Stories featured in
“We Want to Make Sure That We Leave the World Better Than It Is Now.”
In February 2020, professor Sheldon Pollock, 74, was recently widowed, approaching retirement from his tenured position at Columbia University and thinking about what would come next for him. His granddaughter Elea, a high-schooler in San Diego at the time, was helping to organize a school walkout as part of the climate movement Fridays for the Future.READ MORE
Methane Is Leaking Over Native Grounds. Citizen Scientists Are Fighting Back.
From behind her FLIR GF320 infrared camera, Kendra Pinto sees plumes of purple smoke otherwise invisible to the naked eye. They’re full of methane and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and they’re wafting out of an oil tank in New Mexico’s San Juan Basin. Pinto, a member of the Diné (Navajo) community and field advocate with environmentalREAD MORE
Central Park’s Climate Lab Is a Window Into the Future of Urban Green Spaces
When Hurricane Ida dumped more than 3 inches of rain on Central Park in a single hour, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) called it a “1-in-500 year rainfall event.” The downpour broke the park’s previous rainfall record, set just 11 days earlier. It damaged scores of trees, flooded the Loeb Boathouse, transformed the areaREAD MORE
Six Months After Hurricane Ida, a Historic Black Community Races To Save Its Future
Audrey Trufant Salvant has deep roots in Ironton, a close-knit, majority-Black community 25 miles downriver from New Orleans. Her great-great-great grandmother, who had been enslaved, is buried here, and her descendents kept the unincorporated town in Plaquemines Parish alive, despite near-impossible circumstances. Founded by formerly enslaved people in the late 1800s, Ironton’s residents have since enduredREAD MORE
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 up and down the state during the dry season, is all but gone already—just 6 percent of normal for this time of year. California’sREAD 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