Photo: Barcroft Images/Xinjua

Houston may have broken the US rainfall records, but lost in the dramatic worldwide coverage of Texas has been the plight of tens of millions of people across Asia and Africa who are also counting the human cost of equally intense storms in which months of rain has fallen in just a few hours. One of the heaviest monsoons in the past 30 years has swamped India, Pakistan, and other South Asian countries, killing 1,200 people and affecting more than 40 million people. Unprecedented rainfall and mudslides have affected 21 countries in west and central Africa, including a mudslide that killed 1,000 in Sierra Leone. Worldwide, urban sprawl paving over wetlands and marshes, a growing infrastructure gap, and climate change-exacerbated storms have combined to result in deadly floods similar in nature. Urban researchers predict that many of the world's largest cities can expect to be flooded in the future. ( Guardian)

Hurricane Harvey will force a new reckoning over major energy and climate policy questions. The immediate priorities-rescue operations, disaster assistance, flood insurance, and the like-will be followed by broader questions involving the vulnerability of infrastructure, the energy industry and communities to extreme weather, and the need to balance climate mitigation with adaptation. ( Link)

Photo: Jen Joynt

One of north Lake Tahoe's cutest residents, the American pika, has disappeared. UC Santa Cruz researchers have discovered an extinction spanning from Tahoe City to Truckee, the largest pika die-off in the modern era. Pikas are squeaky rabbit relatives about the size of a hamster. All summer long they hop from talus fields to meadows, carrying bouquets of wildflowers and grass to their high altitude homes storing up enough food for winter. Scientists predict habitat that's suitable for pikas will decrease by 97 percent in the Lake Tahoe region by 2050, which will leave a void in the food chain. ( SF Chronicle)

In the pristine waters off Cancún and Tulum, Swiss Re AG is preparing an insurance policy for a stretch of the Mesoamerican Reef - perhaps the first time an insurer has covered a natural structure. The policyholders will be the beachfront hotels that benefit from the storm protection offered by that reef. Swiss Re says its plan will give hotel owners quick payouts after a storm, which they can use to repair both their beaches and any damage to the reef itself. The Nature Conservancy estimates that for every meter of lost reef height, the potential economic damage from a major hurricane triples. The insurance also gives hotel owners more reason to help keep the reef healthy to continue blunting the force of storms - if not, they will pay for it through their insurance policy. ( Bloomberg )

Photo: Denver Post/RJ Sangosti

A citizen-led green roof ballot initiative for Denver has gained enough signatures to make the November ballot. The ballot measure would require most new buildings of at least 25,000 square feet to have gardens, solar panels, or other green roof components for at least 20 percent of their roofs' surface, depending on a building's size. ( Link )

Registration is now open for the American Planning Association California Conference. The conference includes sessions on GHG analysis as related to the updated scoping plan, climate justice, climate adaptation, health and equity, and more. ( Link)