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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
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
The US Towns Swallowed by Big Oil’s ‘Chemical Soup’
In the mid-2000s, the United States unearthed a huge amount of methane – the main ingredient in natural gas. To ship it overseas, companies built factories to compact it into a liquid. But these facilities weren't just built in industrial areas; they were also built near people's homes. In this video, four residents whose communities wereREAD 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
They Were Pregnant During a Climate Disaster. Do Their Children Carry the Scars?
When Superstorm Sandy hit in October 2012, Celia Sporer-Newman was about eight months pregnant and working full-time as a paramedic in Queens, New York. Sporer-Newman had worked through previous disasters, including Hurricane Irene the year before, but this felt different. She saw news reports that said Sandy was going to be worse than anything New YorkersREAD MORE
The ‘Gift of God’ That Has Poisoned American Kids for 100 Years
Generations after scientists found that lead was dangerous to humans, American infrastructure is still rife with lead: homes, water pipes, automobile fuel and more. This means an astounding number of America's most vulnerable children have high levels of lead in their blood. To understand why lead has been so difficult to remove from one of theREAD 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
Knowing Your Neighbors Could Save You From the Next Climate Disaster
When Winter Storm Uri hit Texas in February 2021, bringing single-digit temperatures and sheets of snow to Dallas, Susana Edith and a group of volunteers distributed lentil soup and winter gear to unhoused people in their community. “A lot of us had a sense of urgency and were called to action at that moment,” Edith said.READ MORE
Drying Up: Inside the Californian Communities Without Enough Water
California's Central Valley grows a large portion of America's food – and that requires a huge amount of water. But the region is experiencing a drought and drying up the surface water that farms rely on. So farms are now pumping water from underground. There's a problem, though: it's drying up the wells in vulnerable communitiesREAD 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
Ravaged by Hurricanes, a Historic Black Community Fights for Survival (VIDEO)
Ironton, a small incorporated community in Louisiana, was devastated by Hurricane Ida. But the destruction was not inevitable. Founded by freed people who were previously enslaved, Ironton residents had to fight for running water, sewage – and levees. Federally funded levees built after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 stopped short of Ironton, leaving homes to flood duringREAD MORE
The Racist History of Toilets in America (VIDEO)
America invested in sanitation systems throughout the 20th century – but it often left out communities of color, and they're still trying to catch up. This video explains how specific policies caused these inequities, and talks to some of the people who still lack proper sanitation systems in 2022. Additional reporting and production by Jocelyn TabancayREAD 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
‘Every Street Has Its Own Problem’: Majority-Black City Sees Hope After Years of Sewage Crisis (VIDEO)
In the shadow of one of the world’s richest cities, the people of Mount Vernon, New York face an unpleasant problem inside their homes: sewage. The city’s under-resourced sanitation crew struggles to keep up with complications stemming from its crumbling, 100-year old sewer system—a system strained even further by the extreme rain brought on by climateREAD MORE
The Fight to Save Sacred Land in Nevada: ‘Like Putting a Lithium Mine on Arlington Cemetery’ (VIDEO)
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 least 31 members of the Paiute tribe. In the passage, her great-great-great grandfather, Ox Sam, one of three survivors, recalled losing his parents andREAD MORE
When the Water Runs Out: Climate Change and an Ongoing Water Crisis Threaten the Future of Native Tribes, Fish, and Farmers (VIDEO)
Except for a brief stint in the military, Paul Crawford has spent his entire life farming in southern Oregon. First, as a boy, chasing his dad through hayfields and now, growing alfalfa on his own farm with his wife and two kids, who want to grow up to be farmers. “I wouldn't trade a day ofREAD MORE
Inside South Baltimore’s Fight Against Burning Trash (VIDEO)
This story is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. When Meleny Thomas first moved to South Baltimore, she thought the towering smokestack emblazoned with the city’s name was a welcome sign. She later learned what it really was: a trash incinerator releasing pollutants into her neighborhood. The incinerator,READ MORE