As the heavy rainfall of Hurricane Harvey thundered down on the Texas Gulf Coast at the end of August 2017, the roof on a massive ExxonMobil storage tank “partially sank.” The collapse caused the facility to release more than 185,000 pounds of pollutants, including carcinogenic compounds like benzene. That same week, Harvey damaged storage tanks …
How 60-year-old weather data is flooding Texas with pollution Read More »
This article is part of Ask Umbra’s guide on How to Build a Flood-Resilient Community. When scientists say climate change will bring flooding, most people think of big coastal cities: New Orleans, New York, Newport News. They picture TV coverage of Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy, crashing waves and blown-away beaches. But across the U.S., flooding is …
This article is part of Ask Umbra’s guide on How to Build a Flood-Resilient Community. Imagine you’re moving from Tampa, Florida, to Dallas, Texas. You own a house in Tampa, but you’re changing jobs, so you put the house on the market. Soon, potential buyers start showing up. You tell them about the nice neighborhood, the …
Is there a moral obligation to disclose that your house has flooded? Read More »
This article is part of Ask Umbra’s guide on How to Build a Flood-Resilient Community. When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005, the neighborhood of Hoffman Triangle was overwhelmed by 6 feet of water. But it doesn’t take a hurricane to make this wedge in the center of the city flood. The sidewalks, where they …
How New Orleans neighborhoods are using nature to reduce flooding Read More »
This article is part of Ask Umbra’s guide on How to Build a Flood-Resilient Community. This transcript has been edited and condensed for clarity. David Haakenson thinks about water a lot. That’s because the farm he owns in western Washington experiences frequent, catastrophic floods. And climate change is making that trend worse. “We had floods in …
As the world continues to grapple with Covid-19, a racial justice reckoning, and rising economic uncertainty, it’s clear these crises have profoundly shifted relationships with power, space, time, leadership, and each other. That creates new challenges—and opportunities—for business and brand leadership and impact. Many consumers are now looking for increased accountability. “How many companies have …
Brands have a role in global regeneration. But first they must rethink everything. Read More »
A typical electricity bill leaves the customer with the sense that she knows exactly what she’s paying for. It might show how many kilowatts of power her household has used, the costs of generating that electricity and delivering it, and the amount that goes to taxes. But these bills can hide as much as they …
Meet the group lobbying against climate regulations — using your utility bill Read More »
In news that could jump-start the American solar industry, mired for months in a U.S. Commerce Department investigation, the Biden Administration announced Monday that it will waive tariffs for solar panel imports from four Asian countries over the next two years. The countries are Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. Both solar and environmental groups welcomed …
Biden waived tariffs on solar panels from four countries. Here’s why. Read More »
This story was originally published by Hakai Magazine and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. In the next few years, Indonesia will start moving its capital city from one island, Java, to another, Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of Borneo. There are a few reasons for the move, but one of the biggest is that the country’s current capital, …
It seems like every year a report is released documenting the scale of snow or ice loss in the Arctic. But, what about the climate significance of rising temperatures in snowy regions nowhere near the Poles? A recent study from researchers at University of Lausanne and the University of Basel has explored this exact question …
Feedback loops: How the ‘greening’ of the Alps could lead to more warming Read More »