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by Ankit Mishra The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has now touched nearly all parts of the world. For most of us, our daily lives have changed, and the downturn in the economy has left many unemployed. Since the first lockdown on January 22 in Wuhan, China, the number of positive cases has rapidly increased from 580 to over 2 million as of April 15. Although the global stock markets have somewhat recovered, the shock to the economy is expected to last several months. The IMF projects the global economy will contract by 3% this year with all major advanced economies expected to be in recession.  As this crisis unfolds, it highlights the importance of risk mitigation and the real cost of lives around the world when action is either half measured or poorly implemented. In the coming months,…

by Mona Sarfaty and Richard Carmona The novel coronavirus has exposed the dangers of ignoring experts and data. It is also abundantly clear that public health and health care delivery are the foundations upon which our social, cultural and economic lives are built and when the foundations are threatened, everyone must act.  This crisis also illuminates the importance of addressing another looming health emergency: climate change. The time frame is different but just as urgent. COVID-19 and climate change are real but different health emergencies. The novel coronavirus is a public health emergency caused by a new virus — COVID-19 — which has rapidly spread through communities across the world. Conversely, climate change is a slow-motion public health emergency, exacerbated by health crises associated with sudden events such as extreme weather and…

By Susan ShainIt can be hard to process any more bad news right now. But the climate fight won’t be over when this pandemic is. While you needn’t feel constantly productive in these stressful times, you might still be wondering how to stay environmentally engaged. If you’ve done what you can to support those affected by the coronavirus — and have the privilege of staying home with newfound time — why not tick a few items off your carbon-footprint-reduction checklist? Here are some ideas.Home Program your thermostat: Although an estimated 41 percent of Americans have programmable thermostats, just 12 percent actually program them. By setting yours to automatically change with the time and season, Brenda Ekwurzel, director of climate science at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said you could reduce “heating and cooling emissions by 15 percent.”Get cleaner power: Research solar panels (some companies…

Renewable energy innovations symbolize what's great about America. Discussing them provides opportunities for climate dialogue. Energy use is the biggest cause of climate change, and it’s the first place we should look for solutions. It’s also a smart angle for talking about climate change, because it’s easy to find agreement on issues like improving energy efficiency, reducing pollution, cleaning up our energy supply, and reducing reliance on unstable foreign supplies. But energy can be a bit of a double-edged sword. The very reason that some people reject climate change is that they fear some of its solutions, such as regulations on carbon, or government subsidies for clean energy, pose risks to established fossil-fuel based ways of life. The good news is that it’s not hard to have positive conversations about…

By David Roberts and Alvin Chang This is the path to a cleaner, more reliable, more resilient energy grid. If we want a livable climate for future generations, we need to slow, stop, and reverse the rise in global temperatures. To do that, we need to stop burning fossil fuels for energy. To do that, we need to generate lots of carbon-free electricity and get as many of our energy uses as possible (including transportation and industry) hooked up to the electricity grid. Electrify everything! We need a greener grid. But that’s not all. The highly digital modern world also demands a more reliable grid, capable of providing high-quality power to facilities like hospitals or data centers, where even brief brownouts can cost money or lives. The renewable energy sources…

A brigade from the Electric Power Authority repairs distribution lines damaged by Hurricane Maria in the Cantera community of San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Oct. 19, 2017. (Photo: Carlos Giusti, AP) ADJUNTAS, Puerto Rico – Visitors to Casa Pueblo, a community center in this mountain hamlet, can tour the solar-powered meeting rooms, listen in on the solar-powered radio station or catch a documentary at the solar-powered movie theater. Later, they could lunch at one of Puerto Rico’s first fully solar-powered restaurants just down the street. On an island gripped by energy anxiety, Casa Pueblo is a calming oasis. “This is the model we want for the rest of the (island),” said Alexis Massol-Gonzalez, founding director of Casa Pueblo, a community center and renewables advocacy group. “It would be an energy revolution.” Hurricane Maria blasted through…

By IRINA IVANOVA MONEYWATCH  Nearly two weeks after Hurricane Florence swamped North and South Carolina, thousands of residents who get power from coal-fired utilities remain without electricity. Yet solar installations, which provide less than 5 percent of North Carolina's energy, were up and running the day after the storm, according to electricity news outlet GTM. And while half of Duke Energy's customers were without power at some point, according to CleanTechnica, the utility's solar farms sustained no damage. Traditional energy providers have fared less well. A dam breach at the L.V. Sutton Power Station, a retired coal-fired power plant near Wilmington, North Carolina, has sent coal ash flowing into a nearby river. Another plant near Goldsboro has three flooded ash basins, according to the Associated Press, while in South Carolina, floodwaters…

By KUMI NAIDOO September 19, 2018 Exactly a year ago, on Sept. 20, 2017, one of the most violent storms ever to hit the Caribbean made landfall on the island of Puerto Rico. The storm, the likes of which Puerto Ricans had not seen in several generations, had gathered in intensity before tearing through Dominica and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and ending in Puerto Rico. No one can deny the devastation that Hurricane Maria brought on the population of Puerto Rico. Most people survived the hell of the storm but were then forced to live through the hell of the aftermath. Food and water shortages were pervasive throughout the island, power was virtually wiped out, hospitals were closed because of extensive damage, and basic services all but collapsed. No one…

A rescuer helped a resident of New Bern, N.C., from her home on Saturday.CreditCreditVictor J. Blue for The New York Times  When hurricane Florence struck the Carolinas last week, humanity played a role in the destruction. Human intervention is making natural disasters unnaturally harmful, both in causes and effects, and the number of ways our own influence is making things worse, taken together, is sobering. On a global scale, we are bolstering the destructive potential of hurricanes and other extreme weather events by driving climate change. At the local level, we remain reluctant to deal with the problems of our own making, building and rebuilding in risky areas even as we avoid the policies and investment that would help mitigate the threats. Kim Cobb, a climate scientist at the Georgia…

  Flooded street in Houston after Hurricane Harvey in 2017 Credit: © Irina K. / Fotolia For the first time, researchers have developed a data set quantifying what the social cost of carbon -- the measure of the economic harm from carbon dioxide emissions -- will be for the globe's nearly 200 countries, and the results are surprising. Although much previous research has focused on how rich countries benefit from the fossil fuel economy, while damages accrue primarily to the developing world, the top three counties with the most to lose from climate change are the United States, India and Saudi Arabia -- three major world powers. The world's largest CO2emitter, China, also places in the top five countries with the highest losses. The findings, which appear in Nature Climate…