It almost felt like old times for the friends and family gathered at Robert Weatherspoon’s house. The living room couches and chairs were filled, a football game was on the TV, and the aroma of bacon and butter beans drifted in from the kitchen. What was missing was Weatherspoon’s voice....
The Trump EPA ended the ‘green new scam.’ A year later, communities are still paying the price.
The Village of Sauget in St. Clair County, Illinois, was founded in order to be polluted. Incorporated in 1926 by a group of Monsanto Chemical Company executives (and initially named “Monsanto”) it was and is an industry town: with deliberately lax manufacturing and emissions law, it’s played host to companies...
How permanent is Trump’s assault on climate action?
One year ago, with one of the first strokes of his presidential Sharpie, President Donald Trump signed an executive order declaring a “national energy emergency,” making good on a campaign promise to “drill, baby, drill.” It was the first of many such orders, signaling that the championing of fossil fuels...
Greenland is a global model for Indigenous self-governance. Trump’s demands for the island threaten that.
Aqqaluk Lynge was 19 years old when an American B-52 bomber carrying four thermonuclear weapons as well as conventional bombs crashed off the northwest coast of Greenland, the island where Lynge was born and raised. That was January 1968, and the plane was headed to Thule Air Force Base, a...
Can you build data centers in a desert without draining the water supply? Utah is finding out.
In late September, Governor Spencer Cox of Utah stood on the shores of the drying Great Salt Lake, flanked by top legislative leaders and wealthy developers as he unveiled a new partnership between the state government, a nonprofit, and business owners, that he said could help refill Utah’s iconic inland...
The consequences of Trump’s war on climate in 7 charts
In just one year, President Donald Trump has fundamentally changed the arc of federal climate and environmental policy. Upon returning to office 12 months ago, Trump immediately declared an “energy emergency” and promised to “unleash American energy.” He packed his cabinet with oil executives and climate skeptics who have since...
Trump is keeping coal on life support. How long can it last?
Heading into President Donald Trump’s second term, coal looked like an industry nearing the end of its life. Utilities planned to retire more than half of the nation’s coal-fired power plants by 2028, no new facilities were coming online, and production had been flat for years. Trump’s first year back...
In Bangladesh, thousands of volunteers are battling climate-fueled disease at its source
It is a cloudy, humid September morning near the end of monsoon season in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh and one of the world’s most densely populated cities. Streets normally bustling are quiet as residents of the Uttara neighborhood prepare for the weekly prayer. Suddenly, dozens of young volunteers emerge...
Red-state Republicans seek climate ‘liability shield’ for fossil fuel industry
U.S. lawmakers in two red states are attempting to shield the fossil fuel industry from climate liability. In Oklahoma, a newly introduced bill would bar most civil lawsuits against oil companies over their role in the climate crisis, unless plaintiffs allege violations of specific environmental or labor laws. A similar...
Iran’s regime has survived war, sanctions, and uprising. Environmental crises may bring it down.
The anti‑government protests sweeping across Iran, from major cities to rural towns, are fueled by anger over economic collapse and political repression. But beneath the headlines of currency devaluations and street clashes lies a deeper, more permanent driver of dissent: ecological calamity. Decades of ignoring scientists, persecuting activists and greenlighting...