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As Extreme Heat Blasts Farms, More Harvests Are Taking Place in the Dark
In the summer months, Flor Sanchez and the members of her harvest crew rise before dawn and arrive at a cherry orchard in Washington state’s Yakima Valley when there is only the slightest hint of daylight. “We use headlamps,” she says, to carry ladders to the trees. Climbing up into the branches to harvest the ripeREAD MORE
Microplastics Are Everywhere. What Are They Doing to Our Health?
Microplastics are everywhere. Everyday items like clothing, food packaging, cosmetics and car tires shed tiny particles of plastics, which in turn find their way into blood, baby poop, placentas and breastmilk. According to recent research, plastics are even in the intricate, delicate tissue that makes up our lungs. Research from 2019 suggests that we might breathe inREAD MORE
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 United States and other wealthy countries for years. As they soaked up rain, the textiles trapped gases and chemicals that emanated from all thatREAD MORE
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 on fossil-fuel finance, “It works out that $62,500 in one of the big American banks could produce as much carbon (about 8 tons) asREAD MORE
Cities Are Depaving for a Cooler Future
It all started because a man named Arif Khan wanted a garden. In 2007, he had recently moved into a house in Portland, Ore., whose backyard was covered in asphalt. Some friends helped him tear up the impervious surface, and soon after, they won a small grant to carry out a similar project in front ofREAD MORE
Farmers Are Breeding Heat-Resistant Cows
At Vaqueria El Remanso, a small dairy farm west of San Juan, Puerto Rico, the cows are different — they have a freshly shaven, suave look. Their short hair is the result of a natural mutation known as “slick,” which Rafael López-López, who runs El Remanso, has been breeding into his cows for decades. “In hot,READ MORE
Swimmable Cities Are a Climate Solution
As recently as the 1940s, New Yorkers swam in floating pools in the Hudson and East Rivers. A safer alternative to swimming directly in the river, the municipal baths kept residents cool in hot summer months until they were closed over sanitation concerns. Now, as the city contends with life-threatening heat, can New Yorkers once againREAD MORE
All Talk and —Yes — Action
In 2020, artist Nicole Cooper was conducting research for a painting series when she stumbled upon a NASA chart showing temperature rise throughout history. “I had this realization of, ‘Look at how fast temperatures are rising — and what are we going to do about it?” she said. Cooper experienced what she described as an existentialREAD MORE
Climate Change Is Upending Farmers’ Livelihoods — and Exacerbating a Mental Health Crisis
When Mike Rosmann, an Iowa farmer and psychologist, heard his phone ring on a spring morning in 2019, he knew he had to answer. In the previous four months, his state had experienced the wettest period in its recorded history; farmers in the region were in crisis. A week earlier, one of Rosmann’s patients had lostREAD MORE
Can Art Help Us Grasp the Plastics Crisis?
Duke Riley started out making maritime crafts, like sailor’s valentines and scrimshaws, entirely out of shells, bones and other natural materials that washed ashore on the beaches of Cape Cod, Massachusetts and greater New York. Then, on a walk in 2017, he picked up what he thought was a piece of bone. Upon closer inspection, heREAD MORE
Wells Are Running Dry in Rural Communities of Color. Is a Fix in Sight?
For years, Michael Prado has provided bottled water to his neighbors in Sultana, a town of about 785 people in California’s Central Valley. That’s because most wells in town have been contaminated by runoff from agriculture, said Prado, who is president of the Sultana Community Services District. Only one well meets state standards for safe drinkingREAD MORE
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 an eyebrow. At Wicker’s request, a store clerk looked up the materials: polyurethane and polyester. Plastics. For the last decade, Wicker has been coveringREAD MORE
Polluting Plant in L.A. Charged With 22 Felonies
A scrap metal recycling facility is facing criminal charges in connection with allegedly contaminating the grounds of a Los Angeles high school with lead and other toxic pollutants. Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón filed 22 felony and two misdemeanor counts against Atlas Metals, alleging the plant illegally disposed of hazardous waste, some of which wasREAD MORE
FireGeneration Wants Young People to Help Shape Wildfire Policies
Ryan Reed spent much of his childhood outdoors, absorbing the knowledge of his Karuk, Hupa and Yurok ancestors through activities like hunting and fishing in the forests of Northern California. As he grew older, he began participating in cultural burns, an ancient practice also known as prescribed or controlled burns that involves igniting and tending toREAD MORE
“We Each Have a Commitment to the Community”: Solar Resilience in a Puerto Rico Town
Leer en español. For two weeks after Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico in 2017, Lucy’s Pizza was the only restaurant open in the central mountain town of Adjuntas. The town’s 18,000 residents, like those on the rest of the island, were entirely without electricity. “No one has power, you can’t get gas, it’s difficult to makeREAD MORE
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 of millions of gallons of perfectly good “brown gold” because there was no easy and ecologically friendly way to get it from his cattleREAD MORE
Silvopasture Is an Ancient, Climate-Smart Farming Practice. Can the Farm Bill Help Spur its 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 fields swayed with a variety of greenery: chicory, alfalfa and clover. But they were also full of something typically missing on an agricultural landscapeREAD MORE
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 into containers. It could create safe, cool play spaces for the more than 1 million New Yorkers without easy park access. It could buildREAD MORE
‘We Need a Plan’: A Young Chief Helps His Tribe Navigate the Climate Crisis
Devon Parfait’s earliest memories are of the Louisiana bayou. He spent countless hours on his grandfather Pierre’s shrimping boat, hauling up freshly baited traps and hearing old family stories. His family, part of the Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw tribe, had lived off the water for generations. But those days came to an abrupt end in 2005 when Hurricane RitaREAD MORE
A Climate-Smart Farm Bill Can Save Lives
In August 2017, as wildfires raged across British Columbia, a blanket of smoke settled over the neighboring state of Washington, turning the sun blood-red and filling the air with grit and ash. At Sarbanand Farms, a blueberry orchard in Sumas, Washington, a 28-year-old seasonal worker named Honesto Silva Ibarra collapsed and later died. His fellow workersREAD MORE
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 had grown up hunting squirrels, drinking fresh spring water and meandering down trails through the property, and she always hoped she would be ableREAD MORE
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 alone, in their homes. She called Suzanne Washington, who runs the local chapter of Meals on Wheels. “That overlap of their demographic and theREAD MORE
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 like the puzzle-solving and being able to look back at the end of the day and see the physical result of your hard work,”READ MORE
Can We Laugh at the Climate Crisis?
When David Perdue applied to be part of a climate comedy program, he felt a little out of his element: “I couldn’t recall one time I’d ever had a conversation with my friends about climate change,” said the Atlanta-based comic. Purdue, who is Black, added, “But I knew it was an issue that was going toREAD MORE
We’re Approaching Several ‘Positive’ Climate Tipping Points. Is It Enough?
When it comes to climate change, tipping points are typically a bad thing. They refer to a threshold at which irreversible, self-perpetuating and catastrophic environmental changes – often referred to as feedback loops – will ensue. For example, in the Amazon, deforestation threatens to set off a chain of processes in which the rainforest emits moreREAD MORE
Italy Is Fighting Energy Poverty — and Climate Change
San Giovanni a Teduccio is a working-class neighborhood on the outskirts of Naples, Italy. Once an industrial center, today it’s home to abandoned factories that sit in ruins by the sea. But the rooftop of a former orphanage points to new beginnings for the community. There, the sun shines onto the deep blue surface of 166READ MORE
How Norway Became the World’s Electric Car Capital
When Trondheim-based Magnus Korpås bought his first electric car in 2019, he settled on a Tesla—the model of car that offered the most charging stations available to him at the time. However, in just a few years, Norway built out its charging infrastructure so quickly that no matter what type of electric vehicle (EV) you choose,READ MORE
Freeways Blighted Milwaukee’s North Side. Can Tearing Them Down Bring New Life to the City?
Before the freeways came in, Bronzeville, on Milwaukee’s North Side, was a vibrant neighborhood known for its restaurants, bars and jazz scene. The area had been home to successive waves of immigrants and most recently had become the heart of the city’s Black community. But it suffered a major blow in the 1960s when large swathsREAD MORE
“It’s Absolutely a Sacrifice Zone.”
As an Indigenous fisherman from southern Louisiana, Travis Dardar knows what it’s like to have his home deemed unworthy of saving. Dardar grew up on Isle de Jean Charles, a small island in the marsh nearly washed away by storms, erosion and rising seas. In the early 2000s, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers concluded thatREAD MORE
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 but harbors concerns about trading with an abusive government. Meanwhile, a coalition of countries from the Global South must decide whether to accept constructionREAD MORE
‘We’re Basically Condemning Them to Unhealthy Pregnancies.’
When Jamika Jones was pregnant with her son earlier this year, her mother worried about her drinking water from the tap. Jones lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where more than a third of the water service lines contain lead; when those pipes corrode, they can release the neurotoxin into the water flowing through them. Lead exposure hasREAD MORE
The Energy Transition Has a Labor Shortage Problem. This Startup Is Taking It On.
Before he joined the Civilian Climate Corps, Robert Clark assumed building and electric work was all low-skilled labor, akin to “working at McDonald’s,” he said. That was before he learned to install electric heat pumps, maintain electric vehicle charging stations and perform 3D image modeling of spaces about to get energy upgrades. The apprenticeship program hasREAD MORE
Doulas Are Frontline Climate Workers
As Hurricane Ian approached southern Florida in late September, Tifanny Burks got a call from a recent client. A single mother of three, including an infant Burks had helped deliver, was facing eviction and scrambling to find a place to weather the storm. Burks, who uses they/her pronouns, connected their client with lawyers who could helpREAD MORE
Mobile Homes Offer Low-Cost Living. Now, They’re Threatened by Climate Change.
Charlotte Bishop was standing at her kitchen window in January 2019 when she saw water streaming into her yard. A block of ice had clogged the brook that snakes around the mobile home park where she and her husband Rollin live in Brattleboro, Vermont. Bishop grabbed her keys and rushed outside to move their cars toREAD MORE
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, turned to the Connecticut Green Bank (CBG), the oldest such bank in the country. The bank was financing solar panel installations with no upfrontREAD MORE
New Heat Regulations Could Save Hundreds of Workers’ Lives. Do Employers Care?
Extreme heat — a phenomenon that is increasing in severity and frequency as the planet warms — is the deadliest weather related disaster, killing more than 5,600 people each year, according to some estimates. It attacks the elderly, the isolated, and workers — particularly those laboring outside. A farmworker in the United States is 35 timesREAD MORE
Fast Fashion Is an Environmental Catastrophe. Is Composting Your Clothes the Solution?
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 peels in her garden. “I was beginning to become more aware of the damage the fashion industry was doing to the planet, so itREAD MORE
“It Was Like Taking the Heart Out of the Body.”
Growing up in Rosemont, a once vibrant Black neighborhood on Baltimore’s West Side, Glenn Smith remembers “having everything you needed” — parks, markets and even a movie theater — within walking distance of the home he shared with his parents and seven siblings. “It was a Norman Rockwell existence,” he said. But in 1974, when SmithREAD MORE
The Climate Crisis Is Here. When Will TV Reflect Our Shifting Reality?
From hurricanes bearing down on Florida to megafires burning in the West, the climate crisis seems to be everywhere, all at once. But on TV and film screens, mentions of climate are far rarer. A study by the University of Southern California’s Media Impact lab examined more than 37,000 film and TV scripts that aired inREAD MORE
How Utah’s ‘Spiral Jetty’ Became a Barometer of the Climate Crisis
In 1972, just two years after it was completed, “Spiral Jetty” all but disappeared from view. Robert Smithson’s seminal earthwork was created at a time when the water levels of Utah’s Great Salt Lake were unusually low, making it easy to discern the sculpture’s vortex-like coil of black basalt rocks. But when heavy rain battered theREAD MORE