A retired theatre and Africana studies professor who spent nearly a decade trying to get her first science fiction book published has released her latest Afrofuturist novel, which she says is a realistic cautionary tale.
The big picture: A new generation of Afrofuturist writers, musicians and filmmakers in recent years has produced work questioning how Black people will be viewed in the future as states have passed restrictions on how schools can teach about Black people in the past.
The lack of power to hundreds of thousands of Houston residents for the fourth straight hot and humid day since Hurricane Beryl struck the city is creating dangerous — and in some cases deadly — conditions.
Why it matters: With global average temperatures on the increase, along with the likelihood and severity of heat waves, society is increasingly vulnerable to this type of one-two punch of an extreme weather disaster.
A house on the New England island of Nantucket that was valued at $1.9 million but recently sold for $200,000 has brought U.S. coastal erosion concerns into focus.
Why it matters: Climate risks bring the "potential for widespread property value declines in coastal areas" and "constitutes a major economic threat," per Alice Hill, an expert on energy and the environment at the nonprofit Council on Foreign Relations.
