Climate Change

As Floods Keep Coming, Cities Pay Residents to Move

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/06/climate/nashville-floods-buybacks.html

John Schwartz

The New York Times

6 July 2019

Text / 800-1500 Words

The city of Nashville is a model for other U.S. cities focusing on how to deal with homes that are flooding more consistently than before. The National Flood Insurance Program exists to help insure homes that wouldn't be covered by private insurance; for some homeowners, the frustration of constant flooding is alleviated by the city's initiative to buy back those properties from their owners, turning them instead into more environmentally friendly parks, paths, and other flood buffers.

New York is building a wall to hold back the ocean

https://www.vox.com/2019/6/11/18661230/sea-wall-staten-island-hurricane-climate-change

Kimberly Mas

Diana Budds

Vox

11 June 2019

Video / 5-15 Minutes

Resilient infrastructure is one way to prepare cities for the unpredictable effects of climate change. In Staten Island, which was devastated by Hurricane Sandy, officials have secured millions in funding to build a seawall, which will prevent coastal erosion and decrease the risk of flooding. Seawells or any type of resilient infrastructure, however, need to be combined with other solutions for the best chance of success.

This California Neighborhood Was Built to Survive a Wildfire. And It Worked

https://www.kqed.org/science/1941685/this-california-neighborhood-was-built-to-survive-a-wildfire-and-it-worked

Lauren Sommer

KQED

3 June 2019

Text / 1500-3000 Words

In the Rancho Santa Fe neighborhood of California, one neighborhood was designed and built to protect homes from wildfires. Included in the design was certain regulations, like regulating weeds, brush, and mulch, and installing noncombustible siding and roofs. Because of climate change, the strength and frequency of wildfires have increased across the state, prompting residents, firefighting professionals, and legislators to become more resilience- and prevention-oriented.

Could you give up flying? Meet the no-plane pioneers

https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2019/may/22/could-you-give-up-flying-meet-the-no-plane-pioneers

Emine Saner

The Guardian

22 May 2019

Text / 1500-3000 Words

There’s a new environmental movement: the no-fly movement. In Europe especially, people are realizing the detrimental environmental impact of flying and are seeking alternatives to air travel, even if it means being creative with time and money. It’s not for everyone - but for this movement, days of train travel trump the emissions created from a long flight.

How a new diet for gassy cows is helping the environment

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/stories-48336239/how-a-new-diet-for-gassy-cows-is-helping-the-environment

Daniel Gordon

BBC

21 May 2019

Broadcast TV News / 3-5 Minutes

In Colombia, four thousand farmers have received foreign aid money as part of a pilot program to adapt their cattle farms. This program funds farmers to switch their cattle’s diets from traditional grass grazing to flowers and plants. The diet switch not only helps the environment through the planting of more bushes, flowers, and trees, but also helps cows’ digestion – leading to more milk production, faster and healthier growth, and less methane production.

How the Mental Health Community Is Bracing for the Impact of Climate Change

https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/how-climate-change-affects-mental-health-835807

Andrea Marks

Rolling Stone

16 May 2019

Text / 1500-3000 Words

Climate change is impacting not just the environment but the way in which humans are able to exist within the altered landscape. As ecosystems shift, storms worsen and loss of homes continues to rise, the mental health industry is looking towards changing traditional practices in order to account for clients presenting with "eco-anxiety and climate grief."

How a $4 Device Is Saving Farmers From Climate Devastation

https://www.ozy.com/rising-stars/how-a-4-device-is-saving-farmers-from-climate-devastation/93622

Laure Siegel

OZY

25 April 2019

Text / 800-1500 Words

Community-based monitoring and communication systems allow farmers to monitor environmental threats in real time. Volatile weather patters have caused spikes in salinity, caused when there is an influx of salt water. Salinization destroys crops, posing a threat to Vietnam’s rice basket region. A professor at Can Tho University has developed a small testing device, which, when paired with basic mobile telecommunications, can provide a salinity map, alerting farmers to encroaching salt water.

'It's a groundswell': the farmers fighting to save the Earth's soil

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/apr/24/farmers-save-earths-soil-conservation-agriculture

Matthew Taylor

The Guardian

24 April 2019

Text / 800-1500 Words

Governments, UN officials, and climate experts alike are ringing the alarm bells of growing soil degradation around the world. But a new agricultural movement is tackling this challenge head on. Instead of the centuries-old method of ploughing, or turning up the soil, farmers have recently taken to keeping their fields covered with varied plants year round, to keep soil healthier. Advocates also point to lower costs on machinery and labor, more resilient crops, and climate change dividends as added benefits as well.

California Has Farmers Growing Weeds. Why? To Capture Carbon

https://www.npr.org/2019/05/02/718736830/californias-latest-weapon-against-climate-change-is-low-tech-farm-soil

Lauren Sommer

KQED

22 April 2019

Radio

California’s Healthy Soils Initiative is providing funding for farmers across the state to grow cover crops that will help move carbon from the air into the soil. Doing so not only cleans the air, but helps the soil and crops retain moisture in a state that has often faced water scarcity. Besides being a response to climate change, the initiative has bridged the deep divide between California’s coastal and valley populations, showing that they need each other to respond to climate issues.

The zero-waste revolution: how a new wave of shops could end excess packaging

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/apr/21/the-zero-waste-revolution-how-a-new-wave-of-shops-could-end-excess-packaging

Stephen Moss

The Guardian

21 April 2019

Text / Over 3000 Words

All across the UK, zero-waste shops are gaining traction, with over 100 stores popping up in the last two years. They encourage shoppers to buy in bulk, minimize plastic waste, and ponder the power they have as consumers in where they shop. It’s part of a broader trend of reuse and repair that is making it easier to shop and live in an environmentally friendly way.

Citizen engagement is helping Costa Rica fight climate change

https://apolitical.co/solution_article/how-citizen-engagement-helps-costa-rica-fight-climate-change

Amelia Axelsen

Apolitical

11 April 2019

Text / Under 800 Words

With its pledge to become the first zero-emission country in the world by 2050, Costa Rica's ambitious climate goals cannot be achieved by the government alone. That's why Costa Rica Limpia (Clean Costa Rica) is sparking citizen engagement to help in the fight. Grassroots efforts by the organization has already helped to create new charging infrastructure for electric cars, and citizen review bodies are local communities access important climate data.

To save the monarch butterfly, Mexican scientists are moving a forest 1,000 feet up a mountain

https://www.latimes.com/world/mexico-americas/la-fg-col1-mexico-monarch-butterfly-20190409-htmlstory.html

Kate Linthicum

Los Angeles Times

9 April 2019

Text / 1500-3000 Words

The monarch butterfly is a migratory species that winters in central Mexico. However, warming temperatures have threatened the forests that house the butterflies. Scientists have responded by creating a greenhouse to grow trees that would shift the monarch’s habitat to a higher altitude, where temperatures are more favorable to helping the butterflies survive.

Tech accelerators help nonprofits fast-track technology aimed at solving environmental challenges

https://ensia.com/features/tech-accelerators-environment

Meg Wilcox

Ensia

4 April 2019

Text / 1500-3000 Words

A solar panel that turns water in the air into clean drinking water is just one of many environmental solutions coming out of new partnerships between technology accelerator programs and environmental non-profit organizations. Groups like Conservation International and World Wildlife Fund are working alongside programs like Elemental Excelerator - all aimed at scaling environmental solutions. The goal isn’t to avoid policy change or other work, but rather to make creative innovation more widely accessible in the meantime.

How Tribes Are Harnessing Cutting-Edge Data to Plan for Climate Change

https://www.yesmagazine.org/planet/indigenous-tribes-plan-adapt-climate-change-20190329

Terrie Hansen

Yes! Magazine

29 March 2019

Text / 1500-3000 Words

For many tribal and indigenous communities in the Pacific Northwest, the impact of climate changes has already become terrifyingly clear. As communities attempt to plan and adapt to new environmental conditions, the Climate Impacts Group at University of Washington is working to provide hyper-localized data that can help predict changes and allow communities to change accordingly, and in line with cultural traditions.

Low-cost resilient houses could help Mozambique survive future storms

https://www.fastcompany.com/90323424/low-cost-resilient-houses-could-help-mozambique-survive-future-storms

Adele Peters

FastCompany

22 March 2019

Text / Under 800 Words

Climate change is causing storms to intensify across the world, resulting in mass destruction that ruins peoples homes. Mozambique has recently experienced this reality when a tropical storm resulted in a massive flood that overtook parts of the country. To help prevent future destruction, cities are focusing efforts on building more resilient homes that stand a better chance of surviving similar events.

Why Students of Color Are Stepping Up to Lead Climate Strikes

https://www.yesmagazine.org/planet/climate-strikes-led-by-students-of-color-20190313

Leanna First-Arai

Yes! Magazine

13 March 2019

Text / 1500-3000 Words

An estimated fifty percent of student leaders in climate strikes and protests around the country are students of color, making these movements all the more relatable, accessible, and inclusive. Because communities of color, especially Black and Carribean communities, will likely be most affected by climate change, this new generation is taking action and linking other social issues like LGBTQ rights and gun control.

Scientists use mini-satellites in effort to save the world's coral reefs

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/great-barrier-reef-scientists-use-mini-satellites-effort-to-save-coral-reefs-2019-03-11

Mark Phillips

CBS News

11 March 2019

Broadcast TV News / 3-5 Minutes

As coral reefs around the world are threatened by warming waters, mini-satellites are collecting images each day from space that put together a more comprehensive picture of the problems. This saves scientists time, energy, and money, and it means resources can be better targeted to the reefs that need the most help.

Fighting climate gentrification with a radical community garden

https://www.scalawagmagazine.org/2019/02/fempower-garden

Maria Esquinca

Scalawag

25 February 2019

Text / 1500-3000 Words

To cope with and combat gentrification, residents of Miami's Little Haiti neighborhood created a community garden called the Femme Fairy Garden, founded by Fempower. Community members come together every Sunday to tend to their plants and connect with their neighbors.

Tribes Use Western and Indigenous Science to Prepare for Climate Change

https://www.hakaimagazine.com/news/tribes-use-western-and-indigenous-science-to-prepare-for-climate-change

Erica Gies

Hakai Magazine

21 February 2019

Text / 800-1500 Words

The University of Washington and Northwestern tribes have partnered to use their collective knowledge to create an online tool that helps regional tribes prepare for the effects of climate change. The tools uses climate forecasting that depicts how different resources in the region will be affected at a hyper-local level. The tool itself is a result of Western science, but researchers say the inputted data and information would not have been possible without the nuanced Indigenous knowledge.

Citizen Science Comes of Age

https://www.hakaimagazine.com/features/citizen-science-comes-of-age

Alastair Bland

Hakai Magazine

19 February 2019

Text / 1500-3000 Words

As climate change accelerates, there is a growing need for scientific data to track and respond to the changes in our environment. Unburdened by the stress of academia or funding, volunteer citizen scientists are stepping in to fill the gaps. A citizen science group in Australia called Reef Life Survey says that trained volunteers help set a baseline of information on things such as water temperature that can be referred back to later. They also have many eyes gathering data over a long period of time, allowing more minute data to be recorded as well as getting data from the edges of studied territories.

Where Glaciers Melt Away, Switzerland Sees Opportunity

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/04/17/climate/switzerland-glaciers-climate-change.html

Henry Fountain

Ben C. Solomon

The New York Times

14 February 2019

Photojournalism / 800-1500 Words

Melting glaciers threaten the Swiss Alps, especially the hydropower it provides. The idea of building a dam as a back-up way to generate power is catching on. The permitting process just began, but construction will need to be fast before further dramatic melting occurs.

The orchid whisperers: Rare blooms find an urban perch

https://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/2019/0214/The-orchid-whisperers-Rare-blooms-find-an-urban-perch

Eva Botkin-Kowacki

The Christian Science Monitor

14 February 2019

Text / 800-1500 Words

The Million Orchid Project has been reintroducing native, endangered plants into urban areas. From planting in school yards, to city parks, to the sides of busy roads, the initiative aims to preserve biodiversity by changing the assumption that nature has to be something separate from human society. While the project is still in early phases, it has shown indicators for progress, like the reappearance of wildlife species thought to have been extinct.

Healing and hope: how Indigenous guardians are transforming conservation

https://thenarwhal.ca/healing-and-hope-how-indigenous-guardians-are-transforming-conservation

Judith Lavoie

The Narwhal

13 February 2019

Text / 800-1500 Words

Enrolling indigenous knowledge in environmental conservation programs empowers communities and promotes responsible land management. Conservation programs in Australia and Canada rely on indigenous communities to monitor and maintain remote and protected areas. Investment in these programs not only furthers the goal of environmental conservation, but also pays dividends by bringing jobs to indigenous communities.

These probiotics for plants help farms suck up extra carbon dioxide

https://www.fastcompany.com/90303108/these-probiotics-for-plants-help-farms-suck-up-extra-carbon-dioxide

Adele Peters

FastCompany

7 February 2019

Text / Under 800 Words

A startup called Locus Agricultural Solutions has created a "probiotic" for soil that uses a mixture of beneficial fungi and bacteria. Not only does it increase productivity of crops, but it also absorbs enough carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere per acre to offset the emissions of a passenger vehicle. Tests done on an orange grove in Florida showed that areas treated with the product took up an extra 4.38 metric tons of CO2 per acre.

Isle of Arran is Scotland's first plastic-free community

https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/17385030.isle-of-arran-is-scotlands-first-plastic-free-community

Elle Duffy

Herald Scotland

26 January 2019

Text / Under 800 Words

The Isle of Arran became Scotland's first Plastic Free Community when they were accredited by the Surfers Against Sewage for their efforts to reduce plastic usage in their community. They credit their success to the help of organizations and businesses in changing packaging and consumer habits, as well as regular beach cleans and plastic-free produce. Last year alone they removed more than 800,000 straws from milk cartons and fruit juice cartons in all schools and cafes, and they plan on using the accreditation to expand their campaign to include more businesses and tourists.