Disasters

Gathering Offers Sobering Look Ahead at 2024, But With Glimmers of Hope

Top environmental journalists and others at the Society of Environmental Journalists annual “Journalists’ Guide to Environment and Energy” program foresee some challenging realities to cover in 2024, most notably with the ongoing impacts of climate change. Bright signs emerged as well. Read our take, watch the event video and visit our full “2024 Journalists’ Guide to Environment + Energy” special report.

SEJ Publication Types: 
Visibility: 

As US Insurers Stop Covering Prescribed Burns, States And Communities Step Up

"Prescribed fires are a positive land management method, but when the flames occasionally escape control, the resulting damage to land and private property also hurts this conservation tool’s reputation. U.S. insurance companies are thus charging increasingly unaffordable premiums for coverage of this activity or are dropping the service altogether in the wake of some particularly large recent accidents."

Source: Mongabay, 11/16/2023

Anchorage Adds More Shelter Beds After Big Snow And Record Outdoor Deaths

"Anchorage scrambled Tuesday to come up with more temporary housing for the homeless after back-to-back snowstorms dumped more than 3 feet of snow on the city in just nine days, an amount that is high even by Alaska standards."

Source: AP, 11/15/2023

2 Grim Reports On Global Climate Highlight Fossil Fuel Subsidies, Ill Health

"Humanity’s fight to curb climate change is failing in dozens of ways with people getting sicker and dying as the world warms and the fossil fuels causing it get more subsidies, according to two global reports issued Tuesday."

Source: AP, 11/15/2023

"Giant Sequoias Are in Big Trouble. How Best to Save Them?"

"California’s ancient sequoias — some of which have stood more than 1,000 years — are facing an existential threat from increasingly intense wildfires linked to climate change. But federal efforts to thin forests to reduce fire risks are drawing pushback from conservation groups."

Source: YaleE360, 11/14/2023

‘The Science Is Irrefutable’: US Warming Faster Than Global Average: Report

"The US is warming faster than the global average and its people are suffering “far-reaching and worsening” consequences from the climate crisis, with worse to come, according to an authoritative report issued by the US government."

Source: Guardian, 11/14/2023

Floods, Fires, Dysfunction — Another Year Ahead of Faltering Steps on Environment, Energy

In our annual look-ahead on the environment and energy beat in 2024, we see a bumpy ride on global climate change talks coupled with more climate-driven disasters, even amid the evolving energy transition. And we see possible risks to ocean life from deep sea mining and continuing risks to human life from pollution of air, water and land. Insights in our overview and our full “2024 Journalists’ Guide to Environment & Energy” special report.

SEJ Publication Types: 
Visibility: 

Pages

Subscribe to RSS - Disasters