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EartherClimate ChangeBernie Sanders and Ilhan Omar Introduce Bill to Stop Fossil Fuel Subsidies
Sure, they heat up the planet, but the U.S. predominantly uses fossil fuels because they continually outcompete more sustainable forms of energy in the free market. Or so the neoliberal myth goes. In reality, of course, the nation directly subsidizes the deadly oil, gas, and coal industries with billions of dollars—estimates range anywhere from $10 … Continued
By Dharna Noor -
EartherClimate ChangeHumans Have Destroyed 97% Of Earth’s Ecosystems
Only 3% of land on Earth still qualifies as “ecologically intact,” with undisturbed habitats and healthy populations of its original animal species, grim new research shows. That’s a much bleaker picture than the one painted by previous assessments, which pegged that number much higher, estimating that 20% to 40% of land is still intact. But … Continued
By Dharna Noor -
EartherClimate ChangeResearchers Created the Whitest White Paint Ever
If you’ve ever redone a room in your house and gone to the hardware store to pick out some fresh paint, you know that there’s a lot of different shades of white on the market. Turns out, there’s a new shade of white in town—and this one may have some pretty cool (literally) climate implications. … Continued
By Molly Taft -
EartherClimate ChangeTherapists Are Reckoning With Eco-Anxiety
Andrew Bryant, a therapist based in Tacoma, Washington, felt helpless the first time climate change came up in his office. It was 2016, and a client was agonizing over whether to have a baby. His partner wanted one, but the young man couldn’t stop envisioning this hypothetical child growing up in an apocalyptic, climate-changed world. … Continued
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EartherClimate ChangeThe U.S. Is Closer to a Zero-Carbon Grid Than It Seems
The U.S. has a lot of work to do to draw down carbon emissions. But a new report shows that when it comes to the energy grid, things are actually in better shape than researchers thought it’d be by this point. The analysis from the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory takes a look … Continued
By Dharna Noor -
EartherClimate ChangeBiden Is Following in Trump’s Footsteps When It Comes to Climate Lawsuits
Since taking office, President Biden has positioned himself as the antidote to Trump on climate, passing sweeping executive orders reversing the previous administration’s actions and launching aggressive infrastructure projects meant to bring the country into a low-carbon future. But moves made by the administration in two high-profile legal cases last week are more in line … Continued
By Molly Taft -
EartherClimate ChangeFrance Is on the Brink of Banning Domestic Short-Haul Flights
People took fewer flights amid the covid-19 pandemic, which helped to lower carbon pollution from aviation by roughly 60%. Now, France is trying to make some of that reduction permanent. The French national assembly advanced legislation on Saturday that would ban all short-distance domestic flights that could be replaced by an existing train route that … Continued
By Dharna Noor -
EartherClimate ChangeAmericans Are Already Deciding Where to Move Based on Climate Change
Having been a “climate person” for the past decade-plus has been pretty damn exhausting. Every single choice I make has involved agonizing over the environmental ramifications. But as the climate crisis has become impossible to ignore, more and more people are doing the same, including making decisions to move based on sea level rise and … Continued
By Brian Kahn -
EartherClimate ChangeAn Alaskan Glacier Has Started Moving Really, Really Fast
If you’re visiting Alaska this year, you may get to experience a once-in-a-lifetime geologic event. A glacier in Denali National Park has started moving between 50 to 100 times faster than normal. Last month, a pilot flying over Denali—a park home to the tallest mountain in the U.S.—spotted unusual topography around Muldrow Glacier and took … Continued
By Molly Taft -
EartherClimate ChangeBig Oil Fed State Educators Stats Used to Push Back on Biden’s Climate Goals
For years, Big Oil has cozied up to American public schools—and now they seem to be cashing in their chips. New emails appear to show that some elected officials in charge of public schools may have been helped in attacking the Biden administration’s recent decision to pause oil and gas leasing on federal land by … Continued
By Molly Taft -
EartherClimate ChangeFirst-Ever Observations From Under Antarctica’s ‘Doomsday Glacier’ Are Bad News
Glaciers all over Antarctica are in trouble as ice there rapidly melts. There’s no Antarctic glacier whose fate is more consequential for our future than the Thwaites Glacier, and new research shows that things aren’t looking good for it. Researchers have known that the Thwaites Glacier is in trouble due to encroaching warm waters, but they’d … Continued
By Dharna Noor -
EartherClimate ChangeCalifornia Could Require Uber and Lyft to Go Electric by 2030
If you live in California, chances are you could be taking many more Uber and Lyft trips in electric vehicles in the coming years. The state’s clean air agency is poised to mandate that nearly all vehicles used by drivers working for ridesharing companies be electric by 2030. The proposal from the California Air Resources … Continued
By Molly Taft -
EartherClimate ChangeShell Is Back, Baby :(
After more than a year of covid-19 lockdowns, there’s—dare I say—a feeling of hope in the air. Yes, things are far from over, but millions of people are getting vaccinated and it’s starting to seem like there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. Well, sorry to ruin things slightly, but oil companies are … Continued
By Dharna Noor -
EartherClimate ChangeBolsonaro Oversaw a Connecticut-Sized Chunk of Deforestation in the Amazon Last Year
Last year was a bad one around the world—but especially, it seems, in the Amazon rainforest. Deforestation in the Amazon rocketed up 17% last year, due in large part to increased logging, agriculture, mining, and wildfires, new data published Wednesday shows. The data, put together by the Monitoring of the Andean Amazon Project, or MAAP, … Continued
By Molly Taft -
EartherClimate ChangeMethane Has Never Risen This Fast in the Atmosphere
There’s more methane in the atmosphere than any other time since record keeping began—and levels really spiked last year, despite the fact that we were all inside for most of the time. On Wednesday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency said that global atmospheric methane rose to 1,892.3 parts per billion. Methane shattering records is one … Continued
By Molly Taft -
EartherClimate ChangeThe Midwest’s Active Fire Season Is a Warning
It’s a climate cliché to say the world is on fire, but it is. Right now, wildfires are burning across the Midwest in a major spring burn. The spring flames there are a warning sign of what could be an active fire season out in the coming months. In Wisconsin, Gov. Tony Evers declared a … Continued
By Dharna Noor -
EartherClimate ChangeHundreds of Glacial Rivers Are Pouring Into the Belly of Greenland’s Ice
We use the cliched term “glacial pace” to describe something that moves really slowly. But new research shows that Greenland’s glaciers may actually be moving more rapidly than we thought thanks to rushing rivers on their surface. In 2015, a group of scientists took a NASA-funded expedition to the Russell Glacier in western Greenland to … Continued
By Dharna Noor -
EartherClimate ChangeThe Crisis at a Florida Wastewater Reservoir Show the Risks of Our Weak Infrastructure
On Saturday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency over fears that a leaking wastewater pond in Manatee County could collapse imminently, triggering a “real catastrophic flood situation.” Officials have ordered more than 300 households to evacuate the area, warning that the looming disaster could unleash a 20-foot (6.1-meter) wall of water into … Continued
By Dharna Noor -
EartherClimate ChangeHow Big Meat Is Funding Climate Denial and Polluting the Planet
Move over, Big Oil, and make some room for Big Meat at the climate shame table. A new study shows agribusiness is a major source climate misinformation as well as carbon emissions. The analysis, published last month in Climatic Change, looks at the PR moves behind some of the world’s largest producers of meat and dairy, … Continued
By Molly Taft -
EartherClimate ChangeIn Biden’s America, You’re Going to Flick Your Furnace and Nothing Happens, Folks. Flicking Sometimes 10, 11, 12 Times
Folks, we told you it’s going to happen under Creepy Joe, the Democrat Party, they don’t want you to be able to go and turn on your water heater anymore. They’re gonna have you standing there just hitting that lever, that tiny little lever, over and over and it doesn’t get hot, the water? It … Continued
By Tom McKay