Tag Archives: climate

By Geoff Brumfiel, NPR Carbon dioxide emissions in the U.S. are on the rise again after several years of decline, and a booming economy is the cause. That’s according to a report released in January from the Rhodium Group, an independent research firm that tracks CO2 emissions in the U.S. “It appears based …

By Jessica Palombo & Nathan Rott, NPR In Jacksonville Beach, Kimberlee Prescott is selling her home to the county so it can be torn down. The house, built just over two decades ago at 3640 Sanctuary Way S., is located in unfortunate proximity to a Florida Department of Transportation drainage culvert along Butler Boulevard. After Hurricanes Matthew and Irma, rain and storm surges caused “tremendous damage, expense, time loss, and disruption to the homeowner and her family,” according to Jacksonville

By Melissa Ross, Brendan Rivers & Bill Bortzfield Long before rising seas permanently swamp homes, millions of Americans living in coastal communities will likely face more frequent and disruptive high-tide flooding — and the effects will ripple through the local economy. As the flooding increases over time, coastal residents will be forced to make difficult and costly choices. And if home values decline, an eroding property tax base would jeopardize funding for local services and infrastructure, such as roads, schools, and

By Brendan Rivers In the Tampa Bay area, Pinellas County is teaching real estate agents how to field questions about flooding — an increasingly common concern when homebuyers talk to Realtors. “They really are the boots on the ground for all of the floodplain managers everywhere,” said Lisa Foster, the county’s floodplain administrator. She developed the Real Estate Flood Disclosure training program, a first of its kind in Florida. Realtors are eager, she said, to take the classes on everything

By Brendan Rivers Sea level rise and other effects of climate change are now adding to the list of challenges facing some of Florida’s smallest residents: rare birds. On the St. Marys River in Northeast Florida, just a stone’s throw from the Georgia border in Yulee, the nonprofit White Oak Conservation Foundation is breeding and researching wildlife. You were introduced to some of its residents if you watched the last season of Game of Thrones — though you wouldn’t have

The University of Florida is combating its carbon footprint — from the vehicles driven by students, faculty and staff — by adding and improving sustainable modes of transportation.