Articles by Seth Borenstein

Borenstein is AP Science Writer.

World’s Biggest Companies Have Caused $28 Trillion in Climate Damage: Study

The world’s biggest corporations have caused $28 trillion in climate damage, a new study estimates as part of an effort to make it easier for people and governments to hold companies financially accountable, like the tobacco giants have been. A …

Experts: Weather Forecasts Will Worsen as DOGE Cuts Mean Fewer Balloon Launches

With massive job cuts, the National Weather Service is eliminating or reducing vital weather balloon launches in eight northern locations, which meteorologists and former agency leaders said will degrade the accuracy of forecasts just as severe weather season kicks in. …

Firings at NOAA Risk Lives and Economy, Former Agency Heads Warn

The federal weather and oceans agency touches people’s daily lives in unnoticed ways, so massive firings there will likely cause needless deaths and a big hit to America’s economy, according to the people who ran it. The first round of …

Computer Simulations Suggest Atlantic Current Shutdown Less Likely This Century

The nightmare scenario of Atlantic Ocean currents collapsing, with weather running amok and putting Europe in a deep freeze, looks unlikely this century, a new study concludes. In recent years, studies have raised the alarm about the slowing and potential …

Hurricanes Like Helene Keep Killing for Years After They Strike

Hurricanes in the United States end up hundreds of times deadlier than the government calculates, contributing to more American deaths than car accidents or all the nation’s wars, a new study said. The average storm hitting the U.S. contributes to …

What Policies Have Worked to Fight Climate Change? Answer: When the Polluter Pays.

To figure out what really works when nations try to fight climate change, researchers looked at 1,500 ways countries have tried to curb heat-trapping gases. Their answer: Not many have done the job. And success often means someone has to …

Hurricanes Get the Headlines But Inland Flooding Tops the Disaster List

Floyd County keeps flooding and the federal government keeps coming to the rescue. In July 2022, at least 40 people died and 300 homes were damaged when the eastern Kentucky county flooded. It was the 13th time in 12 years …

Earth Continues Streak of Record-Shattering Hot Months

Earth’s more than year-long streak of record-shattering hot months kept on simmering through June, according to the European climate service Copernicus. There’s hope that the planet will soon see an end to the record-setting part of the heat streak, but …

How the Hot Water That Fueled Hurricane Beryl Foretells a Scary Storm Season

Hurricane Beryl’s explosive growth into an unprecedented early whopper of a storm shows the literal hot water the Atlantic and Caribbean are in right now and the kind of season ahead, experts said. Beryl smashed multiple records even before its …

Climate Change Amplifies Deadly Heat Wave Sweeping Across Southwestern US, Mexico

Human-caused climate change dialed up the thermostat and turbocharged the odds of this month’s killer heat that has been baking the Southwestern United States, Mexico and Central America, a new flash study found. Sizzling daytime temperatures that triggered cases of …