Levees Make Mississippi River Floods Worse, But We Keep Building Them
Floods on the Mississippi River are getting more frequent and more severe. But scientists warn that the infrastructure meant to protect towns and farms against flood waters is making the problem worse....
View ArticleThe Conflicting Educations Of Sam Schimmel
On Aug. 24, 1952, the Silook and Oozevaseuk families of Gambell, Alaska, welcomed a baby girl into the world and introduced her to the island that had been their home for centuries. Gambell is at the...
View ArticleHurricanes Are Moving More Slowly, Which Means More Damage
Hurricanes are moving more slowly over both land and water, and that's bad news for communities in their path. In the past 70 years, tropical cyclones around the world have slowed down 10 percent, and...
View ArticleMore Rain, More Development Spell Disaster For Some U.S. Cities
There's more rain falling on some parts of the U.S. than there used to be, and many towns just aren't ready for the flooding that follows. Ellicott City, Md., is one such community. Nestled in a valley...
View ArticleFear And Frustration Over EPA Move To Kill Chemical-Disaster Protections
The Environmental Protection Agency intends to block an Obama-era proposal and effectively shield companies from scrutiny about how they prevent and respond to chemical disasters. At a hearing...
View ArticleLong-Extinct Gibbon Found Inside Tomb Of Chinese Emperor's Grandmother
The world has one more extinct ape to mourn. In a study published Thursday, scientists describe a new species of gibbon, long-extinct, that lived in China as recently as 2,200 years ago. Junzi...
View Article3 Charts That Show What's Actually Happening Along The Southern Border
The total number of people apprehended for illegally crossing the southern U.S. border has been steadily falling for almost two decades . It's a long-term trend that sociologists, economists and...
View ArticleScott Pruitt Out At EPA
Updated at 6:01 p.m. ET Scott Pruitt will no longer lead the Environmental Protection Agency, President Trump announced Thursday afternoon via Twitter . "I have accepted the resignation of Scott...
View ArticleGet To Know Andrew Wheeler, Ex-Coal Lobbyist With Inside Track To Lead EPA
After months spent staggering beneath the weight of roughly a dozen official ethics probes , mounting bipartisan criticism and one used mattress , Scott Pruitt decided to lay down his mantle as chief...
View ArticleRising Seas Could Cause Problems For Internet Infrastructure
The dense network of cables that make up the Internet is likely to be inundated with saltwater as sea levels rise, a new analysis suggests, putting thousands of miles of critical infrastructure along...
View ArticleHot Weather Spells Trouble For Nuclear Power Plants In Europe
Nuclear power plants in Europe have been forced to cut back electricity production because of warmer-than-usual seawater. Plants in Finland, Sweden and Germany have been affected by a heat wave that...
View ArticleTwitter Shares Fall, Ending A Hard Week For Social Media Stocks
Updated at 4:35 p.m. ET Social media companies have not had a good week in the stock market. Twitter's shares fell 20 percent on Friday, after the company announced that it had lost users. The number...
View ArticleClimate Change Threatens Midwest's Wild Rice, A Staple For Native Americans
Each year, Dylan Jennings harvests wild rice from the lakes and rivers near his home in northern Wisconsin. He and a partner use a canoe, nosing carefully through rice beds and knocking rice kernels...
View ArticleWisconsin Reservation Offers A Climate Success Story And A Warning
When Star Ames was a child there was a flood. The streets were like rivers and the houses like islands. It was 1960 and the village of Odanah, Wis. was up to its neck. The town had been built on the...
View ArticleCase Alleges Chemical Companies Should Prepare For Unprecedented Storms
Copyright 2018 NPR. To see more, visit ARI SHAPIRO, HOST: During Hurricane Harvey last year, a chemical plant near Houston caught fire and burned for days. Now the company that owns the plant and two...
View ArticleIndustrial Safety After Hurricane Harvey
The Houston Ship Channel has the rhythm of an ant colony. Barges and oil tankers lumber through the silty water, tangles of exposed pipe rise hundreds of feet above a sea of white tanks. Residents of...
View ArticleIndustry Looks For Hurricane Lessons As Climate Changes
The Houston Ship Channel has the rhythm of an ant colony. Barges and oil tankers lumber through the silty water; tangles of exposed pipe rise hundreds of feet above a sea of white tanks. Residents of...
View ArticleClimate Change Drives Bigger, Wetter Storms — Storms Like Florence
Hurricane Florence is moving relentlessly toward the Southeastern U.S. It's a large, powerful cyclone that will likely bring storm surge and high winds to coastal communities. But climate scientists...
View ArticleHurricane Florence Arrives In South Carolina
Copyright 2018 NPR. To see more, visit ARI SHAPIRO, HOST: Florence took a slight westerly turn after the hurricane came ashore in North Carolina. While it has now been downgraded to a tropical storm,...
View ArticleFlorence Evacuees Face 4 Nights In A Shelter, And No End In Sight
Lawanda Jones' house near Myrtle Beach, S.C., is next to a large, lovely tree. Earlier this week, as Jones listened to the evacuation orders and hurricane warnings piling up, she looked at that tree...
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