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We know it was the hottest year on record (tied for the top spot with 2016), that the 2010’s were the hottest decade on record, and that the last 6 years have been the hottest ever. Now this grim total: in 2020 there were 22 weather and climate disasters.
Why This Matters: Climate change is getting more and more expensive each year.
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by Natasha Lasky, ODP Staff Writer In the latter half of 2020, Sudan experienced devastating flooding. By the end of September, the U.N. World Food Program country director in South Sudan said that the country needed immediate aid to avoid “catastrophic hunger” levels. Since then, nearly 1 million people have been displaced or isolated by […]
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by Natasha Lasky, ODP Contributing Writer California’s Central Valley was once home to egrets, sandhill cranes, and other water birds who wintered in the region’s wetlands. However, agriculture and urban development have taken over 95 percent of these former wetlands, replacing them with crops like wine grapes, olives, almonds and other “permanent crops” that are […]
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by Ashira Morris, ODP Contributing Writer Tucson is one of the fastest-warming cities in the country. Right now, it’s coming off of a record-breaking September for heat and drought. The city declared a climate emergency earlier this year and set a goal of becoming carbon neutral in the next 10 years. As part of hitting […]
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Senator Joni Ernst won her way into the Senate in 2014 on a conservative platform and a boast about the ability to cut through the red tape in Washington (she would make the pigs in Washington squeal). But now her ties to big oil and gas in D.C. are putting her at odds with Iowa farmers who make biofuels.
Why This Matters: While it is not her top issue, the Democratic, Theresa Greenfield, does not shy away from climate change.
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The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced yesterday that September 2020 was the hottest ever recorded and that they now fully expect that 2020 will be one of the three hottest years on record.
Why This Matters: Every month for the last 429, global temperatures have been “at least nominally” above the 20th-century average — so it’s not just Septembers that are warm.
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