These Villages Battled a Blaze to Save Their Trees
Hajanirinta Rarivoarison, who goes by Haja, holds up a native sohisika seedling in a nursery built near Ankafobe Forest. Several of them burned down during the 2014 fire, but have since been rebuilt.Erik Vance This story was originally published by Atlas Obscura and appears here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. At first, the fire didn’t look…
Why Is This Federal Pollution Tracker Shutting Down?
Toxmap allowed users to pan and zoom across a map of the United States and Canada to discover information about environmental contamination, and to cross-reference that with other relevant data, like demographics and population. /NLM This piece was originally published in Undark and appears here as part of our Climate Desk Partnership. Fifteen years ago,…
Soon We May All Be Suffering from Climate Whiplash
Night long exposure photograph of the Santa Clarita wildfire in CA./Getty This piece was originally published in Yale Environment 360 and appears here as part of our Climate Desk Partnership. From 2011 to 2016, California experienced five years of extreme drought, during which numerous high temperature records were broken. These hot, dry years were followed by…
This City May Become a Magnet for Climate Refugees
The inner harbor of Buffalo, New York on Lake Erie.Universal Images Group/Getty This piece was originally published in CityLab and appears here as part of our Climate Desk Partnership. When Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico, Maria Robles saw rainfall so severe that it punched a hole through her roof and flooded her home in San…
Here’s Why NOAA Under Trump Is in a “Holding Pattern”
A meteorologist monitors weather patterns at NOAA Boulder.Hyoung Chang/Getty After spending two years in confirmation purgatory, Barry Myers, the Trump nominee to head the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), asked the White House last week to rescind his nomination. Myers explained that he needed to step down because of recent cancer surgery and chemotherapy,…
California’s Wildfire Policy Totally Backfired. Native Communities Know How to Fix It.
When it came time to set fire to the hillside, Kitty Lynch paused. A 70 year-old retired waitress, Lynch’s job during the controlled burn of a 2,200 acre ranch in Humboldt County, California this June was to keep the fire in check by tamping down small, errant flames with a tool called a McLeod. Lynch…