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| Headline |
Author |
Published |
Section |
'An unspeakable tragedy'
In Greece, 170 fires burning, 37 dead, and government shaken |
Kit Stolz |
26 Aug 2007 |
Gristmill |
| Over 170 fires are now burning in Greece. Mostly they are wildfires in the hills, but yesterday a fire broke out in Athens itself that required ten engines to quell. Thirty-seven have been killed, including several firefighters. The prime minister has called the disaster "an unspeakable tragedy." Temps reached 42 degrees Celsius, or about 108 degrees Fahrenheit, in Athens, according to the Associated Press. The fires have been burning for weeks, an ... |
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| Topics: Greece, severe weather (all these topics) |
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Warming will worsen water wars
The magnitude of drought and floods will increase with climate change |
Joseph Romm |
24 Aug 2007 |
Gristmill |
| A very good article in the Washington Post lays out the problem we face. 'Global warming will intensify drought, and it will intensify floods,' explains Stephen Schneider, editor of the journal Climatic Change and a lead author for the authoritative Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Why? As the air gets warmer, there will be more water in the atmosphere. That's settled science ... You are going to intensify the hydrologic cycle. Where the atmos ... |
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| Topics: climate, climate change impacts, severe weather, water conflicts, water crisis (all these topics) |
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Shameless self-promotion Friday
Writing about Mooney, writing about storms |
Kate Sheppard |
10 Aug 2007 |
Gristmill |
| I reviewed Chris Mooney's new book, Storm World: Hurricanes, Politics, and the Battle Over Global Warming, for The American Prospect, and it's up today. Gristmiller Kit Stolz reviewed it here a while ago, but uh, mine is ... longer. Anyway, the book is good, though not the galvanizing polemic that made his first book, The Republican War on Science, a bestseller. But Mooney's got quite the knack for telling the back story on how science and politics became friends w ... |
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| Topics: books, climate, climate change impacts, severe weather, shameless self-promotion (all these topics) |
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Hansen 2: Iowa edition of Declaration of Stewardship
Hansen gives a talk in Iowa about climate change impacts |
Joseph Romm |
09 Aug 2007 |
Gristmill |
| Hansen writes faster than I can blog. He has posted a 'talk given at Des Moines last Sunday, with description of Declaration of Stewardship slightly edited for clarity.' He talks about the 'three major consequences of global warming, if we go down the business-as-usual path, with fossil fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions continuing to increase': First, there is the extermination of species. We could drive half of the plant and animal species on the planet to extincti ... |
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| Topics: biodiversity, climate, climate change impacts, oceans, severe weather (all these topics) |
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As flooding cripples New York City transit system ...
Only cyclists and walkers remain calm |
Maywa Montenegro |
08 Aug 2007 |
Gristmill |
| At around 4:30am today, a powerful storm swept through New York City and surrounding areas, dumping nearly two inches of rain over Central Park in just one hour before spinning into 'tornado-like' gusts in Brooklyn. The downpour was over soon enough, but the sudden surge of water flooded our subway system, causing every major line to be shut down. Service on buses and trains into the city was either suspended or delayed, right in the midst of rush hour on a swe ... |
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| Topics: New York, New York City, public transportation, severe weather (all these topics) |
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Grunwald tears the Corps of Engineers a new one
In a devastating new magazine piece |
David Roberts |
08 Aug 2007 |
Gristmill |
| Speaking of newsmagazine pieces with refreshingly strong points of view, don't miss the always excellent Michael Grunwald's cover story in the current issue of Time: "The Threatening Storm." It's a detailed, enraging indictment of the Army Corps of Engineers -- its incompetence before Katrina and its ongoing failure to protect the Gulf coast from future hurricanes. While the details are fascinating, everything you need to know is contained in the devastati ... |
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| Topics: Louisiana, severe weather (all these topics) |
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Early 2007 saw record-breaking extreme weather
More evidence of the link to climate change |
Joseph Romm |
07 Aug 2007 |
Gristmill |
| The weather is getting more extreme thanks to human-caused climate change (as I've pointed out many times, see here, here, and here). Now the World Meteorological Organization reports more evidence: In January and April 2007 it is likely that global land surface temperatures ranked warmest since records began in 1880, 1.89°C warmer than average for January and 1.37°C warmer than average for April. Several regions have experienced extremely heavy p ... |
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| Topics: climate, climate change impacts, severe weather (all these topics) |
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Mon Dieu, Il Fait Chaud
European heat-wave length has doubled since 1880, study says |
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07 Aug 2007 |
Daily Grist |
| Mon Dieu, Il Fait Chaud European heat-wave length has doubled since 1880, study says The average length of Europe's sultry heat waves has doubled since 1880, researchers say, from an average of 1.5 days to an average of three days. By analyzing historical records from 54 stations across the continent -- then correcting for an upward bias in earlier decades due to thermometers not being shielded from dire ... |
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| Topics: climate, news, scientific research, severe weather (all these topics) |
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Death Wish
Why the Gulf dead zone won't go away any time soon |
Wayne Curtis |
07 Aug 2007 |
Dispatches |
| is a freelance writer who's written for The New York Times, Atlantic Monthly, American Scholar, Preservation, and American Heritage, and is the author of And a Bottle of Rum: A History of the New World in Ten Cocktails. He recently traded Maine winters for New Orleans summers. Dispatch: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 Tuesday, 07 Aug 2007 NEW ORLEANS, La. It's summertime in New Orleans. Time slows. Backyard gardens demand to be weeded near ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, Big Oil, Dispatches, Louisiana, Mississippi River, placemaking, severe weather, urban planning, water pollution, wetlands (all these topics) |
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Hurricane update
They might be coming sooner than you think |
Andrew Dessler |
01 Aug 2007 |
Gristmill |
| From a NASA's Earth Observatory: Hurricanes need two basic ingredients to develop: warm, moist air and a relatively calm atmosphere. Late summer over the Atlantic Ocean provides both things. Ocean waters above about 27 degrees Celsius (80 Fahrenheit) give rise to the warm, moist air that fuels tropical storms, and winds that could tear a storm apart are light during the summer. Typically, the Atlantic is primed for hurricanes by early August, and the height of the ... |
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| Topics: climate, climate science, severe weather (all these topics) |
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Thames Fugit
England walloped by historic floods |
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23 Jul 2007 |
Daily Grist |
| Thames Fugit England walloped by historic floods It's a "summer of suffering" in England, as severe flooding wreaks havoc across the country. This weekend, floods in the central and southern part of the country left more than 350,000 people without drinking water and forced the evacuation of hundreds from their homes. The worst part, observers say, is that the waters are still rising -- and a ... |
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| Topics: climate, England, news, placemaking, severe weather (all these topics) |
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All Kinds of Sickening
Congress grills FEMA on toxic post-hurricane trailers |
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20 Jul 2007 |
Daily Grist |
| All Kinds of Sickening Congress grills FEMA on toxic post-hurricane trailers The media have reported for at least two months that the trailers used to house refugees from hurricanes Katrina and Rita have been giving off fumes that are making some people sick. Now it seems the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which has fended off those accusations, has known about the toxic trou ... |
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| Topics: Congress, environmental justice, health, news, politics, severe weather (all these topics) |
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Whose Fault Is It, Anyway?
Carmakers, nuclear plant halt operations after Japan quake |
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19 Jul 2007 |
Daily Grist |
| Whose Fault Is It, Anyway? Carmakers, nuclear plant halt operations after Japan quake Aftershocks from Monday's earthquake in Japan continue to be felt -- and not the kind that shake the ground. Yesterday, officials ordered the nuclear plant that was damaged in the quake to shut down indefinitely while operators assess and fix some 53 problems discovered over the course of the last fe ... |
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| Topics: electricity grid, energy, Japan, news, nuclear power, severe weather (all these topics) |
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A Barrel of Gaffes
Earthquake causes nuclear headaches in Japan |
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17 Jul 2007 |
Daily Grist |
| A Barrel of Gaffes Earthquake causes nuclear headaches in Japan A strong earthquake hit northwestern Japan yesterday morning, and aftershocks continued into the night. The 6.8-magnitude quake killed at least nine people, injured more than 900 others, and flattened houses and highways. It also led to a fire, leak, and waste spills at a powerful nuclear plant. The Kashiwazaki Kariwa facility, which produc ... |
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| Topics: energy, Japan, news, nuclear power, severe weather (all these topics) |
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Storm World: Understanding hurricanes today
New book on hurricanes and global warming |
Kit Stolz |
16 Jul 2007 |
Gristmill |
| On his site, science writer Chris Mooney recently posted a fascinating pair of graphs, courtesy of collaborator Matt Nisbet, which chart public interest in global warming. As the years march by, the charts show what happens when scientific reports are released, when politics intervene -- and when hurricanes strike, as measured by coverage at the Washington Post and the New York Times. What the graphs show is that in these thoughtful newspapers, political and sci ... |
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| Topics: books, climate, climate science, severe weather (all these topics) |
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Leo, I've Got a Feeling We're Not in Hollywood Anymore
DiCaprio-produced series will rebuild tornado-ravaged Kansas town |
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16 Jul 2007 |
Daily Grist |
| Leo, I've Got a Feeling We're Not in Hollywood Anymore DiCaprio-produced series will rebuild tornado-ravaged Kansas town It's official: Nine months after the rumors began, Leonardo DiCaprio has confirmed that he and a partner will give birth to ... a reality series on green building. DiCaprio will executive produce the 13-part Eco-Town on the Discove ... |
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| Topics: celebrity, green living, Kansas, Leonardo DiCaprio, news, placemaking, severe weather, urban planning (all these topics) |
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A river runs through it
Literally |
Kate Sheppard |
13 Jul 2007 |
Gristmill |
| The International Rivers Network has a new study out, 'Before the Deluge: Coping with Floods in a Changing Climate,' which details the failures of flood control techniques like dams and levees and presents other options for areas that may face flooding from severe weather and rising shorelines. Turns out traditional flood control measures like embankments and dams can sometimes actually make flooding worse since they force rivers to run straighter and faster, making ... |
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| Topics: climate, climate change impacts, severe weather (all these topics) |
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Black Coffeyville
Oil spill adds agitation to tri-state flooding |
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03 Jul 2007 |
Daily Grist |
| Black Coffeyville Oil spill adds agitation to tri-state flooding A 42,000-gallon oil spill in Kansas is complicating state and federal response to flooding that has walloped that state, Oklahoma, and Texas. Weeks of rain have forced evacuations and caused at least 11 deaths. On Sunday, workers at a Coffeyville, Kan., oil refinery began evacuation procedures, but a malfunction sent bla ... |
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| Topics: Kansas, news, oil, Oklahoma, severe weather, Texas, water pollution (all these topics) |
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It Was Sunny in Seattle
Global weather is bad and likely to get worse |
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28 Jun 2007 |
Daily Grist |
| It Was Sunny in Seattle Global weather is bad and likely to get worse Within the last week, excessive heat -- think 113 degrees Fahrenheit -- has killed dozens of people in Greece, Romania, and Turkey. Storms killed some 150 people in India and about 220 people in Pakistan. Britain has been deluged by flooding. We like to think of these severe weather incidents as coincidental, but some crazies claim they're ... |
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| Topics: climate, news, severe weather, United Nations (all these topics) |
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The Tahoe Blues
Blaze rages around Lake Tahoe; blame game begins in earnest |
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27 Jun 2007 |
Daily Grist |
| The Tahoe Blues Blaze rages around Lake Tahoe; blame game begins in earnest What's to blame for the raging fire that has burned more than 200 homes near California's South Lake Tahoe? Try the homogenous stands of white fir planted post-clear-cut by 20th-century miners. Or was it this year's low-snow winter and current drought? Perhaps criticism should be leveled at homeowners who failed to clear brush and o ... |
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| Topics: California, deforestation, news, severe weather (all these topics) |
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Barrier Methods
Galveston, Texas, expected to approve history-defying development plans |
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26 Jun 2007 |
Daily Grist |
| Barrier Methods Galveston, Texas, expected to approve history-defying development plans The city of Galveston perches precariously on a Texas barrier island; some 8,000 people were killed there by a hurricane in 1900. But hindsight shmindsight! Officials are set to OK construction of over 1,000 acres of hotels and homes, the largest development in city history. Geologists hired to study the issue have s ... |
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| Topics: insanity, news, placemaking, severe weather, Texas (all these topics) |
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Drink Me
A New Orleans transplant traces the source of his tap water |
Wayne Curtis |
26 Jun 2007 |
Dispatches |
| is a freelance writer who's written for The New York Times, Atlantic Monthly, American Scholar, Preservation, and American Heritage, and is the author of And a Bottle of Rum: A History of the New World in Ten Cocktails. He recently traded Maine winters for New Orleans summers. Dispatch: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 Tuesday, 26 Jun 2007 NEW ORLEANS, La. I was hiding out from New Orleans' early summer heat in a Magazine Street bar ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, Big Oil, Dispatches, Louisiana, Mississippi River, placemaking, severe weather, urban planning, water pollution, wetlands (all these topics) |
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Scarce Fell On Alabama
Crops, neighborly relations suffer in Southeastern U.S. drought |
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19 Jun 2007 |
Daily Grist |
| Scarce Fell On Alabama Crops, neighborly relations suffer in Southeastern U.S. drought A severe drought is gripping most of the Southeastern U.S., threatening crops, inspiring prayer, and turning neighbors against each other. "It's one of the worst droughts in living memory in the Southeast at this point," said Doug LeComte, a drought specialist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, climate, news, severe weather (all these topics) |
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Western civilization?
What a nice idea |
James Dailey |
15 Jun 2007 |
Gristmill |
| If Gandhi were around today, I think he would be less reasonable and tractable about the climate crisis; instead, he would challenge the moral integrity of so-called western civilization. The galvanizing march to the salt flats (the famous 'Salt March') would be a tour of threatened island nations: Inuit seeking redress for loss of habitat, mountain people facing bewildering change, deluges in Bangladesh, landslides in the Philippines, and masses of people in the Indus- ... |
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| Topics: climate, climate change impacts, climate change mitigation, energy, environmental justice, severe weather (all these topics) |
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For those planning on growing a lot of biofuels
Anyone got those cans of instant water? (Just add water) |
JMG |
08 Jun 2007 |
Gristmill |
| 'A drought for the ages. |
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| Topics: climate, desertification, severe weather, water crisis (all these topics) |
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