Disasters

"New York City is sinking in part due to the extraordinary weight of its vertiginous buildings, worsening the flooding threat posed to the metropolis from the rising seas, new research has found."

"A study finds that more than half of American communities are basing their long-term preparations for coastal flooding on numbers that underestimate future sea level rise."

"Smoke from dozens of raging wildfires in western Canada has drifted south into the United States and prompted the states of Colorado and Montana to issue air quality alerts."

"Humanity is ramping up the risk of global health disasters by intruding deep into the world’s bat habitats, breeding grounds for deadly viruses."

"People in Colombia who are uprooted within the country due to the impacts of climate change could receive legal recognition under a landmark climate migrant bill that this week cleared the first hurdle in Congress."

"Emergency crews evacuated around 600 villagers in western Spain overnight as a wildfire blamed on arsonists ravaged up to 8,000 hectares (19,800 acres) near the border with Portugal, officials said."

"With an El Niño expected to develop in coming months, new research shows the naturally occurring climate pattern could cost the global economy trillions of dollars as its effects linger over years — a figure much higher than previous estimates that only considered immediate economic tolls."

"These readings explore what happens when the TV cameras leave and rebuilding is all that’s left."

"Natural disasters are increasingly linked to climate change, and our awareness of them follows a now-familiar pattern. In the words of Inside Climate News Publisher David Sassoon, “A disaster strikes. The news reaches every home for a few days, perhaps a week. A debate erupts over whether climate change is to blame. Victims are profiled. There’s a tally of lives lost and property destroyed, and then the disaster is forgotten.”

"Demand for air conditioners is surging in markets where both incomes and temperatures are rising, populous places like India, China, Indonesia and the Philippines."

"Large parts of the United States and some areas in Canada, home to around 165 million people, could face energy shortfalls during periods of extreme heat this summer, a group that sets reliability standards for North American electric grids warned."