Tesla Wants to Put Puerto Rico Back on the Grid
Milos-Muller/Getty This story was originally published by Grist and appears here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. It was a transaction concocted on Twitter—and in a few short weeks, declared official: Tesla is helping to bring power back to Puerto Rico. Early this month, Elon Musk touted his company’s work building solar-plus-battery systems for small islands like Kauai in Hawaii and Ta’u…
We Found Cool Dinosaur Fossils in Utah and Now Trump Might Ruin Them
This story was originally published by HuffPost and appears here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Environmentalists and scientists were rattled last week following a report that President Donald Trump plans to scale back two of southern Utah’s national monuments. Not only would the project endanger sacred Native American sites and breathtaking Western vistas open to the public…
The Bond Market Doesn’t Care About Climate Change
But there’s another element that helps cement the bargain: investors’ confidence that coastal towns will pay back the money they borrow. Homebuyers are irrational. Politicians are self-interested. But lenders—and the ratings agencies that help direct their investments—ought to have a more clinical view. Evaluating long-term risk is exactly their business model. If they thought environmental…
The Fascinating Ways Museums Prepare for Catastrophic Weather
That’s due primarily to the fact that the $650 million buildings, which were started before Sandy hit, reportedly go beyond even the city’s newest resilient design codes—and look great doing it. Connected by a three-story skybridge, the two towers have an elevated lobby that makes them virtually waterproof. The building is also served by rooftop…
Humans Used to Live Here. Then Sandy Happened. Now It Is Being Reclaimed by Nature.
Five years ago, Superstorm Sandy—a monstrous post-tropical cyclone with hurricane force winds—struck New York, bringing record-breaking wind gusts and deadly flooding. In New York City, 53 people died—nearly half of them were from Staten Island. The Ocean Breeze, Midland Beach, and Dongan Hills communities were especially hard hit, with 11 fatalities. A few months after the storm, WNYC reporter Matthew Schuerman…
Humans Used to Live Here. Then Sandy Happened. Now it Is Being Reclaimed by Nature.
Five years ago, Superstorm Sandy—a monstrous post-tropical cyclone with hurricane force winds—struck New York, bringing record breaking wind gusts and deadly flooding. In New York City, 53 people died—nearly half of them were from Staten Island. The Ocean Breeze, Midland Beach, and Dongan Hills communities were especially hard hit, with eleven fatalities. A few months after the storm, WNYC reporter Matthew Schuerman…