The United States has nearly 100,000 miles of coastline and much of it is at risk of flooding. But what that inundation looks like varies widely from place to place. From storm surges to land subsidence, the latest Backgrounder details the different types of flooding and the threats they pose to coastal communities, especially sea level cities.
"Protesters lived in a tree for 40 days on the Olympic Peninsula to protest logging of older forests." "On the 40th night of the protest, a black Jeep drove up a logging road and stopped near the base of a towering grand fir."
Recent urban-interface infernos, fueled by climate change, leave no doubt that we have entered the age of runaway fire. Writer and ecologist Lauren Oakes writes that large-scale combustion is permanently reshaping ecosystems and societies as we learn to live with wildfire, not just fight it. Instead of perpetuating problematic approaches to forest management, experts call for confronting the root causes of this crisis and adopting science-informed responses.
"President Donald Trump declared Thursday that the federal government must pull out of a settlement agreement that had halted the long-running legal battle over 14 dams in the Pacific Northwest, reopening a fight over the future of fish populations in the Columbia River Basin."
"Less than a year after four dams were removed from the river, life has blossomed along its banks, presenting new challenges and joys of recovery"
"A woman has brought the first-ever wrongful death lawsuit against big oil, claiming fossil fuel companies’ climate negligence caused her mother’s death during a major heatwave."
The Canadian province of Manitoba has declared a state of emergency over a series of wildfires, and Prime Minister Mark Carney has agreed to send in the military to help. ... The fires have forced 17,000 people across several communities to flee."
"Hanford made the plutonium for US atomic bombs, and its radioactive waste must be dealt with. Enter Elon Musk"
With wildfires becoming more extreme in every way, reporters covering them face new challenges along with familiar hazards. A pair of experienced wildfire journalists and others on the front lines offer advice on dealing with access restrictions, on-the-ground dangers, toxic exposure risks and traumatized survivors — as climate change speeds up the news cycle and misinformation muddies the reporting landscape.
As trade wars loom with U.S. allies, including our neighbors to the north and south, another kind of long-standing relationship is under threat — the environmental partnership between the United States and Canada. A Backgrounder Analysis examines deep-rooted ties over energy, water and timber. Does the brewing conflict over trade mean the long bonds over the environment have been broken?
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