BURLINGTON, Wash. (AP) — Record floodwaters began slowly receding in Washington state on Friday after triggering evacuations, inundating communities and prompting dramatic rescues from rooftops and vehicles. But authorities warned that waters would still be high for days, and that danger from potential levee failures remained.

“This is not just a one- or two-day crisis,” Gov. Bob Ferguson said at a news briefing. “These water levels have been historic, and they’re going to remain very high for an extended period of time.”

President Donald Trump has signed the state’s request for an emergency declaration, Ferguson said.

An unusually strong atmospheric river dumped a foot (30 cm) or more of rain in parts of western Washington over several days and swelled rivers. No deaths have been reported, Ferguson said.

Florida Sen. Stan McClain comes off as an affable guy — the type of person you might like to get a beer with. But after seeing the legislation he’s filed ahead of the 2026 Legislative Session, you may want to…

A recent paper by three leading economists specializing in tax and energy/climate policy (”Who Bears the Burden of Climate Inaction?,” by Kimberly Clausing, Christopher Knittel and Catherine Wolfram) looks at how the physical effects of climate change are affecting US households. The authors find that costs are already going up—particularly for low-income households, and particularly in hotter and more disaster-prone areas of the country.

It’s a narrow study in some ways: the authors focus only on home insurance premiums, home energy costs, and smoke effects on mortality, because those are cost increases that can be rigorously measured. They find that, today, climate-driven changes in those costs add up to about $400-$900 per household per year, with much higher costs—upward of $1,300 a year—in the hardest-hit places.

Hello and welcome to The Associated Press Climate Watch newsletter. I’m Douglas Glass, an editor for AP’s climate and environment team, and today I’m going to tell you about a book you won’t likely find on all those recommended gift lists bouncing around this time of year (but maybe you should).

HYANNIS – NOAA Fisheries has announced two new slow zones for right whales, including Cape Cod Bay. The restrictions are in place through December 20th after the whales were discovered last Friday.…

Corporations are asking the Supreme Court to help them dismantle a groundbreaking California transparency law requiring emissions disclosure.

The Trump administration is helping Monsanto owner Bayer in its effort to kill thousands of lawsuits claiming its weed-killer Roundup causes cancer. The company has already paid out over $10 billion in damages to dozens of plaintiffs.

An impressive display of world class scientists recently (Nov. 27th) held a UK National Emergency Briefing, informing the world of impending climate

The AI phenomenon may functionally print money for tech billionaires, at least for the time being, but it comes with a gargantuan environmental cost.

Millions of African children are born into overlapping crises, and true climate justice must begin with birth equity to uphold human rights, sovereignty, and reparative action.

In July 2025, the International Court of Justice held its first hearings on states’ climate responsibilities in decades. A lead judge described climate change as an “urgent and existential threat,” acknowledging that future generations are central to the crisis. Yet the hearings failed to explicitly center the most affected population—children born in economically poor nations, especially in Africa.

Every generation is shaped by the terms of its arrival. In Africa, millions of children are born not simply into poverty but into a geopolitical order designed to limit their chances at survival, dignity, and influence. This is not only a local governance failure; it is the outcome of global systems that reward extraction and devalue Black life. African births now occur within a compound crisis: ecological collapse, economic neocolonialism, and the persistent denial of reproductive justice.

If climate justice is to be more than rhetoric, it must begin at the site of birth. Without confronting the global structures that predetermine the lives of African children, reform remains performative, and structural violence persists. A just world must be built not on the backs of children, but around the recognition of their humanity and political personhood from the beginning.

Extreme weather and changes in seasonal patterns are fundamentally altering the landscape, in cities and in farming communities. You’re going to pay for it.

Fish swim free again: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Coastal Program removes barriers to fish passage during the Octoraro Creek Dam removal in Cecil County, Maryland. 

After centuries of dam building, , a nationwide movement to dismantle these aging barriers is showing how free-flowing rivers can restore ecosystems, improve safety, and reconnect people with nature.

BOSTON – A federal judge has thrown out an order from President Trump blocking the development of wind energy. They said the effort to halt virtually all leasing of wind farms on federal lands and …

Often overlooked in traditional emergency management, women play a critical role in preparedness, risk reduction, and building resilient communities. 

On February 26, 1852, the HMS Birkenhead struck a cluster of rocks off the coast of South Africa. With only a few lifeboats for the 638 people aboard, Captain Robert Salmond ordered the women and children to board first while the men stayed behind, attempting to stabilize the ship. The Birkenhead disaster helped cement what became known as the “Birkenhead drill,” widely invoked in the Victorian era as the origin of the “women and children first” maritime code.

While practical in its moment, the ethos helped entrench a stereotype: in times of crisis, women are the ones who are helped, not the helpers. Yet history, sociology, and contemporary disaster risk reduction (DRR) practices show the opposite. Women are not only capable responders but often possess critical knowledge and leadership skills essential to community resilience.

The popular park is the fastest-eroding beach in Maine. The rapid erosion has prompted state officials to take a deeper look at the long-term sustainability of the park facilities at Popham Beach.

What happens when you combine cooperative solar ownership with a clever standardized design meant to match the scale and capacity of local communities?

After centuries of dam building, a nationwide movement to dismantle these aging barriers is showing how free-flowing rivers can restore ecosystems,

 Indigenous leaders, farmers, and environmental activists worldwide face harassment, violence, and legal threats while defending land, water, and ecosystems, highlighting the urgent need for stronger protections and international accountability.

Land and environmental defenders—Indigenous leaders, farmers, conservationists, and community activists—risk their lives opposing the destructive exploitation of natural resources. Global Witness defines them as people who “take a stand… against the unjust, discriminatory, corrupt or damaging exploitation of natural resources or the environment.” Often described as the planet’s last line of defense, they protest, document, and litigate against illegal logging, mining, and pollution—frequently at grave personal risk.

The Great Bear Rainforest in British Columbia illustrates this work. Heiltsuk leaders emphasize that their ancestral land is part of one of the largest intact temperate rainforests in the world, home to iconic species and a crucial carbon sink. Protecting such forests preserves biodiversity and climate stability, highlighting the global importance of local action. Yet defenders often pay a high price: coalition reports describe their work as increasingly perilous and frequently met with escalating violence.

Massachusetts officials are laying groundwork for a plan to offer coastal residents money for their homes as threats like flooding and erosion increase due to climate change. But it can be hard to convince people to leave or get enough money to buy expensive homes.