(This blog was co-authored by EDF Climate Scientist Fiona Lo) Washington D.C.’s famous cherry blossoms are once again blooming earlier than expected.   In fact, this year’s peak bloom occurred two and a half weeks earlier than the average over the past 100 years, due to near-record warm temperatures in March.  This ranks as the second […]

We now know it’s official – 2023 was the warmest year ever recorded. Citizens across the globe felt the impacts long before it was confirmed. There were unprecedented wildfires in Canada that turned the New York sky orange. Phoenix saw a record-breaking 31 consecutive days with temperatures topping 110 degrees. Along with these very immediate […]

The U.S. government recently released the Fifth National Climate Assessment, a comprehensive report that shows the harmful impacts of extreme weather and other climate hazards are increasing for people across the United States. The Fifth National Climate Assessment confirms messages in previous reports but brings the details into sharper focus for U.S. regions. Climate change is increasingly […]

(This post was co-authored by EDF Senior Climate Scientist Ilissa Ocko) Hurricanes are complicated, and their characteristics depend on a number of factors, which makes it difficult to tease out certain trends and predict the future. But what is scientifically clear is that human-caused climate change is a key reason that hurricanes are more destructive […]

At Latin America and the Caribbean Climate Week, the region’s leaders and climate stakeholders will have the opportunity to collaborate and advance discussions on climate policies that address multiple issues for both mitigation and adaptation. Climate financing, both from rich countries and the private sector, will need to be scaled up for solutions to work.

As climate change intensifies heat-related risks in the workplace, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is developing regulations that would provide critical protections for workers from heat hazards in indoor and outdoor settings — a process that should incorporate consideration of climate impacts and the firsthand expertise of affected workers. As an initial step […]

Louisiana represents the paradox of a modern state shaped by a history of fossil fuel-supported development and structural racism that is now dealing with the climate-driven and social impacts of those choices. As it attempts to do so, it has become a center of climate adaptation and resilience practices, and more recently, climate mitigation efforts, […]

Spring is in full swing across the U.S. – flowers are blooming, pollen is blowing – and this means that the 2021 heat wave, hurricane, and wildfire seasons are just around the corner. After the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season produced a record number of named storms and record-breaking wildfires ravaged the Western U.S., vulnerable communities […]

This post was co-authored by EDF Postdoctoral Climate Science Fellow Tianyi Sun Today Hurricane Laura made landfall in Louisiana as a Category 4 hurricane, causing death and destruction. Louisianans and Texans in its path are now mourning and looking ahead to a long and painful recovery. Laura had winds up to 150 miles per hour, […]

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has published yet another alarming report about the dangers we face from the climate crisis. The Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate synthesizes the latest science on how the oceans and frozen parts of the world have changed, and will continue to change, because […]

(This post was co-authored by Nat Keohane and David Festa)  The hotter future that climate pollution is creating has already arrived for 1 in 10 Americans. A new analysis from The Washington Post shows that 34 million Americans live in areas that have now seen average temperatures rise farther than the goal set by the […]

A new study shows that heatwaves will worsen in the future and that the most vulnerable populations will be hit the hardest Human-caused climate change has already increased the frequency and severity of heatwaves across the globe, and new research shows that heatwaves will get even worse as the planet warms further. Scientists have found […]

Co-authored by Ilissa Ocko. Haz click aquí para leer en español. The tangible effects of human-induced climate change are increasingly visible. A recent study, for example, found that the 2017 hurricane season was more intense as a result of our changing climate. Limiting global warming levels is essential to curbing the future impacts of climate change, but how […]

By Matt Tresaugue. This post originally appeared in Texas Clean Air Matters. In addition to dumping historic amounts of rain across southeast Texas, Hurricane Harvey triggered a wave of air pollution, with petrochemical plants and oil refineries releasing 8.3 million pounds of harmful chemicals that exceeded state limits. At least, that is what they told state […]

Every March, Washington D.C. anxiously anticipates the arrival of the city’s world-famous cherry blossoms. Millions of people flood the National Mall each year to observe the “peak bloom” – defined by the National Park Service as the day when 70 percent of the Yoshino cherry blossoms surrounding the Tidal Basin have opened. Fluctuating weather patterns […]

The 2018 Winter Olympics have drawn to a close, and four years will pass before the world’s next opportunity to celebrate the Winter Games. During that time, emerging athletes and innovations in training methods will inevitably change the face of the sports. But another more malevolent force of change is brewing – one that has […]

Texans are no stranger to the devastation of hurricanes. I still vividly remember, as a young child in Austin, being scared of Alicia in 1983 – and thankful that we lived at the top of the hill. Alicia caused nearly $2 billion in damages, a record at the time, and the category 3 storm was […]

You may have heard the alarming news that weather and climate disasters in the U.S. killed 362 people in 2017 and caused a record $306 billion in damages. But also alarming is the fact that many news outlets are still referring to these events as “natural disasters.” With recent advances in science, researchers have found […]

From hurricanes to heat waves, 2017 produced countless headlines concerning extreme weather and the devastation left in its wake. We tend to think of extreme weather as an unpredictable, external source of destruction. When faced with catastrophes, we don’t always recognize the role we play in intensifying their impacts. But as human-induced climate change continues […]

The U.S. government recently released the Climate Science Special Report (CSSR) – the work of fifty climate science experts who compiled and analyzed the latest knowledge about the physical science of climate change from more than 1,500 scientific journal articles and reports. The CSSR is often referred to as the first volume of the Fourth […]