Tag Archives: august

Bad news: Global emissions are on the rise again.

The only problem: That’s not what the data shows.

In “the early days of all of the Obama administration regulations, everyone said the sky is falling, we’re going to have to fix all of these plants simultaneously,” energy consultant Alison Silverstein said during a panel last Friday. “Um, not so much. It turns out that when people have to actually do a job they find cheaper ways to do it.”

Silverstein, a veteran of the Bush administration, was tasked by fellow Texan Rick Perry to write a Department of Energy report analyzing the data on coal plant closures. But she found that regulations and renewable energy did not play a significant role in shutting down coal-burning power plants. The aging plants were instead condemned by cheap natural gas and falling electricity demand.

According to Silverstein, the Energy Department pushed back on her results, which did not support the hoped-for conclusion. Her draft report was leaked to the press in June, and the DOE released the final report in August, largely unchanged.

Nevertheless, in September, Perry submitted a rule requesting subsidies for nuclear and coal plants, citing Silverstein’s report for support. It was “as though they had never read it,” Silverstein said. Not a bad guess.

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Bad news: Global emissions are on the rise again.

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This Week’s Chemical Attack in Syria is Just the Latest "Red Line"

Mother Jones

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On July 23, 2012, a former spokesman for the Syrian foreign ministry acknowledged for the first time that his government had stockpiles of chemical weapons, but asserted that they would “never, never be used against the Syrian people or civilians during this crisis, under any circumstances.” A little more than a year later, approximately 1,400 people on the outskirts of Damascus were killed in a chemical attack carried out by the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. It was the largest chemical weapons attack since Saddam Hussein gassed thousands of Kurds in Halabja, Iraq, 25 years earlier. Now, as the Syrian civil war enters its sixth year, chemical weapon attacks on civilians continue apace.

Yesterday, disturbing photos and videos (warning: they’re graphic) started coming out of the town of Khan Sheikoun in rebel-held Idlib Province: children in spasms, foaming at their mouths, gasping for breath, and lying motionless as parents cry over them and rescue teams attempt to wash chemical agents from their bodies. According to the Syrian American Medical Society and various monitoring groups, barrel bombs were dropped on civilian areas, reportedly killing at least 74 people, including at least 11 children, and injuring hundreds more. The bombs contained toxic chemical agents, likely including sarin—a liquid nerve agent that often causes death by asphyxia.

After the attack, the White House pinned the blame on the Obama administration’s “weakness and irresolution.” This morning, President Donald Trump, who previously excused Assad’s crimes by highlighting that his regime was also fighting ISIS, said that the attack “crosses many lines, beyond a red line, many many lines,” possibly signaling a change in attitude toward Syria and Assad. (Just days before the attack, Nikki Haley, the American ambassador to the United Nations, stated that the administration does not consider removing Assad from power a priority, echoing Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who said last week that Assad’s future “will be decided by the Syrian people.”)

Yesterday’s attack was the latest in a long string of chemical attacks against Syrian civilians. Here’s a brief timeline of how we got here.

August 20, 2012

President Barack Obama says that the use of chemical weapons in Syria would be a “red line” and would “change my calculus” for a military response in Syria.

December 23, 2012

The first allegations of chemical weapon use in Syria are reported. Seven people in Homs are allegedly killed by “poisonous gas” used by the Assad regime. Later, a leaked State Department cable stated that there was credible evidence that the government used a chemical weapon known as Agent 15 in the attack.

March 12, 2013

After France and the United Kingdom send letters urging an investigation into three alleged uses of chemical weapons in Syria, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announces that the UN would investigate. Within a month, opposition activists and observers allege that the Assad regime has carried out two more chemical weapons attacks. Ban states that Syria has impeded in the investigations.

August 21, 2013

More than 1,000 people are killed in a large chemical weapon attack on the outskirts of Damascus. A UN investigation concludes that ground-to-ground rockets delivered the nerve agent sarin, and the evidence suggests the government was behind the assault. The United States later issues a report blaming the Syrian government.

August 31, 2013

President Obama says he will seek congressional authorization for the use of force against Syria: “I’m confident we can hold the Assad regime accountable for their use of chemical weapons, deter this kind of behavior, and degrade their capacity to carry it out.” Congress never votes on it, and the measure is shelved after then-Secretary of State John Kerry remarks that Assad can avoid military strikes if he turns over his chemical weapons stockpile.

September 27, 2013

The United Nations Security Council orders the Syrian government to destroy all of its chemical weapons stockpiles by 2014, threatening to authorize the use of force if it doesn’t comply.

June 23, 2014

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) announces that all remaining chemical weapons have been shipped out of Syria for disposal. Yet it is widely suspected that not all of Syria’s chemical weapons were removed.

September 10, 2014

A OPCW fact-finding mission concludes that chlorine gas is being used as a weapon in Syria. Chlorine, a choking agent which fills the lungs with liquid, was not among the chemicals that had to be destroyed under the UN agreement. But it is banned by the Chemical Weapons Convention.

August 7, 2015

The UN Security Council authorizes OPCW and UN investigators to determine who was behind chlorine gas attacks on civilians in rebel-held areas.

August 10, 2016

For the third time in two weeks, chlorine gas is reportedly used against civilians in northern Syria, killing at least 4 people and wounding 60 more. Experts warn that the abundance of chemical weapons attacks may normalize war crimes.

August 24, 2016

The OPCW-UN joint investigation report concludes that the Syrian government was responsible for deploying chlorine gas on two separate occasions on civilian areas in rebel-held northern Idlib Province.

April 4, 2017

More than 70 people, including many children, are killed in a suspected sarin attack in Idlib. The Syrian government is believed to be behind the attack. A day after the attack, Khan Sheikoun’s main medical clinic was directly hit by an airstrike.

See the original article here – 

This Week’s Chemical Attack in Syria is Just the Latest "Red Line"

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The EPA Used to Tweet About the Environment. Now It Just Tweets About Scott Pruitt

Mother Jones

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One of the first actions the Trump administration took when it entered office was to crack down on the Environmental Protection Agency, starting with its social media feeds and website.

The agency’s work on climate and energy policy has slowed to a crawl, but it has been replaced with a different focus: The promotion of the new EPA administrator, Scott Pruitt. With one exception, all of the EPA’s tweets and Facebook posts since Pruitt’s confirmation have been about his various appearances or sharing quotes from the EPA chief or President Donald Trump. The only time EPA tweeted about an environmental issue, it was to promote Trump’s executive order attempting to roll back a Clean Water Act rule. (On Monday, outside of the three-week period we used for this analysis, the EPA finally tweeted about a local grant.)

This is unusual. During the Obama administration, the EPA Twitter account certainly publicized and promoted Administrator Gina McCarthy, but it was a far smaller portion of its work. Here’s a comparison of Tweets over a three-week period:

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Social media was then used as a tool for educating the public about public health problems and environmental initiatives, but under Pruitt, public education work is at a standstill.

“We tried to provide regular updates on the wide range of actions we were taking to protect people’s health and the environment all across the country,” Liz Purchia, a communications official for Obama’s EPA, said in an email. “People want to know that they are being heard; and social media is an essential tool for doing that. Right now what we’re seeing is a bunch of posts being thrown at us by Trump’s EPA without any effort to engage with the American people. All you have to do is take a look at EPA’s social media channels since Trump’s team took over and you can visually see the stark shift in control.”

Trump’s team froze all social media accounts and public communications when the new administration took office. The agency is posting updates again now that Pruitt is in charge, but its work on clean air, science, and climate change is far from the focus. The flurry of Twitter activity welcoming Pruitt after he was sworn in has since slowed mostly to promoting his speaking engagements. On Monday, which was out of the range for this comparison, the EPA had one additional tweet about policy, but kept up its Pruitt-focused ratio with one quote and retweet from Pruitt.

Under McCarthy, the EPA feeds were mostly run by career officials in coordination with the administrator’s political staff. The EPA then took a different tack. Over a similar time period when Gina McCarthy took over as administrator in 2013, the main house account tweeted 16 times about McCarthy herself and retweeted her nine times—most of which were during a public Q&A she conducted on Twitter. The overwhelming number of tweets was about the agency’s work. Here is a sampling:

All this suggests Pruitt and Trump’s team are carefully monitoring the public-facing side of the agency. An EPA career staffer, who requested anonymity, told Mother Jones that edits to the website must be approved first, and the website is “more tightly controlled” than it was before January.

There are a handful of exceptions: Regional offices in particular, where the Trump administration has not yet installed political appointees, are occasionally promoting local grants and cleanup projects.

Of course, the EPA is far more than its social media feeds. Its 15,000 employees are in charge of distributing grants, conducting scientific research, and enforcing the law. But social media is also a rough approximation of the priorities the agency wants to share with the public. The change of EPA’s emphasis on social media has also been more pronounced than that in other branches of the federal government, even ones focused on similar work. The Interior Department, for instance, is still sharing images of the nation’s national parks, and NOAA is still tweeting climate stats. The EPA hasn’t mentioned climate change once since Trump became president.

Some of the EPA’s followers on Facebook and Twitter have noticed the abrupt shift:

More: 

The EPA Used to Tweet About the Environment. Now It Just Tweets About Scott Pruitt

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As drought shaming fades in California, lawns are making a comeback.

Following an exceptionally dry winter in 2015, Gov. Jerry Brown mandated that cities cut back on water use by 25 percent. Californians responded by letting their grass turn brown, or replacing it with artificial turf and less thirsty plants.

Sod suppliers, landscapers, and conservation activists now say that lawns are coming back into fashion, the Guardian reports. California did away with mandatory water restrictions in June, which may have sent the wrong message to residents. In August, urban water consumption had risen nearly 10 percent from the previous year.

Before it dropped these restrictions, the state spent $350 million on rebates for those who tore out their water-sucking grass. Anti-lawn campaigns emerged, such as “Brown is the new green,” and the media drought shamed those who maintained lush, grassy expanses.

It seemed like these efforts were working: One major lawn supplier saw orders plunge from 500 per day to 80 during the height of drought shaming.

The orders have now crept into the hundreds — despite the severe drought conditions that persist. Another dusty winter would send California into its sixth straight year of drought.

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As drought shaming fades in California, lawns are making a comeback.

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Now Samsung Washing Machines Are Exploding Too

Mother Jones

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Holy cow. Now Samsung washing machines are exploding too:

The Consumer Product Safety Commission said the tops can detach during use. The company has received more than 700 reports of incidents and nine reports of injuries including a broken jaw, the agency said Friday….In August, three consumers filed suit against Samsung, alleging that their machines suddenly exploded while in use.

….In April 2013, Samsung initiated one of Australia’s largest consumer recalls—of about 150,000 washing machines that it had sold there since 2010— after rescue services reported a spate of house fires believed to be caused by Samsung washers.

Luckily this doesn’t affect me. I plan to buy an LG washing machine someday thanks to their clearly superior technology:

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Now Samsung Washing Machines Are Exploding Too

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Gene Wilder Has Died

Mother Jones

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This is really sad.

Gene Wilder always reminded me of the opening line of the Rafael Sabatini novel Scaramoush: “He was born with a gift for laughter and a sense that the world was mad.” No one captured that madness better than he.

RIP.

Continued: 

Gene Wilder Has Died

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Hackers Stole Voter Registration Data in at Least Two States

Mother Jones

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The FBI believes hackers tried to get data from the State Board of Elections in at least two states in July and August, according to a notice sent to elections officials around the country and published by Yahoo News Monday morning. It’s unclear what data the hackers were able to get, but the information suggests they scanned the state elections boards’ websites looking for vulnerabilities. They found several and attempted to enter the systems, and some “exfiltration”—which refers to theft of data—occurred.

On August 18, state elections officials received a “Flash,” a notice sent by the FBI to various relevant parties, titled “Targeting Activity Against State Board of Election Systems.” The FBI reported that it had received reports of an additional IP address—a unique series of numbers that identifies every device that connects to the internet—within the logs of one state’s board of election’s system in July, and then another attempt at breaking into a separate state’s system in August. The IP address numbers can be easily masked to hide an attacker’s true origin, but the flash included detailed information about the methods used by the hackers. The FBI asked state election officials to scan their own network logs for similar activities.

The FBI didn’t identify the states involved, but Yahoo News, citing “sources familiar with” the FBI flash, reports that the attacks likely targeted voter registration databases in Arizona and Illinois. In Illinois, state election officials shut down the state’s voter registration system for 10 days in late July, Yahoo News reports, while the attack in Arizona was more limited.

The FBI flash does not attribute the attacks to anyone specifically, but the revelation comes following recent hacks of the Democratic National Committee and other major Democratic Party organizations and officials that, the US government says, implicated hackers working with or on behalf of Russia. The hacker who has claimed responsibility for the DNC hacks, Guccifer 2.0, has told Mother Jones and others that he was born in Eastern Europe and is not at all connected to Russia, a claim doubted by outside security officials. Russian officials have repeatedly denied that the Russian government had anything to do with the hacks.

The IP addresses provided by the FBI in the flash point to computer systems in the Netherlands and Delaware, according to online IP tracking tools, but Wired says further analysis shows at least one of the IP addresses appears to be linked to a website linked with the Turkish AKP political party. The Yahoo News report cites a cybersecurity expert saying one of the IP addresses has “surfaced before in Russian criminal underground hacker forums,” and the attack methods resemble a hack of the World Anti-Doping Agency earlier this month. Others have blamed that hack on Russia as well. But the types of attacks, methods, and tools detailed by the FBI flash are quite common in the hacking world. That means blaming Russia or anybody else at this point is only speculative.

The hack, combined with other vulnerabilities in the American election infrastructure, including voting machines that produce no verifiable paper audit trail, reinforces the notion that the US election system is vulnerable to disruption.

“This is a big deal,” Rich Barger, the head of cybersecurity firm ThreatConnect, told Yahoo News. “Two state election boards have been popped and data has been taken. This certainly should be concerning to the common American voter.”

Link to article: 

Hackers Stole Voter Registration Data in at Least Two States

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It’s the End of August and Hillary Clinton’s Lead Remains Clear and Steady

Mother Jones

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Is the presidential race tightening up? Let’s take a look. Here’s Pollster:

No tightening evident here. Here’s Sam Wang:

No tightening here either. If anything, Clinton has improved her position. Here’s Real Clear Politics:

Some slight tightening here since early August, when the convention bumps settled down. Maybe a point or so. Here’s Nate Cohn:

No tightening here. Here’s 538:

This is a percentage chance of victory, not a projection of vote share. Clinton has dropped a few points since early August.

Bottom line: Since early August, there’s either been no tightening in the polls, or, at most, maybe a point or so. Hillary Clinton is ahead by 6-8 points in the national polls, and so far that’s staying pretty steady.

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It’s the End of August and Hillary Clinton’s Lead Remains Clear and Steady

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Solar Powered Jacket Heats Without The Usual Bulk

You’ve heard of solar powered homes and solar powered devices, but have you heard of a solar powered jacketThermalTech is changing the way we look at fabric with its new patented energy absorbing technology.

How ThermalTech got started

ThermalTech was co-founded by Carlos Cortes Manica and Fatima Rocha Arguelles with a shared goal to “impact people’s life positively through technology.” They began by making solar technology for the solar water heater industry, but they were always inventing new ways to use materials in the area of solar.

ThermalTech has a group of seven passionate engineers that is lead by one of the best scientists in Mexico. She recently won the Mexico National Science Academy award. Her PHD thesis on solar coatings along with the team’s desire to find new ways to harness energy from the sun is the foundation for ThermalTech’s innovative fabric design.

ThermalTech is currently patented in over 10 countries. The team was trying to find the best use for their technology for a few years when they were awarded first place as Best Technological Start Up at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Morocco among 1,000 contestants. Today, they’re bringing their technology to us through their ThermalTech jackets.

“We are very excited to bring this technology to market,” said Fatima Rocha, Co-funder of ThermalTech.  “Our goal is to help people stay warm in any environment without having to sacrifice fashion and comfort.”

How ThermalTech is different from traditional fabrics

Traditional coats and jackets are designed to recycle body heat and slowly warm you up. In contrast, ThermalTech fabric is designed to capture the sun’s ultraviolet rays and energy from artificial light sources to convert and store as heat. This stored heat can increase the in-clothing temperature by 18°F (10°C) in only two minutes, even when it’s cold outside.

While most heat-storing materials are heavy and bulky, ThermalTech fabric is super lightweight, so you can say goodbye to bulky jackets. Now you can have a more fashionable look, even on the coldest winter day. The paper-thin fabric is made from stainless steel mesh threads, which makes it strong and durable in addition to being lightweight – lending to a longer lifespan for the fabric. The water repellent fabric is easily embedded in any clothing style, from jackets to pants and is machine washable.

“We believe that by introducing this solar-absorbing fabric into the apparel marketplace, the next generation of outerwear will provide the consumer with even more of an optimal temperature & fit,” said Carlos Cortes, CEO of ThermalTech.  “This will allow everyone from the snowboarder to the fashionista to be warmer in colder climates.”

Solar powered jacket even works at night

You might be wondering if a solar powered jacket can work at night. Tests prove that ThermalTech fabric can reflect your own body heat in addition to capturing energy from sunlight or artificial light. This is possible due to Infrared light, which can’t be seen by the human eye. This undetectable light can be converted into heat. So when the sun goes down for the night, the ThermalTech fabric acts like a shield between your body and the environment. And, your body transforms Infrared and UV light into extra body heat.

Don’t worry – you won’t overheat

Even though the ThermalTech smart fabric stores up energy to keep you warm, you won’t overheat. The fabric maintains your body temperature once you reach the optimal level. It works under the same principle as how your body cools itself when you exercise. At a certain point, your body will begin to expel and radiate the extra energy that is being created. The same happens with ThermalTech smart fabric technology because it understands when it’s time to expel energy.

ThermalTech solar powered jackets on Indiegogo

You can now get ThermalTech fabric on Indiegogo in its very first use – jackets. ThermalTech jackets are breathable, waterproof and slim down the traditional bulky winter look. There are three different jacket styles available for both women and men that can be used for a range of outdoor activities such as shopping, running errands, walking around town, jogging, hiking, snowboarding and camping.

Street style jacket

The Street style ThermalTech jacket is fashion inspired, and is offered in three colors for men and three colors for women. It’s made with waterproof and wind breaker fabric featuring deep front pockets and one inner pocket. It works great in temperatures from 32-50° F (0-10° C). The Street jacket allows even the most discerning fashionista to keep warm without compromising their style. It’s perfect for running errands around town or a night out on the town.

Explorer style jacket

The Explorer style ThermalTech jacket is designed for casual, every day use and also comes in three colors for men and three colors for women. It’s made from waterproof and wind breaking fabric and features a waist zipper, deep exterior with strategically placed inner pockets to carry your wallet, mountain pass or cell phone. It comes with a removable hoodie and exits for your headphones. It’s perfect for staying warm in any outdoor setting or situation and is great for campers, hikers and fishing. The Explorer style jacket works great in temperatures from 30-55° F (1-10° F).

Extreme style jacket

The Extreme style ThermalTech jacket is intended for outdoor sports and you have the choice of three colors for men and three colors for women. If you’re hitting the slopes on a snowboard or skis, you will be able to say goodbye to two to three pounds of weight and bulk without sacrificing warmth as this jacket works great in temperatures ranging from -4-14° F (-10 to -20° C). It’s made with waterproof and wind breaker fabric and features a waist zipper, deep exterior pockets and strategically placed inner pockets to carry your wallet, mountain pass or cell phone. The Extreme style jacket comes with a removable hoodie and exits for your headphones.

Each style is available on Indiegogo in several popular colors and sizes S, M, L, XL and XXL. The jackets also offer a one-year warranty. There are currently a limited number Early Bird specials of 50% off MSRP (on all jackets), so pop over to Indiegogo to choose the style that’s right for your lifestyle.

Do you see a solar powered jacket in your future?

About
Latest Posts

Chrystal Johnson

Chrystal, publisher of

Happy Mothering

, Founder of

Green Moms Media

and essential oil fanatic, is a mother of two sweet girls who believes in living a simple, natural lifestyle. A former corporate marketing communication manager, Chrystal spends her time researching green and eco-friendly alternatives to improve her family’s life.

Latest posts by Chrystal Johnson (see all)

Solar Powered Jacket Heats Without The Usual Bulk – August 26, 2016
5 Stores Who Kicked Plastic Bags To The Curb – August 15, 2016
Environmentally Friendly Cleaning Is Here – August 10, 2016

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Excerpt from:  

Solar Powered Jacket Heats Without The Usual Bulk

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Is the Louisiana Flooding More Devastating Than Hurricane Sandy?

Mother Jones

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The relief effort in Louisiana is ramping up after 10 days of monumental flooding. On Tuesday, President Barack Obama will visit Baton Rouge to survey the damage and find out how the federal government can help. The Red Cross has repeatedly described the flooding as “the worst natural disaster to strike the United States” since Hurricane Sandy hit the East Coast in 2012.

But for those who aren’t on the ground in Louisiana, it can be difficult to understand what that really means. Here are some numbers that compare the two disasters.

Deaths and damaged homes: Thirteen people have died and about 60,000 homes have been damaged in the flooding that began in Louisiana on August 12. As of Friday, the Obama administration listed 20 parishes in the state as disaster areas, making federal funding available to assist those communities. Hurricane Sandy had a bigger death toll, claiming 72 lives in the United States and damaging 200,000 homes. But that storm hit a much wider swath of land, including metropolitan centers like New York City, whose population is nearly double that of the entire state of Louisiana.

People in shelters: When you compare the storms in terms of the numbers of people in shelters, the situation is similar.

“The Red Cross has mobilized our largest sheltering and feeding effort since Superstorm Sandy with the flooding in Louisiana,” said Molly Dalton, a spokeswoman for the humanitarian organization. “It’s the largest volume of people in need of emergency shelter in the last four years…In addition, FEMA has reported really high numbers of people registering for emergency assistance, which is another indicator we’re going by.”

About five days after Hurricane Sandy, she said, the Red Cross had 11,000 people in 250 shelters across 16 states. One week into that relief effort, it had about 7,000 people in shelters, “and we’re seeing about the same over the last week” in Louisiana, Dalton said on Friday. “Thursday night we had 3,900 people in 28 shelters, but at the peak of the response we had 10,000 people in 50 shelters in Louisiana. So it’s going down, but there are still a lot of people in shelters.” Sunday night, the Red Cross had nearly 3,000 people in 19 shelters across the state.

Looking at the big picture, the Red Cross and partners have provided more than 40,000 overnight stays since flooding began in Louisiana. That compares with 74,000 overnight stays during the entire relief effort for Hurricane Sandy, and 3.8 million overnight stays for Hurricane Katrina victims who where spread across 27 states.

“It’s not possible to estimate the full impact of the Louisiana floods this early in the response, and every disaster is different, so it would be difficult to make any comparison to past disasters,” another Red Cross spokesperson told Mother Jones on Monday. “But we do know that this is going to be a massive response.”

Meals served: “So far in Louisiana in the first week, we’ve served 158,000 meals, and if you look at the same point in Sandy, we had served 164 thousand,” Dalton said Friday. “So as far as what we’re seeing then and what we’re seeing now, it’s very, very similar.”

It’s important to remember, she said, that Hurricane Sandy struck many more states, stretching from New England as far south as the District of Columbia. “This is just one area of Louisiana,” she added. “So if you look at it that way…it’s a very devastating disaster.”

At the peak of the deluge, Louisiana was hit by 6.9 trillion gallons of rain between August 8 and August 14, or roughly 10.4 million Olympic-size swimming pools‘ worth of water. The flooding is receding now, particularly in the northern reaches of the state, though some areas in the south will take longer to dry out, says Gavin Phillips, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. “It’s going down everywhere now,” he says. “There’s nothing worsening at this point.”

The Red Cross estimates the relief effort in Louisiana could cost at least $30 million, though that number may grow as relief workers learn more about the scope of the disaster. As of Monday, the humanitarian organization had received about $7.8 million in donations and pledges.

While Hurricane Sandy and the recent Louisiana flooding were devastating, they pale in comparison to Louisiana’s other famous disaster, Hurricane Katrina, which hit the Gulf Coast 10 years ago, killing at least 1,833 people.

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Is the Louisiana Flooding More Devastating Than Hurricane Sandy?

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