Flood-proof your home

Plus: Keep your house cool with less electricity

View this email online It’s Climate Solutions Week! This week, we’re examining how people are contributing to and dealing with climate change’s effects on homes, insurance rates, mortgages and more. There are a lot of tips you can use to make your home more resilient and eco-friendly as our planet changes. Thanks to support from readers like you, all our reporting is free to read! Can you make a contribution today to power this work? This newsletter is brought to you by Life Kit digital editor Malaka Gharib. After Hurricane Helene hit Florida and surrounding states last fall, damaging homes and businesses, I wondered to myself: Is my home in Nashville at risk at all?  I checked a flood map and was surprised by what I found. Even though my city isn’t located on a coastline, Nashville is at some risk of hurricane flooding. Another map, which takes the effects of climate change into account, estimated that my house was 96% likely to experience flooding in the next 30 years.  This data was enough to convince me to get flood insurance, one of the tips recommended in our story about how to protect your house from flooding. Reported by Jessica Meszaros of WUSF in Tampa, Fla., the piece is part of NPR’s Climate Solutions Week, a series that shares solutions for building and living on a hotter planet.  Meszaros talks to people who were affected by Hurricane Helene, and explains how they’re rebuilding their homes to better withstand future floods.    I want to flood-proof my house Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images Flood-proofing your house: What to know  Face the facts. Human-caused climate change is causing flooding from hurricanes to become more intense, and as I learned, it’s not just a coastal issue. Federal forecasters predict this year’s Atlantic hurricane season will be above normal. Between June and November, there could be 13 to 19 named storms — three to five of which could be major.  Build with cement board. Drywall absorbs floodwaters like a sponge and can fester dangerous mold if not removed. Cement board can dry off.  Install tile floors instead of carpet or wood. Floodwaters can’t penetrate tile grout. So you only have to worry about cleaning the floors after flooding. But if you live along a coast, it could be a messier cleanup if mud is involved.   Move electrical outlets up higher on the wall. It prevents rising floodwaters from shorting out your home’s entire electrical system or causing an electrical fire. Flood insurance isn’t just for homeowners. If you rent in a low-lying area, whether you’re on the coast or inland, renters’ insurance is likely NOT going to cover your flooding losses. It’s up to you, not your landlord, to get that added protection for your belongings. Protect your home from flooding Newsletter continues after sponsor message 5 simple (and cheap) ways to make your house use less energy LA Johnson/NPR Our homes use a lot of energy. The huge amounts of energy used to operate buildings result in more than a fourth of the world's planet-heating carbon dioxide pollution. Life Kit’s second piece for NPR’s Climate Solutions Week offers five simple solutions to reduce your home's climate pollution, make your home more resilient to global warming and reduce your energy bills. Open the window. The air conditioner uses electricity and releases potent planet-heating gases called hydrofluorocarbons.  Use ceiling fans. While they cannot lower the air temperature, they can provide increased cooling by moving the air around, which may be enough in certain climates. Make your roof reflective. A roof coated with a white or silvery color reflects solar energy away from the house instead of absorbing it inside. Install shades on the outside of your house. In Mediterranean places like Egypt, Tunisia and Southern Europe, people use wooden shutters to keep the heat on the exterior of a building, not the inside.  Seal up air leaks with weather stripping. If you have an air-conditioning system that brings in fresh air, you want to make sure heat is not entering your home through the cracks. Keep your house cool with less energy More sustainable living tips from Life Kit Photo Illustration by Beck Harlan/NPR Start cleaning your home more sustainably with these tips. Swapping out some basic supplies can help you explore eco-friendly cleaning. Swedish dishcloths, reusable cloths, detergent sheets, hand soap tablets and reusable bottles for mixing your own solutions are good building blocks for a green cleaning routine. Read the story here. Improve the indoor air quality in your home. Researchers share practical tips on how to limit indoor air pollution. Read the story here.  These 5 big purchases can save energy — and money — at home. To live a more climate friendly life, invest in home appliances and vehicles that run on electricity, not fossil fuels, say sustainability experts. Here are a few energy-saving solutions to consider. Read the story here. Take on climate change at home and cut carbon emissions. Much of the energy used in buildings comes from burning fossil fuels — so if you want to slow down climate change, your home is one of the first places to look. Here's how to use less energy and even transition to renewable energy sources at home. Read the story here.   Quote of the week Whether you saw it coming or were completely blindsided, getting laid off is one of the most stressful experiences in life. It can also be a huge hit to your mental health, making it even harder to focus on the necessary logistics of figuring out what’s next. Octavia Goredema, a career coach and author of the book Prep, Push, Pivot, shares advice about how to deal with the rollercoaster of emotions after a layoff. In case you missed it Beck Harlan/NPR 6 feel-good exercises to alleviate sore, achy feet. Foot care professionals share stretches and movements that can reduce the risk of injury, prevent and alleviate pain and improve overall foot health. Give them a try the next time your dogs are barking. Read the story here.  Free and low-cost ways to have fun this summer. You don't need to spend a lot of money to have fun. Have you ever done a chocolate bar taste test? Hosted a themed hangout? Ideas to keep yourself entertained (and on a budget). Read the story here. 8 pieces of life advice from dads. Father's Day is Sunday, June 15. To honor the dads in our lives, we're sharing some of the best life advice our listeners ever got from their dads. Read the story here.  Easy practices for online privacy. If you're online, your personal data is at risk. It might feel impossible to protect your data from hacks and breaches, but there are methods to make it slow and expensive for bad actors to target you. Our experts share simple measures to better protect your data online, including practices you can pick up starting now. Listen to the episode here. Stream your local NPR station. Visit NPR.org to find your local station stream. What do you think of today's email? We'd love to hear your thoughts, questions and feedback: LifeKit@npr.org Enjoying this newsletter? Forward to a friend! They can sign up here. Looking for more great content? Check out all of our newsletter offerings — including Daily News, Code Switch, Health and more! You received this message because you're subscribed to Life Kit emails. This email was sent by National Public Radio, Inc., 1111 North Capitol Street NE, Washington, DC 20002 Unsubscribe  |  Privacy Policy