We’re nowhere near prepared for the ecological disaster that Harvey is becoming – “Repeatedly over the past 15 years, the Texas legislature refused to pass any plan to adapt to climate change”

By Charles P. Pierce 30 August 2017 (Esquire) – It is the Christian thing to do in the middle of tragedies like the one currently unfolding along the Texas-Louisiana Gulf coast not to politicize human suffering and, certainly, the stories of people rescuing their fellow citizens from this calamity deserve to be told and they […]

Alaska’s permafrost is thawing – “It’s sobering to think of this magnificent landscape and how fundamentally it can change over a relatively short time period”

By Henry Fountain 23 August 2017 YUKON DELTA NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE, Alaska (The New York Times) – The Arctic is warming about twice as fast as other parts of the planet, and even here in sub-Arctic Alaska the rate of warming is high. Sea ice and wildlife habitat are disappearing; higher sea levels threaten coastal […]

Harvey is what climate change looks like – Harvey is the third 500-year flood to hit the Houston area in the past three years

By Eric Holthaus 28 August 2017 (Politico) – In all of U.S. history, there’s never been a storm like Hurricane Harvey. That fact is increasingly clear, even though the rains are still falling and the water levels in Houston are still rising. But there’s an uncomfortable point that, so far, everyone is skating around: We […]

Monsoon flooding brings Mumbai to a standstill after 11 inches of rainfall

By Rajendra Jadhav and Swati Bhat 29 August 2017 MUMBAI (Reuters) – Heavy monsoon rains brought India’s financial capital to a halt on Tuesday, with authorities struggling to evacuate people with the scheduled high tide adding to the chaos. Incessant rain flooded several parts of Mumbai and paralyzed train services used by millions of commuters […]

Houston levees overflow, residents south of Houston urged to flee – “Get out now!”

29 August 2017 (WPBF) – Another levee has breached in Texas, just south of Houston.Brazoria County officials said the levee at Columbia Lakes had breached and told residents to “Get out Now!!” County officials also expected widespread flooding of the Brazos River. County spokeswoman Sharon Trower said about 90% of flooding in the central and […]

Trump reversed regulations to protect infrastructure against flooding just days before Hurricane Harvey – “We will rebuild things that should not be rebuilt”

By Eliza Relman 28 August 2017 (Business Insider) – Just 10 days before Hurricane Harvey descended upon Texas on Friday, wreaking havoc and widespread flooding, President Donald Trump signed an executive order revoking a set of regulations that would have made federally-funded infrastructure less vulnerable to flooding.The Obama-era rules, which had not yet gone into […]

Gas pipelines supplying Europe “in real danger from exploding tundra” warns scientist

10 July 2017 (The Siberian Times) – New analysis by satellite and helicopter shows  gas pipelines run right over swelling tundra which is deeply unstable due to the release of underground methane that had been frozen in permafrost – now thawing – for thousands of years, revealed Russia’s leading expert on the new phenomenon, Professor […]

Faced with global warming, Canadian Arctic residents fear their way of life is melting away

By Carrie Swiggum 15 May 2017 (PRI) – The territory of Nunavut lies in the northernmost reaches of the globe. Iqaluit, the capital, is just 200 miles south of the Arctic Circle. And it’s warming at twice the global rate. There are now shrubs where once there was only ice. The town’s buildings were designed […]

In the U.S., crumbling roads and bridges bring higher taxes and fees

By David A. Lieb7 May 2017 (Associated Press) – For the first time in nearly 30 years, Tennessee will soon tax motorists more to fill their tanks. So will California, Indiana, and Montana. Lawmakers across the U.S. have approved new proposals this year to pay for transportation improvements, including tax hikes, vehicle fee increases and […]

For most people, America is regressing into a developing nation

By Lynn Parramore20 April 2017 (INET) – You’ve probably heard the news that the celebrated post-WW II beating heart of America known as the middle class has gone from “burdened,” to “squeezed” to “dying.”  But you might have heard less about what exactly is emerging in its place. In a new book, The Vanishing Middle […]

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