In the high glare of a summer evening in Fairbanks, Alaska, Ciara Santiago watched the mercury climb. A meteorologist at the National Weather Service office, she had the dubious honor of issuing the state’s first ever official heat advisory as temperatures were expected to hit the mid-80s. It’s the kind...
Progress and frustration mark the UN’s third Ocean Conference
Delegates from around the world convened in Nice, France, last week to discuss a range of ocean priorities, including the implementation of a recently finalized “high seas treaty” to protect the two-thirds of the oceans that lie outside countries’ control. It was the third United Nations Ocean Conference, a high-level...
Norway is all in on electric cars. What can the U.S. learn?
In January, the Norwegian Road Federation released a statistic that turned heads inside transportation and climate circles: Almost 90 percent of new cars sold in Norway the previous year were fully electric. By the end of this year, the government expects sales of new gasoline and diesel cars to fall to zero and...
Texas finalizes $1.8B to build solar, battery, and gas-powered microgrids
The Texas Legislature ended its biennial session without passing a slew of bills that could have killed the state’s booming solar and battery sector, and by extension, the ability to keep the Texas grid running amid extreme weather and surging demand for electricity. It did pass a law that could strengthen the state’s electricity reliability by encouraging...
Trump’s EPA accidentally made the case against passing the Big Beautiful Bill
On the campaign trail last year, Donald Trump frequently criticized the Biden administration for new regulations targeting what he called “clean, beautiful coal.” In April, he signed executive orders directing federal agencies to undo any regulations that “discriminate” against coal. Coal-fired power plants produce a significant but shrinking share of...
There’s only one statewide ballot this year in Georgia — and it’s important
Early voting is underway in the primary election for two seats on the Georgia Public Service Commission, the powerful panel of regulators with final say over the rates and energy plans of the state’s largest electric utility, Georgia Power — a subsidiary of one of the largest utilities in the...
This Alaska Native fishing village was trying to power their town. Then came Trump’s funding cuts.
For the fewer than a hundred people that make up the entire population of Port Heiden, Alaska, fishing provides both a paycheck and a full dinner plate. Every summer, residents of the Alutiiq village set out on commercial boats to catch salmon swimming upstream in the nearby rivers of Bristol...
Senate Republicans want to sell 3 million acres of public land
Over 3 million acres of public land could be sold in the next five years, after Senate Republicans on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee reintroduced land sales into the party’s major spending bill. Released on Wednesday night, the megabill text includes a proposal for extensive transfers of U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of...
Coal miners are fighting Trump’s safety cuts — and winning
When the Trump administration took the first steps toward shutting down two major programs aimed at protecting the nation’s miners, the grassroots response was immediate, and vehement. And, it turns out, successful. In March, the administration moved to shutter over 30 field offices of the Mine Safety and Health Administration,...
Can a crowdsourced map of the world help save millions of people from climate disaster?
The day I was supposed to join a group of young women to map Gros Islet, an old fishing village on the Caribbean Island of St. Lucia, I got lost. Proann Francis, who was helping lead the expedition, had told me to meet everyone at Care Growell School, which Google...