A year ago, Hurricane Helene drove its way up from the Gulf of Mexico through Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas, Tennessee, and Virginia, devastating areas that have rarely — if ever — endured so powerful a hurricane. Many communities are still rebuilding as they wait to see what another hurricane season will...
A ‘coordinated campaign of deception’: Philly sues 2 companies over misleading recycling labels
Look at the packaging of any food or consumer item in the U.S., and there’s a good chance you’ll see a black-and-white decal: the iconic “chasing arrows” recycling symbol, along with the web address how2recycle.info. As you might guess, the labels are meant to tell consumers how they can recycle...
What would an Indigenous Law of the Sea look like?
‘Wáahlaal Gíidaak, who is Indigenous Haida, Tlingit, and Ahtna Athabascan, grew up on Prince of Wales Island in Alaska that was home to about 6,000 people. She spent her career working in government and public policy advocating for Indigenous peoples and when she was first approached to work for the...
How to track disaster spending in your community
After a disaster, huge sums of money trickle down and change hands to fund debris cleanup, repairs, reconstruction, and more. Where all this money goes, and how projects are prioritized, is important to understand as rebuilding gets underway. Below are tips on how to track disaster spending in your own...
The ‘Green Revolution’ transformed global agriculture. Now it’s adapting to climate change.
A sweltering heat wave decimated Pritam Singh’s wheat crop in 2022. That year, temperatures reached a record-breaking 127 degrees Fahrenheit in Haryana, India, where Singh operates a 35-acre farm. The scorching heat shriveled the wheat and forced it to mature faster, he recalled, leading to just half of his usual...
Trump raised $8 million for Hurricane Helene survivors. Where did it all go?
On a dusty, warm day last October, nearly a month after Hurricane Helene tore across the southeastern United States, Donald Trump stood behind a podium in Swannanoa, North Carolina, to pledge funding and support to survivors of the disaster. “In the wake of this horrible storm, many Americans in this...
The oceans just hit an ominous milestone
You’re the product of stability on a planetary scale. Around 12,000 years ago, Earth warmed from an ice age into the relatively consistent climate that allowed humans to adopt agriculture, literally putting down roots. That stability, though, is now shattered, as more than 8 billion people rapidly heat the planet,...
Talking to a door-to-door solar sales rep? Beware of these red flags.
Buying solar can save you money and reduce your environmental footprint, but only if you know what to look for — and what to look out for. Door-to-door solar sales are a widely accepted form of lead generation in the solar industry, despite the lack of regulation. And while trade...
Clean energy, dirty tactics: Inside the shady world of door-to-door solar sales
Imagine, for a moment, it’s a sweltering July afternoon. You hear an unassuming knock on the door. Maybe you check your Ring camera to see a young man in a polo shirt, with a lanyard swinging. You open the door, and he launches into a pitch before you can even...
Used EVs have never been cheaper. But are they a good deal?
The deals on used electric vehicles right now are shocking. In 2017, a brand-new Nissan Leaf carried a price tag of about $35,000; today, that same car is yours for less than $6,500. This story repeats across the market. A Hyundai Kona that rolled off the showroom floor in 2021...