
Business

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

Can the Farm Bill Fix Agriculture’s Methane Problem?
For years, Paul Danbom let good fertilizer go to waste. On his 900-head dairy farm in Turlock, California, he was buying fertilizer for his distant cornfields. Meanwhile, he was paying to dispose

Can the Farm Bill Spur an Agroforestry Renaissance?
On a clear morning in April, after milking his seven cows, Tim Sauder looked over the pasture where he had just turned the animals out to graze. Like many dairy farms, Sauder’s

Can Small Family Forests Make a Big Climate Difference?
For Susan Benedict, it was a dream come true when, a few years ago, she inherited 2,000 acres of Northern Appalachian woods that surrounded her parents’ home in central Pennsylvania. The 63-year-old

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

Can We Game Our Way Out of the Climate Crisis?
Europe is planting trees to offset its emissions but is swiftly hit with massive wildfires. The United States is investing in mining operations abroad to wean off its dependence on fossil fuels

Can a Green Bank Help the US Meet Its Climate Goals?
Five years ago, when Clauditta Curson became a first-time homebuyer, she was shocked by the “astronomical” utility bills she received for her 1,200-square-foot house. The 60-year-old adult daycare aide in Hamden, Connecticut,
Young Farmers Can Help the US Meet Its Climate Goals. Is Washington Listening?
At Sanctuary Farms on Detroit’s East Side, Jøn Kent and a team of volunteers use cardboard and paper bags to starve invasive weedy plants instead of herbicides; they plant marigolds and lavender

Should You Compost Your Clothes?
When Katie Lopes set out to create a women’s underwear brand, she wanted her products to be comfortable and hip — and eventually disappear into a pile of coffee grounds, eggshells and potato

Is a Mass Timber Construction Boom Coming to America?
When it opens up to tenants later this month, the Ascent, a 25-story, $125 million luxury high-rise in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, will offer an array of swanky amenities, including an indoor dog track

Women Are Leading the Way
Women are disproportionately impacted by climate change. Yet, it’s women’s unique role on the frontlines of the climate crisis that makes them distinctly equipped to be powerful leaders. Throughout Women’s History Month,

Can Methane Detectors Help the U.S. Reach Its Climate Goals?
To explain how high-tech aerial photography can help save the planet, research scientist Riley Duren refers to a map of Los Angeles, where a pixelated blue and green cloud hovers over a

How a Proposed Lithium Mine in Nevada Threatens Sacred Native Land
On a windy September afternoon in northern Nevada, where her family has lived for generations, Daranda Hinkey fought back tears as she read a description of an 1865 massacre that killed at

Does Orange County, California Actually Need That $350 Million Desalination Plant?
Once again, California is in a drought. Much of Northern California and the Central Valley are experiencing “acute water supply shortfalls,” and the Sierra Nevada snowpack, a critical water source for Californians

The Oil and Gas Industry Is In Denial About Its Own Demise
In one of his first acts as president, Joe Biden paused new oil and gas leases on federal lands and waters. Companies can still drill areas they had previously leased, and they

Philly Wants to Wean Off Gas. The City-Owned Gas Utility Is Refusing to Go Along.
In 2018, Philadelphia laid out an ambitious plan to cut citywide carbon pollution 80 percent by 2050. To hit that goal, the city would need to change the way it heated buildings

Issue 2: The Future of Natural Gas
Throughout the 20th century, coal supplied the bulk of America's electricity. It was coal, by and large, that kept our light bulbs, radios, laundry machines, dishwashers, TVs and computers humming along, and