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Aerial view of the National Petroleum Reserve in northwestern Alaska

The Biden Administration Protects Millions of Acres of Arctic Alaska

Latest NewsAlaskaJenny Shalant
The new Special Areas Rule in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska could boost biodiversity and empower Indigenous Peoples to defend the lands they’ve relied on for generations.
Two adults and a child walk along a sandy shoreline

“Forever Chemicals” Called PFAS Show Up in Your Food, Clothes, and Home

ExplainerUnited StatesMolly M. Ginty, Courtney Lindwall
These toxic chemicals are so common in consumer products and manufacturing that they’re everywhere—including inside our bodies.
A river with green trees on either side, with yellow hills in the background

In Planning for Climate Change, Native Americans Draw on the Past

ExplainerUnited States, CanadaTim Vanderpool
Across North America, Indigenous tribes and nations are consulting their traditional ecological knowledge to help prepare for a warming world.

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Vermont Floods Illustrate the Need for Reforms by FEMA and State

Expert BlogVermontRob Moore
Flooding in Vermont has once again exposed serious weaknesses in the state and federal policies that govern floodplain development and ensure that information is provided to people about the risks of flooding. Because Vermont and FEMA’s flood policies fail to…

Ian and Congressional Failure to Reform Flood Insurance

Expert BlogFloridaRob Moore

Hurricane Ian has cost the lives of at least 120 people as of this writing, displaced tens of thousands of people from their homes, and impacted over a million more people due to flooding, loss of power, water, or sewer…

IPCC: Sea Level Rise Adaptation Is Essential, Not Optional

Expert BlogUnited States, InternationalRob Moore

Climate change has already locked in almost a foot of sea level rise by 2050 and more in the decades beyond. All levels of government in the United States need to recognize the peril they face and act accordingly.

Climate Change Demands New Paradigm for Disaster Management

Expert BlogUnited StatesRob Moore
As climate change makes catastrophic events like Hurricane Ida, the Caldor and Dixie fires in California, and prolonged drought in the southwestern United States more likely and more severe (and recovery more costly), we need an overhaul of how we…

Infrastructure Package Should Include $50b for Resilience

Expert BlogUnited StatesRob Moore

With the climate emergency creating dangerous weather across the nation, from historic droughts in the Southwest to a withering heat dome across the Midwest to an earlier heat dome in the Pacific Northwest, Congress is working on much-needed investments in…

The Promise of Climate Resilience and Biden’s Jobs Plan

Expert BlogUnited StatesRob Moore
President Biden is unveiling his American Jobs Plan today, laying out a much-anticipated and bold vision for creating jobs, addressing inequity and inequality, and setting in motion one of the biggest single investments in the nation’s infrastructure of all time…

President Biden Puts Climate Adaptation Back on the Agenda

Expert BlogRob Moore
By reinstating EO 13653, President Biden is elevating climate resilience and adaptation as priorities for his administration. Will he also designate a Federal Climate Resilience Officer to lead these efforts?

Laura: The Latest Climate Disaster for Low-Income Americans

Expert BlogRob Moore
Hurricane Laura is yet another reminder of how low-income communities and communities of color are most vulnerable to climate-fueled disasters. How post-disaster recovery and disaster mitigation dollars are allocated contribute can put further distance between the haves and the have-nots.

2020 Is Exposing Emergency Management Gaps

Expert BlogRob Moore
The events of 2020, and of the past few years, have exposed the need to bolster the nation’s emergency and disaster management capacity—a fact that is borne out in two recent reports from the GAO.

House Climate Plan Takes Aim at Flooding and Sea Level Rise

Expert BlogUnited StatesRob Moore
The House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis has some solid recommendations for how the nation can address flooding and sea level rise. Better codes and standards, insurance, and major reforms to the National Flood Insurance Program are among the…

Getting Climate Resilience Right in North Carolina

Expert BlogRob Moore
The state’s “Climate Risk Assessment and Resilience Plan” is expected to outline a comprehensive strategy to help North Carolina stay ahead of the ever-escalating climate crisis. It can’t come soon enough as hurricane season looms especially large this year, and…

Climate Change Literature that Made Waves in 2019

Expert BlogRob Moore
As the planet heated up to record breaking levels, the seas continued to rise, and wildfires, storms, floods, or other manifestations of climate change made headlines every single day, the stream of climate change literature turned into a deluge. This…

NC's Missing the Big Picture on Climate Resilience

Expert BlogNorth CarolinaRob Moore

NC is applying for $168 million from HUD's CDBG-MIT fund. But NC is proposing to focus on a narrow range of projects and missing the larger opportunity to use these funds to make much-needed changes to a range of local…

McSweeney's and NRDC's Climate Collaboration

Expert BlogRob Moore
When McSweeney’s, the San Francisco-based independent publisher, approached NRDC about collaborating on a special edition of speculative climate fiction stories set in the year 2040 . . . we jumped at the chance.

$6.875 Billion Available for Climate Resilience from HUD

Expert BlogUnited StatesRob Moore

The long-awaited funding will go to nine states and five local jurisdictions to support activities like home buyouts, more resilient housing, and infrastructure that can withstand future climate-driven disasters. 

Midwest Floods May Lead Illinois to New Solutions

Expert BlogUnited States, IllinoisRob Moore

The Midwest floods of 2019 have caused hardship and loss but, Illinois has not seen much in the way of damages. Part of the reason is because Illinois has strong floodplain management regulations, something Governor Pritzker is expected to keep…