Climate science debate has cost precious time, expert warns – Commission report says evidence of rapidly changed climate has strengthened

By Oliver Milman    16 June 2013 (The Guardian) – Floods, bushfires, and this year’s scorching summer heatwave have raised awareness of the dangers of climate change, but an “infantile” debate over the validity of the science has cost Australia precious time, according to a key Climate Commission expert. The commission, an independent body that advises […]

Climate talk shifts from curbing CO2 to adapting – ‘Many of the other developed countries have gone way ahead of us in preparing for climate change’

First of a two-part package on adapting to climate change. Tomorrow: Snapshots of what cities are doing around the world. By Seth Borenstein, with contributions from Karl A. Ritter in Bonn, Germany, Jennifer Peltz in New York, and Tony Winton in Miami 15 June 2013 WASHINGTON (AP) – Efforts to curb global warming have quietly […]

Tanzania: Zanzibar’s encroaching ocean means less fresh water

By Erick Kabendera12 June 2013 ZANZIBAR (IPS) – Khadija Komboani’s nearest well is filled with salt water thanks to the rising sea around Tanzania’s Indian Ocean island of Zanzibar. And until recently, the 36-year-old mother of 12 from Nungwi village in Unguja on the northernmost part of Zanzibar, spent most of her day walking to […]

Report: 800K residents and fourth of New York City could be in flood zone by 2050s due to global warming

By Jennifer Peltz, with additional writing by Meghan Barr10 June 2013 NEW YORK (Associated Press) – By the 2050s, more than 800,000 New York City residents could be living in a flood zone that would cover a quarter of the city’s land and New Yorkers could sweat out as many 90-degree days as is now […]

Rising sea levels, stronger storms fueled by climate change will threaten us through end of century, coastal panelists say

By  Mark Schleifstein4 June 2013 (The Times-Picayune) – With the United States coastline, its residents and businesses vulnerable to trillions of dollars of losses from catastrophic storms during the next 75 years, in part fueled by climate change, it’s time for the nation to focus on coastal resiliency, according to Lindene Patton, a risk management […]

Floods could overwhelm London as sea levels rise, unless Thames Barrier is upgraded – 1 in 20 chance that existing defences unable to cope with extreme storm surge

By Steve Connor, Science Editor 14 May 2013  (The Independent) – There is significant risk of London being hit by a devastating storm surge in the Thames estuary by 2100 that could breach existing flood defences and cause immense damage to the capital, a study of global sea-level rise has found. Melting of polar ice […]

Delaware’s Sussex county declines to vote on proposed sea-level rise responses – Republican council member says climate scientists ‘Have no facts … no science. It’s almost B.S., to be honest with you.’

By Jeff Montgomery 24 May 2013 (The News Journal) – In a symbolic blow to state climate change adaption efforts, the Delaware county with most at stake in future sea-level rise forecasts abruptly declined to take any stand on the issue Thursday as a state panel approved dozens of recommendations for dealing with the threat. […]

Climate-change disasters worry UN – ‘Natural disasters are not only becoming more frequent but are becoming more vehement’

New York, 22 May 2013 (AFP) – The world needs to wake up to the risk of a spike in natural disasters linked to climate change and strive to find ways to cut the human and economic cost, the United Nations warned yesterday. “We live in a time of huge natural disasters which are made […]

Climate change: human disaster looms, claims new research – Forecast global temperature rise of 4C a calamity for large swaths of planet even if predicted extremes are not reached

By Fiona Harvey, environment correspondent 19 May 2013 (The Guardian) – Some of the most extreme predictions of global warming are unlikely to materialise, new scientific research has suggested, but the world is still likely to be in for a temperature rise of double that regarded as safe. The researchers said warming was most likely […]

Rebuilding the New Jersey coastline, but at what cost? – ‘Do you really want to throw good money after bad?’

By JENNY ANDERSON18 May 2013 (The New York Times) – When a handful of retired homeowners from Osborn Island in New Jersey gathered last month to discuss post-Hurricane Sandy rebuilding and environmental protection, L. Stanton Hales Jr., a conservationist, could not have been clearer about the risks they faced. “I said, look people, you built […]

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