Category Archives: Water

Study Warns of ‘Irreversible Impacts’ From Overshooting 1.5°C, Even Temporarily

“Only by doing much more in this critical decade to bring emissions down and peak temperatures as low as possible, can we effectively limit damages.”

By Jessica Corbett. Published 10-9-2024 by Common Dreams

*One prediction of where rising sea levels will end up at Cottesloe Beach, Perth Western Australia.. Photo: go_greener_oz/flickr/CC*

Just over a month away from the next United Nations climate summit, a study out Wednesday warns that heating the planet beyond a key temperature threshold of the Paris agreement—even temporarily—could cause “irreversible impacts.”

The 2015 agreement aims to limit global temperature rise this century to 1.5ºC, relative to preindustrial levels.

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Airlines and Hotels Price Gouge Floridians Fleeing Milton

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“Sky-high prices to escape Florida before a deadly hurricane—and Republicans still criticize price gouging bans,” said one outraged resident.

By Julia Conley. Published 10-8-2024 by Common Dreams

*I-75 in Tampa on October 8, 2024. Photo: Matos Zuly/X*

U.S. President Joe Biden called on Floridians in evacuation zones to leave their homes “now, now, now” on Tuesday, and the mayor of Tampa issued a stark warning that those who “choose to stay” are “going to die” from the expected impact of Hurricane Milton—but desperate residents are grappling with the fact that hotels and airlines may make evacuating impossible for many.

Florida bars companies from price gouging during an emergency like Milton, but as thousands of people began evacuating the state’s western coast on Monday, accusations poured in about sky-high airline ticket prices and hotels in neighboring states that are charging exorbitant rates.

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Nations Urged to Bolster Biodiversity Plans by Enshrining Rights of Nature

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“Just as the Human Rights Declaration paved the way for peace after WWII, we must now make nature’s rights a global priority.”

By Jessica Corbett. Published 10-3-2024 by Common Dreams

*A family on the Marañón river, between Nauta and the confluent with the Ucayali river (where those two rivers form the Amazon). Photo Pierre Pouliquin/flickr/CC*

A report released Thursday, ahead of a summit in Colombia, argues that “recognition of the Rights of Nature and national implementation of Mother Earth-centric actions are critical for meeting the 2030 and 2050 goals of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.”

Finalized in late 2022, the framework aims to protect 30% of all land and water vital to species and ecosystems by 2030. The new publication urges governments to include ecocentric commitments in their National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs), which are each country’s proposal to meet the goals of the agreement.

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Concerns Raised About Toxic Exposure in Aftermath of Helene Floodwaters

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“All of these rivers should be treated as hazmat sites,” a local official in western North Carolina said.

By Edward Carver. Published 10-5-2024 by Common Dreams

*Flooded area resulting from Hurricane Helene. Photo: Florida Fish and Wildlife/flickr/CC*

Local officials, academic researchers, and volunteer responders have raised concerns about chemical and biological contamination brought by the floodwaters of Hurricane Helene in the southeastern U.S. last week, which potentially threaten the safety not only of drinking water but also the quality of soil—leading experts to call for tighter regulations on stored pollutants.

Helene struck Florida as a Category 4 hurricane on September 26 and swept through a number of states in the days that followed. Most of the damage came from extreme rainfall that triggered flooding. The storm killed at least 232 people.

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Climate Movement Says ‘Hurricane Helene Must Be a Wake-Up Call’

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“To those insisting that, ‘This is not the time!’ to have those other conversations, I say: This is exactly when we need to be having them,” said one climate scientist.

By Jessica Corbett. Published 9-29-2024 by Common Dreams

*Flood waters reach almost to the roof of this building in Biltmore Forest, North Carolina. Photo: Josh Griffith/X*

As emergency crews have worked through the weekend to rescue people and restore essential services across several southeastern U.S. states, green groups in recent days have pointed to the death and damage from Hurricane Helene as just the latest evidence of the need for sweeping action on the climate emergency.

Helene made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane with 140 mph winds in Florida’s Big Bend region late Thursday, then left a path of destruction across hundreds of miles of Georgia, the Carolinas, and Tennessee. As of early Sunday, at least 64 people are confirmed dead—including at least two people in Virginia—though that figure is expected to rise.

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Hurricane Helene power outages leave millions in the dark – history shows poorer areas often wait longest for electricity to be restored

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By Chuanyi Ji, Georgia Institute of Technology and Scott C. Ganz, Georgetown University. Published 9-27-2024 by The Conversation

*Hurricane Helene makes landfall in Florida. Photo: NOAA*

Hurricane Helene left more than 4 million homes and businesses in the dark across Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas after hitting Florida’s Big Bend region as a powerful Category 4 storm late on Sept. 26, 2024. As Helene’s rains moved inland, and mountain rivers caused devastating flooding, officials warned that fixing downed utility lines and restoring power would take days in some areas.

Electricity is essential to just about everyone – rich and poor, old and young. Yet, when severe storms strike, socioeconomically disadvantaged communities often wait longest to recover.

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Deadly Flooding in Europe Shows ‘Dramatic Consequences’ of Climate Change

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“What you see here is worse than in 1997, and I don’t know what will happen because my house is under water and I don’t know if I will even return to it,” one storm evacuee said.

By Olivia Rosane. Published 9-15-2024 by Common Dreams

Extreme flooding has claimed the lives of at least seven people in Central and Eastern Europe and forced thousands to flee their homes over the weekend.

Storm Boris—a low pressure system—has been lashing the area since Thursday, with major cities seeing a month’s worth of rain and some areas seeing their heaviest rainfall in 100 years between Saturday and Sunday.

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Leak at First CO2 Injection Site in US Exposes Dangerous Folly of Carbon Capture

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“This incident puts an exclamation point on concerns communities across the country have been raising for years about the dangers the CCS industry poses to public safety and drinking water,” said one climate group.

By Jake Johnson. Published 9-13-2024 by Common Dreams

*Chevron refinery in North Salt Lake, Utah. Photo: arbyreed/flickr/CC*

Environmental groups said Friday that a newly reported leak at the first CO2 injection site in the United States highlights the threat—and false promise—of carbon capture and storage efforts, which climate advocates have long criticized as a ploy by the fossil fuel industry to preserve its extractive business model.

E&E News reported Friday that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has “issued a violation notice to the operator of the country’s first carbon dioxide injection wells for permanent storage, alleging that the company hasn’t complied with its federal permit.”

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‘Simply Unacceptable’: Nearly 200 Environmental Defenders Killed in 2023

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“Activists and their communities are essential in efforts to prevent and remedy harms caused by climate damaging industries,” one campaigner said. “We cannot afford to, nor should we tolerate, losing any more lives.”

By Olivia Rosane. Published 9-10-2024 by Common Dreams

*Manuel Teran, who was shot and killed by a Georgia State Trooper. Photo: Gabe Eisen*

Almost 200 people were killed in 2023 for attempting to protect their lands and communities from ecological devastation, Global Witness revealed Tuesday.

This raises the total number of environmental defenders killed between 2012—when Global Witness began publishing its annual reports—and 2023 to 2,106.

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Tribes Celebrate as Dam Removals Set Klamath River ‘Free’ for First Time in a Century

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“The biggest thing for me, the significance of the dam removal project, is just hope—understanding that change can be made,” a Yoruk activist said as the largest dam removal project in U.S. history neared completion.

By Edward Carver. Published 8-29-2024 by Common Dreams

*The Klamath River. Photo: Bureau of Land Management Oregon and Washington/flickr/CC*

Crews breached the final of four dams on a key stretch of the Klamath River on Wednesday, letting salmon run freely there for the first time in over a century and garnering tears from Indigenous activists who had campaigned for the dam removals for decades.

Together the four demolitions mark the largest dam removal project in U.S. history.

The Klamath, which runs from south-central Oregon into northwestern California, has long been bordered by Native American tribes—”Salmon People,” as they call themselves—that once relied on the protein-rich fish for about half of their caloric intake but were impoverished by the institution of the dams, among other white settler colonialist initiatives.

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Occupy World Writes

The Movement Continues – Globally

Category Archives: Water

Deadly Flooding in Europe Shows ‘Dramatic Consequences’ of Climate Change

“What you see here is worse than in 1997, and I don’t know what will happen because my house is under water and I don’t know if I will even return to it,” one storm evacuee said.

“Only by doing much more in this critical decade to bring emissions down and peak temperatures as low as possible, can we effectively limit damages.”

“Sky-high prices to escape Florida before a deadly hurricane—and Republicans still criticize price gouging bans,” said one outraged resident.

“Just as the Human Rights Declaration paved the way for peace after WWII, we must now make nature’s rights a global priority.”

“All of these rivers should be treated as hazmat sites,” a local official in western North Carolina said.

“To those insisting that, ‘This is not the time!’ to have those other conversations, I say: This is *exactly* when we need to be having them,” said one climate scientist.

“What you see here is worse than in 1997, and I don’t know what will happen because my house is under water and I don’t know if I will even return to it,” one storm evacuee said.

“This incident puts an exclamation point on concerns communities across the country have been raising for years about the dangers the CCS industry poses to public safety and drinking water,” said one climate group.

“Activists and their communities are essential in efforts to prevent and remedy harms caused by climate damaging industries,” one campaigner said. “We cannot afford to, nor should we tolerate, losing any more lives.”

“The biggest thing for me, the significance of the dam removal project, is just hope—understanding that change can be made,” a Yoruk activist said as the largest dam removal project in U.S. history neared completion.

“To those insisting that, ‘This is not the time!’ to have those other conversations, I say: This is exactly when we need to be having them,” said one climate scientist.