By Marcy Rockman, Lifting Rocks Climate and Heritage Consulting, for the SHA Climate Heritage Initiative The 2024 hurricane has been an unusual one. Predicted in the spring to be highly active with large numbers of large storms, there was an unexpected lull mid-August to mid-September, and then a roar back to life with Hurricane Helene, Hurricane...Read More

By Marcy Rockman, Lifting Rocks Climate and Heritage Consulting, for the SHA Climate Heritage Initiative Flavor, memory, and words are all connected here. The tropics where vanilla beans are warming and being hit by stronger and longer-lasting cyclones, which is making their cultivation more difficult. And the forests that host the vanilla-bearing orchids are being cut...Read More

By Marcy Rockman, Lifting Rocks Climate and Heritage Consulting, for the SHA Climate Heritage Initiative Is protection from climate change a human right? The International Court of Justice taking up the issue of climate change and questions of whether and how countries might be held accountable for not taking sufficient action to protect citizens from climate...Read More

By Marcy Rockman, Lifting Rocks Climate and Heritage Consulting, for the SHA Climate Heritage Initiative At the university level, attention to climate change as a field of study is increasing. As reported in this piece by InsideClimate News, some universities (such Arizona State University and University of California, San Diego) will be requiring students to take...Read More

By Marcy Rockman, Lifting Rocks Climate and Heritage Consulting, for the SHA Climate Heritage Initiative A new U.S. environmental assessment is underway – the National Nature Assessment (NNA). To date, the U.S. has published five National Climate Assessments and the sixth is now in preparation. The NNA will join this family, assessing not only what we...Read More

By Marcy Rockman, Lifting Rocks Climate and Heritage Consulting, for the SHA Climate Heritage Initiative A compare and contrast today. Carbon Brief has summarized and assessed recent research about the current potential to limit global warming to 1.5℃. Key conclusion is that, in words of one of the authors, “the technological feasibility of climate-neutrality is no...Read More

By Marcy Rockman, Lifting Rocks Climate and Heritage Consulting, for the SHA Climate Heritage Initiative New legislation! Which at first glance doesn’t look like heritage legislation but has several historic preservation provisions (hat tip to Preservation Action for noting this). It also doesn’t say it’s climate action but if enacted, it could be.  Bill is the...Read More

By Marcy Rockman, Lifting Rocks Climate and Heritage Consulting, for the SHA Climate Heritage Initiative Perspective on historic buildings today. This op-Ed from NY state speaks up about adaptive reuse of older buildings, with particular attention to how this allows for maintenance of local architectural character and history. I’m not remotely arguing against this, but this...Read More

By Marcy Rockman, Lifting Rocks Climate and Heritage Consulting, for the SHA Climate Heritage Initiative Two cultural connections here to the growing risks and impacts of wildfire. First, sharing the announcement from the Southeast Climate Adaptation Science Center that they will be hosting a virtual workshop on September 26, 2024, about Tribal approaches to managing fire...Read More

By Marcy Rockman, Lifting Rocks Climate and Heritage Consulting, for the SHA Climate Heritage Initiative More here on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) with attention to equity and potential impacts on representation of cultural heritage in IPCC reports.  The 2015 Paris Agreement calls on its party countries to periodically assess progress they are making...Read More