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There’s Petroleum Hidden in Your Jeans
To celebrate the 150th anniversary of its famous 501 jeans, Levi’s announced the release of a new plant-based 501 Jean. If you’re slightly confused by this, you’re not alone. After all, a typical pair of 501s isn’t made of leather or any other animal product. It’s cotton. In fact, its label says, “100% cotton.” But whileREAD 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
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
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 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
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
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
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 source: the Chevron oil refinery that for decades has loomed over the working-class community. In the days that followed, 15,000 people in the areaREAD MORE
“To the End” Director Rachel Lears on the Fight for a Green New Deal
If Rachel Lears’ award-winning 2020 documentary Knock Down the House was the story of idealistic young candidates on their way to Washington, her latest film, To The End, is about the political realities that awaited them once they got there. To the End, which premiered earlier this year at Sundance, follows four young climate activists, includingREAD MORE
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 do anything about it. There’s a real danger the end result could be the same: inaction. “The doom-and-gloom narrative keeps people in despair orREAD MORE
Meet the Environmental Scientist Who Wants to Decolonize Conservation
Jessica Hernandez found her way to conservation science and environmental justice through her grandmother—and her knowledge about the natural world, accumulated over generations. Maria de Jesus, a member of southern Mexico’s Zapotec community, showed her granddaughter how to tend the family milpa, the plot where they harvested beans, corn, squash, medicinal plants and even grasshoppers. SheREAD MORE
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 16 to 25, are “very or extremely” worried about climate change, according to a study released earlier this month; four in 10 said thoseREAD MORE
Climate Deniers Are Embracing QAnon
Naomi Seibt was supposed to be the right’s answer to Greta Thunberg — a charismatic, blonde, German teen who would challenge climate science, like a comic book nemesis who is endowed with the same powers and abilities as her foe. Her conservative backers at the Heartland Institute billed her as a much-needed voice of reason. Seibt,READ MORE
How Oil Companies Are Trying to Win Back the Youth
This story is published as part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. When he interned at Shell, José Gomez made $5,200 a month. That was before he had even graduated from the University of Texas. A high-performing student in the UT’s top-ranked petroleum engineering program, he could lookREAD MORE
Climate Refugees Face an Uncertain Future Under Trump
Belinda Osorio Hanzman chokes up at the thought of having to leave her two children behind in Florida if she is forced to go back to Honduras, the country where she was born, but one she no longer knows. “I’ll have to go back without them,” she said, pausing, in tears. “This is very difficult.” Hanzman,READ MORE
What Climate Change Will Do to Three Major American Cities by 2100
By Nexus Media in collaboration with Teen Vogue Climate change is already here. It’s not something that can simply be ignored by cable news or dismissed by sitting U.S. senators in a Twitter joke. Nor is it a fantastical scenario like The Day After Tomorrow or 2012 that starts with a single crack in the ArcticREAD MORE
How YouTube Promotes Conspiracy Theories and Climate Change Denial
Chances are, if you’re under 25, you’ve grown up using YouTube as a definitive source for everything from news to makeup tutorials to cooking how-tos. A study conducted last year shows that 85 percent of Americans ages 13 to 17 use YouTube, making it the most popular social platform for teens, and a survey published lastREAD MORE