By Joe Romm, Climate Progress
A new study finds that it was a severe and long-lasting megadrought that destroyed the great Mayan civilization a thousand years ago. But the research has ominous relevance for us today...
By Kate Yoder, Grist
When people invoke the “new normal,” Stamper says they’re not referring to an unchanging, static condition, but rather “a measure of uncertainty and worsening danger.” In other words, the cliche conveys exactly the message that climate scientists want to convey.
By Eric Holthaus, Grist
These are striking examples of climate change playing out in its deadliest forms, and they’re making the term “natural disaster” an outdated concept.
By Joe Romm, Climate Progress
Typical five-day heat waves in the U.S. will be 12°F warmer by mid-century alone, according to the U.S. National Climate Assessment (NCA), which the White House itself reviewed and approved last November.
By Celia Bottger, Foreign Policy In Focus
A just recovery for Puerto Rico not only means rebuilding what Maria destroyed, but reclaiming the political and economic agency stifled by American colonialism.
By Basav Sen, Foreign Policy In Focus
This was no mere “natural” disaster. The impacts of Hurricane Maria were to a large extent attributable to inequalities of race, income and — critically — access to political power.
By E.A. Crunden, Climate Progress
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will end food and water aid to Puerto Rico despite the island’s ongoing struggles, NPR reported on Monday. Officials have argued that the immediate humanitarian crisis following Hurricane Maria has ended. Puerto Ricans might contest that assertion.
By Lee MacDonald, The Conversation
In the popular press these flows were termed “mudslides,” but with some rocks as large as cars these are more accurately described as hyperconcentrated flows or debris flows, depending on the amount of sediment mixed with the water. Why did these deadly flows happen?
By Natasha Geiling, Climate Progress
According to new analysis released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 2017 was the third warmest year on record in the United States — and the most costly year ever for weather and climate-related natural disasters.
By Eric Holthaus, Grist
Now that one of the strongest nor’easters on record has swirled off to Canada, it’s time to talk about what everyone was thinking during the storm: Is this just what happens now? Short answer: yes. Get used to it. Wild storms like this week’s massive coastal cyclone will be part of winters in the Anthropocene.