Early in the morning on July 4th, as torrential rains battered Central Texas, the dangers of flash floods became imminent. In Kerr County, the Guadalupe River rose 26 feet within 45 minutes, leading to the deaths of 106 people. As the catastrophic deluge swept throughout the region, the death toll...
A heat wave hit New England’s grid. Clean energy saved the day.
As temperatures across New England soared above 100 degrees Fahrenheit in recent weeks, solar panels and batteries helped keep air conditioners running while reducing fossil-fuel generation and likely saving consumers more than $20 million. “Local solar, energy efficiency, and other clean energy resources helped make the power grid more reliable and more affordable...
‘Disasters are a human choice’: Texas counties have little power to stop building in flood-prone areas
Camp Mystic, the private summer camp that now symbolizes the deadly Central Texas floods, sat on a tract of land known to be at high risk for a devastating flood. Nearly 1.3 million Texas homes are similarly situated in parts of the state susceptible to dangerous floodwaters, according to a state estimate. A...
The oceans may contain much, much more plastic than previously thought
In the oceans, the most widespread type of plastic pollution may be the kind you can’t see. A new study published Wednesday in the journal Nature estimates that the North Atlantic Ocean alone contains 27 million metric tons of nanoplastic — plastic particles 100 times smaller than the width of...
Seeing fewer fireflies this year? Here’s why, and how you can help.
It’s firefly season in the Blue Ridge. As the sun goes down, they begin to blink and glow along the water, in the trees, and across open fields. Some species twinkle in unison, others off and on. One of nature’s loveliest light shows enchants onlookers of all ages, especially in...
Inside New Orleans’ plan to fix its energy-hogging buildings
This coverage is made possible through a partnership between Grist and Verite News, a nonprofit news organization with a mission to produce in-depth journalism in underserved communities in the New Orleans area. As thousands of architects and planners flocked to New Orleans in 2014 for the world’s largest sustainable design conference,...
Louisiana is the latest state to greenwash gas
In Louisiana, natural gas — a planet-heating fossil fuel — is now, by law, considered “green energy” that can compete with solar and wind projects for clean energy funding. The law, signed by Republican Governor Jeff Landry last month, comes on the heels of similar bills passed in Ohio, Tennessee,...
Congress is killing clean energy tax credits. Here’s how to use them before they disappear.
The “one big beautiful bill” that President Donald Trump signed into law on July 4 is set to upend many aspects of American life, including climate policy. The law, which Republicans backed en masse, not only derails the nation’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, it could also strike a...
Drought is draining water supplies and driving up food costs where you’d least expect
Taking shovels and buckets to a dried-up sandy belt of the Vhombozi River in Zimbabwe last August, groups of Mudzi district villagers gathered to dig with the hope of somehow finding water. The southern African region had entered into a state of severe drought, which had shriveled the Vhombozi, a...
This Texas county asked for disaster resilience help. The flood came first.
Flooding is a fact of life in Texas Hill Country, a region home to a flood-prone corridor known as “Flash Flood Alley.” Judge Rob Kelly, the top elected official in Kerr County, said as much on Sunday. “We know we get rains. We know the river rises,” he said as...