Take a look around your home and you’ll likely find plenty of goods that traveled by cargo ship to your doorstep. A set of IKEA plates made in China. A dresser full of pandemic-era loungewear, ordered on Target and made in Guatemala, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam. Tracing the impact on the environment from shipping any […]
Tag: Climate
Is climate change happening faster than expected? A climate scientist explains.
Climate scientists have long warned that global warming would lead to extreme heat in many parts of the world. But the 120 degree Fahrenheit temperatures brought on by the heatwave in the Pacific Northwest in June were more in line with what researchers had imagined would occur later this century. “Astonished” is the word Michael […]
On the heels of Europe’s devastating floods, scientists warn more is yet to come
Scientists warn the catastrophic floods that devastated western Europe last week are a glimpse into the future for the region, as climate change fuels more intense, slower-moving storm systems that can hold vast amounts of precipitation. According to a new study published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, similar slow-moving, low-pressure storms could become 14 […]
Climate change is making poison ivy stronger and itchier
Poison ivy is a fixture of the landscape in eastern North America and parts of Asia. The noxious, rash-causing weed grows in rocky outcroppings, open fields, and at the edge of forests — it generally loves to take over disturbed areas. It can grow in partial shade and doesn’t give a damn about soil moisture […]
Be very careful where you build that seawall
This story was originally published by Wired and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Think back to being a kid at the beach, building walls around your sandcastles. If you engineered those fortifications properly, the tide would come in and flow around your kingdom, before the walls eventually eroded away. By […]
Tourists are desperate to return to national forests … just in time for wildfire season
Back in 2016, Michael Dahling did something crazy: He left a steady job and maxed out his credit cards to open Old County Inn, a restaurant in the tiny town of Pine, Arizona. Restaurants are always risky no matter where they’re located, but Pine is surrounded by the Tonto National Forest. In a good year, […]
A massive water recycling proposal could help ease drought
This story was originally published by Wired and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Lake Mead, which provides water for 25 million people in the American West, has shrunk to 36 percent of its capacity. One rural California community has run out of water entirely after its well broke in early […]
The US is about to go all-in on paying farmers and foresters to trap carbon
Kelly Garrett runs his 7,000-acre farm in western Iowa with the same attitude he brings to a game of golf. He wants a hole in one every time — in other words, perfection. He is the seventh generation of his family to live and work on the rolling hills of Garrett Land and Cattle in […]
Heat waves can be life-threatening — for more reasons than one
One of the most extreme heat waves ever recorded baked the American West last week, with 40 million Americans affected by temperatures soaring above 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Deemed a “mega-heat wave,” it broke temperature records over a century old. And it’s not over yet — this weekend is projected to bring another historic heat wave […]
Will history repeat in a dry Klamath Basin this summer?
This story was originally published by High Country News and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. In mid-May, Klamath Tribal members and supporters stood at Sugarman’s Corner in downtown Klamath Falls, Oregon, holding signs like “Ecocide is Cultural Genocide,” “Save the Klamath” and “Honor the Treaty” as part of a caravan […]