Can We Dig Our Way Out of the Waste Crisis?
In August 2019, the sprawling Kpone landfill, 25 miles from the center of Accra, Ghana, burst into flames. As the city’s only engineered landfill, Kpone had been collecting cast-off clothing from the
Danielle Renwick
How to Stop Funding the Climate Crisis
There’s a good chance that the money you have sitting in the bank generates more carbon than anything else you do. According to the activist Bill McKibben, who analyzed a 2021 report
Is Fast Fashion Making Us Sick?
On a recent spring afternoon, journalist Alden Wicker was examining a neon orange purse at H&M. The price tag read $14.99, but instead of listing materials, it simply said “vegan.” She raised
How Our Obsession With Parking Fuels the Climate Crisis
What could a city like New York achieve if it repurposed some of its 3 million curbside parking spots? It could get rid of rats by moving trash off the sidewalks and
Meals on Wheels Is a Climate-Relief Model
When an unprecedented heat wave bore down on Portland, Oregon, in June 2021, Jonna Papaefthimiou, the city’s chief resilience officer, immediately thought of the city’s most vulnerable populations: older people sweltering, often
The US Needs More Electricians. One Solution? Recruit More Women.
As a child, Cora Saxton liked to make things: forts, whittled wood carvings, a flying saucer even, so when she became an electrician, at 49, it felt like a perfect fit. “I
Ben Jealous’s New Mission: Saving the Planet
Ben Jealous has spent much of his career fighting for voting rights and prison reform. Now, as he takes the helm of the Sierra Club, he’s thinking about other ways to fight
A Chevron Refinery Fire in California Created a Generation of Activists
On the afternoon of August 6, 2012, a thick black plume grew over Richmond, California, 10 miles northeast of San Francisco. As the air grew thick with smoke, residents instinctively knew the
The Climate Crisis Is Changing Our Concept of Home
In a single week in July, more than 100 million Americans, from Massachusetts to Arizona, were under excessive heat warnings or advisories, as temperatures soared into the triple digits across the country.
“We Want to Make Sure That We Leave the World Better Than It Is Now.”
In February 2020, professor Sheldon Pollock, 74, was recently widowed, approaching retirement from his tenured position at Columbia University and thinking about what would come next for him. His granddaughter Elea, a
How U.S. Cities Are Preparing for More Life-Threatening Heatwaves
Last summer, a mass of high-pressure air known as a heat dome, settled over the Pacific Northwest, hovering for days. The result was record-shattering heat, with temperatures reaching 115 degrees in Portland.
Melissa Lin Perrella Says Community Is Key to Fighting Violence and Pollution
The daughter of Chinese immigrants, Melissa Lin Perrella sees a direct line from her childhood in a small town in Central California in the 1980s to her work on the front lines
Native Farmers Need More Support to Help U.S. Meet Climate Goals
Carly Griffith Hotvedt’s Cherokee ancestors planted what is called “the three sisters:” corn, beans and squash. The squash leaves provided shade and protection for the soil, and the beans, as nitrogen fixers,
Central Park’s Climate Lab Explores the Future of Urban Green Spaces
When Hurricane Ida dumped more than 3 inches of rain on Central Park in a single hour, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) called it a “1-in-500 year rainfall event.” The
‘No One Has Been Spared.’
Climate change threatens our food systems as we know them. Some 821 million people currently suffer from malnutrition worldwide, including 151 million children under five whose growth is stunted. A warming planet
‘You Can’t Separate the Fight for Climate Justice From the Fight for Gender Equality.’
Climate change is a women’s issue. Women are far more likely to be displaced by climate disasters and are more vulnerable to the economic shocks and increased gender-based violence that accompanies a
Climate Change Is Exacerbating America's Maternal Health Crisis
Esther McCant, a doula in Miami, has visited clients in sweltering apartments without air conditioning. She has seen them exhausted from long days working on their feet in the South Florida heat.
Facebook’s New Ad Policies Make It Harder for Climate Groups to Counter Big Oil
Last month, Facebook removed certain interests from its Detailed Targeting advertising tool “that relate to topics people may perceive as sensitive.” Advertisers can no longer target people based on interests in causes
How to Talk About Climate Change (and Combat Climate Doom)
For some climate activists, climate doom is the new climate denialism. Only about 10 percent of Americans deny human-made climate change is real, but many young people wonder if it’s too late to
Your Gas Stove Is Leaking
If you have a gas stove, there’s a good chance it’s leaking right now. A new report out of Stanford today found gas stoves old and new are constantly emitting methane, the
What Do Rich Countries Owe the Rest of the World?
One of the thorniest issues at the most recent climate talks in Glasgow was the question of what rich nations, who bear the most responsibility for climate change, owe to poorer ones,
Can Carbon Removal Save the Planet?
There’s a reason this year’s UN climate summit drew protests and disappointed many in attendance: the world is not yet on track for limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, the target
Climate Anxiety Is Real. Here’s How To Cope.
If you find yourself despairing over recent reports that young people will live through "unprecedented" heatwaves, droughts, floods and other climate disasters, you’re not alone. Nearly six in 10 young people, aged