Politics
“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
“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
A Dilemma for California Legislators: Preserve Public Beaches or Protect Coastal Homes
Up and down California, rising seas are threatening seaside property. As of 2018, around 148 miles of the California coast have been fortified with jetties, breakwaters, sea walls and other hard barriers
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
The United States Owes a Massive Climate Debt. One Way to Pay It: Let In Climate Migrants.
The United States has generated more heat-trapping carbon pollution than any other nation, but it has not felt the impact of climate change in equal measure. Poorer countries in warmer latitudes are
How Gerrymandering Silences the Environmental Vote
This year, state legislatures will redraw the electoral map. The GOP controls most state legislatures, and they are expected to draw congressional districts to favor Republicans, which will make it easier for
Why the People Who Worry the Most About Climate Change Vote In the Smallest Numbers
The 2020 election marked the first time in 20 years that Georgia sent a Democrat to the U.S. Senate, and the first time in 28 years that it swung for a Democrat
A Scholar of the Resistance 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,
Issue 1: Democracy and Climate Change
The United States is the world's oldest modern democracy. Its old age is a testament to the strength of the American system and the source of many of its failures. The founders
How Corporations Gave Republicans Permission to Deny Reality
At the 2018 UN climate conference in Poland, visitors could watch a virtual forest degrade on a set of screens – and donate, a display said, to help save it. The installation
The Scariest Thing About Climate Change Isn’t the Weather—It’s Us
Last year saw a raft of unprecedented extreme-weather events — the biggest-ever California wildfire, the most named storms in the Atlantic, the costliest thunderstorm in U.S. history. Experts said these disasters both
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Severe Floods Worsen Lead Pollution In Northeast Oklahoma
Miami, Oklahoma is caught in a vice, being squeezed from both sides. To the north, dust from abandoned lead mines is seeping into the ground and into waterways. To the south, homeowners
Electric Cars Could Save California’s Power Grid
Climate change ramped up its attacks on California this year, serving up massive wildfires and blistering heat waves, which led to widespread power outages. To fight back, Governor Gavin Newsom took aim
A Convenient Truth
There was a time when serious people could have a good-faith debate about how best to weigh the future cost of climate change against the present cost of overhauling the global energy
No, Renewables Did Not Cause California’s Blackouts
Record heat across California last weekend spurred Golden Staters to blast their air conditioners. The strain on the power grid was so great that California’s grid operator started rationing electricity. For the
The Growing Danger From Gas Pipelines
Pipelines exploded with the force of bombs, setting homes ablaze in Merrimack Valley, Massachusetts, on the evening of September 13, 2018. Columbia Gas, the local gas utility, had allowed too much pressure
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