2017 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #39
Editor's Pick
People Are Dying’: Puerto Rico Faces Daunting Humanitarian Crisis
As the full scope of Hurricane Maria's devastation emerges, leaders are calling for urgent help. Many of the risks were spelled out in a 2013 climate assessment.
Hurricane Maria swept mud and debris down streets and into homes across the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, home to 3.4 million people, about 44 percent of whom live below the poverty line. Credit: Hector Retamal/AFP/Getty Images
A public health crisis is unfolding in Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria, as millions of people face a frightening array of urgent dangers, some of which may drag on for weeks or months.
Nearly one week after the storm hit, federal emergency response personnel struggled to make contact with remote communities and restore critical medical infrastructure.
As of Monday, the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), already stretched thin by continuing recovery efforts from Hurricanes Harvey in Texas and Irma in Florida, had yet to reach six communities in Puerto Rico and was just sending its first shipment of water to the remote islands of Vieques and Culebra.
"We are in response mode, and our main priority is saving lives, getting generators to the hospitals, and making sure that there is enough fuel for those generators to run," FEMA spokesperson Jose Davila said.
"It is very bad down there right now," said Sven Rodenbeck, chief science officer for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's 2017 hurricane response. "For the vast majority of the island, there is no power. They have had flooding, and the health care system—many of the clinics and hospitals are closed. A lot of the drinking water systems are not operational, along with the waste water systems."
Carmen Yulín Cruz, the mayor of San Juan, the capital of Puerto Rico, gave a blunt assessment of the situation.
"People are dying," Cruz told CBS news on Tuesday. "This is the reality that we live in, the crude aftermath of a storm, a hurricane that has left us practically paralyzed."
‘People Are Dying’: Puerto Rico Faces Daunting Humanitarian Crisis by Phil Mckenna, Inside Climate News, Sep 27, 2017
Links posted on Facebook
Sun Sep 24, 2017
- The Climate Swerve: Reflections on Mind, Hope and Survival with Robert Jay Lifton and Bill Moyers, Moyers & Company, Sep 21, 2017
- Simulating The Bodily Pain Of Future Climate Change, Opinion by Lisa Feldman Barrett, NPR News, Sep 23, 2017
- Climate deniers want to protect the status quo that made them rich by John Gibbons, Guardian, Sep 22, 2017
- Silent killer: Sweltering planet braces for deadly heat shocks by Laurie Goering, Thomson Reuters Foundation, Sep 19, 2017
- Solar Panel Tariff Threat: 8 Questions Homeowners Are Asking by Marianne LaVelle, InsideClimate News, Sep 22, 2017
- Global warming presents a clear and present danger to America's national security, world stability by Alice Hall, Houston Chronicle, Sep 23, 2017
- “Eden Is Broken”: A Caribbean Leader Calls for Action on Climate Change by Natalie Meade, New Yorker, Sep 24, 2017
- Cities Cracking Down on Climate Law-Breakers by Courtney Humphries, InsideClimate News, Sep 22, 2017
Mon Sep 25, 2017
- Category 5 hurricanes have hit 6 land areas dead-on in 2017, more than ever before by Jason Samenow, Capital Weather Gang, Washington Post, Sep 22, 2017
- The Weird Way That Climate Change Could Make Earthquakes Worse by Kristin Hugo, Newsweek, Sep 24, 2017
- Extreme weather to cost UK billions and leave 2.5m homes at risk of flooding unless ministers take action, warns WWF by Ian Johnston, Independent, Sep 25, 2017
- Puerto Rico’s Agriculture and Farmers Decimated by Maria by Frances Robles & Luis Ferré-Sadurní, New York Times, Sep 24, 2017
- The Mail's censure shows which media outlets are biased on climate change by Dana Nuccitelli, Climate Consensus - the 97%, Guardian, Sep 25, 2017
- At 2017 minimum, scientists ask: Is Arctic entering the Thin Ice Age? by Gloria Dickie, Mongabay, Sep 25,2017
- Hot, isolated, and running out of supplies, parts of Puerto Rico near desperation by Samantha Schmidt & Joel Achenbach, Washington Post, Sep 24, 2017
Tue Sep 26, 2017
- Kerala trains local leaders on climate change by S. Gopikrishna Warrier, India Climate Dialogue, Sep 25, 2017
- Here's How a Borderline La Niña Could Impact the Rest of the 2017 Atlantic Hurricane Season by Jonathan Erdman, The Weather Channel, Sep 25, 2017
- Trump Is Ignoring Puerto Rico’s Suffering by Phillip Carter, Slate, Sep 25, 2017
- Battered Puerto Rico hospitals on life support after Hurricane Maria by Robin Respaut & Dave Graham, Reuters, Sep 24, 2017
- Anger at EU climate chief’s suggestion US can backtrack on Paris by Arthur Neslen, Climate Home, Sep 25, 2017
- Trump's lack of empathy about Puerto Rico is staggering, Opinion by Paul A Reyes, CNN, Sep 26. 2017
- In Hawaii and the Pacific Islands, 2017 has been anything but normal by Michael Kruk, NOAA's Climate.gov, Sep 26, 2017
- What would an entirely flood-proof city look like? by Sophie Knight, Guardian, Sep 25, 2017
Wed Sep 27, 2017
- Vanishing Antarctic Snowflakes May Alter Sea Level Rise by Chelsea Harvey, E&E News/Scientific American, Sep 26, 2017
- What Happens When a Superstorm Hits D.C.? by Justin Nobel, Rolling Stone, Sep 21, 2017
- How Puerto Rico Is Becoming Trump's Katrina by Tim Dickenson, Rolling Stone, Sep 26, 2017
- Climate change made Lucifer heatwave far more likely, scientists find by Damien Carrington, Guardian, Sep 27, 2017
- Right-wing media could not be more wrong about the 1.5°C carbon budget paper by Dana Nuccitelli, Climate Consensus - the 97%, Guardian, Sep 27, 2017
- One in five Australians believe global warming is a hoax by Felicity Caldwell, Sydney Morning Herald, Sep 27, 2017
- Exxon Aims to Cut Methane Leaks, a Culprit in Global Warming by Clifford Krause, Energy & Environment, New York Times, Sep 25, 2017
- What every American needs to know about Puerto Rico’s hurricane disaster by Brian Resnick & Eliza Barclay, Science & Health, Vox, Sep 27, 2017
Thu Sep 28, 2017
- Warm waters tripled the amount of ice lost in these Antarctic glaciers — and that's bad for sea level rise by Alessandra Potenza, The Verge, Sep 26, 2017
- Do more to help poor nations cope with climate change, IMF tells rich countries by Larry Elliott, Guardian, Sep 27, 2017
- Washington state deals blow to plan for coal export terminal by Rachel La Corte, AP, Sep 26, 2017
- Global carbon emissions stood still in 2016, offering climate hope by Damian Carrington, Guardian, Sep 28, 2017
- Late-September heat wave leaves climate experts stunned by Joe Romm, Think Progress, Sep 27, 2017
- A key Antarctic glacier just lost a huge piece of ice — the latest sign of its worrying retreat by Chris Mooney, Energy & Envronment, Washington Post, Sep 25, 2017
- Maria and Lee are weakening and heading east. What’s next for this hurricane season? by Brian McNoldy, Capital Weather Gang, Washington Post, Sep 28, 2017
- Tropical forests used to protect us from climate change. A new study says they’re now making it worse. by Chris Mooney, Mooney, Energy & Envronment, Washington Post, Sep 28, 2017
Fri Sep 29, 2017
- Hidden Costs of Climate Change Running Hundreds of Billions a Year by Stephen Leahy, National Geographic, Sep 27, 2017
- Climate and energy are becoming focal points in state political races by John Abraham, Climate Consensus - the 97%, Guardian, Sep 28, 2017
- Puerto Ricans Could Be Newest U.S. Climate Refugees by Daniel Cusick Adam Aton, Climate Wire/Scientific American, Sep 28, 2017
- One of the clearest signs of climate change in Hurricanes Maria, Irma, and Harvey was the rain by Umair Irfan, Vox, Sep 28, 2017
- Global Warming Tort Litigation: Two Very Different Approaches by David Bookbinder, Niskanen Center, Sep 28, 2017
- Analysis: What does revised methane data mean for the Paris Agreement? by Daisy Dunne, InsideCarbon News, Sep 29, 2017
- Rick Perry proposes sweeping new steps to support coal and nuclear plants by Steven Mufson & Chris Mooney, Energy & Environment, Washington Post, Sep 29, 2017
- Pruitt Plans to Gut The Clean Power Plan: How Weak Will The New EPA Proposal Be? by Rachel Cleetus, Union of Concerned Scientists, Sep 29, 2017
Sat Sep 30, 2017
- Diesel cars help drive Australia's energy emissions to highest level, report shows by Nicole Hasham, The Age, Sep 29, 2017
- 'Stuck in the dark ages': Pacific Island leader vents after Australia's emissions hit record high by Nicole Ashman, Sydney Morning Herald, Sep 29, 2017
- Pascal’s Wager And Global Climate Change: Hedging Your Bet When the Cost of Error is Too High by Eric K Clemons, HuffPost, Sep 25, 2017
- September is the most energetic month for hurricanes ever recorded in the Atlantic by Matthew Cappucci, Capital Weather Gang, Washington Post, Sep 27, 2017
- ‘People Are Dying’: Puerto Rico Faces Daunting Humanitarian Crisis by Phil Mckenna, Inside Climate News, Sep 27, 2017
- The McKibben effect: a case study in how radical environmentalism can work by David Roberts, Energy & Enviornment, Vox, Sep 29, 2017
- New research, September 18-24, 2017 by Ari Jokimäki, Skeptical Science, Sep 30, 2017
- Climate change burden unfairly borne by world's poorest countries by Stuart Braun, Deutsche Welle (DW), Sep 28, 2017
Posted by John Hartz on Saturday, 30 September, 2017
