amounts of greenhouse gases, an environmental watchdog group warned in a report Monday [Greenhouse Gases from a Growing […]
By Tara Martin and James Watson 11 February 2016 (The Conversation) – When we think about adapting humanity to the challenges of climate change, it’s tempting to reach for technological solutions. We talk about seeding our oceans and clouds with compounds designed to trigger rain or increasing carbon uptake. We talk about building grand structures […]
4 March 2016 (UN) – The Government of Fiji and the United Nations today launched an appeal for $38.6 million in critical emergency relief to 350,000 people in need after Cyclone Winston’s fury left the island nation “a loss of catastrophic proportions.” “In light of the enormous and long process to recovery and rehabilitation ahead […]
By Arthur Neslen29 February 2016 BRUSSELS (Guardian) – The EU is set to emit 2bn tonnes more CO2 than it promised at the Paris climate talks, threatening an agreement to cap global warming at 2C, a note from the European commission has revealed. Carbon prices will rise too slowly to cut industrial emissions as much […]
By Eric Holthaus 1 March 2016 (Slate) – Update, 3 March 2016: Since this post was originally published, the heat wave has continued. As of Thursday morning, it appears that average temperatures across the Northern Hemisphere have breached the 2 degrees Celsius above “normal” mark for the first time in recorded history, and likely the […]
By John Antczak, with additional reporting by Amanda Lee Myers 3 March 2016 LOS ANGELES (AP) – Ed Heinlein surveys the steep mountainside that has repeatedly unleashed tons of mud into the backyard of his Southern California home since a 2014 wildfire and still hopes the drought-stricken state gets more rain. “We have to have […]
3 March 2016 (ABC) – Nearly two weeks after Cyclone Winston smashed into Fiji, killing 43 people and levelling entire communities, aid agencies are struggling to provide relief to tens of thousands of people without food, water or shelter. The ABC’s Philip Williams and Brant Cumming saw the devastation first-hand in villages and towns on […]
By Tegan Hanlon29 February 2016 (ADN) – How weird has Anchorage’s weather been this winter? Weird enough that an Alaska Railroad spokesman said Monday that a train will deliver seven rail cars loaded with snow to the state’s largest city this week in time for the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race ceremonial start on Saturday. […]