What We’re Reading – February
February 12, 2025
In parts of the United States, there’s no relief from climate change.
A fortnight after calamitous wildfire swept across the Los Angeles region, forecasters are warning of four days of terrible flooding in southern and northern California caused by an approaching “atmospheric river.”
The same counties wrecked by flooding in North Carolina from Hurricane Helene last September are confronting more. Western N.C. counties could be deluged this week by 5 to 7 inches of rain.
But given the ever-rising waters and mounting risks a lot of work is going into developing paths to guide people to safer ground from flood-prone areas.
Late last year, Rice University posted interactive maps that give residents of the Southeast clear guidance on staying out of the way of hazardous polluting plants that flooded in the three hurricanes last fall- Milton, Helene, and Francine.
The same Rice researchers developed a national interactive map that identified the Great Lakes states and the Houston area as the places where hazardous polluting plants are most numerous and most at risk of dangerous flooding.
In Kentucky, a team of civil engineers and environmental scientists are studying flash fooding in small headwater streams in Appalachia and then apply their findings to develop better early warning systems. In July 2022, 13 eastern Kentucky counties experienced 14 to16 inches of rain over 4 days, causing 44 deaths. The warning system project is financed by the National Science Foundation, which just announced it will abide by a court order and resume funding that the White House had shut down last month.
February 10, 2025
Cutting edge technology applied to energy development, geography, and species assessments is a path to achieving more security for water supply.
Some intriguing initiatives this week that caught our interest:
Small modular nuclear reactors to generate electricity are steadily moving to market. The 30-megawatt to 50-megawatt reactors are safer to operate than the 1,000-megawatt machines commonly in operation. They produce no carbon emissions that cause climate change, and can be air-cooled.
The U.S. Geological Survey last month published the most comprehensive assessment of water resources across the U.S. ever produced.
Huge ecology-wrecking hydropower dams are not nearly as useful as small hydropower installations in much of the world, especially in central Asia.
The condition of wildlife is an essential measure of the health of an ecosystem and its water supply. In Idaho, prairie falcons are thriving and also highlighting the importance of long-term surveys for tracking populations and the value of a national conservation area for providing raptor breeding habitat.
Circle of Blue’s senior editor and chief correspondent based in Traverse City, Michigan. He has reported on the contest for energy, food, and water in the era of climate change from six continents. Contact
Keith Schneider
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