disasters

Kill the Oil Companies Before They Kill Us

Hamilton Nolan · 11/03/14 12:42PM

There is a new U.N. report on climate change. Its warnings are very, very dire. It is time that the public comes to terms with the choice we face: keep fossil fuels in the ground, or face doom. Oil companies, like it or not, must be forced to change or be killed.

Don't Donate to the Red Cross

Andy Cush · 10/29/14 10:00AM

Donating to charity, especially in a time of crisis, can be intimidating. There are so many options. How do you know the organization you choose will use the money effectively? You might pick one with a history, a pedigree, a name you can trust. You might pick the American Red Cross. Fuck that.

What Happens When There's No Insurance for Your Beach House?

Hamilton Nolan · 10/22/14 02:23PM

Climate change is causing rising oceans and more extreme weather. Even as beachfront development continues, beachfront living is growing ever more perilous. What happens when all the insurance companies decide to stop insuring anything by a beach?

Hamilton Nolan · 10/21/14 01:46PM

Here you will find an argument that the city of Miami, which is slowly being slowly eaten by the sea, should encourage more development, so it will have the tax base necessary to pay for the construction of defenses to save those developments from the rising seas. That's that Florida logic.

A Replay of the 1989 San Francisco Earthquake Is Probably Coming

Hamilton Nolan · 10/14/14 08:38AM

San Francisco has become America's foremost symbol of gentrification, lack of affordable housing, and twentysomethings who inexplicably make ten times more than you ever will. Scientists say the earthquake that will wipe it all away is now "locked and loaded."

Ten Dead, 150 Trapped After Mudslide in India

Andy Cush · 07/30/14 07:20AM

A landslide in Malin, a town in India's Pune district, killed at least ten people and trapped at least 150 more underneath layers of mud up to 15 feet deep.

A Carbon Tax Is Our Only Hope

Hamilton Nolan · 05/27/14 11:46AM

Carbon emissions are causing global warming. Global warming is a slow motion disaster. The consensus is that we must make drastic changes soon. How? We need a carbon tax. A carbon tax is our only hope. Time for a carbon tax now.

Hurricanes Are Moving North

Hamilton Nolan · 05/15/14 11:58AM

A new study published in Nature finds that for the past three decades, hurricanes and tropical cyclones have been gradually moving away from the equator and towards the poles. Hmm. *Checks current location* Fuck.

Sarah Hedgecock · 05/14/14 02:15PM

Miners are helped by rescue workers and friends from a coal mine on Wednesday in Soma, Turkey, more than 19 hours after an explosion and fire killed at least 238 miners and trapped hundreds more. Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said 787 workers had been in the mine when the blast occurred. Image via Ozgu Ozdemir/Getty.

Sinking Ferries

Michelle Dean · 05/03/14 08:30AM

Unlike the situation aboard, say, a lost plane, the death rate on a sinking ferry varies considerably from disaster to disaster.

Sarah Hedgecock · 04/29/14 02:10PM

Friends and volunteers help remove Dan Wassom's 1934 Ford on Tuesday from the debris left by Sunday's tornado in Vilonia, Ark. Image via Eric Gay/AP.