Days after Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans in August 2005, the national news media expressed collective alarm at the discovery that in modern America, many people shelter in place during storms for the simple reason that they can’t afford to … Continue reading
On the corner of Franklin and Varick streets in Tribeca, kitty-corner from the Ghostbusters firehouse, sits a prototype of the main weapon in the MTA’s war against water.It looks like a normal subway entrance, except the railing at the back … Continue reading
If anything has stood out about the Women’s World Cup so far—aside from dramatic upsets by underdogs, which most U.S. sports fans have probably missed since they involve teams like Colombia—it has been star American striker Abby Wambach failing to … Continue reading
New York is a city that likes to forget it’s surrounded by water. Each spring, as the sidewalks thaw and we re-emerge, blinking, into the natural world, there are plenty of opportunities to rediscover the city’s ample waterfront: New York … Continue reading
On Neptune Avenue in Coney Island, the throngs that surrounded the Coney Island Gospel Assembly’s relief site in November have mostly dissipated. The mobile medical office—a gift from a pastor in Joplin, Missouri—remains in place, and a Red Cross truck … Continue reading
Hurricane Sandy may be remembered not only as the most powerful storm ever to strike the Eastern seaboard, but also as the moment when a large segment of the U.S. media first allowed itself to say the words “climate change” … Continue reading
As with so many roads in the outer boroughs of New York City right now, the drive into Gerritsen Beach, on one of the less fashionable fringes of coastal Brooklyn, abruptly changes once one hits the flood zone. Suddenly, traffic … Continue reading
Drive along the Brooklyn beachfront, and at first, things don’t look quite that bad. Massive trees have fallen along Ocean Parkway and in Asser Levy Park, crushing unsuspecting cars; power is still out to most of the peninsula, so cars … Continue reading
One of the difficulties of reporting on climate change is its incremental nature: It’s hard to expect every media mention of someone driving a car or running an air conditioner to include a note about its effects on the environment. … Continue reading
How the news media dealt with — or failed to — the links between this spring’s severe weather and climate change: On April 14, a massive storm swept down out of the Rocky Mountains into the Midwest and South, spawning … Continue reading