Tag: climate

  • The Amazon Burns

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    Brendan Barry
    in

    The G7 conference in France wrapped up yesterday and they announced an aid package for Brazil. Why? Because satellite data from both Brazil and the United States points to a rash of fires devastating the Amazon rainforest, the world’s largest carbon sink, or sometimes known as the lungs of the Earth. I have not had…

  • Hotter Muggier Faster

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    Brendan Barry
    in

    Last week we looked at a few posts that showed the future impact of climate change at both a global and US-level scale. In the midst of last week and those articles, the Washington Post looked backwards at the past century or so to identify how quickly the US has changed. Spoiler: some places are…

  • How Warm Will It Get? Part II

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    Brendan Barry
    in

    Yesterday we looked at a nice piece from the BBC showing how big cities across the world will warm from the impact of climate change. It did a really nice job of showcasing the numbers. But it was admittedly number heavy. (And for the Americans in my audience, you probably were left out in the…cold…because…

  • How Warm Will It Get?

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    Brendan Barry
    in

    In Philadelphia, this summer has been warmer than average. But with most recent years being warmer than average, that might not mean much. However, a valid question is that with climate change, how much warmer will the city get on average? The BBC recently published an article that explored the temperature changes in cities around the…

  • Water, Water Everywhere Nor Any Drop to Drink Part II

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    Brendan Barry
    in

    Yesterday we looked at the New York Times coverage of some water stress climate data and how some US cities fit within the context of the world’s largest cities. Well today we look at how the Washington Post covered the same data set. This time, however, they took a more domestic-centred approach and focused on…

  • The Rise of the Tropic(al Plant)s

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    Brendan Barry
    in

    Last week I had three different discussions with people about some of the impact of climate change upon the United States. However, what did not really come up in those conversations was the environmental changes set to befall the United States. And by environment, I explicitly mean how the flora of the US will change.…

  • Natural Disasters

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    Brendan Barry
    in

    Today’s piece is another piece set against a black background. Today we look at one on natural disasters, created by both weather and geography/geology alike. The Washington Post mapped a number of different disaster types: flooding, temperature, fire, lightning, earthquakes, &c. and plotted them geographically. Pretty clear patterns emerge pretty quickly. I was torn between…

  • Dry Heat Is Only Part of California’s Problem

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    Brendan Barry
    in

    Wildfires continue to burn across in California. One, the Camp Fire in northern California near Chico, has already claimed 77 lives. But why has this fire been so deadly? FiveThirtyEight explained some of the causes in an article that features a number of charts and graphics. The screenshot below features a scatter plot looking at…

  • A Wetter Midwest

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    Brendan Barry
    in

    Here in Philadelphia, I think yesterday was the first day it had not rained in over a week. Not that everyday was a drenching storm, but at least showers passed through along with some downpours and definitely grey skies. But what about my old home, Chicago? Well, FiveThirtyEight turned to a longer-term look and examined…

  • Warmer Winters

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    Brendan Barry
    in

    Philadelphia is expecting a little bit of snow today, 20 March. We should not be seeing too much accumulate if anything, but still, flakes will likely be in the air this evening. That made me think of this piece from just last week where the New York Times looked at the change in winter temperatures…