Photo: Denis Van Tine/AP Photo

The musician is giving back to people in a major way.

theroot.com - by Yesha Callahan - June 2, 2015

When he’s not singing or producing music, Akon is busy providing sustainable living options to people in African countries. The Senegalese-American singer’s initiative, appropriately called Akon Lighting Africa, aims to supply electricity to 600 million people in Africa who lack it with the launch of the Solar Academy.

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CLICK HERE - Akon Lighting Africa

CIDRAP NEWS by Lisa Schnirring                                                                               June 3, 2015

(Scroll down for WHO stuation report.)

In  its weekly epidemiologicpidemiologic profile of the outbreak Wednesday, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Ebola activity in Guinea and Sierra Leone has become more intense and widespread since May 10, when the region saw cases hit a 10-month low.

Last week the two countries reported 25 new lab-confirmed cases, 13 in Guinea and 12 in Sierra Leone. The number is up from 12 reported the week before.

Overall, the total of confirmed, probable, and suspected cases in the two countries and Liberia—which is now Ebola free—has risen to 27,145, including 11,147 deaths, the WHO said.

sciencedaily.com - March 5, 2015

Source:  Texas A&M University

CLICK HERE - STUDY - Changing global patterns of urban exposure to flood and drought hazards

Summary:  A heads-up to New York, Baltimore, Houston and Miami: a new study suggests that these metropolitan areas and others will increase their exposure to floods even in the absence of climate change.  Their work is published in Global Environmental Change. . . .

. . . "Through land change, bank protection, channelization, and other means, urbanization can also alter the geomorphology of river channels and floodplains, which in turn may contribute to increased risk of flooding."

"Our findings suggest that future urban expansion in flood and drought prone zones will at least be as important as population growth and economic development in increasing their exposure," the researchers add.

"With climatic changes, this exposure is only expected to increase in the future. Thus, proper planning and financing in fast growing cities today will be critical in mitigating future losses due to floods and droughts."

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resilience.org - October 15, 2012 - Rachel Morello-Frosch, Manuel Pastor

On September 30, 2012, California Governor Brown signed the “Climate and Community Revitalization” bills – AB 1532 and SB535. The first of these sets up a process to allocate revenues from auctioning allowances (that is, emissions permits) under the new market-based system that is part of the implementation of the Golden State’s 2006 landmark legislation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs). More significantly, SB 535 requires that a minimum of 25 percent of cap and trade revenue be invested in projects that provide benefits to environmentally burdened and socially disadvantaged communities – and it requires that 10 percent be directly invested in projects in those communities.

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Image: Governer Jerry Brown.

huffingtonpost.com - April 29th 2015 - Kate Sheppard

California Gov. Jerry Brown issued an executive order Wednesday directing the state to cut is greenhouse gas emissions 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030, the toughest proposed cuts of any state in the nation.

The 2030 target will ensure that California can meet its emissions target for the middle of this century, which calls for an 80 percent cut by 2050, Brown said. The state is already on pace to meet its goal of bringing heat-trapping emissions down to 1990 levels by 2020, a target set under a 2006 state law.

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Image: Three out of four hot days could be due to climate change (Image: Guy Corbishley/Getty)

newscientist.com - April 28th 2015 - Aviva Rutkin

If climate change was a game, we'd have racked up quite a score. A fresh study suggests that humans are responsible for a hefty number of today's extreme hot days and rainstorms.

Weather extremes, such as a Russian heatwave in 2010 and a drought in Texas in 2011, have been blamed on climate change before – but the attribution of individual events to it is still hotly debated.

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Rooftop greenery is part of the plan (photo: PlaNYC via flickr)

gothamgazette.com - by Sarah Crean - April 16, 2015

. . . Problems like localized flooding will become all the more urgent as climate change progresses. But the threat to each neighborhood is different, depending on where it is located relative to the city's 500-plus miles of coastline, and factors like socio-economic conditions, building stock, and critical infrastructure.

City officials are far from indifferent. Its strategy, in a nutshell, is to gradually strengthen the coastline, upgrade building stock, and protect critical infrastructure. Next week on Earth Day, April 22, the city plans to release a major progress report, the first in four years, on its multi-pronged sustainability framework, known as PlaNYC. As in the past, the report is expected to include discussion of climate resiliency, that is, the city's ongoing and developing preparations to manage for the effects of climate change.

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whitehouse.gov 
washingtonpost.com - by Juliet Eilperin - April 7, 2015

President Obama launched an initiative Tuesday aimed at highlighting the connections between climate change and public health, bringing both medical and data experts to the White House this week.

As part of the effort, the White House will hold a Climate Change and Health Summit later this spring, featuring Surgeon General Vivek Murthy. The administration is expanding its Climate Data Initiative, which it launched a year ago, to include more than 150 health-relevant data sets.

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Image:  Workers walk among newly installed solar panels at a solar power plant in Zhouquan township of Tongxiang, Zhejiang province December 18, 2014. A new report highlights the co-benefits of renewable energy sector. REUTERS/Stringer

newsweek.com - March 31st 2015 - Luke Hurst

As the March 31 deadline for countries to submit their proposals for tackling irreversible climate change passes, a new report claims lives could be spared, the climate could be saved from catastrophic and irreversible change, and one million jobs could be created if green policies are initiated.

The report from the New Climate Institute (NCI) - a green pressure group - says more ambitious action to reverse climate change would yield even greater economic and social co-benefits in the form of job creation and a healthier climate.

                         (TO VIEW PHOTOS FROM THIS WORKSHOP - CLICK ON THE IMAGE BELOW)

On April 11, 2015 a climate change planning workshop was held for East Harlem and Central Harlem. The workshop brought local stakeholders together to develop community-based responses to climate related events including heat waves and hurricanes, among others.

The "Northern Manhattan Climate Change Resilience Project" is a collaborative planning process for ensuring that New York City's response to climate change meets the needs of low-income and other marginalized communities in Northern Manhattan and beyond. In additon to advocating for public policies that reverse the city's legacy and trajectory of socio-economic inequality, participants will work to develop systems of local cooperation that can support social resilience in the face of climate change.

(FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION SEE THE LINKS BELOW)

http://climateresil-weact.nationbuilder.com/about

                         (TO VIEW PHOTOS FROM THIS WORKSHOP - CLICK ON THE IMAGE BELOW)

On April 4, 2015 a climate change planning workshop was held for West Harlem, Washington Heights, and Inwood. The workshop brought local stakeholders together to develop community-based responses to climate related events including heat waves and hurricanes, among others.

The "Northern Manhattan Climate Change Resilience Project" is a collaborative planning process for ensuring that New York City's response to climate change meets the needs of low-income and other marginalized communities in Northern Manhattan and beyond. In additon to advocating for public policies that reverse the city's legacy and trajectory of socio-economic inequality, participants will work to develop systems of local cooperation that can support social resilience in the face of climate change.

(FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION SEE THE LINKS BELOW)

climateresil-weact.nationbuilder.com - by Dee Aheme - April 7, 2015

On Saturday April 4^th, I participated in an amazing and eye-opening climate change planning workshop for Northern Manhattan.  The room was packed from wall-to-wall with over 65 diverse community members from West Harlem, Washington Heights, and Inwood, many of whom were my fellow WE ACT members, and all of whom were gathered with one goal: to help Northern Manhattan’s low-income and working class residents prepare for the climate crisis.

We know that due to global warming we are already seeing more frequent ‘extreme weather emergencies’ and we can expect that those conditions will get worse over the coming years.  We know that in the NYC area we will see summer heat waves intensify and winter storms become more severe, with greater risk of flooding due to rising sea-levels.  The big question posed at this workshops was: what are we going to do about it?

RSVP HERE FOR THE APRIL 11TH WORKSHOP