U.S. prepares to build part of Trump border wall through National Butterfly Center and Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge

By Nomaan Merchant 4 February 2019 HOUSTON (AP) – The U.S. government is preparing to begin construction of more border walls and fencing in South Texas’ Rio Grande Valley, likely on federally owned land set aside as wildlife refuge property.Heavy construction equipment was expected to arrive starting Monday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said. A […]

Study says sea level may be rising faster than thought – “We need to completely rethink how we measure sea-level rise in rapidly subsiding coastal lowlands”

By Barri Bronston 30 January 2019 (Tulane University) – A new Tulane University study questions the reliability of how sea-level rise in low-lying coastal areas such as southern Louisiana is measured and suggests that the current method underestimates the severity of the problem. The research is the focus of a news article published this week […]

America conquest cooled Earth’s climate – The Great Dying of the indigenous peoples of the Americas contributed to the Little Ice Age

By Jonathan Amos 31 January 2019 (BBC News) – Colonisation of the Americas at the end of the 15th Century killed so many people, it disturbed Earth’s climate. That’s the conclusion of scientists from University College London, UK. The team says the disruption that followed European settlement led to a huge swathe of abandoned agricultural […]

Trump tweeted “we need” global warming to deal with record cold temperatures. Here’s why that doesn’t make sense

By Justin Worland 29 January 2019 (TIME) – President Trump has been a longtime opponent of taking action on climate change, as evidenced by everything from his accusation that the phenomenon is a “hoax” created by China to his decision to pull the U.S. out of the Paris Agreement. There are many reasons Trump may […]

Monarch butterfly numbers plummet 86 percent in California – “It’s been the worst year we’ve ever seen”

By Claudia Boyd-Barrett 7 January 2019 (Ventura County Star) – 2018 was a tough year for monarch butterflies.Each year, monarchs in the western United States migrate from inland areas to California’s coastline to spend the winter, usually between September and February. But the number of butterflies turning up at overwintering sites this year — including […]

Public health emergency declared over measles in anti-vax hotspot near Portland, Oregon

23 January 2019 (CBS News) – A public health emergency has been declared in Clark County, Washington, as a result of an ongoing measles outbreak. According to the latest update from the county’s Department of Health, 23 cases of measles have been confirmed and health officials are investigating two more suspected cases. The majority of […]

2018 was the fourth-costliest year since 1980 in terms of insured losses – Camp Fire in California caused highest overall wildfire loss on record

By Petra Löw8 January 2019 (Munich Re) – When compared with the record losses of the previous year from Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria, the indications at the start of 2018 were that it would be a more moderate year. However, the second half of the year saw an accumulation of billion-dollar losses from floods, […]

Records show 100 percent of Texas coal power plants contaminating groundwater – “We found contamination everywhere we looked, poisoning groundwater aquifers and recreational fishing spots across the state”

AUSTIN, Texas, 17 January 2019 (Earthjustice) – Toxic coal ash pollutants are leaking into groundwater surrounding 100 percent of Texas’s power plants for which data are available, with unsafe levels of arsenic, cobalt, lithium, and other pollutants seeping from the ash dumps, according to an analysis by the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP). Industry groundwater monitoring […]

Washington Governor Jay Inslee uses State of the State address to urge action on climate change – “This is the eleventh hour, but it is Washington state’s hour to shine”

By Joseph O’Sullivan15 January 2019 OLYMPIA (The Seattle Times) – Standing before a Washington Legislature that for years has balked at his carbon-reduction agenda, Gov. Jay Inslee implored lawmakers Tuesday to make bold moves to combat climate change. The governor’s State of the State address before a joint session of the House and Senate comes […]

PG&E’s bankruptcy could slow California’s fight against climate change – “This is going to put the entire state of California at risk”

By Sammy Roth 15 January 2019 (Los Angeles Times) – Climate change helped fuel the deadly fires that prompted California’s largest power company to announce Monday that it would file for bankruptcy in the face of $30 billion in potential liabilities. In a grim twist, the bankruptcy of PG&E Corp. could now slow California’s efforts […]

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