Waterproofing once-dry basements is an offshoot of all this rain
Many homes in New England have unfinished basements. Heating systems and water heaters are often down there. Some house washers and dryers and the odd artificial Christmas tree.With the steady rain of 2023, many of these seldom-used spaces are getting wet, sometimes with serious consequences. High water can knock out heating systems and water heaters that sit on the ground. People who keep plastic bins of old papers and photos have seen them get damp and moldy or wet and destroyed.Companies that perform basement waterproofing have seen a surge in inquiries and bookings this year. Even if your mechanicals are safe, it's a good idea to waterproof your basement as trapped moist air can cause rot in wooden structural elements and mold in the living spaces above the basement.A recent Boston Globe article highlights some of the approaches homeowners are taking: sump pumps, interior and exterior drains, dehumidifiers, vapor barriers.Read the whole article here: A side effect of intense rainfall
Americans living in areas prone to natural disasters may not be able to get insurance coverage
The Boston Globe shared a story from the Washington Post informing readers that major home and auto insurers are pulling coverage in those areas most prone to loss from hurricanes, tornados, wildfires and flooding. All the things that most people rely on insurance for.The increased risk of loss from natural disasters means insurance companies lose money on their policies. In the first six months of 2023, there were $40 billion in insured losses from natural catastrophes. This is the 3rd most expensive January-June on record.Where does that leave people who must insure their homes and autos when there are no policies to be had?
Is Massachusetts finally ready to make changes to Boston Harbor and coastal communities?
Bill Golden, former MA Senator, former city solicitor for Quincy, and one of the founders of the EPA, wonders if the time has come for the various political bodies to work together and protect Boston Harbor and 15 coastal communities in MA from more flooding.In an op-ed in the Boston Globe, Golden details how he used his position as Quincy's solicitor to get the Harbor cleaned up. He believes a Boston Harbor Coastal Resiliency Authority is the answer and urges city and state officials to act now.
Phoenix: hottest, least sustainable city is also the top destination for movers
Phil Rosen of Business Insider reported on the record number of homebuyers who are trying to move away from unaffordable areas of the country (top three: San Francisco, NYC, Boston) to more affordable areas. 25.4% of people looking to move are house hunting in a different metro-area. Before the pandemic, only 20% of homebuyers were looking outside of their current area.The most-searched for areas, according to Redfin data, are Phoenix, Las Vegas, and Miami. And while those areas have a lower cost of living and more affordable housing, they also have a deteriorating quality of life due to intense heat and storm activity, thanks to climate change.Arizona is now limiting construction in the Greater Phoenix area because the groundwater is not sufficient to support the additional residents who are coming in. Phoenix is the hottest city in the US, the least-sustainable city in the US and is also the #1 most searched for destination for people moving. The temperature is now steadily over 100 degrees in the summer, which is almost unbearable and definitely not sustainable for human life. An article on Salon recently suggested that Phoenix will be uninhabitable by 2099.The median single family home in Phoenix costs $450,000. In Boston, the median single family home costs $820,000. People are clearly willing to sustain the heat if they can't sustain the costs of the cooler Northeast.Remote work is surely playing a part in people seeking to move South and West, but all that computer work also uses electricity, putting further pressure on the grid.
A TV Weatherman Reports a Death Threat
Chris Gloniger, a former weatherman for an Iowa television station, wrote a first-person account of his experience receiving critical and then threatening emails that disparaged him and the idea of climate change. The Des Moines police found the sender, who pled guilty to harassment.Gloniger quit his job in Iowa and got a job as Senior Scientist in Climate and Risk Communication at Woods Hole. He plans to build "climate literacy", help first responders integrate climate change into their emergency operation plans, and ensure environmental justice is part of "conversations about building resilient communities".You can read all of Gloniger's piece, which appeared in the Boston Globe Magazine, here: I spoke about climate change as a TV meteorologist and death threats followed
Are New England's dams ready for the 21st century?
The recent devastating flooding in Vermont, caused by massive rainfall into already saturated ground, had officials sounding warnings about the state's dams. Would they hold? The Army Corps of Engineers was on hand to manage the disaster if the dams failed. In the end, they held. Now the question is, for how long?In 2011, a Massachusetts auditor found that 100 dams in the state were unsafe or in poor condition and many communities near those dams did not have emergency action plans to evacuate residents if they failed. As of 2023, 60 of the 100 problem dams are safe but 40 are not.As rain events come more often, what will happen to New England's old dams? Read more in this Boston Globe piece.
Are dome homes the answer to climate change?
R. Buckminster Fuller and Lloyd Khan popularized geodesic buildings in the late 1960s. They are round, which makes them stand out, and they are energy efficient. Counter-cultural types of the 1970s loved them as DIY residences and many commercial buildings were constructed as geodesic domes - the Epcot Center at Disney World and the Dome of Expo 67 in Montreal may be the best known.They are made of triangles and have less surface area than a rectangular building. They are easier to insulate, snow falls off them, and they withstand earthquakes. Their time may have come again!Architects and design schools (along with homeowners) are thinking about ways to build homes that will withstand the dangers of climate change: wildfires, snow, mud, flooding, draught.Read a recent NYTimes article with images of several dome homes here: Alternative Homebuilding
Lessons from the Canadian wildfires
The New York Times recently reported on the economic impacts of the Canadian wildfires on our neighbor to the north. The health-related costs probably are the first thing one thinks of, but also taking a hit are oil and gas operations, timber, and tourism.Whole neighborhoods have been washed away with a result of many people losing their homes, cars, and material possessions. Canada has suffered many natural disasters in the 21st century and the cost of them continues to rise, which makes insurers concerned.Read the whole article here: Canada Offers Lesson in the Economic Toll of Climate Change
Flooding impacts everything, including the T
The Communications Earth & Environment journal published a report earlier this year that finds that flooding and related water damages currently cost $24 million per year and are expected to reach $58 million annually by 2030. They warn of potentially permanent inundation of some of the underground and low-lying areas of the MBTA.Lead author, Michael Martello of MIT's Transit Lab said that the MBTA's lack of action in addressing water has "already doubled their risk and is expected to double it again if nothing is done" in a Boston Globe article, which you can read in full here: Climate change could be a costly problem for the MBTA, report says.
Ocean temps rising to unprecedented levels
Boston Globe coverage reports that the world's oceans are heating up. The North Atlantic, near Europe and northern Africa, is the hottest.Scientists believe this is due to the El Nino/La Nina transition that is happening. Whatever the cause, the warmer water is expected to make sea ice melt faster (which makes sea levels rise) and may alter the jet stream, causing bigger and stronger hurricanes.Read about it on the Boston Globe here: Nothing like this has ever happened before
How can Boston protect itself against rising sea levels?
The Wharf District Council, a Boston-based non-profit, has put forward a resiliency plan for the city. They believe that with $1.2 billion of upgrades, the city's waterfront could be saved.Without some kind of action, much of downtown's infrastructure could be underwater or washed away by 2070, as this dramatic image illustrates. The Wharf District Council plan was a privately-funded report. You can read more about the flooding issues in this recent Boston Globe article: This is Boston's biggest challenge
Winds, floods, and fires making insurers say no to new policies
The intersection between three current crises: climate, housing, and economic woes was laid out in a recent New York Times article. State Farm, the largest homeowner's insurance company in the state of California will no longer issue new policies for homeowners' insurance in that state, even after repeatedly raising premiums. Not just in wildfire risk areas, but everywhere in the state. The reason? Climate change and the risks of fire and flood don't make it economically feasible.After Hurricane Andrew hit Florida in 1992, insurers suffered devastating losses and many national insurers stopped offering policies in that state. Florida came up with a complex system to insure homes and private insurance companies charged very high rates, but after the 2017 Hurricane Irma, even more insurers (and insured) faced huge losses and left.Louisiana is paying insurers to offer policies in that state, because their residents do not have the income of Floridians and can't pay the new higher rates.The factors causing higher rates are risk of loss due to wind, fire, and flood. And as those risks move farther inland, we can expect property insurance to be offered in areas affected by climate change less and less.
Do Climate Change Refugees Know Where to Go?
A recent episode of PBS's Terra program featured Americans who moved within the country (one from Washington to Florida) to avoid climate-related hazards, only to find new weather problems in their new locations. You can watch it on YouTube here.Terra used data from Pro Publica to map out the safest weather/climate areas in the US, based on predictions of how climate will change. New England as a whole fared well, though Southwestern CT, a bit of coastal Maine, a sliver along the CT River in New Hampshire, and Cape Cod and the North Shore of Mass didn't get "Safest 10%" status, as you can see in the map below, from the show.Risks arise from flooding, fire, heat, and drought, and the riskiest 10% of the country is in the south and west, as you can see in the map below, also from the show and using data from Redfin:One of the big dangers of extreme heat is how difficult it is for humans to adapt to it - at home, and on the job. In places where humans (and the built environment) have already adapted to extreme heat - such as Florida - people should have an easier time as the heat rises, because they and their spaces have become acclimatized to it.The fastest-growing metro areas in the US are nearly all in the South - Denver, Seattle, and Oklahoma City are the only non-Southern areas. Why are people moving out of the climate-safe Northeast and moving to the climate-risky South? Because middle-income people can't afford to live in the safe areas. And in the Midwest, housing is cheap, but there are fewer jobs.