• Ocean

Ocean Activists Planning to “Flood” the Nation’s Capital Next Week

• #BuildBackBetter
• Blue Economy
• coastal restoration
• Infrastructure
• ocean
• offshore wind
• ports
• storm surge
• sustainable fisheries

Hundreds of citizens will fan out across the nation’s capital next week to meet with lawmakers in what’s projected to be the largest ocean lobby effort in US history.  On Tuesday and Wednesday, they will meet with Biden administration officials, federal agencies, and members of Congress for a nonpartisan Ocean Climate Action Hill Day.

Why It Matters:  As the Biden administration and the Congress begin to debate what’s infrastructure and therefore within the American Jobs Plan, the blue economy needs to be front and center in it.

• Sustainability

North Carolina Plans For Green-Infrastructure To Counter Storms

• #30x30
• Flooding
• nature based solutions
• rainfall
• sea level rise
• storm surge

North Carolina Coastal Federation has a nature-based plan for dealing with heavy rainfall that captures and filters water instead. Green infrastructure includes solutions like rain gardens, restoring wetlands, and permeable pavement. The state plan calls for comprehensive incorporation of nature-based stormwater strategies across roadways, farmland, and in new building construction. 

Why This Matters: It’s not just sea-level rise that causes increased flooding and infrastructure damage: heavy rains can be just as disruptive. Using plants, dirt, and other natural ways to handle excess water is often simpler and more cost-effective than their conventional counterparts.

• Weather

Hurricanes Are Moving Further Inland as Climate Warms

• climate change
• extreme weather
• Hurricanes
• storm surge

  by Amy Lupica, ODP Contributing Writer New research shows that hurricanes are retaining more of their strength after hitting land than they have previously. Hurricanes were once expected to quickly weaken after landfall, but over the past 50 years, the time it takes for hurricanes to dissipate on land has almost doubled.  Researchers say […]

• Weather

Hurricane Sally’s Slow Movement and Rapid Intensification Underscore Need to Adapt

• destruction
• Flooding
• hurricane
• Hurricane Sally
• rain
• rescues
• storm surge

Hurricane Sally finally slammed onshore along the Alabama-Florida border early yesterday morning after more than a day picking up moisture over the Gulf of Mexico.

Why This Matters: Severe storms like hurricanes Sally, Dorian, and Harvey, but even thunderstorms, are becoming wetter, more intense, have longer staying power, and are harder to predict.

• Weather

Hurricane Sally Continuing to Boil In Gulf, 5 Named Storms Active At Once

• #HurricaneSally
• Flooding
• hurricane
• rainfall
• storm surge
• wind

Hurricane Sally, now a category 2 storm (winds at 110 mph) has slowed and intensified in the last 24 hours, with landfall now shifting to the east (fortunately away from New Orleans), but crawling toward the Eastern Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida Panhandle coastline with its high winds whipping the shore, the storm surge and huge rainfall amounts are expected to last for the next 36 hours.

Why This Matters:  As President Trump denies the science, which he literally did today in California, the Gulf Coast gets ready for rainfall totals measured in feet not inches.

• Weather

Hurricane Sally Takes Aim At New Orleans, As NOAA Hires Climate Denier for Leadership Post

• climate change
• Flooding
• Hurricane Sally
• severe weather
• storm surge

Evacuations have begun as Tropical Storm Sally is picking up strength and heading straight for southeastern Louisiana.  Forecasters at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) expect it to make landfall as a Category 2 hurricane sometime early on Tuesday, according to CNN.

Why This Matters:  Trump voters in Florida are less likely to heed severe weather warnings — they believe conservative media outlets that claim that weather forecasts are exaggerated because the liberal media is hyping climate change.