What Portland’s Smoky Summer Can Do for Air Quality Equity Across the Country
12h
Insights + Opinion
Smoke covers the skies over downtown Portland, Oregon, on Sept. 9, 2020. Diego Diaz / Icon Sportswire
By Isabella Garcia
September in Portland, Oregon, usually brings a slight chill to the air and an orange tinge to the leaves. This year, it brought smoke so thick it burned your throat and made your eyes strain to see more than 20 feet in front of you.
<p><br/></p>
<p>As historic wildfires burned more than 1 million acres and displaced more than 40,000 people in Oregon, photos of the red haze cloaking the Pacific Northwest were spotlighted on national newscasts and ogled on social media. Portland's air quality was the worst in the world for several days, peaking at <a href="https://aqicn.org/city/usa/oregon/portland/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">an Air Quality Index </a>of 486 on Sept. 13. In comparison, the <a href="https://aqicn.org/city/beijing/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">mean AQI in September in Beijing</a>, known for its smoggy skies, was 77. Just a year before, in September 2019, Portland enjoyed an average AQI more typical for the city: 22.</p><p>The hazardous air of the 2020 fires brought a new awareness of air quality issues in areas that don't normally have to think about them. It prompted fresh conversations about climate change, too: A <a href="https://multco.us/air-quality-public-health-problem/news/wildfire-pollution-obliterates-portland-bad-air-records-and" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Multnomah County news release</a> called the wildfires a "full-on disaster siren that climate change is fully here."</p><p>But when the rain finally came on Sept. 19 and cleared the air, Portlanders rejoiced in the ability to breathe deeply again. The climate conversation and talk of air quality slowly but surely fell out of the news cycle, replaced with the election and the pandemic.</p><p>But what about the communities whose air is filled with dangerous emissions every day without the drama of an apocalyptic glow? What about the people who don't get the reprieve of a breath of fresh air? Poor air quality can be seen in metro areas across the U.S., but the distribution of that burden overwhelmingly falls on communities of color.</p><p>Communities in Texas and Michigan are home to some of the most polluted air in the country, but they are also home to groups that are fiercely fighting for — and making — change.</p>
<h2>Manchester United</h2><p>Houston is known as the energy capital of America, but that title comes with industrial refineries and chemical plants that release toxic emissions into the air. Having grown up in East Houston, near smokestacks and petrochemical plants, Bryan Parras knows this particular toxic air well. He now works for the Sierra Club as a healthy communities organizer and environmental justice advocate. His job is to identify local issues and leverage Sierra Club resources to address them most effectively.</p><p>"In some ways you're like a triage doctor, stopping the bleeding and dressing wounds," Parras explains. "In that process, you learn about the policy decisions that have led to things to begin with. You begin to understand the dynamics that people are dealing with, and you get a deeper grasp of the intersections of housing, environment, immigration status, and all these things."</p><p>Those intersections are clear in an ongoing case against Valero Energy, a midsize oil refinery that <a href="https://www.valero.com/en-us/Pages/Houston.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">produces 235,000 barrels of oil and petroleum products per day</a> in Houston's Manchester neighborhood. Valero applied for a permit to emit poisonous hydrogen cyanide in its refining process in March 2018. To fight back, Manchester community representatives are seeking party status during the permit hearings with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. According to the CDC, exposure to <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/ershdb/emergencyresponsecard_29750038.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">this chemical asphyxiant</a> interferes with nearly every organ in the body, especially the brain, heart, and lungs, and can be fatal in high concentrations.</p><p>The toxin is better known in other contexts. Hydrogen cyanide has been <a href="https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-04-11-mn-180-story.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">used for lethal injection</a> and is the primary component of Zyklon B, the gas used for mass murder in Nazi WWII gas chambers. Parras says Valero has long been emitting hydrogen cyanide into the air in the Manchester community, but the amount is unclear because the emission was only discovered, or revealed, after a change in EPA requirements during the Obama administration.</p><p>The permit request is for 512 tons of hydrogen cyanide per year. To put that number in context, community leaders and elected officials in Denver were appalled when the <a href="https://www.denverpost.com/2018/04/19/suncor-energy-cyanide-gas-poor-denver-neighborhoods/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment imposed a new limit</a> that allowed nearly 13 tons of hydrogen cyanide to be emitted in 2018.</p><p>The permit request in Houston caught the attention of Texas Environmental Justice Advocacy Services (t.e.j.a.s.), an organization aiming to provide Texas communities with environmental and legislative expertise to advocate for environmental justice. The group's co-directors, Juan and Ana Parras, founded the group in 1995. Bryan Parras is their son and a member of the t.e.j.a.s. board of directors.</p><p>"[Valero] were releasing without a permit for over 10 years," Ana says. "These people are just being dumped upon."</p>
<h2>Houstonians Can't Breathe</h2><p>Manchester is one of <a href="https://www.yesmagazine.org/social-justice/2013/04/23/houston-s-most-polluted-neighborhood-draws-line-keystone-tar-sands/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Houston's oldest neighborhoods</a>. It is surrounded on three sides by a chemical plant, synthetic rubber plant, oil refineries, and a car-crushing facility, all of which belly up to the Houston Ship Channel, one of the busiest sea ports in the world. The fourth side is a train yard.</p><p>A <a href="https://airalliancehouston.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/AAH-Executive-Summary.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">2019 study commissioned by Air Alliance Houston</a>, an environmental advocacy organization, found that the city's polluting facilities are routinely clustered in and around communities where most of the residents are people of color, or where more than 30% of households are considered low-income. Manchester qualifies as both. As of 2015, <a href="https://www.houstontx.gov/planning/Demographics/docs_pdfs/SN/65_Harrisburg_Manchester.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">82% of Manchester residents are Hispanic</a>, 14% are Black, and 3% are White. Some 41% of residents make $25,000 or less per year.</p><p>The Valero Energy plant is just two blocks from nearby residential homes — or "fence line communities" as Ana and Juan Parras describe them. A <a href="https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/double-jeopardy-houston%252523.Wxa161OUv1y" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">2016 study from the Union of Concerned Scientists</a> found that 90.2% of the Manchester population lives within 1 mile of at least one regulated industrial facility. The <a href="https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2013-11/documents/appendix-a-final.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">EPA estimates that each year, these types of facilities have about 150 catastrophic releases</a>, which can be fires, explosions, or emissions that pose immediate and significant danger to people and the environment.</p><p>The same study also found the Manchester neighborhood's respiratory hazard index to be 2.56. That far exceeds the EPA's acceptable level, which is less than 1.0. In comparison, Portland, Oregon, has an average <a href="https://regionalbarometer.oregonmetro.gov/datasets/respiratory-hazard-index-map" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">respiratory hazard index of 0.57</a>.</p><p>T.e.j.a.s and two other community representatives have received standing in the administrative hearings for the Valero permit moving forward. But Ana Parras anticipates the case lasting well into 2021, and all the while, Valero continues to emit hydrogen cyanide unrestricted.</p>
<h2>Pushing Back Against Discrimination</h2><p>On a faster track is the Title VI language justice case t.e.j.a.s. filed against the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.</p><p>Title VI prohibits discrimination based on race, color, and national origin in programs that receive federal assistance. Many of the notifications for the community hearings for the Valero case were in English only, even though <a href="https://www.houstontx.gov/planning/Demographics/docs_pdfs/SN/65_Harrisburg_Manchester.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">70% of Manchester residents speak Spanish</a> at home. Also, because there weren't adequate translators, Spanish-speaking parents would bring their bilingual children — some as young as 7 years old — to the hearings to translate for them.</p><p>In this case, t.e.j.a.s. is asking that all notifications be translated into languages congruent with the community demographics, not just the first notification as stated under the current rule.</p><p>"In an unprecedented two weeks, we had a hearing," Ana says.</p><p>The case has the potential to change the national EPA rules, in addition to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality rule.</p><p>"The system is hard to change," Juan says, but if t.e.j.a.s. and other organizers stop fighting these systemic environmental ills, he says, the fence line communities will suffer even greater losses. "Community is always first."</p>
<h2>Environmental Justice Hot Spots</h2><p>In Michigan, organizers with the Michigan Environmental Justice Coalition are using scientific research to find and calculate the impact of environmental racism in their state's fence line communities. For years, MEJC members had been showing up to permit hearings for industrial polluters, mobilizing and providing support for the various communities that were at risk. After a while, the coalition realized a flaw in the permitting system.</p><p>"We recognized that these permits were not being considered in relationship to each other," says Jamesa Johnson-Greer, the climate justice director at MEJC. "So, when an air permit is considered for nitrous oxide, for example, that's only considered for that one entity, and that's not considering the fact that these polluting facilities might by near other polluting facilities that are also emitting the same nitrous oxide." Those facilities are often concentrated in and around low-income neighborhoods of color.</p><p>The coalition commissioned a <a href="https://seas.umich.edu/sites/all/files/AssessingtheStateofEnvironmentalJusticeinMichigan_344.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">cumulative impact study</a> by the University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability. Researchers assigned an environmental justice score for each census tract in the state based on social, demographic, and environmental data.</p><p>In 2019, the researchers reported hot spots of environmental injustice — communities around the state experiencing compounding impacts from 11 environmental factors, including the respiratory hazard index, diesel exposure, <a href="https://www.epa.gov/urban-air-toxics/about-urban-air-toxics" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">air toxics cancer risks</a>, nearby hazardous waste facilities and regulated industrial facilities, as well as traffic proximity. Unsurprisingly, those hot spots were disproportionately clustered in communities of color that had higher levels of poverty, unemployment, and educational attainment (the percent of the population over 25 without a high school diploma) than the statewide average.</p><p>The report confirmed some of what MEJC already knew, such as the intense air pollution in southwest Detroit, particularly <a href="https://www.metrotimes.com/detroit/struggling-to-breathe-in-48217-michigans-most-toxic-zip-code/Content?oid=23542211" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the 48217 ZIP code</a>, which is surrounded by more than two dozen industrial polluting facilities. The environmental justice scores around Detroit were as high as 87 out of 100. But there were also surprises, according to Johnson-Greer, like the fact that Grand Rapids, Michigan, had the highest EJ score in the state: 93.99. And despite the egregious water issues in Flint, Genesee County, where the city is located, didn't even make the top 10% of census tracts.</p><p>"That actually influenced the way we did our work this year," Johnson-Greer says, "recognizing that we needed to go and talk to people in those areas who have been doing work around environmental justice or social justice and see what the issues were on the ground."</p><p>By developing relationships with environmental advocates in Grand Rapids, MEJC learned that the town has a long history of logging and paper mills, considered <a href="https://www.intechopen.com/books/environmental-management-in-practice/pollution-prevention-in-the-pulp-and-paper-industries" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">one of the most polluting industries in the world</a> because of the high concentration of chemicals in the wastewater. Johnson-Greer says that recognizing the patterns and similarities across the EJ hot spots throughout the state can help highlight the weaknesses — and, thus, the starting points for equitable environmental transitions — in statewide and national environmental policies.</p><p>In particular, she points to the importance of "prioritizing those communities that are most vulnerable and recognizing that those are the communities that we need to start resourcing immediately, because they have probably also been most under-resourced and have also been left behind in past policies."</p>
<h2>A Shift in the Collective Consciousness</h2><p>For Bakeyah Nelson, the executive director of Air Alliance Houston, putting the most affected communities' needs first means using a diversity of tactics. Air Alliance Houston supports community interests by advocating for long-term legislative solutions, like developing industrial zoning laws in Houston, and by responding as-needed to threats against local communities' air quality, such as monitoring permits for new concrete batch plants so they can alert the nearby residents of their options to fight the permit.</p><p>"In advocacy, I would say there is no one size fits all," Nelson says. "It can be proactive; we can work with groups and coalitions to put forth state level legislation to try to prevent concrete batch plants from being placed near neighborhoods. But, on a day-to-day basis, it's more reactive in that we are tracking the permits; we see a permit and then we respond."</p><p>With limited time and resources, striking an effective balance of reactive and proactive responses can be a challenge, says Bryan Parras of the Sierra Club. But Parras is inspired by the community he serves, as well as the overall shift in public conversation he's seen around pollution and climate change over the past few years. While affluent White communities are typically untouched by environmental racism, they are now facing the unavoidable sign of climate change, as was the case with Portland in this year's wildfires. That can prompt powerful empathy and is moving the needle toward action on environmental justice.</p><p>"Despite all of the problems, you see some real change happening in the collective consciousness," Parras says. "There is a growth, a renaissance of activism and participation in civic life that is really beautiful to see."</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.yesmagazine.org/environment/2020/11/18/smoke-portland-air-quality-equity/" target="_blank">YES! Magazine</a>.</em><br/></p>From Your Site Articles
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1,000 Giant Sequoias Likely Killed in Castle Fire, Many Had Lived for Over 500 Years
19 November
Climate
The Castle Fire burned through portions of giant sequoia groves on the western slopes of California's Sierra Nevada mountains, the only place on the planet where they naturally grow. Al Seib / Los Angeles Times
The Castle Fire killed likely more than a thousand giant sequoias — including many that had stood for well over 500 years and some for 1,000 — on the western slopes of California's Sierra Nevada mountains, the Los Angeles Times reported.
<p>"This fire could have put a noticeable dent in the world's supply of big sequoias," Nate Stephenson, a research ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, told the Times. Sequoias are designed to survive and thrive with <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildfires">fire</a> — their cones cannot release their seeds without it. But, tinder-like fuel, dried by climate change, and centuries of fire suppression by European settlers combined to set the stage for monstrous conflagrations so intense they burned the gargantuan, fire resilient "monarchs" into what Christy Brigham, science chief at Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, described as "blackened toothpicks." </p>
<p>Prior to this year, the worst known fire season for sequoias was in 1297, the year in which William Wallace defeated the English at the Battle of Stirling Bridge, during the Medieval Warm Period. The September 2020 Castle Fire, Stephenson said, however, was probably worse.</p>
<p><strong>For a deeper dive:</strong></p><p><a href="https://newsletter.climatenexus.org/e2t/tc/VWsSs84SbnK-W1Hffy71HcXLlW1zSvF_4jBs0YN1-yX-t5nxG7V3Zsc37CgHVZW3Mzv2d5Jg5QzW4j3Bvw8x-Wl2W121Yln5G1G-DW3nfWjK7Njd8lW2yKQHq53bKqcW6PldJv1phxhFW1Jr_jn39yFsKVCwNDY6VN_LxW7Lbsmz1qYRS7W28gJPM8tFnjdW4L2llK5PJQk2N5c-B8N--PdCW8NM6J-8sQX7FW4z5fld3xBp_mW3Q3pyc5gXzYYW8KtWy15tjRG3W65NPd53N05MhW1m2YZs2Qmb2CW3nH_nh33n5R_W4YGtpk2hKPdrVZf4yY8ScqWzW2gVQ6m6-w6r9W3-JqxB6b_7bpW2Sllqw77x4z5W4qhbjb5F_8WGW6nrV3t930fQ5VXh0s2885l5BW7_zTVS3sdTzQN8HPYgTSNqStW2GB04958TzwVVKN49w1PQ5frW5JFyD24SWyM53fys1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Los Angeles Times</a></p><p><a href="https://newsletter.climatenexus.org/e2t/tc/VWsSs84SbnK-W1Hffy71HcXLlW1zSvF_4jBs0YN1-yX-t5nxG7V3Zsc37CgHVZW3Mzv2d5Jg5QzW4j3Bvw8x-Wl2W121Yln5G1G-DW3nfWjK7Njd8lW2yKQHq53bKqcW6PldJv1phxhFW1Jr_jn39yFsKVCwNDY6VN_LxW7Lbsmz1qYRS7W28gJPM8tFnjdW4L2llK5PJQk2N5c-B8N--PdCW8NM6J-8sQX7FW4z5fld3xBp_mW3Q3pyc5gXzYYW8KtWy15tjRG3W65NPd53N05MhW1m2YZs2Qmb2CW3nH_nh33n5R_W4YGtpk2hKPdrVZf4yY8ScqWzW2gVQ6m6-w6r9W3-JqxB6b_7bpW2Sllqw77x4z5W4qhbjb5F_8WGW6nrV3t930fQ5VXh0s2885l5BW7_zTVS3sdTzQN8HPYgTSNqStW2GB04958TzwVVKN49w1PQ5frW5JFyD24SWyM53fys1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"></a><em>For more </em><a href="http://ecowatch.com/climate-change-news/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>climate change</em></a><em> and </em><a href="http://ecowatch.com/business/renewables/" target="_blank"><em>clean energy</em></a><em> news, you can follow Climate Nexus on </em><a href="https://twitter.com/ClimateNexus" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Twitter</em></a><em> and </em><a href="https://www.facebook.com/ClimateNexus/" target="_blank"><em>Facebook</em></a><em>, and sign up for daily </em><a href="http://climatenexus.us4.list-manage1.com/subscribe?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=7c84c08aaa" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Hot News</em></a><em>.</em><br/></p>From Your Site Articles
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Like many other plant-based foods and products, CBD oil is one dietary supplement where "organic" labels are very important to consumers. However, there are little to no regulations within the hemp industry when it comes to deeming a product as organic, which makes it increasingly difficult for shoppers to find the best CBD oil products available on the market.
<p>Here you can learn about the importance of organic hemp oil, why it's better for the environment, and which CBD companies actually make trustworthy products with sustainable farming processes. origins which weigh heavily on many consumers who want to buy a product that's produced in the best way possible for not only themselves to ingest, but for the environment as well through sustainable farming methods. </p><h2>What Is CBD Oil?</h2><p>First things first, CBD stands for cannabidiol, and it's a cannabinoid found within cannabis sativa plants. This plant compound is believed to have many potential benefits, and it is primarily derived from hemp plants via a CO2 extraction process. </p><p>Since CBD is extracted from industrial hemp, which contains only trace amounts of THC (the psychoactive component in cannabis plants), this means that CBD won't make you feel high like marijuana, which has much higher levels of THC that causes psychoactive effects. Instead, the effects of CBD are much more subtle and promote a general sense of calm and relaxation in most users.</p><h2>What Makes a CBD Oil Organic?</h2><p>In terms of organic labels, perhaps the most important (and prominent) certification comes from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). This government organization has been labeling foods as "organic" for many years, but what exactly does this certification entail? Essentially, a label indicating that a product is "USDA Organic" or "Certified Organic" means that at least 95% of the ingredients are obtained from organic sources.</p><p>For a crop to be considered organic by the USDA, it must be grown without the use of industrial solvents, irradiation, genetic engineering (GMOs), synthetic pesticides, or chemical fertilizer. Instead, farmers rely on natural substances and <a href="https://www.usda.gov/media/blog/2012/03/22/organic-101-what-usda-organic-label-means" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">mechanical, physical, or biologically based farming</a> techniques to cultivate healthy and organic crops.</p><p>Before the passage of the 2018 Farm Bill, no hemp-derived products could be dubbed as "certified organic" since the hemp plant and its extracts were still categorized as a Schedule I Controlled Substance. However, it's still difficult for CBD companies to obtain a USDA certified organic label for their products due to the legal grey area that still surrounds CBD extracts. </p><p>Because of these challenges, and due to the fact that industrial hemp has only recently become an agricultural crop, very few CBD oils are USDA certified organic. Rather, many CBD products contain hemp extracts from plants that were grown in organic conditions but may not be federally certified.</p><h2>What are the Best Organic CBD Oil Brands?</h2><p><em>Each product featured here has been independently selected. If you make a purchase using the links included, we may earn commission.</em></p>
<h2>Why Organic Hemp Oil Matters</h2><p>Hemp is a unique plant, not only for its rich cannabinoid content, but also for its ability to absorb a wide variety of components in soil. But this trait poses great risks when it comes to the creation of CBD products derived from hemp.</p><p>Because hemp has a high capacity for compound uptake, this means that the plants can retain <a href="https://www.remedyreview.com/industry/lab-test-results/" target="_blank">harmful chemicals like pesticides</a>, heavy metals, and other residual solvents. This is especially true when it comes to synthetic chemicals that are more toxic to humans, and difficult to remove once they have been absorbed by the hemp plant.</p><p>Organic farming practices help reduce the risk of hemp crops absorbing harsh chemicals that may later end up in CBD oil after extraction. When you're taking CBD as a wellness supplement to help alleviate your symptoms or improve your overall well-being, the last thing you want is to ingest compounds that might negatively outweigh the benefits of CBD. This is an important reason to look for third party lab test results when shopping for CBD products since these certificates of analysis can show the full cannabinoid and terpene profile of a hemp extract, as well as test results that search for the presence of any residual solvents.</p><p>In addition to creating a better end product, organic farming practices are also better for the environment. Sustainable and organic farming methods may <a href="https://www.helpguide.org/articles/healthy-eating/organic-foods.htm" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">reduce pollution, conserve water, reduce soil erosion, increase soil fertility, and use less energy</a>. The use of natural pest deterrents as opposed to chemical pesticides is also better for nearby animal populations and ecosystems.</p><h3>Organic vs. Natural</h3><p>While there are only a select few companies offering certified organic ingredients in their products, almost every brand in the CBD market creates "natural" products. The term "all-natural" or "plant-based" does not mean that a product is organic, and since hemp oil is a natural derivative of hemp plants, these products are often referred to as all-natural. However, there are some synthetic CBD oils that should be avoided because they are chemically constructed and may produce unwanted side effects that are not caused by naturally derived CBD extracts.</p><h2>What are the Benefits of Organic CBD Oil?</h2><p>There's a long list of potential CBD oil health benefits, and some of the most common wellness advantages include:</p><ul class="ee-ul"><li><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2503660/" target="_blank">Chronic pain relief</a></li><li><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4604171/" target="_blank">Anti-anxiety effects</a></li><li>Better sleep</li><li><a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/inner-source/201901/cbd-oil-mental-health-should-you-take-it-too" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Improvements in mood</a></li><li>Internal balance and regulation</li></ul><p>When dealing with pain, inflammation, sleep issues, and mental health struggles, it can be hard to find sufficient treatment options. The use of certain prescriptions can cause unwanted side effects, yet they are often the only solution for patients with these medical conditions. In search of other therapies, people have started to flock towards CBD oil as an alternative remedy for a variety of conditions. However, it should be noted that CBD products are not approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and you should seek your doctor's advice before using CBD if you have a serious medical condition.</p><h2>Look at the Labels Before You Buy CBD Oil</h2><p>When you go online to buy CBD oil, you'll quickly realize there is an overwhelming number of brands that are saturating the market. It can be difficult to determine which products are truly as good as they make themselves out to be. Always look for up-to-date third-party lab tests so you know you are getting a great product, and don't hesitate to contact the brand if you have any additional questions. And if you're intent on purchasing 100% organic CBD oil, it's best to look for certified products or brands that are held to strict regulatory standards.</p><p><strong>Melena Gurganus </strong>is the Reviews Editor at EcoWatch. She is passionate health and wellness and her writing aims to help others find products they can trust. Her work has been featured in publications such as Health, Shape, Huffington Post, Cannabis Business Times, and Bustle.<br></p>
Spruce
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$89
CBDistillery
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FAB CBD
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDY4NjIyNS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY2NDIwOTEyMn0.MlTjz096FJ0ev_-soK7_Z-FeQeJczWoeh9Qi9SSkHsY/img.jpg?width=980" id="04b26" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="76aa4862f44603242e318982acea6646" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="fab cbd oil" /><p>For an organic CBD oil that has it all, FAB CBD offers plenty of variety for any type of consumer. All of its products are made with zero pesticides and extracted from organically grown Colorado industrial hemp. FAB CBD oil comes in five all-natural flavors (mint, vanilla, berry, citrus, and natural) and is also available in four strengths (300, 600, 1200, and 2400mg per bottle).</p>
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NuLeaf Naturals
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDY4NjIxOS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1NzExNTgyMX0.D6qMGYllKTsVhEkQ-L_GzpDHVu60a-tJKcio7M1Ssmc/img.jpg?width=980" id="94e4a" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="3609a52479675730893a45a82a03c71d" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="nuleaf naturals organic cbd oil" /><p>As an industry-leading brand, it comes as no surprise that NuLeaf Naturals sources its CBD extract from organic hemp plants grown on licensed farms in Colorado. The comany's CBD oils only contain two ingredients: USDA certified organic hemp seed oil and full spectrum hemp extract.</p><p>NuLeaf Naturals uses one proprietary CBD oil formula for all of its products, so you will get the same CBD potency in each tincture (60mg per mL), but can purchase different bottle sizes depending on how much you intend to use.</p>
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Charlotte's Web
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDcwMjk3NS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0MzQ0NjM4N30.SaQ85SK10-MWjN3PwHo2RqpiUBdjhD0IRnHKTqKaU7Q/img.jpg?width=980" id="84700" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="a2174067dcc0c4094be25b3472ce08c8" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="charlottes web cbd oil" /><p>Perhaps one of the most well-known brands in the CBD landscape, Charlotte's Web has been growing sustainable hemp plants for several years. The company is currently in the process of achieving official USDA Organic Certification, but it already practices organic and sustainable cultivation techniques to enhance the overall health of the soil and the hemp plants themselves, which creates some of the highest quality CBD extracts. Charlotte's Web offers CBD oils in a range of different concentration options, and some even come in a few flavor options such as chocolate mint, orange blossom, and lemon twist.</p>
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The new rule would allow the U.S. Forest Service to log or manage 2,800 acres of national forest in the Western U.S. PxHere / CC0
The Trump administration has finalized yet another environmental rollback that would allow more logging in national forests without environmental review.
<p><br/></p>
<p>The new rule, finalized Wednesday, would allow the U.S. Forest Service to log or manage 2,800 acres of national forest in the Western U.S. without first conducting an environmental review, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2020/11/18/forest-service-wilderness-trump/" target="_blank">The Washington Post explained</a>. However, the rule is written in such a way that nearly 200 million acres of forest could be impacted.</p><p>"This is yet another blatant attempt to undermine bedrock environmental law and public input, while giving companies free rein over our treasured natural resources," <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/" target="_blank">Natural Resources Defense Council</a> (NRDC) Director of Federal Affairs Kabir Green said in a statement emailed to EcoWatch. "Add this rule to the long list of ill-conceived actions the Biden administration is going to have to toss and redo the right way."</p><p>The new rule works by expanding the Forest Service's ability to use "categorical exclusions," The Washington Post reported. These exclusions allow the Forest Service to bypass requirements under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) that require it to study the environmental impact of any planned development and share the scientific analysis with the public.</p>
<p>The Trump administration argued that the change would make it easier to perform necessary maintenance.</p><p>"The new categorical exclusions will ultimately improve our ability to maintain and repair the infrastructure people depend on to use and enjoy their national forests — such as roads, trails, campgrounds and other facilities," U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue said in a <a href="https://www.usda.gov/media/press-releases/2020/11/18/usda-forest-service-announces-key-changes-nepa-procedures" target="_blank">press release</a>.</p><p>Federal Forest Resource Coalition Executive Director Bill Imbergamo, who supports the change, told The Washington Post that the exclusions could be used to perform the forest maintenance needed to prevent <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildfires" target="_self">wildfires</a>.</p>
<p>However, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/conservation" target="_self">conservation</a> groups worried that the new categorical exclusions would be used to approve activities beyond trailmaking and brush clearing.</p><p><a href="https://www.wilderness.org/" target="_blank">Wilderness Society</a> senior attorney Alison Flint told The Washington Post that the exclusions would act as "permission slips" for loggers and road-builders. Green from the NRDC agreed.</p><p>"Rather than addressing the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate</a> and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/biodiversity" target="_self">biodiversity</a> crises we face, the Trump administration continues to make our problems worse," Green said. "Today it's ramming through sweeping changes that will open national forests to large-scale logging, roadbuilding — and even <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/oil" target="_self">oil</a> drilling and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/mining" target="_self">mining</a>. Each of these will exacerbate our climate crisis."</p>
<p>The Trump administration has now initiated or completed 104 environmental rollbacks, according to a running tally from <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/climate/trump-environment-rollbacks-list.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a>. It is unclear whether Democrats in Congress will be able to reverse the new Forest Service rule, along with other rules passed in the last days of the Trump administration, The Washington Post reported. The Congressional Review Act allows Congress to accept or reject late-term rules, but control of the Senate hinges on two run-off elections in Georgia in January.</p><p>Either way, environmental groups have promised to fight it.</p><p>"The final Forest Service NEPA rule epitomizes the Trump administration's disastrous approach to the environment — it shuts out the public, ignores the science, and delivers favors to special interests, regardless of the harm to forests, water, wildlife and the climate," <a href="https://defenders.org/" target="_blank">Defenders of Wildlife</a> President and CEO Jamie Rappaport Clark said in statement emailed to EcoWatch. "Our national forests are a national treasure and act as strongholds for endangered species conservation. Defenders of Wildlife will not sit idly by and witness the willful degradation of forest lands."</p>
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Best Type of Forest for CO2 Storage Depends on Location and Climate, Study Finds
17 November
Climate
Sunrise in Redwood National Park in California. HadelProductions / E+ / Getty Images
A new study from scientists at the University of Geneva concludes different features are necessary for forests to better capture carbon — an important process continually studied due to climate change — including location, size and climate.
<p>Data from forests on five continents was published in the journal <em>Nature Communications</em> contrasting two hypotheses currently at play with regard to carbon storage.</p><p>Forests are the largest remover of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, as trees convert CO2 during photosynthesis, and store it in wood and vegetation. Forest <a href="https://climatechange.ucdavis.edu/science/carbon-sequestration/" target="_blank">carbon sequestration</a> is key to mitigating global warming and human's "carbon footprint."</p><p>In tropical and equatorial forests, species diversity is ideal for recapturing carbon. Although recently devoured by wildfires or deforestation, rainforests in <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/11/palm-oil-korindo-papua-rainforest-fire-burn-greenpeace-forensic-architecture/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Southeast Asia</a>, the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/oct/01/brazil-amazon-rainforest-worst-fires-in-decade" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Amazon</a> and the <a href="https://rainforests.mongabay.com/congo/deforestation.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Congo River Basin</a> are the most active in carbon storage, due to diversity.</p><p>Conversely, the study found forests in cold and dry regions need an abundance of trees, not a variety, to maximize carbon storage.</p>
<p>"Having more species may not always be what is needed to achieve greater carbon storage in forests," Dr. Madrigal-Gonzalez, scientific collaborator at the Institute for Environmental Sciences of UNIGE, and one of the authors of the study, said in a statement about the findings.</p><p>In the U.S. recent research found forests with <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/ffgc.2020.594274/full" target="_blank">large trees</a> may play a greater than expected role in carbon storage. Only 3 percent of the trees in the forests studied were taller than 21 inches. However, that 3 percent of trees larger than 21 inches held 42 percent of the aboveground carbon stored throughout the forests. The study proved how it would be detrimental to cut large trees on <a href="https://www.opb.org/article/2020/11/10/eastern-oregon-trees-are-playing-an-outsized-role-in-curbing-climate-change-study/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">public lands</a> in the Pacific Northwest.</p><p>Another <a href="https://scitechdaily.com/scientists-unravel-how-and-why-amazon-trees-die-why-tree-mortality-is-increasing/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">study</a> about tree mortality and carbon storage in the Amazon rainforest, published earlier this month, revealed faster-growing trees are dying younger, therefore storing less carbon than their larger, older counterparts. Overall, carbon sequestration in the Amazon is declining.</p>
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The Doge's Palace and St. Mark's Square in Venice, Italy, a UNESCO World Heritage Site vulnerable to sea level rise. Ian.CuiYi / Moment / Getty Images
By Erin Seekamp
With global travel curtailed during the COVID-19 pandemic, many people are finding comfort in planning future trips. But imagine that you finally arrive in Venice and the "floating city" is flooded. Would you stay anyway, walking through St. Mark's Square on makeshift catwalks or elevated wooden passages – even if you couldn't enter the Basilica or the Doge's Palace? Or would you leave and hope to visit sometime in the future?
<p>The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recently <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/srocc/" target="_blank">reported</a> that over the next 30 years flooding in Venice will increase. With the Adriatic Sea rising a few millimeters each year, severe flooding that once happened every 100 years is predicted to happen every six years by 2050, and every five months by 2100.</p><p><a href="http://www.veniceinperil.org/pdf/The-Science-of-Saving-Venice.pdf" target="_blank">Venice</a> is just one example of the challenges of preserving iconic landmarks that are threatened by the effects of climate change, such as rising seas and recurrent, intensifying droughts, storms and wildfires. In my research as a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=foTLj_oAAAAJ&hl=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">social scientist</a>, I help heritage managers make tough decisions prioritizing which sites to save when funds, time or both are limited.</p><p>That includes planning for threatened <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">World Heritage sites</a> designated as cultural or natural treasures by the <a href="https://en.unesco.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization</a>. Many U.S. national parks <a href="https://www.nps.gov/subjects/climatechange/index.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">are also at risk</a>. And as I see it, success will require new thinking about what preservation means.</p>
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="57008b883431999228653c29c44072b1"><iframe lazy-loadable="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jjrAIrlROug?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>
<h2>Ways of Adapting</h2><p>Across the globe, innumerable cultural sites face <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-06645-9" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">storm-related flooding, erosion and inundation from rising seas</a>. They include many in the U.S., such as <a href="https://www.nps.gov/jame/learn/historyculture/a-short-history-of-jamestown.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Jamestown Island in Virginia</a>, <a href="https://www.nps.gov/stli/index.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">New York's Statue of Liberty</a> and <a href="https://www.nps.gov/places/charleston-sc.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Charleston, South Carolina's Historic District</a>.</p><p><a href="https://www.icomos.org/en/about-icomos/mission-and-vision/mission-and-vision" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Experts in cultural preservation worldwide</a> agree that it is <a href="https://indd.adobe.com/view/a9a551e3-3b23-4127-99fd-a7a80d91a29e" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">impossible to protect all of these places</a> forever. Many would require constant restoration. Others will need defenses like sea walls and flood gates – but those defenses might not be effective for long.</p><p>Some sites could be protected in ways that visibly alter them – for example, elevating or moving buildings, or allowing them to be damaged or removed from the landscape. Such steps go beyond restoration, which can conflict with mandates to preserve sites and structures in perpetuity.</p>
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<h2>Saving Historic North Carolina Buildings</h2><p>An early test of this approach occurred in 1999, when relentless erosion of the North Carolina shoreline forced the National Park Service to move the <a href="https://www.nps.gov/caha/planyourvisit/chls.htm#:%7E:text=In%201999%2C%20after%20years%20of,original%20distance%20from%20the%20sea" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Cape Hatteras Lighthouse and Keeper's Quarters</a> about a half-mile inland. Relocating these mid-19th-century structures cost $US11.8 million and sparked debate about how to deal with other imperiled historic buildings.</p><p>In 2015, managers at North Carolina's <a href="https://www.nps.gov/calo/index.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Cape Lookout National Seashore</a> realized that buildings in Portsmouth Village and Cape Lookout Village, two maritime historic districts on barrier islands, were endangered by storm-related flooding and rising seas. Portsmouth Village, which dates to 1753, served as a thriving port town during colonial settlement, while Cape Lookout Village provided navigational support with construction of a lighthouse in 1812 that was replaced in 1859.</p><p>These buildings are listed on the <a href="https://www.nps.gov/subjects/nationalregister/index.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">National Register of Historic Places</a>, which requires managers to preserve them in perpetuity. But officials were uncertain about <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2017.07.052" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">which historic buildings to save first</a>. They also had to identify a strategy, such as moving or even removing buildings, that would maximize the significance preserved across the park's landscape.</p><p>I developed a process to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.culher.2017.08.006" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">quantify the relative significance of historic buildings</a> to help them. Our team then created a planning tool to help National Park Service managers make <a href="https://www.nps.gov/subjects/climatechange/culturalresourcesstrategy.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">cost-effective decisions</a>. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2019.02.011" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Our model</a> compiles data on each building's significance and vulnerability. It evaluates adaptation costs, such as elevating or relocating buildings, given available funding, and charts possible strategies over a 30-year period.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDc3ODE4NS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwNjkzMDk2M30.D4QE8Sc17hy0ULwo2EA7s2xr8WZf6cDcizdCC_bhw3o/img.jpg?width=980" id="15efe" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="115be23538ecafbf1ed5c2b6d1330a30" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
In 1999 the National Park Service moved the historic Cape Hatteras Lighthouse 2,900 feet inland (new site at lower right in photo) to protect it from shoreline erosion. Mike Booher / NPS
<p>When we tested the model on 17 flood-prone Cape Lookout buildings, we found that the best strategies were elevating them in place or moving them to higher ground and then elevating them. However, interviews with local people revealed that changing the location or the look of these buildings <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/heritage1020015" target="_blank">upset some former residents and their descendants</a>.</p><p>Many people we talked to held deep connections to these places that were part of their personal, family and community identities. Surprisingly, some said they would rather lose some of these buildings than alter them. Other stakeholders – including members of partner organizations and park visitors – had <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2020.105180" target="_blank">different opinions</a> on what should be done.</p><p>After <a href="https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/tcr/AL052019_Dorian.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Hurricane Dorian</a> severely damaged Portsmouth Village in 2019, park managers made the hard decision to dismantle and remove some of the buildings while restoring others. But an important question remains: What should be done at other highly vulnerable locations?</p>
<h2>Climate-Challenged World Heritage Sites</h2><p>These findings inspired me to explore global, <a href="https://www.iccrom.org/section/people-and-heritage/people-centred-approaches" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">people-centered</a> approaches to preservation and the <a href="http://whc.unesco.org/en/compendium/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">international policies</a> governing them.</p><p>Climate change <a href="https://en.unesco.org/fieldoffice/ramallah/tangible-cultural-heritage" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">threatens</a> many <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">World Heritage sites</a>. Some are archaeological sites, like Peru's <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/366/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Chan Chan</a>, the largest adobe city on Earth, and the <a href="https://www.nps.gov/meve/learn/historyculture/cliff_dwellings_home.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">ancestral Pueblo cliff dwellings</a> in Colorado's Mesa Verde National Park. Entire cities – including Venice – and historic buildings such as Australia's <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/166/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Sydney Opera House</a> are also in harm's way.</p><p>Current <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/158/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">policy recommendations</a> focus on restoration or defenses, and oppose physical change. In fact, the only process that exists is to add sites undergoing physical change to the List of World Heritage Sites in Danger. However, adding a site to the "danger" list is <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/43652726" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">politically undesirable</a> because it can generate bad press, reduce tourism revenue and deter funders from supporting rescue efforts.</p>
<div id="5fdaa" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="1c377ac183eacd1fea35742acaef1cea"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1323040885026816008" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">"...a new online exhibition that envisions how the National Mall Tidal Basin can evolve, adapt, and thrive while bu… https://t.co/x7QFCGPRqV</div> — Saving Places (@Saving Places)<a href="https://twitter.com/SavingPlaces/statuses/1323040885026816008">1604272502.0</a></blockquote></div>
<h2>The Need to Transform</h2><p>My research calls for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-020-02812-4" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">a more proactive approach</a>, including preemptive efforts to prevent damage. I see a need for a new category: "World Heritage Sites in Climatic Transformation."</p><p>This approach draws on <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/26268226" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the ecological concept of resilience</a>, which is essentially the ability to survive by changing and adapting. It would allow managers to repair, adapt or even transform vulnerable places. This new classification would place communities at the center of the <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/activities/496/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">planning process</a> and create a searchable database of climate impacts and interventions.</p><p>Transforming heritage sites may be controversial, but the clock is ticking. Researching, designing and constructing defenses takes time. For example, floodgates installed to protect Venice are being tested <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/15/venice-controversial-barriers-prevent-flooding-for-second-time" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">a decade later than planned</a>.</p><p>In my view, saving cultural and historic sites from climate change will require a new approach to heritage preservation that includes transformation. Now is the time to think creatively, with input from people whose heritages are represented in these places, to discover new pathways to protecting them.</p>
<p>
<em>Erin Seekamp is a professor of parks, recreation and tourism management at North Carolina State University.</em>
</p><p>
<em>Disclosure statement: Erin Seekamp receives funding from the U.S. Department of Interior, National Park Service and the U.S. Department of Interior, Geological Survey.</em>
</p><p>
<em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://theconversation.com/preserving-cultural-and-historic-treasures-in-a-changing-climate-may-mean-transforming-them-145214" target="_blank">The Conversation</a></em><em>.</em>
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The Silverado Fire rages near a home in Irvine, California on Oct. 26, 2020. Mario Tama / Getty Images
California's devastating wildfire season raged on Monday as new blazes in Orange County injured two firefighters and forced around 90,800 people to flee their homes, The New York Times reported.
<p>The two firefighters suffered second and third degree burns over most of their bodies while battling the larger Silverado Fire and had to be intubated. They are 26 and 31 years old.</p><p>"They are gravely injured. Their families are with them," Orange County Fire Authority (OCFA) Fire Chief Brian Fennessy said, as <a href="https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/10/26/california-wildfires-60-000-evacuated-irvine-silverado-fire/6042915002/" target="_blank">USA TODAY reported</a>. "We are giving them all the support we can."</p>
<p>The Silverado Fire was first reported at 6:47 a.m. near Irvine, <a href="https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2020/10/26/irvine-fire-silverado-wildfire-evacuations/" target="_blank">California, CBS Los Angeles (LA) reported</a>. At first, it was only 10 acres, and firefighters hoped it could be limited to the brush in a less populated area of the city, USA TODAY reported. But the flames were fanned by strong winds of 20 to 30 miles per hour, with gusts up to 70 miles per hour. In three hours, it grew to 2,000 acres, CBSLA reported.</p><p>"The wind is crazy, my family has been through it in Malibu," evacuee Ruby Johnson told CBSLA. "It's a crazy thing, never had to experience it ourselves. You can replace clothes and things, but you can't replace your lives. I've got all the pictures and valuables, so we're ready to go."</p>
<p>As of Monday evening, 500 firefighters were battling the blaze, which had spread to 7,200 acres and was zero percent contained, <a href="https://twitter.com/OCFA_PIO/status/1320945060968419328" target="_blank">OCFA tweeted</a>.</p><p>The second fire of the day was the Blue Ridge Fire, which ignited just before 1 p.m., as <a href="https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2020/10/26/blue-ridge-fire-threatens-yorba-linda-homes/" target="_blank">CBSLA reported further</a>. It broke out in the Chino Hills above Yorba Linda, according to USA TODAY. On its own, it prompted almost 5,000 evacuations, according to CBSLA. It seriously damaged at least one residence.</p><p>By the end of the day, there were around 200 firefighters working on it and it was zero percent contained, OCFA tweeted. By late Monday night, it <a href="https://twitter.com/OCFA_PIO/status/1320972199742697472" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">had spread</a> to 6,600 acres.</p>
<p>As with every <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/extreme-weather" target="_self">extreme weather</a> event during the 2020 hurricane and fire seasons, evacuations were complicated by the ongoing spread of the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coronavirus" target="_self">coronavirus</a> pandemic. Fire evacuee Kelsey Brewer told USA TODAY how she and her three roommates had to make a plan for where they could safely shelter. They decided to head to the home of her girlfriend's mother because it was spacious and she lived there alone.</p><p>"We literally talked about it this morning," Brewer said. "There's nowhere you can go to feel safe."</p><p>The new blazes also come amidst a <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/wildfires-california-washington-oregon-photos-2647585008.html" target="_self">devastating fire year</a> for the U.S. In California, fires since August have killed more than 30 people and forced thousands to flee, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-54694971" target="_blank">BBC News reported</a>. Fires in California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington State have scorched more than five million acres, The New York Times reported.</p>
<p>And the nightmare is far from over for Southern California, as the arrival of the Santa Ana winds brings low moisture, National Weather Service Sacramento meteorologist Jim Mathews told USA TODAY. He said the weather conditions now were similar to those that had fueled destructive fires in the past, like the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/california-wildfires-kincade-2641099755.html" target="_self">Kincade Fire</a> in 2019 or the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/camp-fire-cost-paradise-california-2625457443.html" target="_self">Camp Fire</a> in 2018.</p><p>"This is our severe weather season right now: fire weather," he told USA TODAY.</p><p>Scientists say the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate crisis</a> is making fire seasons more extreme as warmer, drier weather makes plants more likely to burn, The New York Times reported.</p>
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Smoke from the East Troublesome fire in Colorado on Oct. 22, 2020. RubyT / Flickr
Thousands of homes were evacuated Wednesday after a Colorado wildfire exploded in size, growing at a rate of 6,000 acres per hour.
<p>The East Troublesome fire had been burning since Oct. 14, but suddenly took off Wednesday in a more erratic manner than even worst-case-scenario predictions had anticipated, Grand County Sheriff Brett Schroetlin said, as <a href="https://coloradosun.com/2020/10/22/east-troublesome-fire-grand-lake-destruction/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Colorado Sun reported</a>. The fire had grown to 125,600 acres by Thursday morning and 170,163 acres by Thursday evening, making it the second-largest wildfire in Colorado history. It is only five percent contained, according to <a href="https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/7242/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">InciWeb</a>.</p><p>"The growth that you see on this fire is unheard of," Schroetlin said during a Thursday press conference reported by <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/10/22/926838887/colorado-fire-grows-by-over-100-000-acres-in-1-day-hits-rocky-mountain-national-" target="_blank">NPR</a>. "We plan for the worst. This is the worst of the worst of the worst. And no matter how we look at it, we can't control Mother Nature."</p>
<div id="85e11" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="3577a8e0d4e8a731bf0b62ac772fc8c1"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1319181412315107333" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Heartbreaking video of homes burning in the #EastTroublesomeFire overnight. Listening to scanners right now and fir… https://t.co/y82wWnmchu</div> — Emily Allen (@Emily Allen)<a href="https://twitter.com/EmilyAReports/statuses/1319181412315107333">1603352332.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>Schroetlin said Thursday morning that there was "lots of structure loss," according to The Colorado Sun, though no official tally of damage has been reported. As many as five people were unaccounted for by Thursday evening. However, there have been no reports of deaths or injuries.</p><p>The fast-moving fire was first driven by high winds into the town of Grand Lake Wednesday night, <a href="https://www.cpr.org/2020/10/22/grand-county-braces-for-another-large-growth-day-for-the-east-troublesome-fire/" target="_blank">Colorado Public Radio (CPR) reported</a>.</p><p>"It was basically out of a movie," retired newscaster Ernie Bjorkman told CPR. "It was a firestorm in downtown Grand Lake. Smoke and embers flying around. It was just a chaotic scene. We locked the door and said, 'hopefully, house, we'll see you when we get back.' "</p><p>As of Thursday, town manager John Crone told CPR that the town's historic Grand Lake Lodge and downtown area had not burned.</p><p>The fire then crossed the Continental Divide by 1:15 pm Thursday, according to The Colorado Sun. It also entered Rocky Mountain National Park, forcing it to close.</p>
<div id="0784c" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="083c554cdc624bc22b52ef91e2646fb9"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1319357789836353544" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Latest satellite info shows increased fire intensity on the #EastTroublesomeFire early this afternoon. The fire has… https://t.co/GZC77SWXqB</div> — NWS Boulder (@NWS Boulder)<a href="https://twitter.com/NWSBoulder/statuses/1319357789836353544">1603394384.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>The flames also menaced the park gateway town of Estes Park, filling it with smoke Thursday morning.</p><p>"The air quality has just decreased to a level that's almost unsafe to go outside," resident Alec Rogers told CPR.</p><p>Estes Park was also put under an evacuation order Thursday, and traffic stalled as people tried to leave.</p>
<div id="93884" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="87faed3af4a1f8c5665138a79cb37558"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1319381273757028375" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">PHOTOS: The sky has gone from yellow to orange. There is a long line of cars waiting to leave Estes Park.… https://t.co/tsKRcONrNk</div> — Matthew Jonas (@Matthew Jonas)<a href="https://twitter.com/photojmatthew/statuses/1319381273757028375">1603399983.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>However, incident commander Noel Livingston said Thursday that a cold front had checked the fire somewhat as it burned inside Rocky Mountain National Park and that it was no longer headed towards Estes Park, The Colorado Sun reported.</p><p>The concern is now that the fire will merge with the Cameron Peak fire, the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/colorado-wildfire-cameron-peak-2648215765.html" target="_self">largest fire in Colorado history</a>, which is burning only 10 to 12 miles away. Livingston said he thought a merger was unlikely, but not impossible.</p><p>"This year has been one of those years when low-potential events seem to be happening with high frequency," Livingston said, as The Colorado Sun reported.</p><p>Officials are hopeful that snow forecast for this weekend will help them to get the fire under control, <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2020/10/22/us/colorado-evacuations-west-coast-fires/index.html" target="_blank">CNN reported</a>.</p>
<p>The rapid growth of the East Troublesome fire is only the latest development to scorch the fire-weary Western U.S. this year. Its explosion to the second-largest fire in state history means that three of Colorado's five largest fires have now ignited in 2020.</p><p>The fire was driven quickly east by a combination of high winds, dry air and the fuel provided by lodgepole pines killed by beetles, InciWeb said. However, the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate crisis</a> is creating ideal conditions for fire across the West. Almost all of Colorado was experiencing <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/drought" target="_self">drought</a> by the end of September, according to NPR. Fire scientists told <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/22/us/colorado-wildfires.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The New York Times</a> that fires burning so close to winter in Colorado show how the season has grown because of changing conditions.</p><p>"People have built and developed in these areas without recognizing the hazard they're in, and climate change is notching that up every year," University of Montana fire ecologist Philip Higuera told The New York Times. "It has me concerned for communities across the West that are in increasingly flammable landscapes."</p>
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Golf cart remains burned by the Glass Fire sit next to a vineyard at Calistoga Ranch in Napa Valley, California on September 30, 2020. Samuel Corum / AFP / Getty Images
The Trump administration rejected California's federal relief request to help recover from six recent wildfires, The Los Angeles Times reported.
<p>California Governor Gavin Newsom's office requested a presidential disaster declaration for federal relief funds to help with cleanup efforts, including the Creek Fire, the largest in the state's history, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/15/politics/trump-california-fire-disaster-assistance/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a> reported. The relief would have also assisted recovery efforts from the Bobcat Fire in Los Angeles County and the El Dorado Fire, which resulted from a <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/california-wildfire-gender-reveal-partyty-2647518193.html" target="_self">gender-reveal party mishap</a>.</p><p>"The request for a Major Presidential Disaster Declaration for early September fires has been denied by the federal administration," Brian Ferguson, a spokesperson for the Governor's Office of Emergency Services told CNN. </p><p>Ferguson told the The Los Angeles Times that he could not provide a reason for the denial.</p>
<p><br>Newsom wrote a letter to President Trump on September 28 asking for federal assistance, during which time the August Complex Fire continued to grow; it has since <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/california-gigafire-august-complex-2648125953.html" target="_self">burned more than one million acres</a>. </p><p>"The severity and magnitude of these fires continue to cause significant impacts to the State and to the affected local jurisdictions, such that the recovery efforts remain beyond the State's capabilities," <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/trump-administration-rejects-californias-request-wildfire-disaster-assistance/story?id=73650086" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">ABC News</a> reported Newsom wrote in September. "Many of the counties impacted by these wildfires are still recovering from previous devastating wildfires, storms, and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic."</p><p>The state plans to appeal the decision. In the meantime, "officials are looking for other avenues for federal assistance" to help wildfire victims, a spokesperson for the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services told ABC News.</p>
<p>The state did not request a specific dollar amount, though Newsom did ballpark the figure around $346 million, ABC News reported. Ferguson, however, said the figure could easily pass that number.</p><p>"The true cost won't be known for months or years afterward," Ferguson told The Los Angeles Times. "What the state is looking for is the highest level of federal support, which requires the highest bars be cleared. But we feel our case for those requirements has been met."</p><p>In his letter, Newsom emphasized the state's dire need. "Federal assistance is critical to support physical and economic recovery of California and its communities," ABC News reported. "The longer it takes for California and its communities to recover, the more severe, devastating, and irreversible the economic impacts will be."</p>
<p>The rejected request is not entirely surprising. In a pattern of disdain toward Democratic states, Trump said in 2019 that he would deny federal assistance requests unless state officials "get their act together, which is unlikely," The Los Angeles Times reported. Trump has also blamed Newsom for the fires, ABC News reported, claiming that Newsom has done a terrible job managing forests — even though a majority of California forests are on federal land.</p><p>So far in 2020, more than 8,500 wildfires have burned over 4.1 million acres. The fires have also killed 31 people and damaged more than 9,200 structures, CNN reported.</p>
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The Glass Fire burns on a mountainside with the Beckstoffer Vinyards in the foreground on Sept. 28, 2020 in St. Helena, Californai. Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
By Kenny Stancil
As the climate crisis fuels devastating wildfires across the western United States and melts Arctic sea ice at an alarming rate, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Wednesday that Earth just experienced the hottest September on record and that 2020 is on pace to be one of the three hottest years on the books.
<p><a href="https://www.noaa.gov/news/earth-just-had-its-hottest-september-on-record" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">According to</a> NOAA, "the 10 warmest Septembers have all occurred since 2005, with the seven warmest Septembers occurring in the last seven years."</p><p>"We've broken the climate system," tweeted meteorologist Eric Holthaus. "We are in a climate emergency."</p>
<p>NOAA <a href="https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/global/202009/supplemental/page-2" target="_blank">found</a> that 2020 has a 65% chance of beating out 2016 as the warmest year on record, a 35% chance of being the second-warmest ever, and will almost certainly rank in the top three.</p><p>Climate scientists emphasized that this year's record-setting temperatures have been accompanied by an unprecedented wave of <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/extreme-weather">extreme weather</a> events. A <a href="https://www.undrr.org/publication/human-cost-disasters-overview-last-20-years-2000-2019" target="_blank">report</a> published Tuesday by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction examined the "staggering" increase in climate-related disasters, which doubled from 3,656 between 1980 and 1999 to 6,681 between 2000 and 2019, as Common Dreams <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/10/13/uninhabitable-hell-millions-un-report-sounds-alarm-humanitys-continued-destruction" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">reported</a>. </p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDUyMzM4My9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1NDUzMTg0OH0.rbCjdegltKGIl4s67tRVN9oy5BzfGCgrV2YFQHTmbCc/img.png?width=980" id="c59fd" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="14b10059877082736fc58eae8cd9a837" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
<p>Researchers at Yale <a href="https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2020/10/september-2020-was-warmest-september-on-record-noaa-reports/" target="_blank">found</a> that eight weather-related disasters causing $1 billion or more in damage occurred across the world in September alone, bringing the annual total thus far to 35. There were 40 such events in both 2018 and 2019.</p><p>With 16 extreme weather events so far in 2020, the U.S. has already tied its record for most billion-dollar weather disasters in a single year. </p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDUyMzM5MS9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzNTE4MDgxOH0.NdmxdhaKwzDvkn784hESu2ZA4P5NNIDvthK11NopCZ8/img.png?width=980" id="3a4e7" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="dc302971d3a01053e3841558a704bfbe" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
<p>NOAA's findings echo a European Union study published one week ago. As Common Dreams <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/10/07/scientists-warn-2020-pace-become-hottest-year-ever-september-heat-smashes-previous" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">reported</a>, one of the EU climate scientists who contributed to the analysis noted that the planet "will carry on warming if greenhouse gas emissions continue at the rate they are at the moment."</p><p>"It is baffling that we willingly and knowingly continue to sow the seeds of our own destruction," the U.N. report stated, "despite the science and evidence that we are turning our only home into an uninhabitable hell for millions of people."</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/10/14/planet-earth-says-noaa-just-had-its-hottest-september-record" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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Heavy Smoke rises from the Cameron Peak fire as it continues to burn on Oct. 5, 2020 in Larimer County near Fort Collins, Colorado. Helen H. Richardson / MediaNews Group / The Denver Post via Getty Images
For the second time this year, Colorado is battling the largest wildfire in state history.
<p>Strong winds pushed the Cameron Peak fire 17 miles to the east Tuesday and Wednesday, <a href="https://wildfiretoday.com/2020/10/14/strong-winds-push-cameron-peak-fire-east-prompting-more-evacuations/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Wildfire Today reported</a>. It burned more than 20,000 acres in a single day, swelling to 158,300 acres by 7:30 p.m. Wednesday and placing at least nine new areas under evacuation orders, the <a href="https://eu.coloradoan.com/story/news/2020/10/14/largest-wildfire-colorado-history-cameron-peak-fire/3659545001/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Fort Collins Coloradoan reported</a>.</p>
<div id="76933" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="7d898cedb438dfd8534d4f496549ca2b"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1316578050574897153" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Here is the #CameronPeakFire map created with data from the multi mission aircraft (MMA) flight earlier today. Th… https://t.co/PQanYpzbyT</div> — Canyon Lakes Ranger RD (@Canyon Lakes Ranger RD)<a href="https://twitter.com/usfsclrd/statuses/1316578050574897153">1602731642.0</a></blockquote></div>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDUyMDA2OS9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1MDk2MjgxMX0.kIfbtaRMKrM71wvz48H6dVC8P4GP5U0buEVJr3V3Vbo/img.png?width=980" id="89059" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="4833a1292ec73bbdc9abcc80faf7ed51" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
<p>"This really was almost an epic day for doing evacuations and again, for everybody that's been moved, I know it's extremely difficult," officials said Wednesday night, as <a href="https://denver.cbslocal.com/2020/10/14/cameron-peak-fire-largest-wildfire-colorado-history/" target="_blank">CBS4 Denver reported</a>. "We do know that we lost structures today and for anybody who is impacted, you know, our heart goes out to you."<br></p><p>One family lost two cabins they owned in the Buckhorn Canyon area.</p><p>"The materials is one thing," Parker Hutchinson told CBS4 Denver. "But the amount of family heirlooms and just the memories of that area, they've been burned."</p><p>Despite these individual tragedies, Larimer County Sheriff Justin Smith said the day could have been even worse.</p><p>"We have no reported injuries, no deaths, a lot fewer structures were impacted that we truly anticipated based on what we saw with that said, there's certainly a lot of folks that got hit," he said, as <a href="https://www.cpr.org/2020/10/14/cameron-peak-fire-spreads-quickly-into-more-populated-areas/" target="_blank">Colorado Public Radio reported</a>.</p>
<div id="f67b3" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="ab50c11f23a7fdd3176e6fc537d96ed2"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1316443792988352522" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Time lapse sent by a colleague (with permission to share), taken near the mouth of the Big Thompson canyon… https://t.co/phRPfP4sAs</div> — Russ Schumacher (@Russ Schumacher)<a href="https://twitter.com/russ_schumacher/statuses/1316443792988352522">1602699633.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>The Cameron Peak fire has been burning since Aug. 13 in the Arapahoe and Roosevelt National Forest. It has persisted despite a snowstorm in early September and more snow on Sunday, fueled by high winds and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/drought" target="_self">drought</a>. It had already destroyed or damaged 99 structures before exploding Tuesday, and officials said conditions were still too dangerous to assess the total number of buildings impacted in the last 24 hours. It is now 56 percent contained and more than 1,000 people are fighting it.</p><p>The fire is burning to the west of Fort Collins, but Smith said he did not think the flames would reach that more populous area or the nearby city of Loveland because they are protected by bodies of water and a lack of the heavy timber that feeds the flames.</p><p>The two largest fires in Colorado history both ignited this year. The Cameron Peak fire unseated the Pine Gulch fire, which burned 139,007 acres over the summer and held the record for only 48 days.</p>
<p>The ten largest fires in Colorado history all took place in the last 20 years, and seven took place in the last 10, according to figures reported by the Fort Collins Coloradoan.</p><p>As of August, 2020 was Colorado's third driest year on record and twelfth warmest, according to <a href="https://www.cpr.org/2020/08/20/colorado-wildfires-climate-change-drought-snowpack/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Colorado Public Radio</a>. Almost a fourth of the state is experiencing extreme drought. These fire-fueling conditions are in line with what scientists say the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate crisis</a> will do to the state.</p><p>"What we're seeing here is indicative of the fact that when the hot, dry years come around, they're hotter than most of the time when they've occurred in the past," state climatologist Russ Schumacher told Colorado Public Radio. "And that's pretty well in line with what climate projections have been saying for some time."</p>
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'Uninhabitable Hell:' UN Report Warns of Planet's Future for Millions Without Climate Action
13 October
Climate
A UN report, The Human Cost of Disasters 2000-2019, was released to mark the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction. Colin Anderson Productions pty ltd / Stone / Getty Images
A new report from the United Nations found that political leaders and industry leaders are failing to do the necessary work to stop the world from becoming an "uninhabitable hell" for millions of people as the climate crisis continues and natural disasters become more frequent, as Al-Jazeera reported.
<p><a href="https://www.undrr.org/publication/human-cost-disasters-overview-last-20-years-2000-2019" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Human Cost of Disasters 2000-2019</a> was released Monday to mark the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction, which falls on Oct. 13, according to a <a href="https://www.undrr.org/publication/human-cost-disasters-overview-last-20-years-2000-2019" target="_blank">statement</a> from the office behind the report.</p><p>The bulk of the disasters were climate-related, as there were sharp increases in the number of floods, storms, heat waves, droughts, hurricanes and wildfires in the last two decades, according to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/13/world/un-natural-disasters-climate-intl-hnk/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a>.</p><p>The report found that the world is on a worrying trend line as natural disasters become more frequent and more expensive. In the last 20 years, there were more than 7,300 natural disasters worldwide, accounting for nearly $3 trillion in damages. That's almost double the prior two decades when there were just over 4,200 natural disasters that totaled $1.6 trillion in economic losses, according to the statement.</p>
<p>"It is baffling that we willingly and knowingly continue to sow the seeds of our own destruction," said UNDRR chief Mami Mizutori and Debarati Guha-Sapir of Belgium's Center for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters, in a joint foreword to the report, as CNN reported.</p><p>"It really is all about governance if we want to deliver this planet from the scourge of poverty, further loss of species and <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/biodiversity">biodiversity</a>, the explosion of urban risk and the worst consequences of global warming."</p>
<p>The report said that the future would be full of more climate-related disasters as the planet warms up and heat-trapping gases are continuously emitted into the atmosphere. The researchers said the greatest threats in the coming decades would come from heat waves and droughts, as <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/environment-disasters-un/sharp-rise-in-natural-disasters-in-last-20-years-asia-hardest-hit-u-n-idUSKBN26X1HG" target="_blank">Reuters</a> reported.</p><p>Asia saw the bulk of the natural disasters over the last 20 years. China had the largest number of disasters with 57, followed by India, the Philippines and Indonesia. The only country outside of Asia to crack the top 5 was the U.S, which ranked second with 467 natural disasters from 2000 to 2019, according to the paper, as Reuters reported.</p><p>"If this level of growth in extreme weather events continues over the next twenty years, the future of mankind looks very bleak indeed," said Guha-Sapir, according to Reuters. "Heatwaves are going to be our biggest challenge in the next 10 years, especially in the poor countries."</p>
<p>In a virtual briefing to announce the release of the report, Mizutori said the world must act swiftly and decisively to invest in disaster reduction, climate crisis adaptation, and prevention. She asked that political leaders around the world reaffirm their commitment to the 2015 <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/paris-agreement">Paris agreement</a> and turn their attention to zero-emissions infrastructure, as Al-Jazeera reported.</p><p>The report said that the world's current trajectory that has us heading towards a 3.2-degree Celsius increase in temperature will trigger such extreme climate disasters that the improvements to disaster response will be rendered "obsolete in many countries," as CNN reported.</p><p>"We have seen little progress on reducing climate disruption and environmental degradation," said UN Secretary-General António Guterres in an <a href="https://www.un.org/en/observances/disaster-reduction-day/messages" target="_blank">International Disaster Day message</a>, as CNN reported. "To eradicate poverty and reduce the impacts of climate change, we must place the public good above all other considerations."</p>
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The remains of a home near a beach destroyed by Hurricane Michael on May 9, 2019 in Mexico Beach, Florida. Scott Olson / Getty Images
As the Gulf states get pummeled by intense hurricanes and California burns in record-breaking wildfires, many in regions like these have contemplated moving to places projected to fare better in the face of the climate crisis. The ability to work from home, indefinitely for some, has also inspired interest in relocation away from expensive cities like San Francisco and New York that are vulnerable to climate disasters, reported SF Gate.
<p>"We lived in Oakland where we owned a home for over 20 years. The natural and man-made disasters got to be too much for us," Rita Liberati explained to SF Gate after her move to central New York. "My partner is retired, but my employer gave the OK for me to work remotely for which I'm grateful."</p><p>A closer look, though, reveals a disheartening answer to the question of where can you move to be safe from the effects of the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate crisis</a>. Hint: it's basically nowhere.</p>
<p>In a "Dear Abby" style advice column tackling that exact question, <a href="https://grist.org/article/lets-say-i-wanted-to-escape-climate-change-where-should-i-go/" target="_blank">Grist</a> called the impulse to flee to avoid climate disruptions "reasonable" because "climate change rivals nuclear war for the greatest threat to human life in the history of our species' existence. Every survival instinct we've cultivated to date should, understandably, make us want to get away from it."</p><p>According to <a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/90288934/how-soon-will-climate-change-force-you-to-move" target="_blank">Fast Company</a>, the risk is not the same everywhere, and some places will suffer more extreme impacts from the climate crisis. Miami, for example, already floods with high tides. By 2060, 60% of the city will suffer chronic flooding; by 2100, that number jumps to 90%, Fast Company reported. In Alaska, some residents have already been forced to relocate because melting permafrost and erosion have caused parts of their village to wash away into the sea, reported <a href="https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2019/12/where-should-i-move-to-be-safe-from-climate-change/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Yale Climate Connections</a>.</p>
<p>Jesse Keenan, a Harvard climate adaptation specialist, suggested the Upper Midwest and parts of Minnesota as more comfortable locales in the face of the climate crisis because they are rural, wooded, Northern and stocked with fresh water, the Grist reported. Keenan quickly followed up saying that if everyone moved there, those "climate strongholds" would be quickly overrun and overtaxed. Another <a href="https://grist.org/article/we-broke-down-what-climate-change-will-do-region-by-region/" target="_blank">Grist</a> article also noted that those regions would suffer crop diseases, pests and algal blooms in the Great Lakes because of climate change.</p><p>Dave Anderson bought a 70-acre ranch in Oregon as a "Plan B" escape property for his family if their homes in Houston ever became uninhabitable, reported the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/30/realestate/climate-change-insurance-buy-land-somewhere-else.html" target="_blank">New York Times</a>.</p><p>I'm no doomsday prepper," he told the Times. "That said, we intentionally purchased a relatively remote property well above sea level, with ample water and wildlife, with the expectation that the property would survive for generations of family use."</p><p>While his property sounds relatively safe, according to Grist, Oregon itself is under a consistent threat of wildfires, scarce fresh water sources, and big earthquakes.</p><p>"There's nowhere you can hide. I think you need to come to terms with what you think you're running from," Keenan told Grist.</p>
<p>Tellingly, the second Grist article broke down what climate change is predicted to change in the U.S. region by region and found no place was fully "safe." From more extremely hot nights and invasive lionfish in the Southeast, to worse storms and dwindling freshwater supplies in Hawaii and Puerto Rico, to more fires and droughts along the entire West Coast, the picture is bleak in different degrees and different ways anywhere you look, the report said.</p><p>Inequity also is a complicating concern, with many people "too poor to move," Keenan told Fast Company. "Climate change is going to make the problem much more profound. What I'm concerned with … is not necessarily where people are going to move, but who's going to be trapped."</p>
<p>Fast Company and Yale also noted the difficulties with relocating — finding a new sense of community, social circles and rootedness, all of which are "survival mechanisms" that help in the face of emergencies like climate disasters.</p><p>Instead of the somewhat futile effort to escape climate change by moving, some experts are advocating instead for increased investments in climate resilience where people already live, Yale reported. The news report also listed resources for U.S.-based readers to look up everything from how many increased hot days a region will experience to how climate change will affect air quality, and suggested getting involved with local resiliency planning.</p><p>"So before you pack your bags, first make sure you understand the expected consequences of climate change where you live now. Do those risks outweigh the cost of leaving behind friends, neighbors, family, and professional contacts?" the report queried.</p>
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