Credit: Grist

Each year, the Earth’s trees suck more than a hundred billion tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. That’s an impossibly huge number to consider, about 60 times the weight of all the humans currently on the planet.

Our forests perform a cornucopia of services: Serving as a stabilizing force for nearly all of terrestrial life, they foster biodiversity and even make us happier. But as climate change accelerates, drawing that carbon out of the air has become trees’ most critical role.

Absorbing CO2 is key in a time where each year matters greatly to our ability to avert the worst effects of climate change: Carbon “sinks,” like the wood of trees and organic matter buried in dirt, prevent the gas from returning to the atmosphere for dozens or even hundreds of years. Right now, about a third of all human carbon emissions are absorbed by trees and other land plants — the rest remains in the atmosphere or gets buried at sea. That share will need to rise toward and beyond 100 percent in order to […]

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A special session of the Louisiana state legislature adjourned this week without resolving a budget crisis that could lead to cuts in public programs.
Credit Bill Feig/The Advocate, via Associated Press

‘A failed state.’ Until recently, Kansas offered the clearest cautionary tale about deep tax cuts. The state’s then-governor, Sam Brownback, promised that the tax cuts he signed in 2012 and 2013 would lead to an economic boom. They didn’t, and Kansas instead had to cut popular programs like education.

Now Kansas seems to have a rival for the title of the state that’s caused the most self-inflicted damage through tax cuts: Louisiana.

“No two ways about it: Louisiana is a failed state,” Robert Mann, a Louisiana State University professor and New Orleans Times-Picayune columnist, wrote recently.

A special session of the State Legislature, called specifically to deal with a budget crisis caused by a lack of tax revenue, failed to do so, and legislators adjourned on Monday. No one is […]

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Danish women, respond to Oprah when asked about socialism, “We think of it more as being civilized.”

Denmark continues to hold the rank as the country where people are the happiest in the world. This Danish woman had a response that shocked Oprah on her thoughts on the misrepresentation of Democratic Socialism a few years back.

The enlightened Danish woman defended her country’s form of democracy with words Americans would do well learning and implementing sooner than later. The Danish woman told Oprah that happiness is considered a big success.

Oprah pointed out that in fact, Denmark is a Democratic Country but that it had Socialist views. One of the guests acknowledged that without hesitation. The other woman gave it the necessary context.

“Well, you might think so,” the Danish woman said. “We don’t necessarily think of it as that. We all think of it as being civilized; that you take care of your old and your sick. And you make sure that people get well educated. So we think of it more as being civilized.”

And that […]

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Brickell Avenue remained flooded after Irma passed on Sept. 10.
Credit: Miami Herald archives

If you’re a homeowner in Florida relying on flood zone maps to decide whether to buy insurance, you may want to check your driver license instead.

“If it says Florida, you need flood insurance,” said Roy Wright, who oversees the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s National Flood Insurance Program, which covers more policies in Florida than any other state. “It may be more helpful than trying to find the right map.”

Hurricane Irma is only the latest case in point, said Wright, who was in Miami Beach on Monday for an insurance conference.

The San Francisco Bay shoreline, where yellow indicates areas where a projected rise in sea level (SLR) will result in flooding by 2100. Red shows where local land subsidence (LLS) will combine with SLR to increase the flood-prone areas.
Credit: ASU/Manoochehr Shirzaei

Hazard maps use estimated sea level rise due to climate change to determine flooding risk for today’s shoreline, but don’t take into account that some land is sinking. A precise study of subsidence around San Francisco Bay shows that for conservative estimates of sea level rise, twice the area is in danger of flooding by 2100 than previously thought. Some landfill is sinking 10 mm per year, threatening the airport and parts of Silicon Valley.