Category Archives: climate

Lessons on Containment for the Climate Pandemic

Posted on July 18, 2020 by Philip Orton

Climate change and COVID19 are similarly explosive problems, with similar dangers from missing the opportunity for containment.  One silver lining is that the pandemic has led us to change our lives in some ways that could be made permanent, to simultaneously rein in climate change. Continue reading →

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Vanishing Glaciers, Rising Seas, and More Street Flooding in Low-Lying New York City Neighborhoods

Posted on October 1, 2019 by Philip Orton

A guest post by Dr. Vivien Gornitz   The Okjokull glacier in Iceland is no more. In 2014, Oddur Sigurosson, a prominent Icelandic glaciologist, declared that the remnant ice was too thin to qualify as a glacier. A plaque erected … Continue reading →

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Pants on Fire, Causing Higher Carbon Emissions

Posted on July 9, 2019 by Philip Orton

President Trump, concerned about poor performance with Millennials and Independents is now touting his record in reducing US carbon emissions.  This Pants-On-Fire lie has him taking credit for a decade-long trajectory toward lower emissions that is predominantly caused by a … Continue reading →

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Investing in NOAA Ocean and Atmospheric Research

Posted on March 5, 2017 by Philip Orton

The Washington Post reported Friday that the Trump Administration is seeking huge cuts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) 2018 budget, including eliminating the Sea Grant Program and shaving 26% from the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research … Continue reading →

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A “new normal” or drowning by a million drops?

Posted on February 25, 2016 by Philip Orton

I was interviewed the other day on WNYC regarding flood events of the past few months — there is a concern that the three events that flooded some low-lying neighborhoods with roughly a foot of water signify a “new normal”, but … Continue reading →

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Increasing coincident surge and rain flooding

Posted on July 28, 2015 by Philip Orton

An important study was just published in the journal Nature Climate Change, on the topic of coincident rainfall and storm surge, termed “compound flooding”.  We knew that storm surges and heavy rainfall events were both getting worse in some places, such … Continue reading →

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Why I Am Marching for Climate

Posted on September 19, 2014 by Philip Orton

On Sunday at noon, many thousands of concerned citizens will be marching to the United Nations in Manhattan to protest the lack of progress to reduce global carbon dioxide emissions, with the 2013 rate at its fastest rate ever.  Each year, believe … Continue reading →

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Resilience Concepts Behind Living Breakwaters

Posted on June 26, 2014 by Philip Orton

I was asked by an intern at City Atlas, Travis Gonzales, to answer his well-posed questions on our winning Rebuild By Design entry, Living Breakwaters, and here is that Q&A, which I think gets addresses some important aspects of the concept. … Continue reading →

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Increasing storm tides in New York Harbor, 1844–2013

Posted on June 4, 2014 by Philip Orton

We published a paper in the journal Geophysical Research Letters in May (paper, supporting information), and a very important yet simple result from the paper is that Stefan Talke (Portland State University) recovered historical sea level data from NY Harbor and created this great 1844-2013 … Continue reading →

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HUD Rebuild By Design: Plans for the Future Coast

Posted on October 30, 2013 by Philip Orton

I am honored to be part of a well-constructed, diverse-minded team for the HUD (federal Housing and Urban Development) post-Sandy “Rebuild By Design” competition, one of 10 successful teams of about 150 that applied.  The team was built and is … Continue reading →

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