Climate change means disasters are happening simultaneously, too. Much of southeast Louisiana was flattened by Hurricane Ida, and parts of New York and New Jersey are digging out from disastrous flooding.Īnd if it seems like natural disasters are happening more and more often, that's because they are: Climate change has helped drive a fivefold increase in the number of weather-related disasters in the last 50 years. Through fires and hurricanes, through lethal heat waves and flash floods, the world seems to be ending - or at least, that's what it feels like.Īll around us, we're seeing the effects of climate change.
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Crews set a backfire in an effort to gain control of the massive Caldor fire near the Tahoe basin in California on Aug.