'The methods used to collect, interpret, and disseminate map data have been evolving ever since [Hawaiian Volcano Observatory's] founding in 1912, and a digital tool newly available to the public continues that legacy of innovation. The new digital tool is an interactive, browser-based display of map data that can be updated in near-real-time with eruption features, such as lava flows.'
"In the first few days after the hurricane, patients showed up with bad bruises from escaping floodwaters or trying to fix their houses. People came to the hospital who had lost their medications when power went out, or they couldn't refill prescriptions. Weeks later, people started showing up with breathing issues because mold had started to grow in their flooded homes."
Elizabeth Weise, USA TODAY
Updated Thu, February 29, 2024 at 8:24 AM
#ClimateChange is fueling disasters, increasing concerns
"Experts say the #TexasWildfires highlighted the dangers natural disasters could pose to America's widespread #NuclearWeapons and energy networks. Eleven states are home to nuclear weapons, 28 to #NuclearPowerPlants and spent #NuclearFuel storage.
"In Texas, the fire's flames were spread by strong winds, dry conditions and unseasonably high temperatures, which broke records across the country — just the kind of conditions that experts have long warned are more likely as Earth warms.
"'We need more attention on the nexus of climate and nuclear,' said Kwong.
"Climate change effects have already caused nuclear concerns around the world: 'Places like #NorthKorea and #Pakistan are already facing these threats,' said Kwong.
"North Korea has experienced increases in #typhoons, #droughts and #flooding, according to the Royal United Services Institute, a United Kingdom-based defense think tank.
"In 2022, massive flooding covered more than one-third of the nation of Pakistan, affecting more than 33 million people."
'The City of Portland launched an online tool for property owners and tenants to report damage to buildings due to the January 2024 snow and ice storms.
Residents, tenants and owners of property located within Portland are encouraged to share information to help the City recover from this weather event.'
A Photo Series by South African Photographer Gideon Mendel exploring the impact of climate change on populations around the world. A project that began in 2007 with flood disasters in Britain and India, has since expanded to catastrophic rains in Haiti, Pakistan, Nigeria, Brazil - all pictured here.
The poses are meant to be conventional - while the environment is anything but. The faces tell the story.
"#Wabanaki history is ingrained across #Maine and has deep rooted cultural relationships with major natural landmarks that many of us see everyday. However, there is a concerning gap surrounding the important aspects of our state’s rich Wabanaki history and what little many students learn about it in Maine schools.
"Wabanaki studies need to be consistently incorporated into all Maine school districts. According to a 2022 report done by the #AbbeMuseum, the #MaineACLU, the Maine Indian Tribal-State Commission and the #WabanakiAlliance, the Wabanaki studies law passed by Maine in 2001 is not appropriately enforced across the state.
"The law 'requires schools to teach Maine K–12 students about Wabanaki territories, economic systems, cultural systems, governments, and political systems, as well as the Wabanaki tribes’ relationships with local, state, national, and international governments,' the report says.
"The Portland public school system recently incorporated a Wabanaki studies program into its curriculum. This will hopefully be a good example for other districts across Maine and encourage them to do the same.
"Teaching Wabanaki studies will help children gain a better understanding of the state. In time, this can help them develop a closer relationship with the #land and our responsibility to ensure that it is cared for and treated with respect.
"'Through #traditional stories representing the terrestrial and aquatic systems, important [Wabanaki] values are imparted that safeguard culturally significant resources from overuse and ensure the persistence of the people and culture,' says Natalie Michelle, interdisciplinary studies and research assistant of native environmental studies in climate change at the University of Maine.
"It is more important than ever that we look to native science as we face irreversible damage to our climate. We must prioritize implementing these ideals early into the educational careers of children so they go on to practice them throughout their lives.
"Western science and education has taught the ideals of dominance over nature for centuries. This is reflected in practices that have contributed to the #extinction of animals, rises in #NaturalDisasters, food and water shortages and the numerous other effects of #ClimateChange. Instead of connecting with #nature, we are often taught to distance ourselves from the #NaturalWorld. We are taught to use vague and nonspecific naming tools like 'it' to refer to any non-human being.
"'We use it to distance ourselves, to set others outside our circle of moral consideration, creating #hierarchies of difference that justify our actions — so we don’t feel,' says Robin Kimmerer, professor of environmental and forest biology at the State University of New York College of #EnvironmentalScience and #Forestry.
"Kimmerer talks of alternatives to using 'it' to put ourselves on the same level as other living beings, recognizing them as relatives by calling them by their name. But she says that this can be difficult for many of her students because they were not taught these alternatives until now.
"In my experience growing up in Maine and going to school, I never encountered a class focused on Wabanaki studies until college. I am grateful to have this opportunity now. But it has been difficult for me to implement these new ideals into my thinking toward the land around me because they seem so foreign.
"Using the word 'foreign' seems wrong when describing ideals that have been used in Maine since long before any of us were here. But Maine schools and communities have an opportunity to change this.
"Children who grow up in this state have the right and responsibility to know the history of the land around them. They have the right and responsibility to understand the negative implications of #colonization and #ForcedRemoval of the #WabanakiTribes and how despite horrible #historical events, the Wabanaki people have endured and developed their own #sovereign structures.
"In order to create more inclusive classrooms that incorporate all aspects of our state history and work towards building respectful relationships with Maine land, other communities should follow the exciting example being set in #PortlandMaine."
So, I'm at my kids' school watching my son's class (yes, on a Sunday, don't ask, this is #Japan.) But today, instead of showing the parents a boring math or Japanese class, it's actually a slightly less boring "What to do in case of a natural disaster."
This too is Japan.
And I'm saying this in a positive way.
How many countries that are prone to natural disasters have such classes?
And in a few years, pretty much every country will be prone to natural disasters.
Himachal rains: Eight Kullu buildings collapse, rains continue to lash State
As many as 120 people have died in rain-related incidents this month while a total of 238 people have died and 40 are still missing since the onset of monsoon in Himachal Pradesh on June 24.
How Fires, Floods and Hurricanes Create Deadly Pockets of Information Isolation (12ft.io)
Telecommunications grids are vulnerable to worsening climate disasters—which highlights the importance of one age-old survival system