Domestic:

Last week Category 1 hurricane Nicole swept through Florida’s eastern coast, leaving unprecedented damages in its wake. Volusia County was severely impacted, declaring at least 49 beachfront properties “unsafe” and leaving some residents without homes entirely. Six weeks before this event, Hurricane Ian’s storm surge caused the county’s coastline to erode. This strained the community’s preparation capabilities and left them vulnerable to more damages. The county is also the victim of sea level rise of over a foot in the past 100 years, worsening the effects of even mild storms. 

Last Tuesday, former President Donald Trump announced he will run for president in 2024. This move brought criticism from some Republicans who assert that the focus should be on the Dec. 6 Georgia Senate runoff between GOP candidate Herschel Walker and Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock. Former Vice President Mike Pence shared similar sentiments with Fox News, adding that the Republican Party will have ‘better choices’ than Trump in 2024. He called Trump the “right man at the right time” in 2016, but today people have a “desire for leadership that could unite the country around our highest ideals and for more of the civility and respect that Americans show each other every day.” 

International:

Cryptocurrency company FTX is filing for bankruptcy as an investigation is underway concerning suspicious movement of $473 million worth of assets out of FTX wallets. The company has frozen all digital assets as a precaution against the possibility of theft. Company officials have directed all customers to delete FTX apps and refrain from using its website, alluding to company knowledge of a hack on its Telegram channel. 

Last Tuesday the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) reported that the world’s population officially hit 8 billion, and India is on track to become the world’s most populated country next year. During the next 60 years the global population is expected to exceed 10 billion. The U.N. says that this growth is “a testament to achievements in public health and medicine.” However, the rate of growth is slow relative to the past, pointing to major future challenges of feeding, housing, and slowing the pollution rate of that level of people. The report also states that global migration “will be the sole driver of population growth in high-income countries,” and serves as an important wake-up call for the United States. 

On Nov. 11 the Biden Administration unveiled a new plan to regulate methane emissions in the United States at the United Nations Climate Conference, COP27, in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt. The new regulations entail routine monitoring of oil and gas well sites, reducing emissions from gas flaring and establishing a “super-emitter response program” which would allow federal regulators to intervene in cases of major methane leaks. The American Petroleum Institute said in a statement that it will work on a standard with the EPA that is “cost-effective, promotes innovation, and creates the regulatory certainty needed for long-term planning.” The Environmental Protection Agency confirmed that the plan would reduce emitted methane from the oil and gas industry by 87 percent below 2005 levels. Methane is an important driver of short-term global warming, and according to the United Nations Environment Programme the molecule is responsible for over 25 percent of global warming since pre-industrial times.