• Climate Change

Tens of Thousands in LA and TX Devastated — Battling COVID In Record Heat Without Power or Water

• COVID-19
• damage
• evacuate
• heat
• hurricane
• Hurricane Laura
• Louisiana
• storm surge
• Texas
• wind

The COVID pandemic makes much more challenging all the issues surrounding the evacuation, response, and rebuilding of the areas of Louisiana and Texas hit hard by Hurricane Laura.  As National Public Radio explains, many families are now essentially homeless because their houses were ruined by the storm and they lack running water and electricity.

Why This Matters:  67,000 people have already registered for Federal disaster assistance but it will not get better any time soon for those hit hardest by the storm.

• Climate Change

Tom Steyer: California Can ‘Move Forward Environmentally’ Despite Pandemic, Heatwave, Wildfire Crises

• California
• climate change
• economic recovery
• Tom Steyer

by Julia Pyper, Host/Producer of the Political Climate podcast The Golden State is in a dark place. Power outages recently took place amid a historic heatwave, followed by a spate of devastating wildfires. These crises come on top of persistently high COVID-19 case numbers and a budget crunch.   But despite these challenges, California has the […]

• Climate Change

More and More, Federal Government Sees Relocating People to Higher Ground “Unavoidable”

• climate change
• Corps of Engineers
• eminent domain
• flood hazard
• Flooding
• resilience
• sea level rise

The New York Times published a piece by Christopher Flavelle explaining that even though the Trump administration is skeptical of climate change, they are going forward to implement policies begun in the Obama Administration and expanded under Trump that force cities to move their residents out of flood-prone areas or else they will not be eligible for crucial federal flood mitigation funding.

Why This Matters:  The evidence of increased flooding due to climate change is overwhelming.  Realtors know it, and the latest studies show the problem is bad and getting worse — and it is not just in coastal areas.

• Climate Change

The Climate Impacts on Real Estate

• climate risk
• Flooding
• real estate

Yesterday, the real estate listing site Realtor.com made a major step in disclosing climate risks associated with listed homes. As NPR reported, the site has “become the first site to disclose information about a home’s flood risk and how climate change could increase that risk in the coming decades, potentially signaling a major shift in consumers’ […]

• Climate Change

Louisiana Governor Sets Net-Zero Goal, Will Focus on Wetland Restoration

• carbon capture
• carbon sequestration
• climate change
• Louisiana
• wetlands

Yesterday, Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards signed two executive orders to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 as well as a measure to ramp up coastal restoration as a means of carbon sequestration. As KALB explained, The first order, which deals with greenhouse gas emissions, creates the state’s first Climate Initiatives Task Force–a group […]

• Climate Change

Greenland Ice Sheet Past The Point of No Return – Climate Crisis Continues to Roil the Planet

• #climatecrisis
• #NationalGeographic
• climate change
• coast
• coastal flooding
• Florida
• Greenland Ice Sheet
• ice
• sea level rise

Even if we stop emitting greenhouse gasses, it is too late to reverse the damage done — the Greenland ice sheet is beyond saving, according to a new study published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment last Thursday, based on a review of more than 30 years of satellite data. 

Why This Matters:  The perfect metaphor for the climate crisis.  We have fallen off the first step and we can’t stop, but we don’t know how bad it will feel as we keep falling, and falling, and falling. The bottom line is that Florida and other coastal areas are going to be under water and there is no stopping that — we must adapt.