Will Hurricane Irma finally change the way we talk about climate?

By David Wallace-Wells 9 September 2017 (New York Magazine) – For decades, a kind of market logic has governed the way we talk about global warming, emanating from the moderate right: Climate change may well be real, the Chamber of Commerce types say, but the need for economic growth is much more urgent and climate […]

Hurricanes Irma, Harvey to cast pall over U.S. economy for months and even years

By Jeffry Bartash 9 September 2017 (MarketWatch) – Hurricanes Harvey and Irma have upended the lives of millions of Americans, but the aftereffects will also linger in much smaller way for those entrusted with keeping the U.S. economy safe and sound. The storms caused tremendous damage, forced thousands of businesses to close and compelled millions […]

Trump wanted to kill the Obama flood rule. Then came the hurricanes.

By Rebecca Leber 8 September 2017 (Mother Jones) – Three weeks ago, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that reversed an Obama-era requirement that future construction in areas likely to flood need to be built at a higher elevation [cf. Trump signs order to end Obama-era flood risk building standards]. But after the devastation […]

Extremely dangerous Category 4 Hurricane Irma headed for Florida – If you are in a mandated evacuation zone, evacuate

Dr. Jeff Masters 8 September 2017 (Weather Underground) –  Hurricane Irma weakened from Category 5 to Category 4 strength on Friday morning, but still represents an extreme danger to much of Southern Florida, as well as portions of northern Cuba and the southernmost Bahama Islands.If you live by the coast in an area that that […]

Hurricane Harvey and the storms to come – In the leadup to the historic flood, Texas Republicans abetted Trump’s climate-change delusions

By Elizabeth Kolbert 4 September 2017 (The New Yorker) – On 29 August 2005, at six-ten in the morning, Hurricane Katrina made landfall on the border of Mississippi and Louisiana, just east of New Orleans. Katrina had spent days wobbling over the Gulf of Mexico, and by the time it reached the coast it was […]

Triple Trouble: Cat 5 Irma, Cat 3 Jose, Cat 1 Katia – Atlantic hurricane season has now produced more than a year’s worth of major hurricanes before the season is even half over

Dr. Jeff Masters 7 September 2017 (Weather Underground) – Hurricane Irma plowed through the Turks and Caicos Islands (population 31,000) on Thursday evening, as it headed west-northwest at 16 mph towards The Bahamas and Florida. Irma maintained Category 5 intensity with 175 mph winds as its eye crossed the small privately-owned Big Ambergris Cay, but […]

Hurricane scientists have never seen an image like this before

By Molly Rubin 7 September 2017 (Quartz) – For the first time in modern history, three hurricanes in the Atlantic are lined up in the most dangerous of ways, according to Eric Blake, a hurricane specialist at the National Hurricane Center.The National Hurricane Center (NHC) has issued advisories on Hurricane Irma (currently located north of […]

Denying Hurricane Harvey’s climate links only worsens future suffering – “Three options remain for dealing with the crisis: mitigate, adapt, and suffer”

By Dana Nuccitelli 5 September 2017 (The Guardian) – Human-caused climate change amplified the damages and suffering associated with Hurricane Harvey in several different ways. First, sea level rise caused by global warming increased the storm surge and therefore the coastal inundation and flooding from the storm. Second, the warmer atmosphere holds more water vapor, […]

Three things we just learned about climate change and big storms: Can the lessons of Harvey save us? “What Houston shows us, yet again, is that we live in a world of predatory delay”

By Paul Rosenberg 4 September 2017 (Salon) – A storm as momentous as Hurricane Harvey, which devastated southeast Texas last week, holds many lessons — almost too many, one might say. To keep things manageable, I can name three that could serve us very well.First, “Did climate change cause Hurricane Harvey?” is the wrong question […]

Hurricane Harvey’s floodwaters mix a foul brew of sewage, chemicals

By John Flesher 4 September 2017 (Associated Press) – Harvey’s filthy floodwaters pose significant dangers to human safety and the environment even after water levels drop far enough that Southeast Texas residents no longer fear for their lives, according to experts.Houston already was notorious for sewer overflows following rainstorms. Now the system, with 40 wastewater […]

Social media & sharing icons powered by UltimatelySocial