| Unrelenting Floods in North Carolina, Cholera in Haiti: Parts of North Carolina are still flooded days after Hurricane Matthew dumped record-breaking rainfall, with up to 10 feet of water remaining in some areas. The death toll has risen to at least 22 and two major interstates are still closed due to floodwaters, which are expected to crest today. Many affected by Matthew across the Southeast do not have flood insurance — as of August, only nine percent of homeowners in North Carolina were insured against flooding. In Haiti, at least 200 fresh cases of cholera have been reported since Matthew, sparking fears of a repeat of the 2010 outbreak. (NC: New York Times $, AP, Wall Street Journal $, WxShift, Reuters, Mashable, USA Today, WRBL, CNN, NBC News, Charlotte Observer, RT, Atlantic. Haiti: BBC, Guardian, Medical Daily, Economist $, AP, LA Times $. Background: Climate Signals)
Louisiana Plans Better For Climate Change: Louisiana’s 2017 Coastal Master Plan is being rewritten to factor in accelerating climate impacts. In the 2012 edition, officials had predicted “no net loss” of land by 2035, but have abandoned that provision in the new plan. Instead, their $50 billion budget will include at least 200 projects to reduce land loss and protect against storm surge. (New Orleans Times-Picayune)
Negative on Negative Emissions: Countries should not factor negative emissions technologies into their greenhouse gas mitigation strategies, according to scientists in a new paper. “Negative-emission technologies are not an insurance policy, but rather an unjust and high-stakes gamble,” wrote authors Kevin Anderson and Glen Peters, warning that the world could be locked into high-temperature pathways if the technologies do not prove successful in the future. On Wednesday, the UK government’s Committee on Climate Change said the use of negative emission technologies “will be central” if the UK intends to achieve net-zero emissions as laid out in the Paris Agreement. (Climate Central, Washington Post $) |
