Over two years of nearly incessant bombardment, Israeli forces have killed over 60,000 Palestinians, at least a third of whom are children. The human toll has been called genocide by human rights organizations around the world and a United Nations commission, but a new report from an Israeli research center...
How EVs can fix the grid and lower your electric bill
Depending on whom you’re asking, renewable energy and electric vehicles will either destroy the grid or save it. The sun doesn’t always shine and the wind doesn’t always blow, true enough, while a gas-fired power plant can generate electricity any time. That supposed precarity of renewables will get even shakier,...
Global conservation body backs genetically modified wildlife over Indigenous opposition
This week, members of the International Union of Conservation of Nature, one of the world’s largest conservation groups, voted against a moratorium on the release of genetically engineered species into the wild in order to assist in conservation efforts – as well in favor of the use of synthetic biology...
The strategy behind Trump’s climate catchphrase, the ‘Green New Scam’
The phrase that has come to define the Trump administration’s message on climate change was born in Durham, New Hampshire, on December 16, 2023. Flanked by flannel-clad supporters holding “Live free or die” signs, then-candidate Donald Trump wished the crowd a Merry Christmas before launching into what he saw as...
As data centers upend electric grids, the largest operator in the US is facing down a revolt from state officials
On a quiet road in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, not far from the field where George Washington’s starving soldiers waited out the winter in 1778, sits the headquarters for PJM Interconnection, the largest electrical grid operator in the United States. Inside, operators wage war against inclement weather and power surges, ensuring...
How Vermont lost track of millions in FEMA flood recovery funds
On the afternoon of August 21, Jason Gosselin raised the alarm: The flood recovery project he managed was running out of money faster than he had anticipated. One email he sent his colleagues ended with an anxious parenthetical: (calm down, Jason, calm down). In July 2024, Vermont was hit by...
A Michigan town hopes to stop a data center with a 2026 ballot initiative
Early this year, Augusta Charter Township resident Travis Matts had seen a few headlines about the problems data centers caused in towns across the country. He thought the impacts on water, air, and utility bills sounded awful, but it also seemed like a far-away issue. Until it suddenly hit home...
New England’s final coal plant shuts down years ahead of schedule
Even as the federal government attempts to prop up the waning coal industry, New England’s last coal-fired power plant has ceased operations three years ahead of its planned retirement date. The closure of the New Hampshire facility paves the way for its owner to press ahead with an initiative to...
Corals are disappearing, pushing Earth to its first major ‘tipping point’
Global temperature rise may feel like it’s gradual, but the changes it brings can turn out to be sudden, massive, and self-reinforcing. These changes are what scientists call tipping points. When a tipping point is reached, an Earth system abruptly and dramatically changes, often irreversibly, like the Amazon rainforest turning...
New report examines fossil fuel ties of dozens of Trump administration hires
The Trump administration wasted no time in tapping individuals with ties to fossil fuel industries and right-wing think tanks funded by oil tycoons for key environmental and energy policy positions, according to a new report. Public Citizen and the Revolving Door Project, two nonprofit organizations that monitor corporate influence in government,...