Yes, global warming made Hurricanes Harvey and Irma worse

By Wayne Drash 15 September 2017 (CNN) – The right time to talk climate change is now. It might seem premature when people in the Caribbean, Florida, and Texas are still mucking out their flooded homes. And no, changes in our planet’s atmosphere did not cause Hurricanes Harvey or Irma. But the consensus among scientists […]

“Once in a lifetime tidal event”: Why Hurricane Irma drained shorelines

By Elizabeth Chuck 11 September 2017 (NBC News) – Add this to the list of what makes Hurricane Irma an unprecedented storm: Its strength literally changed the shape of the ocean.Before making landfall in Florida on Sunday, the most powerful Atlantic hurricane on record sucked water inward away from shorelines, leaving bays along the Gulf […]

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 […]

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 […]

As flood waters rise, is urban sprawl as much to blame as global warming? “The driving force is the built environment”

By John Vidal 2 September 2017 (The Guardian) – First came the dire warnings of Hurricane Harvey, then the terrible scenes as the skies opened, whole neighbourhoods drowned and motorways became rivers. Now, as the waters subside and the full extent of the damage is assessed, come the voices of distraught people who have lost […]

Beyond Houston, a world awash

By the Times Editorial Board 31 August 2017 (The New York Times) – Houston isn’t the only major city reeling from record rainfall and devastating floods. In Mumbai, India, where summer monsoons are annual events, as much rain fell in 12 hours on Tuesday as normally does over 11 days in a typical monsoon, paralyzing […]

Monbiot: Why are the crucial questions about Hurricane Harvey not being asked? “By failing to make the obvious link and talk about climate breakdown, media organisations help push the world toward catastrophe”

By George Monbiot29 August 2017(The Guardian) – It is not only Donald Trump’s government that censors the discussion of climate change; it is the entire body of polite opinion. This is why, though the links are clear and obvious, most reports on Hurricane Harvey have made no mention of the human contribution to it.In 2016 […]

It’s a fact: climate change made Hurricane Harvey more deadly – “We can’t say that Hurricane Harvey was caused by climate change. But it was certainly worsened by it.”

By Michael E Mann 28 August 2017 (The Guardian) – What can we say about the role of climate change in the unprecedented disaster that is unfolding in Houston with Hurricane Harvey? There are certain climate change-related factors that we can, with great confidence, say worsened the flooding.Sea level rise attributable to climate change – […]

Tamino: Sea level rise has accelerated

By Tamino 25 July 2017 (Open Mind) – There seems to be some interest in global sea level as estimated by tide gauges. In particular, we have recently been directed to a graph of the data from Church & White, which is the most reputable of the available choices. Alas, the graph we were directed […]

Earth marks record highs for heat, pollutants, and sea level in 2016: American Meteorological Society climate report

12 August 2017 (AFP) – The Earth set a series of dire records in 2016, including hottest year in modern times, highest sea level and most heat-trapping gases ever emitted, a global climate report said yesterday. A range of key climate and weather indicators show the planet is growing increasingly warm, a trend that shows […]

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