July 2021 – Climate360 News

Environmental reporters in the South battle climate change misinformation—and their own newsrooms

30Jul

By Climate 360 NewsNo Comments

Environmental reporters in the South battle climate change misinformation—and their own newsrooms

A tower outside a local TV news station in Lake Charles, Louisiana, sits damaged from Hurricane Laura's winds in 2020. Photo by Rob Perillo. By Sydney McGovern, Ava Borskey BATON ROUGE, LA – As the threat of climate change grows each year, the American South is at a crossroads.  Record-high temperatures, severe storms and rising sea levels threaten the livelihood of those living on the Gulf Coast and could impose the equivalent of a 20% income tax on county-level income over the next few decades, a 2017 paper in Science Magazine found. But in many regions most impacted by hurricanes and rising waters, fewer than 40% of residents believe that global warming will personally affect them. And in many Southern counties, half of the resident...

Policy versus science over Miami building collapse

30Jul

By Climate 360 NewsNo Comments

Community, Kent State University, Policy

Policy versus science over Miami building collapse

By Spencer Hayes A building collapse that took the lives of almost 100 people has devastated the Miami Surfside community. It has also reignited the climate change discussion across the country. It will take some time for the building analysis to be completed, however, many theories are already circulating, attempting to answer questions behind the collapse of the Champlain Towers on June 24. One theory that has spurred attention is whether or not climate change played a role in the building collapse. Aftermath of the Champlain Tower collapse in Miami Florida. (Photo by Giorgio Viera / AFP) (Photo by GIORGIO VIERA/AFP via Getty Images) U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm jumped right in stating that rising sea levels may have contributed to the disaster. In a CNN interview,...

29Jul

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Podcast

Podcast Title

29Jul

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Podcast

Test PODCAST

29Jul

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Podcast

Test

This is a test episode

‘We consume too much and we toss it too quickly’: Palomo-Lovinski encourages a circular fashion economy

29Jul

By Climate 360 NewsNo Comments

Economy, Kent State University, Loyola Marymount University

‘We consume too much and we toss it too quickly’: Palomo-Lovinski encourages a circular fashion economy

Photo via Kent State University. By Kennedi Hewitt and Connor Fallon Before she was a beloved professor at Kent State University, Noël Palomo-Lovinski was a sustainable fashion designer in New York City. Ahead of her time, she got into sustainability as a new mom searching for more organic foods and products for her family. Over time it became a lifestyle. “Once you start learning some facts about climate change you go down a deep rabbit hole and develop a passion,” said Palomo-Lovinski. As a professor in the early 2000s, she used her experience to encourage her students to curate their fashion sustainably. She was met with backlash and told that she was destroying and limiting their creative practices. Despite this pushback, nearly 20 years...

Politically charged science issues like climate change and COVID-19 motivate STEM students to get involved in the political process

28Jul

By Climate 360 NewsNo Comments

Louisiana State University, Policy, Science

Politically charged science issues like climate change and COVID-19 motivate STEM students to get involved in the political process

STEM students voted at the lowest records in the 2012 and 2016 national elections compared to other majors, according to the Institute for Democracy and Higher Education. Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com By Nicole Nguyen With COVID-19 surging again in the U.S. and the impacts of climate change intensifying, the relevancy of science in politics and public policy is perhaps as important as it’s ever been. The urgency around these issues has led to scientists and other professional interest groups to get involved in the political process. For example, Scientific American, an American science magazine, broke 175 years of tradition in 2020 by endorsing a presidential candidate. Citing then-President Donald Trump’s mishandling of the coronavirus pandem...

Experts say preparing the next generation to combat climate change involves rethinking how American public schools teach science

27Jul

By Climate 360 NewsNo Comments

Louisiana State University, Science

Experts say preparing the next generation to combat climate change involves rethinking how American public schools teach science

Photo by ThisIsEngineering on Pexels.com By Josh Archote Climate change is what science educator Laura Tucker would call a “wicked problem.” Its impacts aren’t immediately obvious to many and require proactive, coordinated responses from governments across the world. It’s the kind of global issue that connects science to every other subject: politics, economics, sustainability, social justice and many more.  This offers science teachers an opportunity to rethink how they teach the subject, and science more generally, to prepare the next generation to deal with global warming, Tucker said.  “The great thing about climate change is that it’s not a simple thing. Because of all these interconnected systems, it doesn’t have an easy answer,” she said. “It crosses...

How to build in a flood-prone city: a lesson from the Netherlands

26Jul

By Climate 360 NewsNo Comments

Community, Louisiana State University, Policy, Technology

How to build in a flood-prone city: a lesson from the Netherlands

Map of the Army Corps of Engineers' proposed storm surge barrier in Charleston, South Carolina. Courtesy of Waggonner & Ball Architecture/Environment. By Sami Beekman, Nicole Nguyen BATON ROUGE, LA – What do New Orleans, Louisiana, and Charleston, South Carolina, have in common? The foundation of both southern cities’ modern infrastructure was built on marsh land in the 19th and 20th centuries. Through a combination of turn-of-the-century drainage systems, the shoring-up of levees, the filling of creeks and marshes, and other changes to the topography of the land through urban development, each city was designed to exist on stretches of land that were engineered into existence. Around 1900, municipal drainage systems allowed New Orleans to spread onto former mar...

Louisiana photographer takes unconventional approach to capturing climate change on the Gulf Coast

24Jul

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Community, Louisiana State University

Louisiana photographer takes unconventional approach to capturing climate change on the Gulf Coast

Pictured left: Louisiana Highway 1 Bridge over Bayou Lafourche sinks each year as a result of coastal erosion and ground subsidence. High water frequently closes the highway to travel. Pictured right: The southernmost area of Louisiana, Plaquemines Parish, is located at the end of the Mississippi River. It's often the first line of defense for severe hurricanes that hit the state. Photos by Virginia Hanusik By Sydney McGovern BATON ROUGE, LA – If you keep up with climate change, you’ve probably seen images of disaster – homes ravaged by forest fires or cities slain by hurricanes. Aerial shots of flooded streets, destroyed buildings and dying ecosystems have long dominated the visual story of climate change. But that’s not what you’ll find in Virginia Hanusik’s photography. Instead...