Currently — May 15th, 2023
The weather, currently.
Cyclone Mocha (pronounced Mok-ha) made landfall early Monday on the border of Bangladesh and Burma as one of the strongest storms ever measured in the Indian Ocean. Locals are bracing for a humanitarian emergency.
Like so many tropical cyclones in recent years, Mocha rapidly intensified in the hours before landfall due in part to ocean temperatures more than two degrees Celsius warmer than normal. The storm's landfall took place in a region where hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees are living more than five years after being displaced due to genocide — making this a compounding international emergency.
If you would like to help people directly affected by Cyclone Mocha in Bangladesh, you can contribute aid via the UN High Commission for Refugees.
-Eric Holthaus
We are watching a disaster unfold in real-time as near Category 5 Cyclone Mocha approaches landfall in Bangladesh/Mynamar, one of the most vulnerable places in the world to storm surge where hundreds of thousands of refugees are currently living in low-lying camps near the coast. pic.twitter.com/BcWpQUmpCU
— Colin McCarthy (@US_Stormwatch) May 13, 2023
What you need to know, currently.
As “Cop City” persists, despite the Stop Cop City movement, dozens of Atlanta’s South River Forest’s acreage are destroyed in favor of the $90 million Atlanta Public Safety Training Center. Meanwhile, the Atlanta City Council is trying to carve out more parkland.
The Council is considering purchasing 46 acres of property in Southeast Atlanta to create more parkland in the South River Forest area. But, most of the property is close to interstate highways, making it vulnerable to more air pollution, and FEMA Special Flood Hazard Areas.
“The acquisition of this property in no way alters SRWA's position nor diminish or detract from the organization's efforts to protect the prison farm greenspace. The environmental, ecological, and community value of the prison farm site is undisputed. At 300 acres, it is the living breathing heart of the South River Forest. This greenspace is irreplaceable and for that reason alone, it must be preserved,” said Dr. Jacqueline Echols, Board President of local environmental justice nonprofit South River Watershed Alliance in a written statement to The Xylom.
To learn more about the proposed legislation, read the full story here.