In The News

Australia Must Prepare for Climate Change: CFR

Alice C. Hill January 11, 2020
Australia endures horrific fires and one of the worst fire seasons in history, with more than 25 people killed, thousands of homes destroyed, a billion animals killed by some estimates, and more than 12 million acres burned. Climate change, high temperatures and drought exacerbate and lengthen the fire seasons. Average temperatures have increased by more than 2 degrees since the 1950s. Alice Hill...

Massive Floods: Jakarta Post

Kharishar Kahfi January 3, 2020
Jakarta, home for more than 9 million people, is prone to flooding with two-fifths of the city under sea level. The city with 13 rivers is increasingly swampy and rapidly sinking. Extreme rainfall with the start of 2020 is described as the worst in a decade, causing severe flooding. Indonesia’s weather agency, BMKG, suggested more than 370 millimeters, or about 15 inches, of rain fell in a...

Young Urge Climate Action: Sydney Morning Herald

Alexandra Smith January 2, 2020
Fire conditions in Australia are horrific, and the rest of the world questions a strategy that relies on a largely volunteer firefighting force and poor examples of leadership, allowing a massive fireworks display to welcome the New Year. More than 12 million acres have burned. Tens of thousands have evacuated, hundreds of homes destroyed, and roads are closed with infrastructure under threat....

Megafire, Exhaustion in Australia: Sydney Morning Herald

Peter Hannam, Michaela Whitbourn and Rachel Clun December 7, 2019
Three bushfires have combined into a megafire in Australia’ New South Wales of Australia. “The 'unparalled' fire season in NSW is being to strain resources, with potentially months to run,” reports a team for the Sydney Morning Herald. “About 40 of 90 bushfires across the state were yet to be contained and conditions were expected to worsen around Tuesday, with officials urging...

Fundraisers for Koalas: GMA

Kelly McCarthy November 27, 2019
Koalas are an iconic symbol of Australia. Bushfires and droughts are decimating their numbers and the eucalyptus groves from which they feed. “The chairman of the Australian Koala Foundation estimated that more than 1,000 koalas have been killed and nearly 80% of their habitat has been destroyed by the record-breaking fires and drought,” reports Kelly McCarthy for Good Morning America. A video of...

Australia Burns: Sydney Morning Herald

David Crowe and Max Koslowski November 13, 2019
Terrifying fires are breaking out in Australia, and leaders are divided over bushfire policies, with some pointedly avoiding action on climate change. Instead, they suggest the government could reduce hazards with more controlled fires in national parks. More than 90 percent of climate research points to coal and other fossil fuels as the reason for rising temperatures fueling floods and...

Flooded Future: Climate Central

October 31, 2019
Researchers continue to warn that previous climate studies may have been conservative and – without immediate mitigation and interventions – flooding, wildfires, extreme weather will be worse than earlier predicted. Accurate measurements of coastal elevations are costly, and past models overestimated elevations of forested areas. New research based on improved measurements of coastal elevations...