Many of us have spent the last two-and-a-half years worried about the health risks posed by other people. In the United States alone, more than 1 million have died from COVID-19, a painful consequence of how ill-prepared the nation was (and, in many ways, still is) for an infectious disease outbreak. As the climate warms, […]
The Biden administration and 11 states on the East Coast are working together to accelerate the construction of offshore wind projects in the United States. For the last two decades, the U.S. has been lagging far behind Europe and Asia — in no small part because of opposition from the fossil fuel industry. Now, with […]
The Biden administration is proposing a major overhaul to the National Flood Insurance Program, or NFIP — the main source of insurance for homeowners who are required to or choose to obtain coverage for flooding. Last month, Alice Lugo, assistant secretary for legislative affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, put forth 17 legislative proposals […]
A couple of years ago, banning the construction of new gas stations anywhere in the United States would have seemed like a far-fetched idea. But it could soon become a political reality, not in a public transit dreamland, but in the sprawling, car-centric city of Los Angeles. Last March, the town of Petaluma, California, became […]
Summer heat descended on the desert Southwest and parts of the Western U.S. over the weekend, breaking temperature records and prompting federal officials to issue excessive heat warnings for approximately 53 million Americans. The National Weather Service called the heat “oppressive” and said to expect critical fire weather conditions across a large portion of the […]
Summer has remained mostly the same for a millennium or more. Around the year 900, Old English speakers were already using the word sumor for the warmer months. Some say the word summer is probably close to the version heard 4,000 years ago, when people spoke the prehistoric Indo-European language believed to be the ancestor […]
Last fall, a company called Summit Carbon Solutions started holding meetings in towns around the Midwest. Its goal was to introduce residents to a 2,000-mile, $4.5 billion pipeline called the Midwest Carbon Express, which would carry carbon dioxide from ethanol refineries in Iowa to North Dakota, where the gas would be injected underground rather than […]
Countries across the world have largely left people with disabilities out of their climate policies, according to a report published on Friday. As a result of that oversight, when climate disasters like hurricanes and heat waves strike, those with disabilities are among the most vulnerable. “Climate change has a disproportionate impact on persons with disabilities, […]
New York has a mandate to transition to clean power. The state’s landmark 2019 Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act says the state must reach 100 percent zero-emissions electricity by 2040, but a major obstacle stands in the way: New York City’s grid. Some 85 percent of the Big Apple’s electricity comes from fossil fuels. […]
The historic wildfires in New Mexico have triggered containment and evacuations at the local, state, and federal levels. The yet-to-be contained fires have incinerated over 280,000 acres of land since the beginning of April, while the Hermits Peak Fire, just east of Santa Fe, has burned more acreage than all wildfires in New Mexico last […]