My Climate Change News

Stay in the know about climate impacts and solutions. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

Yale Climate Connections

From increasingly severe weather disasters to more extreme heat, climate change poses many risks to people’s health.

So hospitals – which are dedicated to improving and protecting people’s health – are working to limit their own contribution to the problem.

Stoddard: “Health care, more than any other sector, is really on the front lines of climate change. When climate-related emergencies happen, health care is dealing with that.”

John Stoddard is with the nonprofit Health Care Without Harm.

His group is helping hospitals sign up for the Coolfood Pledge, a commitment to reduce a quarter of the carbon pollution from their food supply chain by 2030.

To achieve that goal, hospitals are switching some meat and dairy products for dishes centered on fruits, vegetables, and grains. Plant-based foods are often healthier, and ...

Stay in the know about climate impacts and solutions. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

Yale Climate Connections

Many solar companies promise homeowners big savings. But it can be hard to know which claims to believe or which installation company to hire.

Sherwood: “The biggest issue is when companies oversell what the solar can do.”

Larry Sherwood is president and CEO of the nonprofit Interstate Renewable Energy Council.

His group created a checklist of questions to ask when having solar installed.

Sherwood: “ … to help the consumers be as knowledgeable as possible.”

For example, it recommends you compare bids from multiple companies.

These bids should include an evaluation of the roof’s suitability for solar, as well as estimates of the panels’ energy output and how much money you’ll save.

Sherwood: “Then you can see if one of the bids … seems totally out of line with the other ones. Then you can ask more questions of ...

Stay in the know about climate impacts and solutions. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

Yale Climate Connections

After a big hurricane hits the Louisiana coast, photos of the devastation make front-page news – houses with roofs torn off, people wading through flooded streets, broken furniture piled on lawns.

Hanusik: “There’s almost like a stock imagery that we use to describe climate change.”

But photographer Virginia Hanusik tells the story of the region in a different way.

Her images capture how the distinctive landscape of the Louisiana coast has been shaped by nature and by human hands. A home on stilts overlooks a grassy bayou. Ripples of water lap against a tall levee. Cows graze beneath a warning sign marking an oil pipeline.

In her new book, “Into the Quiet and the Light,” Hanusik’s photos are paired with essays and reflections by local scholars, activists, and community members.

Hanusik: “I … wanted to be able to bring in ...

Stay in the know about climate impacts and solutions. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

Yale Climate Connections

On Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica, California, an old apartment building got a full makeover.

The affordable housing complex now has rooftop solar and new insulation, and it runs entirely on electricity, so residents do not use fossil fuels for heating or cooking.

Maggie Messerschmidt of Arup, a consulting firm, says this kind of retrofit reduces climate-warming carbon pollution.

And it can save people money on utility bills, improve indoor air quality, and reduce air leaks and drafts.

Messerschmidt: “Those thermal comfort benefits, those air quality benefits should be available to everyone …”

… regardless of income.

But affordable housing retrofits, like the one in Santa Monica, remain rare.

Messerschmidt says many building owners cannot cover the upfront cost or may see no incentive to invest if tenants are the ...

Stay in the know about climate impacts and solutions. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

Yale Climate Connections

Coastal waterways face numerous threats – from sea level rise and storm surge flooding to pollution.

So Palo Alto, California, is working on a pilot project to help address some of these problems together.

The city plans to create what’s called a horizontal levee on San Francisco Bay.

It’s a sloping wetland that provides a transition between the open bay and its heavily developed shores.

Heidi Nutters is with the San Francisco Estuary Partnership, which is helping lead the project.

Nutters: “Wetlands have an amazing buffering capability to decrease the impact of wave action during storms.”

And the project provides another benefit. It helps remove pollution that the city’s wastewater treatment plant is not designed to handle.

Treated wastewater – which ordinarily is discharged to the bay – will be piped under ...

Stay in the know about climate impacts and solutions. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

Yale Climate Connections

The canal district in San Rafael, California, was built on reclaimed wetlands. But over time, that land has been slowly sinking back into San Francisco Bay.

And as sea levels rise, the risk of flooding is growing.

Hagemann: “The community is really vulnerable to sea level rise.”

Kate Hagemann works on climate adaptation and resilience with the city of San Rafael.

To help people understand the risks, the city is organizing what they call king tide days.

King tide days are the days with the highest tides each year. During one in February, families volunteered to measure the depth and salinity of the water in flooded streets and other areas by the shore.

The data will help officials understand the city’s vulnerability to flooding and sea level rise so they can plan how to adapt.

The events also help community ...

Stay in the know about climate impacts and solutions. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

Yale Climate Connections

Mosquitoes are not just a nuisance. They can also be a public health risk.

And many areas are now seeing more of them – and even species they haven’t seen before like Aedes albopictus, which can spread diseases like dengue, chikungunya, and La Crosse virus.

Davidson Hamer is a public health researcher at Boston University.

Hamer: “Aedes albopictus has spread … from the southern part of the U.S. gradually all the way up into New England and even into Ontario.”

A warming climate could allow these and some other disease-carrying species to spread even farther.

And as climate change brings longer summers and more rain, mosquitoes could also have more of the warm, wet habitats they love to breed in.

Hamer says people can protect themselves by using bug spray, installing window screens, and eliminating standing water near ...

Stay in the know about climate impacts and solutions. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

Yale Climate Connections

When it rains, the Duck Creek Tributary in northwest Indiana often floods, filling nearby roads with water.

Schleizer: “When it floods, it gets real messy … so people were, you know, getting stuck and not being able to travel like they used to.”

Bill Schleizer is with the nonprofit Delta Institute.

He says during storms, pollution from farms, road salt, and sediment also wash into the creek. And as climate change brings more intense rain, the risk of flooding is growing.

So Schleizer’s group is working with local officials to restore the Duck Creek ecosystem.

They started with about 1,000 feet of stream last year – turning a straight channel into a meandering creek surrounded by plants and teeming with fish, birds, and insects.

By restoring the creek to a more natural state, this project has also helped the watershed ...

Stay in the know about climate impacts and solutions. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

Yale Climate Connections

On a Saturday in late June, the town of Spencer, Iowa, experienced devastating floods that damaged thousands of buildings.

But fortunately, one crucial building remained unharmed – the public library.

Red Wing-Fuchsen: “We were more or less open for regular business that Monday.”

Sarah Beth Red Wing-Fuchsen directs the Spencer Public Library.

She says that in the immediate aftermath of the floods, the library became a place where people could escape the heat, charge their phones, and access the internet, all for free.

Library staff also helped to share updates about flood relief, distribute supplies and food – and even hosted free child care.

Red Wing-Fuchsen: “The parents have been absolutely overjoyed to have that option, just to have a few hours in the afternoon where they can clean the muck in their ...

Stay in the know about climate impacts and solutions. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

Yale Climate Connections

People have long bred cows for their size, disposition, and the taste of their meat. And now researchers are working to breed varieties that can thrive in a warming world.

John Church of Thompson Rivers University in Canada says prolonged extreme heat stress can kill a cow.

Church: “But long before you reach death, it has tremendous impacts on … how much weight they gain, their ability to rebreed.”

Some breeds tolerate heat better than others. For example, Senepol cows from the island of Saint Croix have short, thin hair, and sweat more, which keeps them cooler.

But Senepol cows are not as prepared for chilly winters. So Church is working to breed cattle that can tolerate both heat and the cold snaps that occur in the northern U.S. and Canada.

For example, he’s crossed Senepol bulls with Scottish Highland cattle that grow ...

Stay in the know about climate impacts and solutions. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

Yale Climate Connections

On warm summer evenings across the U.S., you can glimpse the twinkling lights of fireflies.

These magical insects are threatened by light pollution and habitat loss. But a new study adds another risk to that list: climate change.

McNeil: “Those factors … coupled with the effects of climate change are probably going to be the one-two punch for many firefly populations.”

D.J. McNeil is an ecologist at the University of Kentucky.

He and his colleagues studied the relationship between environmental conditions and firefly numbers, using population data collected by volunteers.

They found that climate change poses a big risk to many firefly populations.

Firefly larvae typically rely on long, cold winters to hibernate. But winters are getting shorter and warmer.

And in the spring and summer, the larvae like to scurry ...

Stay in the know about climate impacts and solutions. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

Yale Climate Connections

For gardeners, nothing is more satisfying than slicing into a homegrown tomato or cucumber.

But a harvest can be ruined if stormwater runoff or overflow from nearby waterways floods a garden.

Floodwaters can carry bacteria, sewage, or other pollution.

Grubinger: “According to the Food and Drug Administration, any edible portion of a plant that touches floodwaters is considered contaminated and should not be consumed.”

Vern Grubinger of the University of Vermont Extension says some contaminants will break down over time.

But pollutants like heavy metals can linger in the ground, so Grubinger says gardeners might consider testing their soil after a flood.

And many experts recommend waiting at least three months before harvesting any food from a flooded garden – and waiting at least four months for crops like ...

Stay in the know about climate impacts and solutions. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

Yale Climate Connections

Every summer, ragweed pollen fills the air – causing people with ragweed allergies to sniffle and sneeze.

And climate change is now making seasonal allergies even worse and causing them to last longer.

Warmer temperatures and higher concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere cause some plants to produce more pollen, which can worsen symptoms.

And as winters get shorter, plants can start making pollen earlier in the spring and continue producing pollen later in the fall.

In some parts of North America, this means allergy season now lasts more than three weeks longer than it used to.

Potter: “If you have respiratory allergies, then even one day longer is miserable.”

Teddie Potter is a professor of nursing at the University of Minnesota and director of the Center for Planetary Health and Environmental ...

Stay in the know about climate impacts and solutions. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

Yale Climate Connections

More than a billion people work in agriculture, construction, and other outdoor jobs in tropical regions around the world.

Parsons: “These are areas that are hot and humid either year-round or for many, many months out of the year.”

Luke Parsons is an applied climate scientist at the Nature Conservancy. He says doing heavy labor in very hot, humid conditions can cause illness or even death.

His team recently studied how often conditions in the tropics are hazardous for outdoor workers.

They found that, on average, the combination of heat and humidity makes it unsafe for heavy outdoor labor for almost 20% of all hours in a year.

That number would increase to almost 30% of all hours if global temperatures warm another 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit.

Parsons: “And so we’re taking places that are already hot and ...

Stay in the know about climate impacts and solutions. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

Yale Climate Connections

If you’re worried about floods in your street or power outages on your block, there’s a good chance that your next-door neighbor is, too.

And if disaster strikes, people who live close by can often help each other out.

So the city of Edmonton in Alberta, Canada, is working to get neighbors talking about climate change and preparing together.

Danahy: “It could be as simple as planting some native plants, or getting an emergency preparedness kit together, collecting contact information. … It might be knowing who doesn’t have air conditioning and going to check in on them. … It might be about sharing different resources, making sure people have water that they need.”

That’s Sarah Danahy of O2 Planning and Design. Her firm worked with Edmonton to create the Neighbouring for Climate tool kit. It’s a deck of cards that anyone can ...

Stay in the know about climate impacts and solutions. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

Yale Climate Connections

Putting on a virtual reality headset can transport you to faraway lands. But it can also offer a glimpse at how your own community could change as the climate warms.

Calil: “There’s that punch in the gut, kind of, that you get when you see things in that immersive environment that you can’t replicate with other technologies.”

Juliano Calil is the founder of Virtual Planet Technologies. The company partners with cities and nonprofits to develop interactive VR films depicting sea level rise and other climate impacts.

In Santa Cruz, California, where the company is based, his team created a VR experience that shows how coastal erosion, extreme storms, and moderate sea level rise could cause major flooding.

Viewers get a 360-degree look at beaches and streets disappearing underwater.

Calil: “But more importantly, we can ...

Stay in the know about climate impacts and solutions. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

Yale Climate Connections

Fighting wildfires is expensive, and the cost is growing as global warming causes bigger, hotter blazes.

Hanna: “The lion’s share of those large, megafires are handled by the federal government, and we have significant taxpayer dollars being spent.”

Autumn Hanna is with the nonpartisan budget watchdog organization, Taxpayers for Common Sense.

She says billions of tax dollars are spent on wildfires each year. That includes the cost of fighting the fires and helping communities recover afterward.

Hanna says the government could reduce that taxpayer burden by investing more money in projects that help protect communities before a fire starts.

For example, planned fires called prescribed burns can help reduce the intensity of future blazes. Thinning tree and brush cover close to homes and building with fire-resistant materials ...

Stay in the know about climate impacts and solutions. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

Yale Climate Connections

In 2020, about 200 volunteers helped plant trees at Crosby Farm Regional Park near the Mississippi River in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

They helped launch a 20-year project that seeks to identify which tree species will grow well in the region as the climate warms and precipitation becomes more extreme.

Emma Vanhdy of the nonprofit Mississippi Park Connection coordinates volunteers for the project.

She says they planted more than 1,000 trees across 24 research plots. Some plots contain species already common in the area.

Vanhdy: “So mainly cottonwood, silver maple … with a few other native species.”

Others contain species more common farther south, such as sycamore and sweet gum.

Volunteers also help maintain the plots and provide eyes on the ground.

Vanhdy: “They are associated with one plot, and so they know that ...

Stay in the know about climate impacts and solutions. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

Yale Climate Connections

As climate change has caused warmer winters, an invasive insect called the hemlock woolly adelgid has spread across forests in the Eastern U.S., killing hemlock trees from Maine to Alabama.

And scientists are worried that this insect’s spread could also accelerate climate change.

Hemlocks, like other trees, absorb planet-warming carbon from the atmosphere as they grow.

Danielle Ignace of the University of British Columbia explains that when hemlock needles fall, the carbon they contain is stored in the soil for a long time.

Ignace: “These needles, they’re hard to decompose. … They don’t break down very easily, but they really build this strong, deep, and really full soil organic layer. So that has great potential to store carbon.”

But when the woolly adelgid kills a hemlock, that evergreen tree is often replaced by a ...

Stay in the know about climate impacts and solutions. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

Yale Climate Connections

Pretending to be a wizard or warrior can be a fun way to escape reality. But fantasy role-playing games are also being used to engage young people with real-world problems like climate change.

Brown: “Gaming creates a really cool space for people to actually talk about issues in a way that is less intimidating.”

Marcy Brown coordinates the Gaming for Justice initiative with Mycelium Youth Network, a climate education nonprofit based in Oakland, California.

The group leads online and in-person role-playing adventures with storylines related to climate change.

In one, players work together to infiltrate a toxic potions factory that’s polluting their town. In another, they confront a wizard who planted invasive trees that are making wildfires worse. The adventurers need to decide which steps to take to reduce the ...