Yale Climate Connections

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A three panel meme of a person on a bike. In the first panel the person is riding happily with a stick in their hand. The caption of the panel says 'clean energy is booming.' In the second panel, the person puts the stick into the front bike wheel. The caption says 'ai needs more data centers.' In the third panel the person has fallen off the bike and is lying on the ground clutching their knee. The caption says, 'nevermind, i love gas.'
Protect yourself from smoke Check air quality forecasts: Pay attention to local weather alerts or monitor AirNow.gov. Limit outdoor activity when the air quality is poor. Wear respirator masks outside: N95 and P100 masks can help you avoid breathing in smoke particles. Keep indoor air clean: Make sure windows stay closed, run an air purifier and adjust air conditioner settings to keep outside air outside. Protect vulnerable neighbors: Poor air quality is especially dangerous for children, pregnant women, and people with asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), or heart disease. Learn how climate change affects wildfires and air quality at yaleclimateconnections.org
Medications that may interact with heat Antidepressants: SSRIs: Citalopram (Celexa), Escitalopram (Lexapro), Fluoxetine (Prozac), Paroxetine (Paxil, Pexeva), Sertraline (Zoloft) SNRIs: Desvenlafaxine (Pristiq), Duloxetine (Cymbalta), Levomilnacipran (Fetzima), Venlafaxine (Effexor XR) TCAs: Amitriptyline Central nervous system stimulants: Armodafinil (Nuvigil) AtomoxetinE (Strattera) Dextroamphetamine (Adderall, Dexedrine) Amphetamine (Adderall) Lisdexamfetamine (Vyvanse) Methamphetamine (Desoxyn) Antipsychotics: Risperidone Olanzapine Quetiapine Haloperidol Insulin: Heat can damage insulin, making it less effective. Don't store in a hot place like a car or direct sunlight. Anticholinergics: Benztropine mesylate (Cogentin) Oxybutynin (Ditropan XL) Diphenhydramine (Benadryl) Benztropine (Cogentin) Heart medications: Diuretics: Furosemide (Lasix) ACE inhibitors: Lisinopril, Captopril, Enalapril ARBs: Candesartan (Atacand), Irbesartan (Avapro), Losartan (Cozaar), Olmesartan (Benicar), Telmisartan (Micardis), Valsartan (Diovan) Beta Blockers, Calcium Channel Blockers Commonly abused substances: Alcohol Cocaine Sources: Ebi. (2021). Hot weather and heat extremes: health risks. / Westaway. (2015). Medicines can affect thermoregulation and accentuate the risk of dehydration and heat-related illness during hot weather. / World Health Organization
Protect yourself from heat • Watch for heat stroke: Symptoms can include a body temperature of over 104 F, fainting, confusion, fast and strong pulse, dizziness, skin that is hot to the touch, upset stomach, nausea, or vomiting. Call emergency services if someone is experiencing these symptoms. • Take health precautions: Drink plenty of water, avoid caffeine, wear light-colored, loose-fitting clothing, avoid exercising outdoors, and if you must be outside, take breaks to cool down under shade. • Be careful using fans in extremely hot weather: If the temperature is approaching 100 F, particularly if the air is dry, running a fan can be more dangerous for your body. • Protect vulnerable neighbors: Heat is expecially dangerous for people experiencing homelessness, older adults, children, pregnant people, and people with chronic illnesses.
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Answering your scariest climate questions. Yale Climate Connections. YouTube Live. 10/31 at 12 p.m. Eastern. With Sam Harrington, audience director, and Pearl Marvell, YCC en Español editor.
Powered by abnormally warm waters, Melissa is one of the strongest storms on record. A graphic by Climate Central shows that Hurricane Melissa strengthened over warm water temperatures made at least 800 times more likely by climate change.
Yale Climate Connections: The proliferation of AI-generated images after Helene was wild. Montano: It’s one of those things where, like, we always have false images that spread during disasters. I don’t know if you’re familiar with Hurricane Shark. I call her Clara Sharkton. That shark picture is everywhere. (Editor’s note: The shark is fake.) So there are always false images. But those were really wild, AI-generated images. That is the signal of where we’re headed. Some amount of time ago, there was an AI video that went around with the Capitol exploding or something. And they caught it quick online to dispel it. But if you were just passing a glance, I mean, it looked real enough. That kind of thing is so terrifying from an emergency management perspective. You’ve seen how difficult it is for us to be able to stomp out a myth about $750, let alone stamp out a myth about whether a disaster has even happened. I do think, as bad as the misinformation has been during Helene, and I’m sure will be during Milton, we’re at the beginning here. This could be much, much, much worse if we do not take immediate action to try and make some kind of structural changes to prevent it.
Answering your scariest climate questions. Yale Climate Connections. YouTube Live. 10/31 at 12 p.m. Eastern. Sam Harrington, audience director, and Pearl Marvell, YCC en Español editor.
Tia Taffer is a marketing director for Potential Energy Coalition, where she oversees the strategy, development, and execution of campaigns and content, managing creative, digital, and social initiatives to drive impact. For over 15 years, Tia has helped to shape brand and digital strategy for brands both in agencies and in-house, with a passion for mission-driven work. Most recently, Tia oversaw the digital engagement team at Truth Initiative, driving impactful campaigns to inspire young people to live healthy lives.
Rachel Ramirez is an independent climate reporter and a fellow with the Metcalf Ocean Nexus Academy. She was previously the climate reporter at CNN and has written for Grist, Vox, The Guardian, Rolling Stone, and more. Ramirez is also the cofounder of the Asian American Journalists Association’s Pacific Islander Task Force. Based in New York City, Ramirez was born and raised on the island of Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. territory just north of Guam.
Frank Mungeam is Chief Innovation Officer for the Local Media Association, which works with over 3,000 local media brands, as well as several hundred R&D partners in the industry. LMA’s mission is to help local media companies develop sustainable business models for news. Mungeam leads LMA’s Center for Journalism Funding, focused on developing philanthropic and collaborative models for supporting local journalism, and he leads the Covering Climate Collaborative, a network of 25 local newsrooms and six science partners reporting on the effects of climate change, climate justice, and climate solutions.
Casey is a News Application Developer at Thomson Reuters, specializing in automated mapping and turning complex datasets into engaging, easy to understand visuals. Previously, she was a Senior Engineer at Zignal Labs, Locana, and Bocoup. Earlier in her career, Casey worked as a data and graphics journalist at the Los Angeles Times where she created the live wildfires map, and built data driven narratives at Mapbox and Vox Media. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Journalism and Mass Communication from UNC Chapel Hill.
Una Kelley is the director of strategic partnerships at NC Local, a news organization dedicated to ensuring all North Carolinians have access to trustworthy information about issues that affect them. She previously served as the director of philanthropic development at The Associated Press, where she led a team focused on institutional fund development. She also served as a deputy within the News Partnerships group where she helped lead a team and a body of cross-departmental initiatives focused on fundraising, program development and grant management. Prior to joining the journalism field, her career was at philanthropic and nonprofit organizations.
Isaias Hernandez is an environmentalist, educator, and communicator devoted to improving environmental literacy through content creation, storytelling, and public engagements. Isaias is more commonly known by his moniker, Queer Brown Vegan: the independent media platform he started to bring intersectional environmental education to all. Hernandez’ journey to deconstruct complex issues while centering diversity and authenticity has resonated with a worldwide audience. He is working on his debut book, “Dear Environmentalist,” set to be published in April 2027 with Hachette Book Group under Timber Press imprint.
Antonieta Cadiz has dedicated her career to ensuring Latinos in the United States have access to critical information that shapes their communities. After more than 15 years in journalism, Antonieta joined Climate Power in 2020, motivated by her own experience as a survivor of an extreme weather event. In this role, she has led Latino communications strategy, advancing coverage of climate change in Latino media at both the state and national levels. She now serves as executive director of En Acción, a project of Climate Power dedicated to informing, engaging, and mobilizing Latinos on climate issues and the opportunities of a clean energy economy.
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Una Kelley is the director of strategic partnerships at NC Local, a news organization dedicated to ensuring all North Carolinians have access to trustworthy information about issues that affect them. She previously served as the director of philanthropic development at The Associated Press, where she led a team focused on institutional fund development. She also served as a deputy within the News Partnerships group where she helped lead a team and a body of cross-departmental initiatives focused on fundraising, program development and grant management. Prior to joining the journalism field, her career was at philanthropic and nonprofit organizations.
That decision gets even harder if local officials don’t think they have financial support. In previous years, a governor might have asked for a federal disaster declaration ahead of a major storm. When approved, that would trigger FEMA support, like evacuation coordination and contracting buses to evacuate people who can’t drive and ambulances to help evacuate hospitals. “No hospital on the planet can evacuate their entire hospital with ambulances on hand,” Murphy said. Samantha Montano, the author of “Disasterology” – a book about U.S. vulnerability to disasters in the face of climate change – and an assistant professor of emergency management at Massachusetts Maritime Academy, said that there is no state that is capable of pulling off a major evacuation without federal support. “The idea that state and locals are just going to, all of a sudden, come up with this extra money for emergency management is, I don’t think, really rooted in reality, especially when you look at the overall political situation,” she said.
The ocean is much hotter than it was in 2005 when Hurricane Katrina made landfall. A graph showing that sea surface temperatures in 2025 are running about one degree Fahrenheit higher than they were in 2005.
A graph of Daily global sea surface temperatures the line for 2005 is significantly lower than the line for 2025. Created by Climate Central.
A few examples of FEMA’s role during disaster response Provide the money for all of the deployment of and reimbursements for the National Guard from other states. Reimburse the Department of Defense for any money it spends Provide search and rescue teams from all over the country Pay the overtime of the local first responders Help organize and staff critical medical centers (During Katrina, FEMA operated a center at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge with two medical stations – one focused on children and infants, and the other one focused on adults.) Purchase ready-to-eat meals and contract food, or reimburse the state for food contracts Reimburse organizations like the Red Cross for the money spent to feed people Run the National Flood Insurance Program and pay claims Deposit $700 in survivors’ checking accounts as immediate payment in the aftermath of the storm Provide temporary trailers for people while their homes are rebuilt Source: Retired Lt. Gen. Russel Honoré
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An illustration showing three snow globes progressively filling with more snow which represents plastic. They are labeled with the years 1950, 2020, and 2060. The text reads "Living in a plastic wonderland. The average American family in 2020 lives in a world with 230 times more plastic as a family in 1950. Families in 2060 are on track to live with triple our current amount."