Tag: climate change

Hurricanes Milton and Helene to Join Ranks of Most Expensive Storms

Buck Banks

+$50 billion

Hurricanes Helene and Milton caused so much damage, government and private experts say they will likely join the infamous ranks of Katrina, Sandy and Harvey as super costly $50-billion-plus killers, reports the Associated Press. Worse still, most of the damage — 95% or more in Helene’s case — was not insured.

Republicans Want to Plant Trees to Combat Climate Change

Buck Banks

1 trillion

Associated Press: “The idea — simple yet massively ambitious — revealed recent Republican thinking on how to address climate change. The party is no longer denying that global warming exists, yet is searching for a response to sweltering summers, weather disasters and rising sea levels that doesn’t involve abandoning their enthusiastic support for American-produced energy from burning oil, coal and gas.”

The Sargassum Arrives!

Buck Banks

15 million tons/5 miles wide

Mh2>A 15 million-ton, 5,000-mile-wide patch of seaweed known as the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt is making landfall throughout the southern Atlantic and Caribbean coasts, disrupting vacations and marine activities as it collects and rots along the shore. An annual open-sea phenomenon, this year’s crop is the largest on record (see map) and is expected to inundate shorelines for months.

‘Doomsday Clock’ Now 100 Seconds to Midnight

Buck Banks

100 seconds

The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists moved the “Doomsday Clock” to 100 seconds before midnight, the closest it’s ever been to the metaphorical point of the Earth’s destruction. From the statement: “Humanity continues to face two simultaneous existential dangers—nuclear war and climate change—that are compounded by a threat multiplier, cyber-enabled information warfare, that undercuts society’s ability to respond. The international security situation is dire, not just because these threats exist, but because world leaders have allowed the international political infrastructure for managing them to erode.”

Most Americans Back Action on Climate Change

Buck Banks

70%

A new CBS News poll finds a majority of Americans think action needs to be taken right now to address climate change. “Most consider it at least to be a serious problem — including more than a quarter who say it is a crisis. Seven in 10 think human activity contributes a lot or some to climate change, and most feel they have a personal responsibility to do something about it, although many say they cannot afford to.”