Environment

Extreme Heat Will Cost the U.S. $1 Billion in Health Care Costs — This Summer Alone
Extreme heat — summertime temperatures and humidity that exceed the historical average — is being made more frequent and intense by climate change. High temperatures could lead to 235,000 ER visits and 56,000 hospital admissions for heat-related conditions annually.
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Climate Change Has Sent Temperatures Soaring in Texas
Hotter days and nights. More record highs. Climate change has shifted the entire range of Texas heat upwards. Heat is one of the deadliest consequences of climate change. It’s already the most dangerous type of weather, typically killing more people annually than hurricanes, tornadoes or flooding.
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As California Attempts a “Managed Retreat,” Coastal Homeowners Sue to Stay
“Managed retreat” is a climate adaptation policy that calls for relocating and removing coastal structures rather than protecting them where they are. Experts say managed retreat is an important last-resort option for adapting to climate change, but California’s early attempts to implement the policy have provoked a backlash from homeowners and politicians.
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Texas Farmers Are Worried One of the State’s Most Precious Water Resources Is Running Dry. You Should Be, Too.
The Ogallala Aquifer serves farming communities in multiple states. When it runs dry, the agriculture industry in Texas and the nation is in jeopardy.
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Why Insurance Companies Are Pulling Out of California and Florida, and How to Fix Some of the Underlying Problems
When the nation’s No. 1 and No. 4 property and casualty insurance companies – State Farm and Allstate – confirmed that they would stop issuing new home insurance policies in California, it may have been a shock but shouldn’t have been a surprise. It’s a trend Florida and other hurricane- and flood-prone states know well. Insurers have been retreating from high-risk, high-loss markets for years after catastrophic events. As losses from natural hazards steadily increase, research shows it’s not a question of if insurance will become unavailable or unaffordable in high-risk areas – it’s a question of when.
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Human-Caused Climate Change at the Center of Recent California Wildfires
Summer wildfire seasons in California routinely break records. The average summer burn area in forests in northern and central portions of the state have increased fivefold between 1996 and 2021 compared to between 1971 and 1995. In a new study, scientist and collaborators shows that nearly all the recent increase in summer wildfire burned area is attributable to human-caused (anthropogenic) climate change.
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Adapt or Retreat? Conference Will Explore Questions of Habitability in a Changing World
As sea levels rise, fires rage, and temperatures continue to increase around the globe, it is understood that certain areas may no longer be habitable in the not-so-distant future, and that people now living in these area will have to retreat to more accommodating areas — in what is called “managed retreat.” But what does it mean to be habitable? And who gets to decide what happens to these areas under threat?
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For Beleaguered Homeowners and Their Insurers, the Fire Next Time Could Be a Flood
The data-driven insurance business is in trouble as climate-change-driven disasters arrive with greater fury and frequency. Catastrophic losses are something that insurance companies have long planned and budgeted for. But not this many.
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Cost of Climate Change-Driven Natural Disasters Includes Losses of Learning, Earnings
A new study finds that the human capital consequences of natural disasters, linked to climate change, are a significant factor contributing to economic inequality.
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Frustrated by Outdated Grids, Consumers Are Lobbying for Control of Their Electricity
Climate change is spurring interest in remaking local infrastructure to accommodate renewable energy, minimize power failures, and expand consumer choice.
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Tackling the World's Climate-Driven Water Crisis
A safe supply of clean water is necessary for human survival – yet 2.2 billion people around the world lack access to this basic human right. A global crisis is looming on water security, which has been escalated by climate change.
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Decrease in Rainfall in Central America Could Cut Off the Panama Canal
To see the economic consequences of global warming look no further than the Panama Canal. There, water levels are down because of less rain in Central America. Experts fear ordinary consumers may end up paying the price.
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Global Flash Droughts Expected to Increase in a Warming Climate
The rapid development of unexpected drought, called flash drought, can severely impact agricultural and ecological systems with ripple effects that extend even further. Researchers are assessing how our warming climate will affect the frequency of flash droughts and the risk to croplands globally.
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Modeling Catastrophic Impacts, Risk Assessment of Climate Change
The insurance and reinsurance sector are at the forefront of translating weather and climate information into financial and societal risks, but the industry’s focus has been on use of catastrophe models rather than incorporating climate change data and projections that can help characterize future conditions.
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In Years After El Niño, Global Economy Loses Trillions
In the years it strikes, the band of warm ocean water known as El Niño that spans from South America to Asia triggers far-reaching weather changes resulting in devastating floods, crop-killing droughts, plummeting fish populations, and an uptick in tropical diseases.
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