Alaska is warming faster than any other U.S. state, and that’s causing problems, a team of bridge engineers and social scientists explains. The infrastructure bill in Congress would offer some help.
As the state copes with hurricanes and climate disasters, it is figuring out how to manage the slow-motion loss of its coastal land. But its plans could endanger the cultures that define the region.
Poor indoor air on tribal lands can cause a range of respiratory illnesses, including viral infections. Here’s how people are fixing the problem while preserving traditional ways.
A federal proposal could effectively reclassify the homes of millions of Americans as rural, not urban – without anything actually changing about their communities.
Groundwater was once thought to buffer streams from warming, but an inexpensive new technique shows streams fed by shallow groundwater may be just as susceptible as those without.
Pipeline companies have run roughshod over several regions where they’re building, racking up safety and environmental violations. Many residents feel trapped, with no control over their property.
A new federal antipoverty program for both rural and urban areas is part of the solution, but the power of Big Ag, lack of internet and struggling towns need attention, too.
Bennett Doughty, Binghamton University, State University of New York and Pamela Stewart Fahs, Binghamton University, State University of New York
The vaccines’ cold storage requirements and shipment rules put small, rural communities at a disadvantage, but that’s only part of a long-running challenge.
Hospitals are losing staff to quarantines as rural COVID-19 cases rise, and administrators fear flu season will make it worse. And then there’s the politics.
Lauren Hughes, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus and Roberto Silva, University of Colorado Denver
Coronavirus cases have risen sharply across the Mountain West, Midwest and plains. Over 70% of nonmetropolitan counties are now “red zones,” suggesting viral spread is out of control.
Rural patients’ self-reliance means they often wait until it’s too late to visit hospital, while the closing of state borders has restricted the movement of some fly-in fly-out health workers.