while many people may have never heard of maplewood, they have probably heard of hurricane irene and superstorm sandy, two recent violent storms that damaged my town. as the impact of climate change continues to threaten the entire world, the northeast may see more brutal storms as a result.

what scares me is how frequent and violent these storms can become. in 2006, hurricane ernesto hit our town knocked down one of the trees in my front yard on to my house. while there was no major damage done, we didn’t realize how much shade that tree provided until our house was significantly warmer the next year and our air conditioning bill went up as a result.

when hurricane irene hit, my basement was filled with over three feet of water because our electric sump pump broke due to the power outage. we had to wait for the fire department to come pump our basement out before we could begin to assess the damage. when the fire department finally came, they said we had won the award for the most water in a basement.

when hurricane sandy hit, just about every street in my town had a section closed because of a down tree and/or telephone pole. it took over a week for power to fully be restored. we have started to joke in my town now that soon we will have no trees because every major storm seems to knock down at least one tree on every street.

according to the national climate assessment (nca), two of the key challenges facing the northeast are coastal flooding and stressed infrastructure being compromised due to climate-related hazards. climate change worries me, especially the big increase in dangerous storms that might head straight for my town. the northeast region has seen more than a 70% increase in precipitation, more then any other region in the u.s. when superstorm sandy hit in 2012, it became the most destructive hurricane ever recorded in new jersey. according to the huffington post, superstorm sandy is the second costliest hurricane since 1900 with an estimated total damage amount of $50 billion.

in order to protect ourselves, the northeast will need to take drastic measures. by 2030, new york city buildings with more than seven stories and over 300,000 sq. feet will be required to undertake flood protection measures. while maplewood has not yet issued a similar mandate, it is only a matter of time before they do.

i think every house and building should be required to take similar measures. as climate change charges on, its hard to know when and how damaging the next storm will be. it’s important to take the time now to climate-proof your home, so you’re ready when the next big storm hits. 

sam cohen is a junior majoring in journalism and mass communication at the george washington university.

_{top photo courtesy flickr user dave s}

specialized agricultural techniques may not be enough to keep the food coming, according to william nordhaus’s climate casino.

it’s not just my sunday trips that will change, though – based on the national climate assessment, everyone in the northeast region of the country should be wary of increasing temperatures, precipitation and sea level rise. the evidence is growing larger as our time to act is shrinking. we’re on the path to finding out what climate change means for us the hard way.

this is one risk we should not be willing to take. even if there was a way to maintain my favorite broccoli and cauliflower supply at the market, getting the food to town poses another significant problem.

the predicted 71% increase in heavy precipitation will permanently flood the bronx river parkway. major traffic on other routes will become the norm as families struggle to clock in on time for work and have a tedious experience even grabbing a good burger in the next town over.  

the bronx river parkway has its name for a reason. water originally filled the route before we came along with cement and a tractor, and all signs are pointing toward water filling it again. all solutions are costly, but with no place for another parkway, elevating the roads might be the only viable option unless people want to start kayaking around the county.

frequently traveling by water is one thing – drinking it is another. the quality of water is also greatly at risk.

sea level rise will increase salt-water intrusion into the hudson river. the hudson river runs into the state’s water supply, meaning drinking water quality is guaranteed to diminish. costco will prosper due to the increase in water bottle sales. everyone else will pay the price.

eastchester is in the same position as the rest of the globe. the best solution is prevention. we cannot save our crops once we go beyond the point of no return and there is no conceivable way to drain inches of water from the ocean.  between increasing temperatures, precipitation and sea levels, the earth is slowly consuming our habitat. nature is supposed to be an ally of mankind, but we are slowly turning the environment into an undefeatable adversary.

new yorkers need to adopt favorable climate practices before they are forced to adapt to an unfavorable climate.  

as a result of the mountain pine beetle, nearly 70,000 acres of forest, approximately the size of washington state, have died since 2000. dead trees now carpet the rocky mountains.

every labor day my family and i would drive up to our favorite ski resort and help move the dead trees. it became a competition between all of the kids to see who could roll the most dead logs down the slope. we watched our forests shrink in size more and more each year, causing winds at the top of the mountain to become unbearable during parts of the ski season.

the beetles hatch from the trees they have just killed and swarm until they find a home to burrow and lay their eggs. in the past they would hatch and swarm for two weeks in july; now, that cycle is much longer. with the temperature rising the beetles fly, continually infecting trees for six months from may to october. the winters have gotten increasingly warmer causing beetles, weeds, and other invasive species to have a better chance at surviving the harsh winters. the pine beetles alone have are causing devastation throughout montana and the great plains states.

changes in the climate stand to not only affect montana’s forests, but also it’s largest source of income: agriculture. the national agricultural statistics service reports that over 65% of montana’s land is covered with farms and ranches. wheat is the state’s leading crop, bringing in 1/3 of the state’s agricultural income. farming is an integral part of montana life. changes would drastically affect all of the great plains states, an area that is notorious for severe fluctuations in weather that make life dramatic and challenging for the people, animals, and plants that inhabit the region.

growing up in montana i remember pilling on the under armour, ski coats, and ugg boots, just to make it to school in -40 degree weather. when it got that cold you had to be careful walking to your seat on the school bus, because the aisle was often covered with a layer of ice. a few weeks later it could be up to 80 degrees, and in the summer it often reached above 100, pushing people to the outskirts of town to cool off in creeks and the missouri river. 

parts of that very river, montana’s longest, flooded this year due to record rainfall and snow melt, causing major damage to riverfront properties in my hometown, and leaving much of the crow reservation underwater.

increases in winter and spring precipitation throughout the northern plains will increase the water levels through soil moisture which will help agriculture in the early growing season, and rising temperatures will lengthen the growing season making it so that some places will be able to harvest a second annual crop. yet, warming temperatures can create other difficulties; the national climate assessment predicts that the changing national climate will create more frequent and intense droughts, downpours, heat waves, and severe storms adding stress and cost to the region.

climate change poses many threats to my home, and the great plains states. a beetle outbreak , rising river levels, uncertainty about the future of agriculture, and the always looming chance of a severe weather storm are just a some of the worries i think about as we move into winter. how much longer can my state thrive, and what will it take for montanans to realize the threat and make a change?

_{header photo courtesy of the beacon reader}

at the tree house the pines whisper during the summer and are hushed in the winter when they are covered in snow. the waterfalls rage below glistening peaks, and i get to explore it all. but two summers ago a forest fire came within forty yards of my beloved family cabin, and i saw before me the prospect of the place where all of my treasured family memories were made being burned to the ground.

increased rainfall in the winters and decreased rainfall in the summers create drier summers with reduced stream flow west of the cascades. drier and warmer summers mean drier forests. snowpack in the mountains is low and snowmelt will occur three to four weeks earlier. in fact data that observed stream flow each year in june for the past fifty years shows that in the washington cascade region, stream flow has reduced 4 to 15 percent.

all of these factors make forests in the pacific northwest increasingly susceptible to forest fires. beyond the destruction of aesthetic beauty and recreation areas, as these trees that have stored carbon for years are burned they release all of the stored carbon back into the atmosphere, contributing further to our climate problem. also lost is the ecological service these trees give us by cleaning air and water.

forests in this region will also begin to see greater invasion of the pine beetle. these huge beetles invade increasingly warmer, drier regions, burrow into trees, and kill them from their trunk to their tip, making for patches of dead, dry trees.  however, the beetles won’t last long because they can only survive within a specific temperature range, and the cascade forests will soon be too hot, even for the pine beetles. their presence in the forests will decrease by about 50% by around 2100.

unfortunately, there is not much we can do for our forests. thinning the surfaces and canopies of our forests could abate some of the fire’s fury, but the reality is that persistent warming will simply continue to threaten the forests.

northwest recreational junkies, beware: though seattle, my hometown, is thought to be an epicenter of environmental friendliness and home to many-a-tree-hugger, it is far from being immune to the impacts of climate change. the northwestern corner of the united states not only faces forest vulnerabilities, but also water resource, coastline, and agricultural impacts.

this affects you, the hiker who’s favorite forest will be infested with pine beetles; you, the spring skier with no good snow come march at mt. bachelor; you, the paddle-boarder off of alki beach who’s favorite place to coast through the waters will look very different a few years down the road; and me, one who, like the rest of us in the pacific northwest, delights in the beauty of the snowy mountains and lush nature that surrounds our region that is undergoing change.