Rising seas, vanishing coastlines

By BENJAMIN STRAUSS and ROBERT KOPP24 November 2012 (The New York Times) – The oceans have risen and fallen throughout Earth’s history, following the planet’s natural temperature cycles. Twenty thousand years ago, what is now New York City was at the edge of a giant ice sheet, and the sea was roughly 400 feet lower. […]

World Bank report warns of dramatically warmer world this century

Media Inquiries: 202.473.7660, media@worldbank.org18 November 2012 (World Bank) – Like summer’s satellite image of the melting Greenland ice sheet, a new report suggests time may be running out to temper the rising risks of climate change. Turn Down the Heat: Why a 4°C Warmer World Must be Avoided, [pdf, eBook] warns we’re on track for […]

As coasts rebuild and U.S. pays, repeatedly, the critics ask why

By JUSTIN GILLIS and FELICITY BARRINGER18 November 2012 DAUPHIN ISLAND, Alabama (The New York Times) – Even in the off season, the pastel beach houses lining a skinny strip of sand here are a testament to the good life. They are also a monument to the generosity of the federal government. The western end of […]

88 percent of Americans say the U.S. should try to reduce global warming: Yale survey

By Larry O’Hanlon 15 November 2012 (Discovery News) – A large majority of Americans now say global warming should be a priority for the president and Congress, according to a new report by the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication. The report is based on a national survey conducted in early September – well before […]

Image of the Day: Aerial view of blackout on Manhattan Island after Hurricane Sandy

By John Homans 4 November 2012 The calm before the storm was much too calm, which should have been a clue. Forecasters had been talking about a potential Halloween hurricane—the Frankenstorm was its ­headline-ready name—for two weeks. They thought it might be bigger than the hurricane of 1938; its barometric pressure was already a few […]

Storm-battered New Jersey agonizes over whether to rebuild shore

By GEOFF MULVIHILL and MARYCLAIRE DALE, Associated Press1 November 2012 LONG BEACH TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) – In its tear of destruction, the megastorm Sandy left parts of New Jersey’s beloved shore in tatters, sweeping away beaches, homes, boardwalks and amusement parks. The devastation left the state a blank canvas to redevelop its prized vacation towns. […]

Christiane Amanpour on extreme global weather: ‘The unprecedented is the new normal’

By Christiane Amanpour, Mary-Rose Abraham, David Miller, and Mark Monroy 31 October 2012 A rising death toll, the catastrophic flooding and destruction of entire neighborhoods, and billions of dollars in property damage. The impact of Hurricane Sandy, which hit the East Coast earlier this week, will be felt for years, both in the United States […]

Rising sea forces Panama islanders to move to mainland

By Lomi Kriel; Editing by Dave Graham and Eric Walsh1 November 2012 CARTI SUGDUB, Panama (Reuters) – Every rainy season, the Guna people living on the Panamanian white sand archipelago of San Blas brace themselves for waves gushing into their tiny mud-floor huts. Rising ocean levels caused by global warming and decades of coral reef […]

Nation suddenly realizes this is just going to be a thing that happens from now on

NEW YORK, 31 October 2012 (The Onion) – Following Hurricane Sandy’s destructive tear through the Northeast this week, the nation’s 300 million citizens looked upon the trail of devastation and fully realized, for the first time, that this is just going to be something that happens from now on. Gradually comprehending that this sort of […]

For years, scientists warned New York City of climate disaster

By DAVID W. CHEN and MIREYA NAVARRO30 October 2012 The warnings came, again and again. For nearly a decade, scientists have told city and state officials that New York faces certain peril: rising sea levels, more frequent flooding, and extreme weather patterns. The alarm bells grew louder after Tropical Storm Irene last year, when the […]

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