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Flooding’s Hidden Killers Include Heart Attacks and Infections

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Wednesday, January 8, 2025

January 8, 20252 min readFlooding’s Hidden Killers Include Heart Attacks and InfectionsA new study found that flood deaths can rise by 25 percent three months after a disasterBy Ariel Wittenberg & E&E News People inspect the flood damage in the Biltmore Village in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on September 28, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina. Hurricane Helene made landfall Thursday night in Florida's Big Bend with winds up to 140 mph. Sean Rayford/Getty ImagesCLIMATEWIRE | Floods could be deadlier than previously thought — and from more than just drowning.A study published Tuesday in Nature found that the number of U.S. deaths in flooded areas continued to rise for up to three months after the disaster, resulting in a 25 percent higher death rate from things like infections, injuries and heart disease, compared with periods of no flooding.The researchers from Columbia University used a statistical model to analyze national death data from 2001 to 2018 and calculate how death rates changed in the three months following floods versus normal conditions.On supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.They found that the residents of 2,711 counties experienced floods during that time frame, with heavy rain and snowmelt being the top causes of flooding.“Our results show that floods were associated with higher death rates for most major causes of death, even for rain- and snow-related floods that are less likely to generate rapid emergency responses” than hurricanes, said author Victoria Lynch, a postdoctoral research fellow at the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health.In particular, the researchers found that rain-related flooding was associated with increased deaths from infectious diseases, while flooding from melting snow was associated with higher death rates from respiratory and cardiovascular diseases.“There is a hidden burden of exposure to floods that people may not be thinking about having an effect over time,” said author Robbie Parks, assistant professor of environmental health sciences at Columbia. “There is a big infection issue, but even the indirect effects of flooding adding stress can have an impact on cardiovascular health.”Reprinted from E&E News with permission from POLITICO, LLC. Copyright 2025. E&E News provides essential news for energy and environment professionals.

A new study found that flood deaths can rise by 25 percent three months after a disaster

January 8, 2025

2 min read

Flooding’s Hidden Killers Include Heart Attacks and Infections

A new study found that flood deaths can rise by 25 percent three months after a disaster

By Ariel Wittenberg & E&E News

People walk down a street covered in mud and water to inspect the flood damage in the Biltmore Village in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on September 28, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina

People inspect the flood damage in the Biltmore Village in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on September 28, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina. Hurricane Helene made landfall Thursday night in Florida's Big Bend with winds up to 140 mph.

Sean Rayford/Getty Images

CLIMATEWIRE | Floods could be deadlier than previously thought — and from more than just drowning.

A study published Tuesday in Nature found that the number of U.S. deaths in flooded areas continued to rise for up to three months after the disaster, resulting in a 25 percent higher death rate from things like infections, injuries and heart disease, compared with periods of no flooding.

The researchers from Columbia University used a statistical model to analyze national death data from 2001 to 2018 and calculate how death rates changed in the three months following floods versus normal conditions.

On supporting science journalism

If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.

They found that the residents of 2,711 counties experienced floods during that time frame, with heavy rain and snowmelt being the top causes of flooding.

“Our results show that floods were associated with higher death rates for most major causes of death, even for rain- and snow-related floods that are less likely to generate rapid emergency responses” than hurricanes, said author Victoria Lynch, a postdoctoral research fellow at the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health.

In particular, the researchers found that rain-related flooding was associated with increased deaths from infectious diseases, while flooding from melting snow was associated with higher death rates from respiratory and cardiovascular diseases.

“There is a hidden burden of exposure to floods that people may not be thinking about having an effect over time,” said author Robbie Parks, assistant professor of environmental health sciences at Columbia. “There is a big infection issue, but even the indirect effects of flooding adding stress can have an impact on cardiovascular health.”

Reprinted from E&E News with permission from POLITICO, LLC. Copyright 2025. E&E News provides essential news for energy and environment professionals.

Read the full story here.
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In Florida, the Miccosukee fight to protect the Everglades in the face of climate change

Decades of engineering projects have devastated ancestral lands and the ecosystem that’s sustained them.

EVERGLADES, Fla. (AP) — As a boy, when the water was low Talbert Cypress from the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida rummaged through the Everglades' forests, swam in its swampy ponds and fished in its canals.But the vast wetlands near Miami have radically changed since Cypress was younger. Now 42 and tribal council chairman, Cypress said water levels are among the biggest changes. Droughts are drier and longer. Prolonged floods are drowning tree islands sacred to them. Native wildlife have dwindled.“It’s basically extremes now,” he said.Tribal elder Michael John Frank put it this way: “The Everglades is beautiful, but it’s just a skeleton of the way it used to be.”For centuries, the Everglades has been the tribe’s home. But decades of massive engineering projects for development and agriculture severed the wetlands to about half its original size, devastating an ecosystem that’s sustained them. Tribe members say water mismanagement has contributed to fires, floods and water pollution in their communities and cultural sites. Climate change, and the fossil fuel activities that caused it, are ongoing threats.The Miccosukee people have long fought to heal and protect what remains. They were historically reluctant to engage with the outside world due to America’s violent legacy against Indigenous people. But with a new tribal administration, the tribe has played an increasingly collaborative and leadership role in healing the Everglades.They’re working to stop oil exploration and successfully fought a wilderness designation that would have cut their access to ancestral lands. They’ve pushed for a project to reconnect the western Everglades with the larger ecosystem while helping to control invasive species and reintroducing racoons, hawks and other native animals. In August they signed a co-stewardship agreement for some of South Florida’s natural landscapes. They’ve held prayer walks, launched campaigns to raise awareness of important issues and used airboat tours as public classrooms.Even so, a new report on the progress of Everglades work acknowledges a lack of meaningful and consistent engagement with the Miccosukee and Seminole tribes. It calls for applying Indigenous knowledge to restoration efforts and a steady partnership with tribes, whose longstanding, intimate and reciprocal relationship with the environment can help with understanding historical and present ecological conditions.The Miccosukee’s past fuels their activism todayFor generations, the Miccosukee people would make pilgrimages from northern Florida to the Everglades to fish, hunt and hold religious ceremonies. When the Seminole Wars broke out in 1817, the tribe navigated the vast terrain better than the U.S. Army. By the late 1850s, Col. Gustavus Loomis had seared every tribal village and field in a region known as the Big Cypress, forcing the Miccosukee and Seminole people to seek refuge on tree islands deep in the Everglades.“That’s the reason we’re here today. We often look at the Everglades as our protector during that time. And so now, it’s our turn to protect the Everglades,” said Cypress.Many of the Everglades' modern problems began in the 1940s when the region was drained to build cities and plant crops. Over time, the ecosystems where the Miccosukee people hunted, fished and gathered plants, held sacred rituals and put their deceased to rest, have been destroyed.A state-federal project to clean the water and rehydrate the landscape aims to undo much of the damage. But water management decisions and restoration efforts have flooded or parched lands where tribe members live and hold ceremonies.That’s a reason the tribe has pushed for decades for a comprehensive response with the Western Everglades Restoration Project. Members have spoken at public meetings, written letters to federal agencies, lobbied with state and federal leaders while gathering with stakeholders to hear their concerns. If all goes right, the project will clean polluted water, improve hydrology, provide flood protection and reduce the likelihood and severity of wildfires. Groundbreaking for the project began in July there .Still, there are concerns about community flood risks and whether the project will do enough to improve water quality and quantity after a part of the plan was removed.A second engineered wetland that would have cleaned water was removed from the project proposal after landowners wouldn’t give up their lands. The area’s geology was also deemed too porous to sustain it. In the absence of an alternative, some people worry water will not meet standards.Even so, Curtis Osceola, chief of staff for the Miccosukee Tribe, said of the project: “If we get this done, we will have forever changed the future for the Miccosukee and Seminole.”Victory in fight over wilderness designationIn a region of the Everglades now known as the Big Cypress National Preserve, environmental activist and Miccosukee tribe member Betty Osceola learned as a child to spear hunt and subsist off the land like her ancestors did. It’s where she still lives, in one of 15 traditional villages that a few hundred Miccosukee and Seminole people also call home.In its cypress swamps and sawgrass prairies, they hunt, gather medicinal plants and hold important events. It’s home to ceremonial and burial grounds, and to the endangered Florida panther.The National Park Service wanted to designate the preserve as wilderness to protect it from human impacts. The tribe pushed back, saying it would have significantly affected their traditional ways of life, limited access to their homelands and ignored the critical stewardship they’ve provided for centuries. Allowing Indigenous people to remain caretakers of their lands and waters, numerous studies have shown, are critical to protecting biodiversity, forests and fighting climate change.After a stern fight involving campaigns, a petition, testimonials and support from numerous government officials, the tribe succeeded.The National Park Service listened to the tribe’s concerns about the legal conflicts the designation would have on their tribal rights, said Osceola, the Miccosukee’s chief of staff. Although they continue objecting to the agency’s advancing proposal to expand trail systems in the preserve, which the tribe said are near or past culturally significant sites, “they did listen to us on the wilderness designation and at least they’re not, at this time, proceeding with any such designation,” he added.The Miccosukee continue pushing to phase out oil drilling in Big Cypress, writing op-eds and working with local, state and federal governments to stop more oil exploration by acquiring mineral rights in the preserve.Elders look to the next generation to protect the EvergladesOn a windy afternoon, Frank, the tribal elder, and Hector Tigertail, 18, sat under a chickee, or stilt house, on the tribe’s reservation. A wooden swing swayed near garden beds where flowers, chilies and other plants sprung from the soil. A plastic deer with antlers lay on the grass nearby, used to teach Indigenous youth how to hunt.Frank, 67, shared stories of growing up on tree islands. He remembered when the water was so clean he could drink it, and the deer that emerged to play when a softball game was underway.He spoke of the tribe’s history and a time when wildlife in the Everglades was abundant. Of his distrust of government agencies and the tribe’s connection to the land. And he spoke often of his grandfather’s words, uttered to him decades ago that still resound.“We were told to never, ever leave the Everglades,” said Frank. “The only way to prolong your life, your culture, your identity is to stay here in the Everglades... as long as you’re here, your maker’s hand is upon you.”Tigertail heard similar stories from his uncles and grandfather growing up. They helped him feel connected to the Everglades and to his culture. Their stories remind him of the importance of being stewards of the lands that have cared for him and his ancestors.Tribal elders are teaching youth what Cypress called “the modern” way to protect the Everglades – with policy, understanding government practices and integrating traditional and Western science.As a tribal youth member, Tigertail is doing what he can to preserve the Everglades for his generation and ones to come. He works with the Miccosukee Tribe’s Fish and Wildlife Department to remove invasive species like pythons and fish like peacock bass. And he tries to be a voice for his people.“To hear that we’re losing it slowly and slowly saddens me,” said Tigertail. “But also gives me hope that maybe there is a chance to save it.”— By DORANY PINEDA and REBECCA BLACKWELL Associated Press

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Scarves Over Headscarves, Muslim Women’s Outdoors Group Tackles Snow Tubing in Minnesota

Three years ago, a Somali-American mom in Minneapolis founded a group for Muslim women who want to enjoy the great outdoors

MAPLE GROVE, Minn. (AP) — Ice crystals clung to the eyelashes, parka hood, beanie hat and headscarf of Ruqayah Nasser as she took a break after her first-ever snow tubing runs in a Minnesota park on a subzero (-18 Celsius) January morning.She had joined two dozen other members of a group founded by a Somali-American mother in Minneapolis to promote all-seasons activities among Muslim women, who might otherwise feel singled out in the great outdoors, especially when wearing hijabs.“They understand my lifestyle. I don’t have to explain myself,” said Nasser, who recently moved to the Twin Cities from Chicago and whose family hails from Yemen. “My religion is everything. It’s my survival kit.”As one of the most visible signs of the Muslim faith, hijabs often attract controversy. Within Islam, some women want to wear the headscarves for piety and modesty, while others oppose them as a symbol of oppression. In the sports world, including in the last Olympics, devout athletes have often faced extra hurdles on and off the field in finding accommodations for religious practices.Concerned about safety as a woman — particularly one wearing a head covering — but determined to get outdoors to beat seasonal depression, Nasrieen Habib put out a social media post about creating a hiking group three years ago.From the nine women who responded, her Amanah Rec Project has grown to more than 700 members. There’s a core group for Muslim women only — for “more sisterhood and modesty,” Habib says — as well as a group for families. In addition to weekly outings, they organize longer trips and education on everything from appropriate winter clothing — a challenge for many migrant communities — to health and environmental sustainability from the perspective of Islam.“It’s a way to live your whole life according to a set of beliefs and rules. And part of those beliefs and rules is taking care of creation,” Habib said as her 4-year-old son took a break from tubing in a toasty chalet at Elm Creek Park Reserve near Minneapolis. “How can we be more sustainable in a time where we see the impact of climate change, especially impacting people who look like us in the Global South?”Two sisters, Ruun Mahamud and Nawal Hirsi, moved to the United States from Somalia as children about two decades ago.Even though she feels “safe and accepted” in her hijab, Hirsi joined the group for extra support.“I love being outdoors and joining this group has made me more comfortable to participate,” she said on the tubing hill, where she had convinced Mahamud to come along for the first time.“Oh my gosh, it’s the most amazing thing I’ve ever done,” Mahamud gushed after speeding downhill on a tube attached to her sister’s as their daughters recorded the adventure on their phones.The sisters said it’s important to include love for the outdoors and physical activity in their children’s religious upbringing.“Taking care of one’s health is part of our faith,” Hirsi said.Muslim women who wear hijabs can face multiple barriers to sports participation, said Umer Hussain, a Wilkes University professor who studies religion and sports. They range from activities where genders mix or head coverings pose logistical hurdles to conservative families who might frown on it.Groups like Habib’s tackle empowering women in their communities as well as raising awareness about religious accommodations like single-sex spaces or locations for prayer.“The biggest barrier, for women specifically, is having access to spaces that allow us to practice our religion while keeping our modesty and abiding by the Islamic laws that tell us we are not supposed to be in mixed spaces without covering up,” Habib said.She appears to have tapped into a great demand.“When she told me she was going to start a hiking group to get sisters out in nature … it was like actually something I’ve been looking for for a very long time,” Makiya Amin said as she climbed up the tubing hill in a long white skirt, bright-red headscarf, and heavy winter coat. “I didn’t really have those type of people who were outdoorsy already around me.”Isho Mohamed joined the group for the wide-ranging conversations as much as for the outdoors, which as a self-described “homebody” she had largely avoided since college days.“It’s a safe space that takes me out of my comfort zone,” she said of the group outings. During them, the women share about work experiences but also life as immigrants and, most importantly, their faith.“We also talk about spiritual connection and connecting with God as well, and just say a little prayer here and there when we’re walking,” Mohamed added.Her cheeks glowing above her ski mask after two hours on the hill, Jorida Latifi was with her 7-year-old son among the last to hang up their snow tubes. Originally from Albania, Latifi has gone out with the group almost weekly since joining more than a year ago.“With Muslim sisters … they do understand you, what you go through, even with the clothing and hijabs,” Latifi said. “It feels way, way more like, you know, where you are with family.”Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Photos You Should See - Sept. 2024

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A Texas teenager helped his border community win a $13 million grant to improve the environment

Presidio, northwest of Big Bend National Park, will get dedicated green spaces along bike lanes and pedestrian streets, plant thousands of native trees and establish a high-school run air quality monitoring program.

Subscribe to The Y’all — a weekly dispatch about the people, places and policies defining Texas, produced by Texas Tribune journalists living in communities across the state. ODESSA — When he was 13, Ramon Rodriguez stood before the Presidio City Council. He had a vision for his hometown, a hot, arid border community. He wanted the council to create a department dedicated to preserving the environment. The department would install composting bins around town, and build greenhouses and tree nurseries that collect water. Part of the town would be dedicated green spaces where building would be prohibited. The council, with its shoestring budget, did not adopt his suggestions. That decision in 2018 did not deter Rodriguez, who has looked for ways to put his plan in place piecemeal. Then, late last year, Rodriguez learned the region won a $13 million federal grant he helped write. “We need this, we should have this,” he said. “And now it's becoming a reality. It's such a beautiful moment.” The grant is part of the Infrastructure Reduction Act that President Joe Biden signed in 2022. The law included $2 billion for nationwide environmental and climate justice projects. Texas received about $53 million from the program, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Houston’s Health department received $20 million, in part to reduce pollution. Air Alliance Houston, an environmental advocacy group, won $2.9 million to bolster a program that tracks industrial permits submitted to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. Meanwhile, Waco and other nonprofits got $17.9 million to address pollution and climate change, install charging stations for electric vehicles and establish university programs. The Big Bend Conservation Alliance, a regional group overseeing projects across three counties, will administer the money and spend it on infrastructure to help with heat waves and create green areas. The most important Texas news,sent weekday mornings. They will build dedicated green spaces along bike lanes and pedestrian streets, thousands of native trees for residents, a community garden, solar and battery power to bolster a community center with cooling, an emergency cooling plan during power outages, a high-school run air quality monitoring program and a tool that warns drivers about traffic at a local bridge to reduce congestion and avoid idling cars. The conservation alliance will also help the city build three detention ponds to mitigate flooding, a project the city has in its plans but has not been able to afford. Christina Hernandez, co-director of the conservation alliance, said it worked with Rodriguez, the 19-year-old environmentalist, to choose the programs they wanted to include in the proposal. For the most part, the projects will support already existing infrastructure. Native flora lines the edge of a sidewalk along downtown Presidio. The Big Bend Conservation Alliance plans to build greenbelts along sidewalks and bike paths, establish a high school-run air quality and provide a tool that warns drivers about traffic at Presidio’s international bridge to reduce congestion and avoid idling cars. Credit: Sarah M. Vasquez for The Texas Tribune First: The gym inside the Presidio Activity Center doubles as a community cooling center during power outages in extreme heat. As part of the federal grant, the Big Bend Conservation Alliance plans to install solar panels and a battery backup at the center. Last: Project Homeleaf, in collaboration with the city, revitalized the Presidio Recycling Center by maintaining the space, placing outdoor bins for better material control and spreading awareness with instructional signs. Credit: Sarah M. Vasquez for The Texas Tribune Hernandez said the organization plans to start building by the end of January. They expect the full scale of the proposal to be completed in about three years. “We know that the city is already stretched really thin,” Hernandez said. “But this is work that's really important and needs to be done.” A town of roughly 3,000, Presidio is a border community just steps from Ojinaga, Mexico. It’s also northwest of Big Bend National Park. People have lived there for hundreds of years, according to the Texas State Historical Association. Some records trace its origins to the 15th century. It formally became a city in the 1980s. Presidio relies on property taxes and a landfill it allows other cities to use for its revenue, which amounts to about $4 million. The city stretches that budget to fund its emergency services and police department, said Presidio Mayor John Ferguson. Many of the trails that pass for roads need to be paved. Portions of the city do not have a sewage system. Ferguson said the city functions much like a colonia, impoverished border communities with little to no municipal infrastructure that are predominantly Hispanic. “We’re doing the best we can. It’s frustrating to not be able to do more,” Ferguson said, adding the city will lend a hand to the conservation alliance. Joni Carswell, president and CEO of Texan by Nature, a conservation nonprofit supporting such projects statewide, said cities need to strengthen their infrastructure to withstand hotter temperatures and preserve water sources. Conservation projects across the state have restored ecosystems, including longleaf pines in East Texas and redfish nurseries on the coast, and a watershed on Baffin Bay 50 miles south of Corpus Christi. In a report published last year, the group found that nearly 200 nonprofit organizations in Texas spent $639 million on restoration, education, policy and programs related to environmental conservation. “Presidio has an opportunity to show how beneficial a federal grant at this size can be because we have small rural communities all over the state that are in need of this type of funding,” Caldwell said. Rodriguez first became passionate about the environment in elementary school, after he learned about the town’s first recycling center. He created Project Homeleaf in his school’s cafeteria, named after the place he wanted to improve and the kind of change he wanted to see. Mostly made up of teenage volunteers, the group found neighborhoods with the least shade and helped residents plant trees. They fundraised by selling baked goods. They recruited people to volunteer at the town’s recycling center. It taught elementary school students about conserving the environment with a group of students who called themselves the Climate Crew. A walk and bike path leads through a neighborhood in Presidio. The federal grant will help fund the planting of thousands of native trees that will provide shade along the paths throughout town. Credit: Sarah M. Vasquez for The Texas Tribune Rodriguez began working with the Big Bend Conservation Alliance in high school. One of his first projects with the group was planting more trees. The group has also worked to end light pollution, expand community gardens and preserve tribal land. As of December, he is the conservation alliance’s program manager, overseeing many of the projects funded by the grant. The money the conservation alliance won funds this position. Rodriguez wants his hometown to be lush with green roadways, which he said will bond neighborhoods. “Presidio won't look the same in three years,” he said. “And in a very good way.” Disclosure: Air Alliance Houston and Texas State Historical Association have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

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Dangerously Cold Temperatures Are Way below Normal, but ‘Normal’ Is Getting Warmer

Blasts of Arctic air have brought frigid temperatures that are much colder than normal to parts of the U.S., but that “normal” background is warmer than in the past

January 7, 20254 min readFrigid Temperatures Are Way below Normal This Week, but ‘Normal’ Is Getting WarmerBlasts of Arctic air have brought frigid temperatures that are much colder than normal to parts of the U.S., but that “normal” background is warmer than in the pastBy Richard B. (Ricky) Rood & The Conversation US Firefighters with Louisville Fire Department Quint 9 shovel snow in front of their station on January 5, 2025 in Louisville, Kentucky. Local forecasts called for heavy snowfall followed by significant accumulation of freezing rain and ice. Luke Sharrett/Getty ImagesThe following essay is reprinted with permission from The Conversation, an online publication covering the latest research.An Arctic blast hitting the central and eastern U.S. in early January 2025 is creating fiercely cold conditions in many places. Parts of North Dakota dipped to more than 20 degrees below zero, and people as far south as Texas woke up on Jan. 6 to temperatures in the teens. A snow and ice storm across the middle of the country added to the winter chill.Forecasters warned that temperatures could be “10 to more than 30 degrees below normal” across much of the eastern two-thirds of the country during the first full week of the year.On supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.But what does “normal” actually mean?While temperature forecasts are important to help people stay safe, the comparison to “normal” can be quite misleading. That’s because what qualifies as normal in forecasts has been changing rapidly over the years as the planet warms.Defining normalOne of the most used standards for defining a science-based “normal”is a 30-year average of temperature and precipitation. Every 10 years, the National Center for Environmental Information updates these “normals,” most recently in 2021. The current span considered “normal” is 1991-2020. Five years ago, it was 1981-2010.But temperatures have been rising over the past century, and the trend has accelerated since about 1980. This warming is fueled by the mining and burning of fossil fuels that increase carbon dioxide and methane in the atmosphere. These greenhouse gases trap heat close to the planet’s surface, leading to increasing temperature.How U.S. temperatures considered ‘normal’ have changed over the decades. Each 30-year period is compared to the 20th-century average.Because global temperatures are warming, what’s considered normal is warming, too.So, when a 2025 cold snap is reported as the difference between the actual temperature and “normal,” it will appear to be colder and more extreme than if it were compared to an earlier 30-year average.Thirty years is a significant portion of a human life. For people under age 40 or so, the use of the most recent averaging span might fit with what they have experienced.But it doesn’t speak to how much the Earth has warmed.How cold snaps today compare to the pastTo see how today’s cold snaps – or today’s warming – compare to a time before global warming began to accelerate, NASA scientists use 1951-1980 as a baseline.The reason becomes evident when you compare maps.For example, January 1994 was brutally cold east of the Rocky Mountains. If we compare those 1994 temperatures to today’s “normal” – the 1991-2020 period – the U.S. looks a lot like maps of early January 2025’s temperatures: Large parts of the Midwest and eastern U.S. were more than 7 degrees Fahrenheit (4 degrees Celsius) below “normal,” and some areas were much colder.How temperatures in January 1994 compare to the 1991-2020 average, the current 30-year period used to define ‘normal.’NASA Goddard Institute for Space StudiesBut if we compare January 1994 to the 1951-1980 baseline instead, that cold spot in the eastern U.S. isn’t quite as large or extreme.Where the temperatures in some parts of the country in January 1994 approached 14.2 F (7.9 C) colder than normal when compared to the 1991-2020 average, they only approached 12.4 F (6.9 C) colder than the 1951-1980 average.How temperatures in January 1994 compared to the 1951-1980 average.NASA Goddard Institute for Space StudiesAs a measure of a changing climate, updating the average 30-year baseline every decade makes warming appear smaller than it is, and it makes cold snaps seem more extreme.Conditions for heavy lake-effect snowThe U.S. will continue to see cold air outbreaks in winter, but as the Arctic and the rest of the planet warm, the most frigid temperatures of the past will become less common.That warming trend helps set up a remarkable situation in the Great Lakes that we’re seeing in January 2025: heavy lake-effect snow across a large area.As cold Arctic air encroached from the north in January, it encountered a Great Lakes basin where the water temperature was still above 40 F (4.4 C) in many places. Ice covered less than 2% of the lakes’ surface on Jan. 4.That cold dry air over warmer open water causes evaporation, providing moisture for lake-effect snow. Parts of New York and Ohio along the lakes saw well over a foot of snow in the span of a few days.The accumulation of heat in the Great Lakes, observed year after year, is leading to fundamental changes in winter weather and the winter economy in the states bordering the lakes.It’s also a reminder of the persistent and growing presence of global warming, even in the midst of a cold air outbreak.This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

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Wall Street bails on climate change coalition after Republican pressure

Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley, Citi and Bank of America all left the Net-Zero Banking Alliance

The financial sector appears to be getting cold feet about efforts to curb the effects of climate change. Five of the six largest banks in the United States have pulled out of the Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA) since Dec. 6th, according to a recent report by Reuters. The first bank to do so was Goldman Sachs, which exactly one month ago announced it was leaving the NZBA because their institution had supposedly “made significant progress in recent years on the firm's net zero goals and we look forward to making further progress.” They were swiftly followed by Wells Fargo, Citi, Bank of America and Morgan Stanley. Only JPMorgan remains among the Big Six U.S. banks. The NZBA committed the Big Six banks to zero out greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The overwhelming majority of scientists agree that climate change is caused by burning fossil fuels and other activities that emit greenhouse gases. When present in excessive quantities in the atmosphere, gases like methane and carbon dioxide  trap heat, eventually leading to global heating, which in turns causes droughts and heat waves to become more frequent and more intense, sea levels to rise and hurricanes to become more extreme. Despite the alarm of climate scientists, Reuters reports the Big Six banks are reacting to pressure from Republican politicians who oppose taking climate action on principle. They have argued that the NZBA could be in breach of antitrust laws if they reduced financing to fossil fuel companies. Instead, these same institutions may feel incentivized to move away from environmentally-friendly investment policies. The banks themselves publicly insist that they remain committed to their environmental goals. A Bank of America spokesperson said the financial institution would “continue to work with clients on this issue and meet their needs,” while Morgan Stanley said its “commitment to net-zero remains unchanged.” Because large banks provide fossil fuel companies with the investments they need to do business, climate activists often point to large banks as main culprits in climate change. Speaking with Salon in June, the Sierra Club's Fossil-Free Finance senior campaign strategist Adèle Shraiman explained that “banks can play a key role in driving the climate crisis through their financing activities.” She added, “Many of the world’s largest banks, including the top banks on Wall Street, lend billions of dollars to fossil fuel companies, enabling the buildout of the deadly and destructive industry that is most responsible for the greenhouse gas emissions causing climate change." Read more about this topic

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Heimat - Requiem For The World As We Know It

Four theater-makers from Belgium travel to the melting glaciers on Greenland. Their goal: to play a new composed requiem and say goodbye to the world as we know it.

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Climate

Saving Jaguars and Ourselves

"Saving Jaguars and Ourselves" brings attention to the plight of jaguars, wildlife, the Pantanal in Brazil AND the Amazon Rainforest and Cerrado Savannah. The film combines intimate human conversations and portrayals of jaguars in the Pantanal with clear explanations of larger threats that expand to include the Amazon, Cerrado, and the U.S.—focusing on ways that individuals in the U.S. can act effectively to bring change. These three areas form a critical Triad for preventing global climate change. My film explains why this Triad is crucial--why OUR survival in the U.S. depends on its recovery--and what we must do to literally save it, jaguars/wildlife, and Earth. The Pantanal wetland is larger than Florida and stores at least 10 billion tons of carbon. The Cerrado stores at least 13 billion tons. The Amazon stores 200 billion tons. If ANY of these areas completely burns, the carbon releases would be catastrophic. The Amazon and Pantanal are paradises. The Pantanal is directly affected by destruction of the Amazon and Cerrado savannah. Scientists believe that 80% of the Amazon Rainforest must be protected by 2025 or it will not be able to regenerate itself. The Amazon creates its own weather but if deforestation continues, its ecosystem will die and dying trees will give off as much as 200 billion tons of carbon over the next 30-50 years, effectively destroying our ability to protect the climate--and the Earth will die. The Pantanal is one of the most unique and beautiful places in the world, home to over 5,000 animal species and is now also facing threats from upstream river projects.

Solutions
Animals
Climate

THE WATER WILL TAKE US

This film tells the story of the victims of the flood of 2019 in Iran, which happened in the three provinces of North, Central and South of the country and left a lot of damages. The main narrators are three women who reveal the causes of this incident and mismanagements and tell the story of the people who were left to fend for themselves during the flood and after.

Water
Social Justice
Climate

Caught in Quicksand

The Dead Sea is disappearing. The documentary, Caught in Quicksand, was made to raise public awareness about the receding of the Dead Sea.

Water
Climate
Documentary

Sounding the Alarm ~ America's Climate Crisis

"It's really hard being a fire family. Every day it's getting worse." -Brett, wife of Marin County Battalion Chief in California.Every day, Americans who live close to the land and sea face the dangers of climate change—from a firefighter in California, to a beekeeper in Arizona, to a climate refugee losing her home in Florida. The changing climate affects our food systems, water and way of life. These American families are in the trenches sacrificing everything while facing depression, PTSD, and suicide—collateral damage of a crisis unchecked. Award-winning filmmaker, Peter Goetz, captures America's faces and voices, shot in 2020 leading up to the presidential election. Goetz and the Biden campaign made history, producing the first national climate spot to run during a presidential election. But this film dives deeper into the American climate crisis to explore the lives of the people who are sounding the alarm, worried about their grandchildren’s future, asking, "If not us, then who?" This is a story of the resilience, perseverance, and ingenuity of the American people. Ever hopeful, they collectively take on a common enemy. As the young, Navajo solar visionary Brett Issac insists, "We've got to turn this train around before it's too late."

Climate
Crisis
Government

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