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Hurricane Dorian was one of the 2019 Atlantic hurricane season's most devastating storms. NASA
2019 marked the fourth year in a row that the Atlantic hurricane season saw above-average activity, and it doesn't look like 2020 will provide any relief.
<p>The 2020 season is expected to generate 14 to 18 tropical storms, of which seven to nine will become hurricanes and two to four will develop into major hurricanes, <a href="https://www.accuweather.com/en/hurricane/accuweathers-2020-atlantic-hurricane-season-forecast/705233" target="_blank">AccuWeather predicted Thursday</a>. </p>
<p>"It's going to be an above-normal season," leading AccuWeather hurricane expert Dan Kottlowski said. "On a normal year, we have around 12 storms, six hurricanes and roughly three major hurricanes."</p><p>2019 tied with 1969 as the fourth most active hurricane season on record. Storms last year included <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/hurricane-dorian" target="_self">Hurricane Dorian</a>, which <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/hurricane-dorian-bahamas-2640172331.html" target="_self">devastated the Bahamas</a>, and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/houston-imelda-flooding-2640578960.html" target="_self">Tropical Storm Imelda</a>, which caused widespread <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/flooding" target="_self">flooding</a> in Houston. Overall, last year's season saw 18 storms that caused more than $11 billion in damage.</p><p>Hurricane season usually lasts from June 1 to Nov. 30, and Kottlowski advised anyone living in a potentially impacted area to be prepared:</p><blockquote>"Forecasts will give you an idea of how active it might be, but all it takes is one storm to make landfall in your area to cause serious and life-threatening problems," Kottlowski said.<br><br>"Go back to last year with Dorian and Imelda," he added. "Those were two very, very high-impact storms," he said. "This year, more than likely, we'll get hit with one or two big storms and we don't know specifically where that is, so if you live near a coast or on an island, have a hurricane plan in place."</blockquote>
<p>There is little evidence that the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate crisis</a> is impacting hurricane frequency, according to <a href="https://www.yaleclimateconnections.org/2019/07/how-climate-change-is-making-hurricanes-more-dangerous/" target="_blank">Yale Climate Connections</a>. Since 1985, a relatively stable average of around 80 tropical cyclones have formed each year.</p><p>What the climate crisis does do is <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/hurricanes-and-the-climate-crisis-2640136387.html?rebelltitem=3#rebelltitem3" target="_self">make hurricanes more dangerous</a> by raising ocean temperatures, which fuel storms that are wetter, more intense and more likely to intensify rapidly.</p><p>This was the case with Dorian, which intensified from 150 miles per hour to 180 miles per hour over a nine hour period over water one degree Celsius warmer than normal, <a href="https://www.sciencealert.com/hurricane-dorian-s-most-dangerous-qualities-are-linked-to-climate-change" target="_blank">according to ScienceAlert!</a></p>
<p>2019 was the fourth year in a row in which a Category 5 hurricane developed in the Atlantic, and Category 4 and 5 hurricanes are expected to be almost twice as common in the North Atlantic in the next century as the climate warms, even as the overall number of storms decreases. This is a problem because, according to Yale, major hurricanes are the world's most expensive <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/extreme-weather" target="_self">extreme weather</a> event.</p><p>While overall frequency and climate are not linked, one of the factors driving AccuWeather's predictions is that water temperatures in the Caribbean are already up to 80 degrees Fahrenheit, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration data reported by AccuWeather.</p><p>"Warm water is actually what drives a lot of seasons," Kottlowski said. "So those will be areas to keep an eye on for early-season development."</p>
<blockquote></blockquote>From Your Site Articles
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Members of environmental nonprofit Casa Pueblo install solar panels in Puerto Rico's Adjuntas community. Arturo Massol
By Coral Natalie Negrón Almodóvar
The Earth began to shake as Tamar Hernández drove to visit her mother in Yauco, Puerto Rico, on Dec. 28, 2019. She did not feel that first tremor — she felt only the ensuing aftershocks — but she worried because her mother had an ankle injury and could not walk. Then Hernández thought, "What if something worse is coming our way?"
<p>Her hunch was right. In the twilight hours of Jan. 7, 2020, a magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck the U.S. territory, with its epicenter near the city of Ponce on the south coast, a few miles from Hernández's hometown. Buildings trembled throughout the territory, but the southwest took the brunt of the quake, with dozens of partially or completely collapsed dwellings, including a school and a church, according to a <a href="https://www.elnuevodia.com/noticias/locales/fotogalerias/muchosmunicipiosdelsurexperimentarondanosenestructurasyresidencias-galeria-2539161/" target="_blank">report</a> from El Nuevo Día. The island's primary power generation plants in the southern area of Puerto Rico failed, immediately plunging the territory into darkness.</p>
<p>As a survivor of Hurricane Maria's devastation in 2017, Hernández was consumed with anxiety and desperation at the prospect of having to live through another natural disaster, and watching the government mismanage the recovery again. "My father's Alzheimer's progressed since the storm, and dealing with an equal emergency was unthinkable," she said, before bursting into tears. She doubted she could maintain her economic stability after the earthquake damaged her nail business in the urban center of Yauco.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjgzMjgzOS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxMjU3Nzk2OH0.857RhIF4LSWcGUSfMGPhvPB565_zzh44UhSJ6sXBJk8/img.jpg?width=980" id="bc44c" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="e5a757e7f8226f8383c08ded4aa73378" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
A view of a washed out road near Utuado, Puerto Rico, after a Coast Guard Air Station Borinquen MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew dropped relief supplies to residents Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2017. The locals were stranded after Hurricane Maria by washed out roads and mudslides. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Eric D. Woodall / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
<p>Help did arrive, although it didn't come from the government initially. Instead, a hyperlocal response made up of disparate nonprofits and volunteers arrived and provided much needed aid, even during continuing aftershocks. Hernández said she was especially thankful for the response from one community organization, Tabernacle Followers of Jesus Christ.<br></p><p>Those volunteer initiatives sparked a feeling of trust in refugee camps, said Víctor Amauri, a social worker and one of the help coordinators with Solidarity Brigade of the West, which is made up of people from many organizations who provided direct response to help communities after Hurricane Maria.</p><p>"Strategizing after the hurricane and developing short- and long-term plans was our strong suit," Amauri said. "Now, it isn't straightforward to plan something for tomorrow, because everything changed. Misinformation and lack of transparency from the federal and local governments are preventing us from helping our people as they deserve."</p><p>The group leaders of the Solidarity Brigade used to meet in Mayagüez to organize community building projects. They would teach about composting and orchard keeping, and promote grassroots efforts to enhance food security and local agriculture as tools of self-sustainability.</p><p>"But in this context, we cannot think ahead," Amauri said. "We are still handling dozens of cases of families that are sleeping on the floor because, even though we are a country prone to hurricanes and, thanks to our location in between fault lines, earthquakes, the authorities never developed an emergency plan response."</p><p>A report by the Center of Investigative Journalism of Puerto Rico, the <a href="http://periodismoinvestigativo.com/2018/04/puerto-rico-far-from-having-plan-to-face-climate-change/" target="_blank">Climate Change Series Project</a> — the culmination of years of requesting public documents — found that despite Puerto Rico's vulnerability, the territorial government had taken limited measures to tackle natural disasters. Even though investigative work in 2017 uncovered evidence that the death toll of Hurricanes Maria and Irma was much higher than the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/12/08/us/puerto-rico-hurricane-maria-death-toll.html" target="_blank">64 victims claimed by the former governor Ricardo Rosselló</a> — <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/28/health/puerto-rico-gw-report-excess-deaths/index.html" target="_blank">nearly 3,000 people are estimated to have died</a>, a little less than twice as many as in Hurricane Katrina — and the territory's ability to respond to emergencies has not improved much. </p><p>The government's inefficient response has led to the formation of several citizen coalitions that know the needs of their communities. The Single Voice Movement is a conglomerate of local nonprofit and community-based organizations that already developed a two-year response plan for earthquake-affected communities. The projects developed by these entities have a vision that looks inward toward active communities capable of supporting themselves and their neighbors, said Cora Arce Rivera, executive director of Aspira de Puerto Rico.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjgyNjU5Ni9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzNTI0NjQxNH0.-J4GQbxXXye9W14PDKM3E_XOoOpI8vvcUIjLxXAulk4/img.jpg?width=980" id="e1cef" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="cba9a33809657e9e3bee1f9bb8ad4489" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
A group of students from Aspira's Inc. Alternative School in the municipality of Mayaguez ready to go to the town of Cabo Rojo and receive farming instruction. Francisco Acevedo.
<p>Aspira's alternative school in the western town of Mayagüez allows teenagers, most of them school dropouts, to explore the significance of agriculture. The students are learning to cultivate tropical root and tuber crops that can germinate in unfavorable conditions. They are particularly resistant to damage by high wind hurricanes and typhoons, Aspira's agronomist Francisco Acevedo said.</p><p>José Esteban López Maldonado, a student at the elite Residential Center of Educational Opportunities in Mayagüez, runs a <a href="https://www.periodicolaperla.com/le-dan-la-escuela-jose-esteban/" target="_blank">similar project</a> in the small mountainside municipality of Adjuntas. In 2016, he managed to acquire one of the hundreds of schools closed by the local Department of Education and transformed it into a coworking space where people can learn about hydroponic cultivation, coffee planting, and greenhouses. USDA Rural Development, which offers loans and grants to economic development projects, has offered López help to improve the infrastructure of the school, but local authorities have not been able to provide him a proof of ownership so he can take advantage of the program, he said.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjgyNjYxMS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyMjIxOTYzOX0.JODZrc7sTy6qPWZIYGouPMuKX6tGhf39_aQzZPZY7D8/img.jpg?width=980" id="c0d62" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="10c0e9afabada5f2beeae350087009bd" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
José Esteban in Ponce, Puerto Rico, presenting his new initiative to distribute coffee Caturra, produced in his farm Lírica. Coral Negrón
<p>The island also faces a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/10/04/finally-puerto-rico-has-way-out-its-debt-crisis/" target="_blank">bankruptcy crisis</a> and <a href="https://apnews.com/1211eb3e68b24c35a994c60973c8de65" target="_blank">austerity measures</a> imposed by the federal Financial Oversight and Management Board. José Caraballo-Cueto, an economist and assistant professor at the University of Puerto Rico, said the bureaucracy around government processes exemplifies how the island is the perfect prey for disaster capitalism. "Restoration doesn't have the impact it deserves on the local economy because the biggest beneficiaries are not locals," Caraballo said. "A private law firm is even handling the cases of lack of proof of ownership post-Hurricane María."</p><p>In Puerto Rico, almost 92 percent of houses were damaged by the hurricane, according to a <a href="https://www.americanbar.org/groups/crsj/publications/human_rights_magazine_home/vol--44--no-2--housing/the-lack-of-proof-of-ownership-in-puerto-rico-is-crippling-repai/" target="_blank">report</a> from the American Bar Association. More than 95 percent of those tenants, about <a href="https://www.americanbar.org/groups/crsj/publications/human_rights_magazine_home/vol--44--no-2--housing/the-lack-of-proof-of-ownership-in-puerto-rico-is-crippling-repai/" target="_blank">1.1 million people</a>, applied for the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Individuals and Households Program in 2018, but a FEMA spokesman told NBC News that 335,748 <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/puerto-rico-crisis/no-deeds-no-aid-rebuild-homes-puerto-rico-s-reconstruction-n868396" target="_blank">claims were denied because they couldn't provide a deed</a> proving ownership of their homes.</p><p>Situations such as this one eroded Puerto Ricans' belief in local and federal institutions, which have promoted new governance models, said Arturo Massol Deyá, the executive director of 40-year-old environmental nonprofit Casa Pueblo.</p><p>In 150 locations across the island territory, Casa Pueblo ensured that, after Maria, those with the most urgent need for electricity received solar panels, including hospitals, small bodegas, and the homes of aging residents who required dialysis. In the recent earthquakes, the solar power systems proved to be more resilient than the <a href="https://spectrum.ieee.org/energywise/energy/environment/puerto-rico-earthquake-power-outages-prepa-news" target="_blank">Puerto Rican Electric Power Authority's electricity grid, which failed again</a>.</p><p>In the wake of Hurricane Maria, Massol Deyá acknowledges that people wanted to be helped by their fellow townspeople. "They discovered soon that the true meaning of 'just recovery' is that the resources end up providing services that change the reality of constant vulnerability," he said.</p><p>"Energy is the ability to do work," Massol Deyá said. "We are putting the opportunity in the hands of the people; we want them to acquire the power to govern themselves and enjoy their production. It is the maximum self-decolonization scenario because the top-down model has collapsed. … it is not effective."</p><p>An upcoming Casa Pueblo project, in collaboration with professors at the University of Michigan, will be to use <a href="https://global.umich.edu/newsroom/puerto-rico/" target="_blank">biomass from coffee production to generate energy</a>. The energy produced will be used to power the coffee plantation to improve the harvest. The technique, Massol said, helps to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Meanwhile, it will generate employment and provide a more sustainable life for the residents of Adjuntas.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjgyNjYyNy9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzNTYyMDY5N30.Px8y8bw-tVga0q8DTaJ9QTUXdhWJyS03WFa_VFLYrGY/img.jpg?width=980" id="4b2e1" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="ddc2f3b7f05b7fb2e9abd1ad1b9bf604" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Arturo Massol, executive director of Casa Pueblo de Adjuntas. Omar Alfonso
<p>All these grassroots actions are becoming the backbone of survival in Puerto Rico. For the time being, however, the lives of those residing in earthquake zones are stagnant, said Edward Santiago-Pacheco, a U.S. Army veteran and father of a newborn girl.</p><p>He lost his newly purchased house in Yauco in the 6.4 magnitude earthquake and has not heard back from the insurance company, the bank, or any local government agency.</p><p>"It is hard to overcome this when you just brought a new life into this world," Santiago-Pacheco said. "FEMA only provided money for two months of rent for temporary housing, but I still must pay my house mortgage. The worst part is that the local government is using our pain in favor of their political propaganda."</p><p>On Feb. 10, the Solidarity Brigade learned about Hernández's and Santiago-Pacheco's cases and reached out to them, Amauri said. However, thousands need similar help.</p><p>"Two of our members are sociologists (Roberto Vélez and Jacqueline Villegas), and they developed a census to identify all necessities and help people the best possible way. But we need the government to publish relevant information that can help us organize our strategy," he added.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjgyNjY0OC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxNjUwMzc5N30.OtGMrbtQbNSViTrNakr45D_QvO6L_D_nR954dOVKNaI/img.jpg?width=980" id="c486c" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="3fc839db8949cdade82d010b4981cf9f" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
<p class=""><em>Coral Natalie Negrón Almodóvar is a Puerto Rican data journalist, a current grantee of the Center for Cooperative Media at Montclair State University, and Patti Birch for Data Journalism Fellow at the Committee to Protect Journalists.</em> </p><p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.yesmagazine.org/economy/2020/02/24/puerto-rico-natural-disaster-recovery/">YES! Magazine</a>. </em></p>Casa Pueblo's installation of solar panels in a hardware store in Adjuntas. Arturo Massol
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Build Your Own Solutions to the Climate Crisis With the En-Roads Climate Simulator
27 January
Climate
Slowing deforestation, planting more trees, and cutting emissions of non-carbon dioxide greenhouse gases like methane could cut another 0.5 degrees C or more off global warming by 2100. South_agency / E+ / Getty Images
Killer hurricanes, devastating wildfires, melting glaciers, and sunny-day flooding in more and more coastal areas around the world have birthed a fatalistic view cleverly dubbed by Mary Annaïse Heglar of the Natural Resources Defense Council as "de-nihilism." One manifestation: An increasing number of people appear to have grown doubtful about the possibility of staving-off climate disaster. However, a new interactive tool from a climate think tank and MIT Sloan shows that humanity could still meet the goals of the Paris agreement and limit global warming.
<p>By itself, a carbon tax rising to around $200 per ton of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/emissions" rel="noopener noreferrer">emissions</a> would bring the world about halfway to the Paris goal, according to the <a href="https://www.climateinteractive.org/tools/en-roads/" target="_blank">En-ROADS interactive tool</a> developed by the MIT Sloan School of Management and Climate Interactive. Countries would also need to implement other aggressive climate policies targeting the many different sectors of the economy that generate large-scale greenhouse gas emissions. The tool allows a user to figure out how:<em></em></p>
<ul><li>civilization must change the fuel mix supplying the world's energy and boost efficiency</li><li>the extent to which more buildings and vehicles must be electrified</li><li>strategies could help reduce deforestation and how to plant more trees of the optimum species at the right locations</li><li>carbon capture technology could be relied upon to remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere</li></ul>
Carbon Taxes Seen as the Most Effective Tool
<p>According to Climate Interactive's climate and energy lead, Ellie Johnston, "Behind En-ROADS is a system dynamics model that weaves the interdependencies and feedbacks of our global climate system with the actions that we need to take globally to address climate change."</p><p>The simulation begins with a default business-as-usual scenario leading to 4.1 degrees Celsius (7.3 degrees Fahrenheit) global warming above pre-industrial temperatures by the year 2100. This outcome is essentially a worst-case scenario, assuming that current worldwide climate policies and pledges (which would limit warming to <a href="https://climateactiontracker.org/global/temperatures/" target="_blank">approximately 3 degrees C</a>, or 5.4 degrees F) are not successfully implemented. For context, the international Paris agreement set a target of no more than 2 degrees C (3.6 degrees F) global warming, whereas 3 to 4 degrees C warming would likely result in disastrous <a href="https://skepticalscience.com/climate-best-to-worst-case-scenarios.html" target="_blank">climate change consequences</a>.</p><p>In the En-ROADS simulator, taxing carbon pollution is the single most effective way to bridge the gap between business-as-usual warming and the Paris target. A strong global carbon tax that eventually rises to around $200 per ton of carbon dioxide would reduce global warming from 4 to approximately 3 degrees C by 2100, erasing half of the difference between the two scenarios. The carbon tax makes already-expensive coal even costlier, accelerating its replacement by renewables, and also increases consumer demand for more energy-efficient products that become comparatively cheap as fossil fuel energy prices rise. According to <a href="https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/FM/Issues/2019/09/12/fiscal-monitor-october-2019#Mitigating%20Climate%20Change" target="_blank">a recent International Monetary Fund report</a>, a carbon tax of $75 per ton would more than triple the price of coal and increase natural gas prices by 70 percent, with gasoline prices rising by about 70 cents per gallon.</p><p>A growing body of climate economics research supports a robust carbon tax. For example, <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/116/42/20886" target="_blank">an October 2019 study</a> in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences focusing on risk and uncertainty concluded that the appropriate carbon tax is more than $100 per ton of carbon dioxide, most economically efficient if immediately implemented at that high price. As co-author Gernot Wagner at New York University described their results, "taking risk and uncertainty seriously — and applying standard tools from financial economics — dramatically increases today's carbon prices. It also reverses carbon price paths over time: high today, declining over time."</p><p>Experts for some time have debated the best way to structure a carbon tax. Some argue that the price should start low and increase over time in order to give consumers a period to adjust, thus making the tax more politically palatable. The new PNAS study argues that from a risk management perspective, the carbon tax should start high because emissions will then fall quickly, reducing the risk of catastrophic outcomes. As Wagner put it, "folks in 2300 will know more about the climate in 2300 than we know today. Uncertainty resolves itself over time." In the meantime, the reasoning follows, prudent risk management requires taking aggressive steps to avoid a possible climate catastrophe.</p>
<p>However, there are limits to how effectively carbon taxes alone can cut emissions. <a href="https://energypolicy.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/file-uploads/EICDA_CGEP-Report.pdf" target="_blank">An assessment</a> by scientists at Columbia University and the Rhodium Group of a specific carbon tax bill introduced to Congress — the <a href="https://energyinnovationact.org/" target="_blank">Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act</a> — found that its rising carbon price would reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions 37 percent below 2005 levels by 2030. That result would more than double the 16 percent that American emissions are anticipated to fall during that same period under current policies. However, the analysis found that the bulk of these emissions reductions would come from the electricity sector, while carbon pollution from other sectors like transportation would remain relatively high. For example, the resulting increase in gasoline prices by around $1 per gallon on its own would be insufficient to dramatically reduce American vehicular fuel consumption.</p>
Complementary Policies Are Needed
<p>Similarly, the En-ROADS model also shows that a carbon tax alone would dramatically reduce the share of energy generated by coal, leading to continued high emissions as a result of more oil and gas production.</p><p>Oil consumption can be reduced in the En-ROADS model by strengthening vehicle fuel efficiency and electrification policies. In the real world, this approach translates to policies like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_average_fuel_economy" target="_blank">vehicle fuel economy standards</a>, which can mandate increased efficiency and thus accelerate the transition to electric vehicles. Projects to improve and electrify public transportation systems can also reduce demand for oil. Natural gas consumption can similarly be reduced by expanding energy efficiency and electrification of buildings and industrial activities. Together, the En-ROADS model suggests that these steps could curb global warming by one-half a degree Celsius.</p><p>Slowing deforestation, planting more trees, and cutting emissions of non-carbon dioxide greenhouse gases like methane could cut another 0.5 degrees C or more off global warming by 2100. Combined with a carbon tax, these policies could achieve the Paris climate targets, if implemented globally. However, the En-ROADS tool illustrates just how difficult it will be to meet those goals, and how many different large-scale policies must be implemented to do so.</p><p>Meeting the Paris targets would require that countries around the world soon begin implementing aggressive climate policies targeting the many different sectors of the economy that generate large-scale greenhouse gas emissions. Pricing carbon pollution is one of the single most effective steps to curb emissions, but achieving the Paris goals will require additional complementary policies.</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from </em><em><a href="https://www.yaleclimateconnections.org/2020/01/en-roads-climate-solutions-simulator/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Yale Climate Connections</a>.</em><a href="https://www.yaleclimateconnections.org/2020/01/en-roads-climate-solutions-simulator/" rel="noopener noreferrer"></a></p>From Your Site Articles
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Pump Train in Cranberry Street Tunnel after Hurricane Sandy. MTA New York City Transit / Leonard Wiggins / Wikimedia
In 2012, Superstorm Sandy wreaked havoc on New York City's transportation system. Storm surge pushed a flood of seawater into vehicle tunnels, railyards, ferry terminals, and subway lines.
<p>"Hurricane Sandy was a big wake-up call for the city," says Susanne DesRoches, New York's deputy director of infrastructure and energy.<em></em></p>
<iframe style="border: none" src="//html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/12468101/height/45/theme/standard/thumbnail/yes/direction/backward/" height="45" width="100%" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen></iframe>
<p>She says after the storm, subway tunnels and stations had to be pumped out. Electrical systems needed to be cleaned, repaired, and tested. In some places, it took weeks to get up and running again.</p><p>As seas rise and weather gets more extreme, the risks from <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/flooding" rel="noopener noreferrer">flooding</a> only grow. So New York is working to make its massive transportation system more resilient.</p><p>"We're looking at major flood protection systems across the subway network, the airports, and our vehicular tunnels that go in and out of Manhattan," DesRoches says.</p>
<p>For example, the city has installed huge floodgates at the entrances of two tunnels. A steel floodwall will soon protect the Coney Island railyard, and the city's working on ways to seal off subway station entrances and vents.</p><p>It's a multi-billion-dollar effort, but DesRoches says the next time a natural disaster hits, New York expects to be better prepared.</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.yaleclimateconnections.org/2019/12/new-york-city-spends-billions-on-flood-protection/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Yale Climate Connections</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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Trending
A skycrane makes a water drop on flames in Porter Ranch, California on Oct. 11, 2019. Dean Musgrove / Los Angeles Daily News / Getty Images
The climate crisis cost countries around the world billions of dollars in extreme weather events in 2019, according to the latest annual tally from UK charity Christian Aid.
<p>The report, published Friday, identified seven disasters that cost $10 billion or more, and 15 disasters that cost more than $1 billion, according to a <a href="https://mediacentre.christianaid.org.uk/strongnew-report-2019-saw-world-counting-the-cost-of-climate-breakdown-strong/" target="_blank">press summary</a>. That's up from last year, when the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-disasters-cost-2018-2624533439.html" target="_self">group highlighted</a> 10 disasters that cost more than $1 billion and four that cost more than $7 billion.</p><p>"If anything 2019 saw even more profound extreme weather events around the world than last year, including <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildfires" target="_self">wildfires</a> from the Amazon through to the Arctic, devastating out-of-season, simultaneous wildfires in California and Australia, winter heat waves and devastating superstorms," Pennsylvania State University climate scientist professor Michael Mann said in the press release. "With each day now we are seemingly reminded of the cost of climate inaction in the form of ever-threatening climate change-spiked weather extremes."</p><p>The group wrote that they likely underestimated the true cost of the disasters they studied because in some cases they could only account for insured losses, not uninsured losses or lost productivity. The report was also published before the cost of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/australia-wildfires-climate-crisis-2641672467.html" target="_self">Australia's devastating wildfire season</a> could be calculated, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/dec/27/climate-crisis-linked-to-at-least-15-1bn-plus-disasters-in-2019" target="_blank">The Guardian pointed out</a>.</p>
<p>Here are the seven climate-related disasters that cost $10 billion or more in 2019, according to the report.</p><ol><li><strong>California Wildfires, $25 Billion:</strong> The costliest extreme weather events of 2019 included in the report were the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/california-wildfires-state-emergency-2641130545.html" target="_self">wildfires</a> that <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/3-die-in-socal-wildfires-2640962718.html" target="_self">burned through</a> California in October and November. The area burned in California each year has quintupled since 1972, mostly because higher temperatures have dried forests, creating more fuel for the flames.</li><li><strong>Typhoon Hagibis in Japan, $15 Billion:</strong> <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/japan-typhoon-hagibis-2640961952.html" target="_self">Typhoon Hagibis hit Japan in October</a> with winds of up to 225 kilometers (approximately 140 miles) per hour. It was one of the strongest storms to pummel the country in decades and killed 98 people. The storm also intensified at the fastest rate in 23 years, and warmer oceans have been linked to more intense storms.</li><li><strong>Midwest and Southern Flooding, $12.5 Billion:</strong> The <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/flooding" target="_self">flooding</a> that devastated the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/flooding-nebraska-bomb-cyclone-2631998694.html" target="_self">Midwestern</a> and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/oklahoma-historic-floods-2638411894.html?rebelltitem=3#rebelltitem3" target="_self">Southern U.S.</a> between March and June has been linked to climate change. Warmer air can hold more moisture, increasing the likelihood of extreme rain and snow falls.</li><li><strong>Flooding in China, $12 Billion:</strong> Heavy rain from June to August led to massive flooding in southern and eastern China, killing at least 300 people. More rain in China is expected to fall in heavy downpours because of the climate crisis, and parts of the country saw their highest rainfall tallies in almost 60 years.</li><li><strong>Hurricane Dorian, $11.4 Billion:</strong> The September <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/hurricanes" target="_self">hurricane</a> was the second strongest storm on record in the Atlantic and it <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/hurricane-dorian-bahamas-2640172331.html" target="_self">devastated the Bahamas</a>, costing the country the equivalent of more than a quarter of its gross domestic product. Warmer ocean temperatures made it both more intense and wetter than it would have been otherwise, and led it to intensify more quickly.</li><li><strong>Typhoon Lekima in China, $10 Billion:</strong> The typhoon that hit China in August was the fifth most intense to hit the country since 1949. It killed 101 people and was the second most expensive storm in China's history. Like Hagibis and Dorian, it also intensified quickly, a phenomenon linked to warmer temperatures.</li><li><strong>Flooding in North India, $10 Billion:</strong> Flooding caused by the heaviest monsoon rains in 25 years <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/monsoon-flooding-india-nepal-2639194764.html" target="_self">swamped Northern India</a>, Bangladesh and Nepal between June and October. The rains killed almost 1,900 people in India alone and displaced more than three million. Climate change makes more extreme rainfall more likely generally, and, in Northern India, rainstorms have increased 50 percent in frequency and 80 percent in duration.</li></ol>
<p>The costliest events weren't necessarily the most devastating or the deadliest. While the floods in Northern India claimed the most lives, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/cyclone-idai-mozambique-malawi-zimbabwe-2631993550.html" target="_self">Cyclone Idai</a>, which slammed Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Madagascar in March, had the next highest death toll. It killed 1,300 people and cost $2 billion. In general, poorer countries suffered higher death tolls while wealthier countries suffered costlier disasters. Three of the four most expensive hit the U.S. and Japan.</p><p>Christian Aid said the report showed the importance of acting now to mitigate the climate crisis.</p>
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The Cave Fire in Santa Barbara, California in November 2019. Santa Barbara County Fire Info
Climate change is getting costlier and deadlier. A new report from British charity Christian Aid found that 15 of the world's largest natural disasters in 2019 — including wildfires, hurricanes, typhoons and more — had links to a warming world. All 15 of those disasters cost more than $1 billion in damages, and seven of them cost more than $10 billion each.
<p><br/></p>
<p>Record rainfall in the spring caused more than $12.5 billion in damages throughout the midwest and southern U.S. due to <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/flooding" target="_self">flooding</a>. On the flip side, a dry summer and record heat waves, which spurred massive <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildfires" target="_self">wildfires</a> in California, cost more than $25 billion in damages. The report, however, states many of the totals have likely been underestimated.</p><p>"These figures are likely to be underestimates as they often show only insured losses and do not always take into account other financial costs, such as lost productivity and uninsured losses," the report states.</p>
<p>Although the financial burden of these extreme events is severe, developing nations are experiencing the worst loss. More than 1,300 people lost their lives to Cyclone Idai in Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Malawi in March. Another 1,900 were killed in Northern India from June to October when monsoon flooding hit record levels. And 673 people were killed during Hurricane Dorian, which many regard as the worst natural disaster to ever hit the Bahamas.</p><p>"The great tragedy of climate change is that it is the poorest and most vulnerable who suffer the most, despite us doing the least to cause it," Dr. Adelle Thomas from the University of the Bahamas said in a <a href="https://mediacentre.christianaid.org.uk/strongnew-report-2019-saw-world-counting-the-cost-of-climate-breakdown-strong/" target="_blank">press release</a>. "However as this year has shown, no continent is immune from global warming and its impacts."</p>
<p>This year is projected to be the second hottest year on record and losses from these <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/extreme-weather" target="_self">extreme weather</a> events are likely to get worse going into the new decade. The report urges world leaders to begin taking serious steps toward mitigating these losses.</p><p>"Last year emissions continued to rise, so it's essential that nations prepare new and enhanced pledges for action to the Paris agreement as soon as possible," Dr. Katherine Kramer, co-author of the report and the global lead on climate change at Christian Aid, said in a <a href="https://mediacentre.christianaid.org.uk/strongnew-report-2019-saw-world-counting-the-cost-of-climate-breakdown-strong/" target="_blank">press release</a>.</p><p>The <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/paris-agreement">Paris agreement</a> aims to keep global temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial averages. But global temperatures have already increased <a href="https://climate.nasa.gov/news/2841/2018-fourth-warmest-year-in-continued-warming-trend-according-to-nasa-noaa/" target="_blank">1 degree Celsius</a>, and without more urgent action, they are expected to surpass the 2 degree mark by the end of the century.</p><p>"2019 was not the new normal," the Christian Aid report stated. "The world's weather will continue to become ever-more extreme and people around the world will continue to pay the price. The challenge ahead is to minimize the impacts through deep and rapid emissions cuts."</p>
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Oil Companies Were Not Held Accountable for 10.8 Million Gallons of Oil Spilled in Gulf of Mexico
27 December 2019
Energy
A massive oil spill threatened St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana on Sept. 18, 2005 when an oil tank was forced from its foundation by Hurricane Katrina's massive storm surge. Bob McMillan / FEMA
The devastation to lives and homes caused by Hurricane Katrina masked a massive crude oil spill that the hurricane caused by damaging rigs and storage tanks in the Gulf of Mexico. The damage was made worse a few weeks later when Hurricane Rita struck the area. The federal regulators that oversee oil and gas operation in the Gulf estimated that more than 400 pipelines and 100 drilling platforms were damaged, leading to 10.8 million gallons of crude oil spilling into the Gulf — the same amount as the Exxon Valdez oil spill.
<p>Now, 14 years later, not one assessment of the damage to natural resources has been carried out. There is no plan to help restore impacted ecosystems. And not one of the 140 responsible parties has faced a fine or even a citation, according to an exclusive investigation by <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/how-oil-companies-avoided-environmental-accountability-after-10.8-million-gallons-spilled" target="_blank">ProPublica, The Times-Picayune and The Advocate</a>.</p><p>Instead of having to pay fines, the companies whose oil spilled into the water have actually been reimbursed $19 million from a federal trust for the oil they lost, claiming that the spills and damage were caused by an "unforeseeable act of God," according to the review by <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/how-oil-companies-avoided-environmental-accountability-after-10.8-million-gallons-spilled" target="_blank">ProPublica and its partners</a>.</p><p>The Act of God defense holds a lot of weight in Louisiana. Adam Babich, former director of the Tulane Environmental Law Clinic, told the journalists at <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/how-oil-companies-avoided-environmental-accountability-after-10.8-million-gallons-spilled" target="_blank">ProPublica and its partners</a> that while the act of God defense does not usually release oil companies from liability, it does weaken arguments to hold them accountable.</p><p>"We don't normally penalize [companies] for act of God events," said Greg Langley of the Department of Environmental Quality to <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/how-oil-companies-avoided-environmental-accountability-after-10.8-million-gallons-spilled" target="_blank">ProPublica, The Times-Picayune and The Advocate</a>."We just get right to remediation."</p><p>The full scale of the damage may never be fully understood without a comprehensive review and assessment. Even a tiny amount of spilled crude oil has a devastating impact and damages coastline that protects inland areas from storms.</p><p>The oil that seeps into the marshes affects worms and snails, which are eaten by birds and fish. Marsh plants begin to die, which allows saltwater to eat away at the coastline. That allows the next storm to push further inland, according to Darryl Malek-Wiley, an organizer with the Sierra Club, who spoke to the <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/how-oil-companies-avoided-environmental-accountability-after-10.8-million-gallons-spilled" target="_blank">ProPublica</a> investigation.</p><p>"I think it's an outrage that they haven't made any progress," Malek-Wiley said to <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/how-oil-companies-avoided-environmental-accountability-after-10.8-million-gallons-spilled" target="_blank">ProPublica</a>. "Here we are 14 years later and they haven't done anything. A year after Katrina, things had settled down significantly. I think the oil response team should have been moving forward with environmental damage claims."</p><p>The inaction seems to violate the Oil Pollution Act, passed by Congress in response to the Valdez oil spill. That law mandates federal and state agencies to work with the companies to assess damage to natural resources. After a comprehensive report is completed on the value of the affected plants, soil, water and <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildlife" target="_self">wildlife</a>, the responsible parties must foot the bill for restoration efforts, according to the <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/how-oil-companies-avoided-environmental-accountability-after-10.8-million-gallons-spilled" target="_blank">ProPublica</a> review.</p><p>"It's pretty clear what the value of money is in a place like Louisiana, where we have these restoration needs," Steve Cochran, associate vice president for coastal resilience at the Environmental Defense Fund, to the investigative journalists at <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/how-oil-companies-avoided-environmental-accountability-after-10.8-million-gallons-spilled" target="_blank">ProPublica, The Times-Picayune and The Advocate</a>. "Every dollar that's not collected [in fines] is a dollar that we can't spend on this work."</p><p>By not completing an environmental assessment, Louisiana is missing out on hundreds of millions of dollars in environmental remediation money. Cochran said that if the oil companies responsible for the rigs and storage tanks paid for restoration at the same rate that BP paid for the Deepwater Horizon spill, then Louisiana would have $700 million more in its restoration budget, according to <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/how-oil-companies-avoided-environmental-accountability-after-10.8-million-gallons-spilled" target="_blank">ProPublica, The Times-Picayune and The Advocate</a>.</p><p>"It's a lot of work that's desperately needed but that is only possible because that [BP settlement] money became available," Cochran said to <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/how-oil-companies-avoided-environmental-accountability-after-10.8-million-gallons-spilled" target="_blank">ProPublica, The Times-Picayune and The Advocate</a>.</p><p>Since Hurricane Katrina swept over the Gulf waters with category 5 strength, nothing has been done to protect against storm-related oil spills or the damage to the environment, according to the <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/how-oil-companies-avoided-environmental-accountability-after-10.8-million-gallons-spilled" target="_blank">investigation</a>.</p><p>Scientists predict that future storms, which will increase in intensity due to the climate crisis, will exacerbate environmental damage.</p><p>"In the Gulf, storms are predicted to be less frequent but more intense when they do come," said Sunshine Van Bael, an ecologist at Tulane University who evaluated damage to marsh ecosystems from the BP oil spill, to to <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/how-oil-companies-avoided-environmental-accountability-after-10.8-million-gallons-spilled" target="_blank">ProPublica, The Times-Picayune and The Advocate</a>. "One thing that storms do is, if oil has been buried underneath the marsh because it wasn't rehabilitated, a storm could come along and whip that back up to the surface. So, the aftereffects of the oil spills might be greater [with climate change] since the storms are predicted to be more intense."</p>
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Three cows who were washed off their North Carolina island by Hurricane Dorian have been found alive after swimming at least two miles. Carolina Wild Ones / Facebook
Three cows who were washed off their North Carolina island by Hurricane Dorian have been found alive after swimming at least two miles, The New York Times reported Wednesday.
<p>The cows were part of a herd of around 20 wild cattle that grazed on North Carolina's Cedar Island, <a href="https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article237280754.html" target="_blank">The Charlotte Observer explained</a>. But the herd, along with much of the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildlife" target="_self">wildlife</a> on the island, was swept up in an eight-foot "mini tsunami" generated by the hurricane on Sept. 6. It was believed that the cows perished, but then three of them were spotted on Cape Lookout National Seashore on the Outer Banks.</p><p>"It's a tremendous story of how they made it," park spokesman B.G. Horvat told The New York Times. "If the cows could talk, imagine the story they can tell you of enduring that rush of water. That must be incredible."</p><p>Horvat told McClatchy news service the cows may have swam four miles across Core Sound to reach the park, The Charlotte Observer reported.</p><p>Horvat gave differing accounts to The New York Times and McClatchy news service as to when the cows were first spotted in the park. He told The New York Times that the first cow was spotted Sept. 7, the day after the storm, and that the other two were spotted three weeks later. However, he told McClatchy that the first cow was seen a month after the storm and the second pair in the last two weeks, The Charlotte Observer reported.</p><p>A picture of the cows has now been posted on Facebook, according to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/nov/13/cows-outer-banks-hurricane-dorian-swept-away" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>.</p>
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<p>"Ever since they found each other, they have been hanging out together," Horvat told The New York Times. "They are just grazing on the North Core Island."</p><p>Hurricane Dorian made landfall in North Carolina's Outer Banks as a <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/hurricane-dorian-bahamas-unimaginable-2640229940.html?rebelltitem=1#rebelltitem1" target="_self">Category 1 storm</a>, where it caused heavy rains and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/flooding" target="_self">flooding</a>, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-50413978" target="_blank">BBC News reported</a>. One of its impacts was the "mini tsunami" that swept the cows out to sea, The Charlotte Observer explained:</p><blockquote>The hurricane pushed water into coastal bays, creeks and rivers, and all that storm surge rushed back toward the Outer Banks as the winds shifted, experts say. The resulting "wall of water" hit not only Cedar Island, but caused devastating floods on Ocracoke Island and ripped up sections of the coastal highway, NC. 12, the Charlotte Observer reported in September.<br><br>An undisclosed number of wild horses from Cedar Island were found dead on Cape Lookout beaches after the storm, and video surfaced on social media of one allegedly seen floating in the Atlantic Ocean.</blockquote><p>The surviving cows were identified by Woody Hancock, who cared for them on Cedar Island, according to The New York Times.</p><p>The park has now set a 30-day deadline for someone to submit a plan to return the cows to their home, The Charlotte Observer reported. If no one volunteers, the park will form a plan.</p><p>However, Nena Hancock, who lost 28 of her Cedar Island horses to the storm, told The New York Times that she and her husband Woody would be willing to help.</p><p>"We will be more than glad," she said. "We would be willing to help when that decision is made."</p>Hurricane Dorian arrived in North Carolina after <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/hurricane-dorian-bahamas-2640172331.html" target="_self">devastating the Bahamas</a>, where it killed dozens, according to BBC News, and caused a "<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/bahamas-hurricane-dorian-crisis-2640319105.html?rebelltitem=2#rebelltitem2" target="_self">humanitarian crisis.</a>
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Most Destructive Hurricanes Now 3x More Frequent Than They Were a Century Ago
12 November 2019
Climate
Flooding in New Orleans from Hurricane Katrina on Sept. 11, 2005. NOAA Photo Library / Lieut. Commander Mark Moran
The most destructive hurricanes are three times more frequent than they were a century ago, new research has found, and this can be "unequivocally" linked to the climate crisis.
<p>The research, published Monday in the <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2019/11/05/1912277116" target="_blank">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a>, used a new method to calculate hurricane damage that makes it easier to separate climate effects from increases in wealth and population density, a University of Copenhagen press release published by <a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-11/uoc-hhb110719.php" target="_blank">EurekAlert! explained</a>.</p><p>"A new way of calculating the destruction, compensating for the societal change in wealth, unequivocally shows a climatic increase in the frequency of the most destructive hurricanes that routinely raise havoc on the North American south- and east coast," the press release said.</p>
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<p>What changed? The traditional method of comparing damage seeks to calculate what a historic hurricane would cost if it made landfall today. This method made it hard to see the role of climate change, because differences in cost could be chalked up to the fact that more people lived in impacted areas, they were wealthier and they lived in more expensive infrastructure.</p><p>So researchers at the University of Copenhagen developed a new metric called "area of total destruction."</p><p><a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-50380431" target="_blank">BBC News</a> gave an example of how it works using <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/hurricane-irma" target="_self">Hurricane Irma</a>, which struck Florida in 2017:</p><blockquote>Around 1.1 million people were living inside the 10,000 sq km closest to the storm's landfall.<br><br>With the wealth per capita estimated to be $194,000, the scientists concluded that the overall wealth in this 10,000 sq km region was $215bn.<br><br>As the storm caused $50bn worth of damage, this was 23% of the wealth in the region. Taking 23% of the 10,000 sq km gave an area of total destruction of 2,300 sq km.</blockquote><p>Using this method, the researchers determined that the frequency of the most destructive hurricanes had increased by 330 percent this century.</p><p>For additional perspective, eight of the 20 most destructive storms since 1900 happened in the past 16 years, which is more than you would expect from chance, lead study author Aslak Grinsted told the <a href="https://apnews.com/7bf72776290e490ba016edfa4da25902" target="_blank">Associated Press</a>.</p><p>The average "area of total destruction" was 159 square miles. Hurricane Irma's 2,300 square kilometer "area of total destruction" translates to roughly 888 square miles, or more than five times the average. Two recent storms were especially destructive, according to the Associated Press: The "area of total destruction" for 2005's <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/ten-years-after-katrina-1882093409.html" target="_self">Hurricane Katina</a> measured 2,942 square miles, nearly 20 times the average; for 2017's <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/hurricane-harvey" target="_self">Hurricane Harvey</a>, it was 4,570 square miles, around 30 times the average.</p>
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<p>"It's the most damaging ones that are increasing the most," Grinsted told the Associated Press. "This is exactly what you would expect with climate models."</p><p>Other climate scientists agreed.<br></p><p>"Their result is consistent with expected changes in the proportion of the strongest hurricanes and is also consistent with the increased frequency of very slow-moving storms that make landfall in the U.S.," <a href="https://www.noaa.gov/" target="_blank">National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration</a> hurricane scientist Jim Kossin, who was not involved with the study, told the Associated Press.</p><p>However, Colorado State University hurricane scientist Phil Klotzbach disagreed. He said his comparison of storms using barometric pressure showed no increase in power over time.</p><p>But Grinsted told BBC News his method was robust.</p><p>"The increase in frequency is not only in my own dataset but is also present in other datasets, so it is extremely robust, and I think that will help it become more accepted," he said.</p>
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Blue tarps given out by FEMA cover several roofs two years after Hurricane Maria affected the island in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Sept. 18. RICARDO ARDUENGO / AFP / Getty Images
Top officials at the Department of Housing and Urban Development confirmed to lawmakers last week that they knowingly — and illegally — stalled hurricane aid to Puerto Rico.
<p>HUD Chief Financial Officer Irv Dennis and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and Development David Woll said before a House Appropriations subcommittee Thursday that the agency purposefully missed a deadline to issue a notice to Puerto Rico that would have jumpstarted a planning process to manage additional aid, despite successfully delivering the notice to 17 other states affected by disasters. </p><p>Woll and Dennis told lawmakers that HUD is concerned about the misuse of funds given to the island. Two years after Hurricane Maria, Puerto Rico has received just a third of the $43 billion Congress has allocated for the island's recovery. </p>
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<h4>For a deeper dive:<br></h4><p><a href="https://climatenexus.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=e585112f3c&e=0afd421a28" target="_blank">NBC</a>, <a href="https://climatenexus.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=f0ee8c0db1&e=0afd421a28" target="_blank">The Hill</a>, <a href="https://climatenexus.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=6efc5b5583&e=0afd421a28" target="_blank">Newsweek</a>, <a href="https://climatenexus.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=fef7bb4476&e=0afd421a28" target="_blank">The Weather Channel</a></p>
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G7 Summit to Be Hosted at Trump’s Miami Resort and ‘Climate Change Will Not Be on the Agenda’
18 October 2019
Popular
Donald Trump attends the opening of Red Tiger Golf Course at Trump National Doral on Jan. 12, 2015 in Doral, Florida. Johnny Louis / FilmMagic
Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney made two controversial announcements about the 2020 Group of Seven (G7) summit: it will be hosted at one of President Donald Trump's golf resorts in Miami and it won't feature any discussion of the climate crisis.
<p>"Climate change will not be on the agenda," Mulvaney told reporters, as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/oct/17/g7-summit-2020-trump-climate-crisis" target="_blank">The Guardian reported</a>.</p><p>Mulvaney's announcement isn't particularly surprising, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2019/10/17/climate-change-wont-be-g-agenda-trumps-resort-miami-mulvaney-says/" target="_blank">The Washington Post pointed out</a>. Trump <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-g7-climate-meeting-2640055819.html" target="_self">skipped the session on climate</a> at the G7 meeting in France this August and only sat in on the UN Climate Action Summit for 14 minutes in September. Anonymous White House advisers have also told The Washington Post that Trump had gotten annoyed when the topic came up at past summits and said he did not want to attend such meetings.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The US chair at the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/G7?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#G7</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/climate?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#climate</a> meeting.<br>AWOL. <a href="https://t.co/LEH8d0SVfJ">pic.twitter.com/LEH8d0SVfJ</a></p>— Peter Gleick (@PeterGleick) <a href="https://twitter.com/PeterGleick/status/1166019737463271424?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 26, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p><br>Trump is equally hostile to domestic climate change discussions. He told reporters he didn't "<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-rejects-us-climate-report-2621629346.html" target="_self">believe</a>" his government's own National Climate Assessment report last year, and his administration has repeatedly moved to <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/clean-power-plan-trump-epa-2638927020.html" target="_self">roll back</a> Obama-era regulations designed to <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-fuel-standards-cost-2639723241.html" target="_self">limit greenhouse gas emissions</a>.<br></p><p>But the omission of climate from the 2020 G7 agenda is ironic considering the other controversy surrounding it — the fact that it will be hosted at the Trump National Doral Miami.</p><p>Ethics experts have called out the decision as corrupt, <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/17/mulvaney-trump-ukraine-white-house.html" target="_blank">CNBC reported</a>. The Doral's revenue has fallen 18 percent since Trump took office. Mulvaney countered charges that the president would benefit from the decision by saying the resort would host the summit "at cost," but that didn't satisfy critics.</p><p>"What is left of the executive branch ethics program if this is ok?" former director of the Office of Government Ethics Walter Shaub tweeted.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Mulvaney is subject to <a href="https://twitter.com/OfficeGovEthics?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@OfficeGovEthics</a> regs that say “Employees shall not use public office for private gain” and “act impartially and not give preferential treatment to any private organization or individual.” What is left of the executive branch ethics program if this is ok? <a href="https://t.co/HcEqjc5Pxx">https://t.co/HcEqjc5Pxx</a></p>— Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) <a href="https://twitter.com/waltshaub/status/1184913057992101890?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 17, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p>But for climate advocates, the summit's location raised a different issue. <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/florida" target="_self">Florida</a> is already experiencing both stronger <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/hurricanes" target="_self">hurricanes</a> and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/sea-level-rise" target="_self">sea level rise</a>, according to The Guardian. Miami in particular is seeing both record heat and "sunny-day <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/flooding" target="_self">flooding</a>" as rising sea levels boost high tides, The Washington Post pointed out.</p><p>"It's deeply ironic that the US state most vulnerable immediately to climate change impacts will host a meeting at which global leaders will be forced by the US to largely ignore the topic," climate advisor to Bill Clinton Paul Bledsoe told The Guardian.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">It’s 2073. <br><br>Some survivors paddle their raft over the ruins of a resort that was swallowed up by the rising seas of the climate catastrophe.<br><br>Leaning upon the till, the navigator says “I heard they held a G7 here, but climate change wasn’t on the agenda.”<a href="https://t.co/T0w8UJN8Dg">https://t.co/T0w8UJN8Dg</a></p>— Librarianshipwreck (@libshipwreck) <a href="https://twitter.com/libshipwreck/status/1184938475532849152?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 17, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p>However, Bledsoe said that the president couldn't stop other leaders from raising the issue.</p><p>"The other nations will no doubt bring up climate change in both an economic and security context," Bledsoe told The Guardian. "The issue is going to come up frequently because it is increasingly a matter of public safety, national security and the economic costs of impacts."</p>
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