New York Times (June 18)
“China is unleashing a new export shock on the world.” Chinese goods, thwarted by Trump’s tariffs, are now “flooding countries from Southeast Asia to Europe to Latin America.” China does not seem to be following “the traditional trajectory of economies that move away from low-end manufacturing as they become more mature and developed.” Instead, it has doubled-down on manufacturing, which far exceeds domestic demand. As a result, the “countries that have borne the brunt of the jump in Chinese imports have also seen sharp declines in their own manufacturing, leading to job losses and bankruptcies.”
Tags: Bankruptcies, China, Chinese goods, Domestic demand, Doubled-down, Europe, Export shock, Flooding, Imports, Job losses, Latin America, Low-end manufacturing, Southeast Asia, Trajectory, Trump’s tariffs, Unleashing
Washington Post (August 29)
“The United States and the entire planet are poised to clinch their most humid summer on record, scientists say. The sweltering conditions, which have pushed this year’s heat close to the limits of survivability in some areas and fueled flooding downpours, are part of a long-term increase in humid heat driven by human-caused climate change.”
Tags: Climate change, Downpours, Flooding, Heat, Human-caused, Humid, Limits, Planet, Record, Summer, Survivability, Sweltering, U.S.
The Economist (December 5)
“Europe and America have shown that King Coal can be dethroned.” Next Asia must step up to “topple coal.” Fortunately, this “is overwhelmingly in Asia’s interest to do so. Its people, infrastructure and agriculture are dangerously exposed to the droughts, flooding, storms and rising sea levels caused by climate change….. Coal’s days are numbered. The sooner it is consigned to museums and history books, the better.”
Tags: Agriculture, Asia, Coal, Dethroned, Droughts, Europe, Exposed, Flooding, Infrastructure, Sea levels, Storms, Topple, U.S.
Scientific American (April 11)
The Atlantic Ocean appears be in “slow motion,” with circulation now the “weakest in 1,600 years.” If further research bears out the conclusion that “hemisphere-spanning currents are slowing, greater flooding and extreme weather could be at hand,” especially on the U.S. east coast, but possibly extending to Europe, which could battle more severe heat waves.
Tags: Atlantic, Circulation, Currents, Europe, Extreme weather, Flooding, Heat waves, Ocean, Slowing, U.S.
Salon (November 26)
“A wholesale collapse of Pine Island and Thwaites would set off a catastrophe. Giant icebergs would stream away from Antarctica like a parade of frozen soldiers. All over the world, high tides would creep higher, slowly burying every shoreline on the planet, flooding coastal cities and creating hundreds of millions of climate refugees. But “what we do now will determine how quickly” this ensues. “A fast transition away from fossil fuels in the next few decades could be enough to put off rapid sea-level rise for centuries. That’s a decision worth countless trillions of dollars and millions of lives.”
Tags: Antarctica, Catastrophe, Climate refugees, Collapse, Flooding, Fossil fuels, Icebergs, Pine Island, Shoreline, Thwaites, Tides
Reuters (September 15)
“Business owners who are trying to get back on track after hurricanes Harvey and Irma now face a different sort of challenge: trying to recoup lost income from their insurers.” Some experts predict approximately $70 billion in property losses from flooding in Texas alone. But recouping insured property loses is much easier than lost income. “Exclusions in the fine print of policies, along with waiting periods and disagreements over how to measure a company’s lost income, make business interruption claims among the trickiest in an industry renowned for complexity”
Tags: Business, Business interruption, Claims, Complexity, Exclusions, Flooding, Harvey, Hurricanes, Insurers, Irma, Lost income, Owners, Policies, Property losses, Texas
Chicago Tribune (August 29)
“The scale of flooding in the Houston area as a result of Hurricane Harvey is hard to imagine, and the images of suffering are horrifying to behold. In central and south Texas, an area the size of Michigan is now a storm-tossed lake.”
Tags: Flooding, Horrifying, Houston, Hurricane Harvey, Michigan, Scale, Storm, Suffering, Texas
New York Times (January 25)
“A massive snowstorm that blanketed the East Coast moved out to sea on Sunday, leaving 28 people dead, near-record snowfall in some major cities and heavy flooding along the coast.” With over 30 inches (76 cm) of snow in some places, this ranks as New York’s second highest snowfall since 1869. Some areas received even more, with West Virginia recording over 40 inches (101 cm).
Tags: Dead, East coast, Flooding, New York, Record, Snowfall, Snowstorm, U.S., West Virginia
