Stories featured in
In Their Element: Fire (VIDEO)
Today California has out-of-control wildfires, but for centuries Indigenous tribes tended the land with fire. One North Fork Mono leader is on a journey to bring back and legalize controlled burns for cultural purposes. This video was produced in partnership with PBS. Nexus Media News is an editorially independent, nonprofit news service covering climate change. Follow us @NexusMediaNewsREAD MORE
In Their Element: Water (VIDEO)
Yurok people rely on California’s Klamath River for sustenance, but the dwindling fish population threatens food security. Tribal leaders aim to restore the deteriorated river for future generations. This video was produced in partnership with PBS. Nexus Media News is an editorially independent, nonprofit news service covering climate change. Follow us @NexusMediaNews.READ MORE
In Their Element: Air (VIDEO)
With an infrared camera in hand, a Diné (Navajo) community activist investigates methane leaks at oil and gas sites. Environmental protectors sound the alarm and push for regulation in New Mexico’s San Juan Basin. This video was produced in partnership with PBS. Nexus Media News is an editorially independent, nonprofit news service covering climate change. Follow us @NexusMediaNews.READ MORE
In Their Element: Earth (VIDEO)
After years of degradation along Louisiana’s bayou, Pointe-au-Chien tribal land is rapidly disappearing. Despite land loss and intensifying storms, community members are determined to stay. Read more here. This video was produced in partnership with PBS. Nexus Media News is an editorially independent, nonprofit news service covering climate change. Follow us @NexusMediaNews.READ MORE
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 or organizations related to “health, race or ethnicity, political affiliation, religion or sexual orientation.” The change was a response to concerns about online abuse—theREAD MORE
A Tale of Two Climate Migrants
This story is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. Climate change is fueling longer dry spells, bigger floods and more violent storms across the globe, but the effect is most pronounced in the tropics, where even a small rise in temperature can turn a heat wave from miserableREAD MORE
One of America’s Most Prescient Political Thinkers on the Changing Politics of Climate Change
A little more than two weeks before Trump supporters stormed the Capitol, University of Maryland sociologist Dana Fisher warned that “America is drifting towards a violent schism.” Later reflecting on the insurrection, she mused that she got everything right except for the date and the time. But it’s not all bad, she said. Fisher, author ofREAD MORE
The Lobstermen of the Eastern Yucatán (PHOTOS)
José “Josh” Catzim Castillo, a 25-year-old lobster fisher, circles a hollow concrete box resting on the seafloor, just off the coast of Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula. He slips a snare into the box and shakes it. Three spiny lobsters, or langostas, shoot out and try to flee, but Castillo is too quick. He surfaces, hoisting his catch. Its tail snapsREAD MORE
Toxic Algae Are a Menace. Humans Are Giving Them Ammunition.
Matteo Farinella is a neuroscientist-turned-cartoonist who uses comics to explain science. You can follow him @matteofarinella. Jeremy Deaton writes for Nexus Media, a nonprofit climate change news service. You can follow him @deaton_jeremy.READ MORE
Latino Voters Are Worried About Climate Change. They Could Swing the Election.
President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden are in a dead heat in Texas, a state that has swung Republican in every presidential election since 1976. If Biden pulls off the unthinkable and defeats Trump in Texas, it will be by mobilizing Latino voters. This fact could play into the ongoing debate in DemocraticREAD MORE
The United States Could Achieve 90 Percent Clean Power by 2035 at No Extra Cost
Experts disagree about how fast the United States can replace coal and gas-fired power plants with zero-carbon electricity. Some say we can shift to 100 percent clean power by 2050 with little friction and minimal cost. Others say that’s unrealistically optimistic. Scientists on both sides of the argument agree that it’s possible to get to 80READ MORE
Armed With Eminent Domain, Pipeline Projects Continue During the Pandemic
Pipeline giant Kinder Morgan is cutting a 400-mile line across the middle of Texas, digging up vast swaths of private land for its planned Permian Highway Pipeline. The project is ceaseless, continuing through the coronavirus pandemic. Landowner Heath Frantzen said that dozens of workers have showed up to his ranch in Fredericksburg, even as public healthREAD MORE
Facing a Health Crisis, Cities Implore Courts to Limit Pollution
The coronavirus is a case study in the limits of federalism. Where the federal government has declined to gather and distribute masks, gloves and ventilators, states and cities have been forced to compete for medical supplies, paying exorbitant prices to secure needed equipment. Where the federal government has been slow to ramp up testing, states andREAD MORE
The Making of the ‘Thin Green Line’
This story is published as part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. One afternoon in 2012, members of the Lummi Nation called a public gathering on the beach at Cherry Point, near their Bellingham, Washington reservation. They met at the site where SSA Marine was planning to buildREAD MORE
The Dazzling Ocean Reefs Hidden Beneath Oil Rigs
The 2010 BP oil spill dumped more than 200 million gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico, where it killed billions of fish. Had things gone as planned, that oil would have fueled cars and trucks, worsening climate change, which is going to kill billions of fish —and that was the best-case scenario. InREAD MORE
This Man Wants to Make You a Tower Climbing Grease Monkey
Thanks to the coronavirus, we are rapidly heading toward a recession. Lawmakers are scrambling for ways to keep the economy aloft — distributing relief payments, bolstering unemployment, bailing out out hard-hit industries. But these measures are likely to prove insufficient, which is why some observers are pushing for a clean-energy jobs program to revive the economy and restoreREAD MORE
Want to Stop Climate Change? Educate Girls.
Greta Thunberg, who famously missed school to protest climate change, recently met Malala Yousafzai, who won the Nobel Peace Prize fighting to make sure girls could get an education. The photo op quickly went viral. Quipped Yousafzai, “She’s the only friend I’d skip school for.” Behind the banter was a telling truth — the battle to stem climateREAD MORE
How Black Miami Came to the Rescue After Dorian Battered the Bahamas
In September 2019, Hurricane Dorian tore through the Bahamas, killing 70 people and inflicting billions in damages. While nearby Florida escaped mostly unscathed, those with deep ties to the Bahamas felt a well of heartache after the storm. In Miami, the Black diaspora marshaled a massive response to the climate disaster. This is how they didREAD MORE
Air Pollution Could Be Making You Anxious, Depressed — and Violent
There is a wealth of research detailing all the terrible things that air pollution can do to your body, such as contributing to heart disease, lung cancer, childhood asthma and emphysema, among a range of other maladies. Often overlooked, however, are studies showing that tainted air also can provoke anxiety and unhappiness, or make it difficultREAD MORE
Racist Housing Policies Have Left Communities of Color at Greater Risk of Extreme Heat
Extreme heat often kills more people in this country than hurricanes, floods, lightning and tornadoes. But heat is not an equal opportunity killer. “It’s very selective in the way it kills people,” said Vivek Shandas, professor of urban studies and planning at Portland State University in Oregon, whose new study, published in the journal Climate, evaluatedREAD MORE
The Politics of a Green New Deal (VIDEO)
In the summer of 2018, Nexus Media took part in Freedom to Breathe, a cross-country tour that explored how climate change intersects with the racial, social and economic challenges that Americans face every day. We saw firsthand how fossil fuel pollution and extreme weather are damaging communities across the United States, and how ordinary people areREAD MORE
Fighting Floods and Fossil Fuels in Port Arthur, Texas (VIDEO)
In the summer of 2018, Nexus Media took part in Freedom to Breathe, a cross-country tour that explored how climate change intersects with the racial, social and economic challenges that Americans face every day. We saw firsthand how fossil fuel pollution and extreme weather are damaging communities across the United States, and how ordinary people areREAD MORE
Extreme Heat Threatens Farms and Farm Workers (VIDEO)
In the summer of 2018, Nexus Media took part in Freedom to Breathe, a cross-country tour that explored how climate change intersects with the racial, social and economic challenges that Americans face every day. We saw firsthand how fossil fuel pollution and extreme weather are damaging communities across the United States, and how ordinary people areREAD MORE
Fossil Fuel Drilling Is Making Texans Sick (VIDEO)
Methane released from fracking is terrible for the climate. In Texas, it’s also hurting people’s health. In the summer of 2018, Nexus Media took part in Freedom to Breathe, a cross-country tour that explored how climate change intersects with the racial, social and economic challenges that Americans face every day. We saw firsthand how fossil fuel pollutionREAD MORE
Where Rising Seas Are Raising Rents (VIDEO)
In the summer of 2018, Nexus Media took part in Freedom to Breathe, a cross-country tour that explored how climate change intersects with the racial, social and economic challenges that Americans face every day. We saw firsthand how fossil fuel pollution and extreme weather are damaging communities across the United States, and how ordinary people areREAD MORE
At UN Climate Conference U.S. Growers Defend Large-Scale Farming
For the first time ever, the UN is building out a roadmap for curbing carbon pollution from agriculture. To take part in that process, a coalition of U.S. farmers traveled to the UN climate conference in Madrid, Spain this month to make the case for the role that large-scale farming operations, long criticized for their outsizedREAD MORE
Worsening Weather Could Make Life Miserable for Lupus Patients
Rheumatologist George Stojan says that many of his lupus patients know their joints are going to swell or go stiff when the weather shifts, particularly when the temperature or humidity changes. It got him thinking about how climate change could exacerbate their disease, and prompted him to take a closer look at the possible connection. Stojan,READ MORE
When Selling Your Home, It Pays to Be a Climate Change Denier
David Fisher worries about what could happen to his home on Fire Island in an era of rising seas. The two-story wood-and-glass house is only 75 feet from Great South Bay and sits less than four feet above the water level. Since watching water seep into his house during Superstorm Sandy in 2012, he has struggledREAD MORE
Obama’s EPA Chief: ‘Sometimes You Need to Listen to the Kids’
As EPA administrator under former president Barack Obama, Gina McCarthy crafted a slate of ambitious policies to curb planet-warming carbon pollution. But since Trump took office, she has seen much of her work undone. McCarthy may be discouraged, but she is not defeated. She recently spoke to Nexus Media about environmental inequality, government corruption, and howREAD MORE
Americans Say It’s Okay to Report On Climate Change — Even in the Middle of a Hurricane
Earlier this month Hurricane Dorian made landfall in the Bahamas, delivering winds upwards of 180 miles an hour and widespread flooding, enough destructive force to kill at least 50 people and leave tens of thousands homeless. It was the most powerful hurricane to hit the islands in more than 150 years of record-keeping, and it wasREAD MORE
Meet Kick-Ass Teen Climate Activist Xiye Bastida
Xiye Bastida grew up in the Mexican town of San Pedro Tultepec embracing the Otomi indigenous belief that if you take care of the Earth, it will take care of you. “Earth is our home,” she said. “It gives you air, water and shelter. Everything we need. All it asks is that we protect it.” NearlyREAD MORE
Elephants and Monkeys Are Working to Protect You From Climate Change
Mother Nature has it figured out. She’s designed a master scheme that connects plants and animals, all working in concert to keep every living thing in balance. Imagine a stack of dominoes — knock down one of them, and the rest will tumble. The same can happen in nature. This is especially evident in places like central AfricaREAD MORE
As the Coal Industry Falls Apart, Miners Face Losing Their Pensions
In June, the Trump administration unveiled one of its largest environmental rollbacks to date: replacing the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan rule, which regulated carbon pollution from power plants. The rule had been a favorite target of President Trump as he stumped on the campaign trail and held presidential rallies. “We’ve ended the war on beautiful,READ MORE
The Radical Philosophy of Extinction Rebellion
New York police recently arrested 66 protestors who rallied outside The New York Times building to compel the newspaper to make climate change a front-page issue. The demonstrators belonged to Extinction Rebellion, a movement born in the United Kingdom that is committed to nonviolent resistance. In addition to protesting outside of The New York Times, U.S.READ MORE
New Research Shows Malaria Can Spread In Cooler Climates
For nearly a century, scientists thought that malaria could only spread in places where it is really hot. That’s because malaria is spread by a tiny parasite that infects mosquitoes, which then infect humans — and this parasite loves warm weather. In warmer climates, the parasite grows quickly inside the mosquito’s body. But in cooler climates, the parasiteREAD MORE
The Dutch Are Building a Barricade Against Climate Change (PHOTOS)
The inhabitants of the Netherlands have been fighting floods for thousands of years. Eight-hundred years ago, they began to create local councils called “waterschappen” that were tasked with preventing floods. The rich provided the money and the poor provided their labor to build and maintain levees. Those councils still exist today, and they have a newREAD MORE
GE’s Investment Mistake Could Cost Billions
Last week, General Electric announced it would close a California gas plant 20 years ahead of schedule. The Inland Empire Energy Center in California, the company said, was “uneconomical to support further” in part because of outdated technology. But California’s aggressive clean energy goals and commitment to using renewable energy was also a key determinant in GE’sREAD MORE
Fossil Fuel Protesters Push a Coal Plant to Become a Solar-Powered Data Center
Lisa Marshall isn’t your typical activist. For one thing, she’s not into crowds and didn't originally see herself among the legion of fossil fuel protesters. “I don’t really like rallies,” Marshall, a mom of three from upstate New York, said. “They’re a little stressful — not my favorite thing.” Marshall, who has two degrees in earth science, remembersREAD MORE
How to Make More Electric Cars Without More Destructive Mining
Climate warriors like to imagine a future where electric cars put oil companies out of business. Firms would stop injecting known carcinogens into the ground to break up the layer of hard, shale rock hiding stores of fuel, and they would no longer plumb the ocean depths for oil, letting sticky black goo leak into theREAD MORE
Invisible Heroes of the Sea (PHOTOS)
For nearly two centuries, scientists have pondered “Darwin’s Paradox,” the enduring mystery of why coral reefs thrive in tropical waters, which are woefully short on nutrients. Reefs are teeming oases in aquatic wastelands, and researchers have puzzled endlessly over how they flourish. One answer may come from the thousands of species of tiny colorful fish, rarelyREAD MORE