By Trevor Hughes14 August 2015 FAIRBANKS, Alaska (USA TODAY) – One of the state’s worst wildfire seasons in history has scorched 5 million acres of tundra and forests across Alaska, and experts here fear climate change will cause even more devastating fires through a combination of lower snowpack, drying tundra and melting permafrost. Like an […]
By William Yardley18 July 2015 (Los Angeles Times) – The Colorado River begins as snowmelt in the Rocky Mountains and ends 1,450 miles south in Mexico after making a final sacrifice to the United States: water for the farm fields in this powerhouse of American produce. Throughout the winter, perfect heads of romaine, red-and-green lettuce, […]
13 August 2015 (Climate Central) – This year’s El Niño is poised to join the ranks of the strongest such events on record, U.S. forecasters said Thursday, with potentially significant impacts for weather across the country this winter. “We’re predicting that this El Niño could be among the strongest El Niños in the historical record […]
10 August 2015 (Yale Environment 360) – In the last two decades, officials in Colorado have watched as massive, months-long wildfires have become a regular occurrence in their state. A Yale Environment 360 video goes onto the front lines with Colorado firefighters who describe what it’s like to continuously confront deadly blazes fueled by a […]
LOWER LAKE, California, 12 August 2015 (Associated Press) – Wildfires are charging through several states in the parched West, scorching homes and forcing people to flee. Flames are plaguing some California residents, who had to evacuate for the second time in recent weeks after blazes exploded in size. Here’s a look at wildfires burning through […]
By Stephen Hudak10 August 2015 (Orlando Sentinel) – Two words used by animal-rights advocates to condemn Florida’s first bear hunt in 21 years are sparking concern among hundreds of people who hope to kill a bear in October. “Trophy hunt.” It’s the same incriminating phrase used in social-media posts to condemn the illegal killing of […]
By David Mcfadden10 August 2015 KINGSTON, Jamaica (Associated Press) – The picture-perfect beaches and turquoise waters that people expect on their visits to the Caribbean are increasingly being fouled by mats of decaying seaweed that attract biting sand fleas and smell like rotten eggs. Clumps of the brownish seaweed known as sargassum have long washed […]
By Stacey Vanek Smith6 August 2015 (NPR) – Some California farmers are turning to more profitable crops — like pistachios and almonds — in order to fund the drilling of deeper wells to cope with the long drought. Those crops, however, are some of the thirstiest around. AUDIE CORNISH, HOST: We’ve all heard reports about […]
By Adam Wernick7 August 2015 (PRI) – Scientists estimate that due to climate change, the village of Kivalina, in northwestern Alaska, will be underwater by the year 2025. In 2008, the Inupiat village sued 24 of the world’s biggest fossil fuel companies for damages. In 2013, the Supreme Court refused to hear the case and […]
By Kathryn Hansen4 August 2015 (NASA) – On July 28, 2015, the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8 captured these images of algal blooms around the Great Lakes. The bloom is visible as swirls of green in western Lake Erie (top) and in Lake St. Clair (bottom). Earlier in July, NOAA scientists predicted that […]
