Earlier this month, after a series of stops and starts, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced changes to a long-running program that is supposed to help farmers and rural small businesses stand up renewable energy projects. The new rules, set to go into effect today, October 16, effectively make any...
Is coal really making a comeback?
Coal was on the way out. That’s how it looked last year, anyway, when the International Energy Agency forecast that global demand for the dirtiest fossil fuel had plateaued and was poised to start declining. But this year hasn’t gone as expected. The agency recently projected that coal consumption will...
Pampered city trees deal with stress better than their country cousins
The next time you pass an urban tree, stop to appreciate what it’s been through. As a youngster, it was especially vulnerable to pests and diseases, not to mention vandalism. Now grown up, it must contend with ever-rising temperatures due to the heat island effect — the built environment’s tendency...
After a decade of wildfires, an overlooked election could shape California’s climate future
Insurance is a social contract. When you sign up with State Farm or Allstate for home insurance, you confirm your membership in a community — your money will go to fix someone else’s burned or flooded home, and their money will in turn support yours. We let insurance companies sell...
A federal program to restore forests after disaster has gotten too many funding requests
Federal money meant to help restore forests after disasters has stopped flowing because of a lack of funding. According to the Michigan office of the federal Farm Service Agency, the Emergency Forest Restoration Program, or EFRP, has received more requests for aid around the country than it can pay out....
Why Google is paying to upgrade nuclear power plants
Last week, the Georgia Public Service Commission voted to approve a new deal between Georgia Power and the tech giant Google. Starting in 2028, Google will help pay for upgrades to the state’s nuclear reactors. “So, around 100 megawatts of carbon-free energy, paid for by somebody else,” PSC Commissioner Stan...
America’s AI ambitions threaten Indigenous lands in the Philippines
This is an original story by Mongabay republished through the Indigenous News Alliance. Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. arrived at the Grand Hyatt Manila on Sept. 10 to address hundreds of foreign business representatives assembled for the Luzon Economic Corridor investors’ forum. Outside the hotel, hundreds of demonstrators had also...
A once-in-a-generation opportunity for California’s ocean
The ocean surrounding California’s Channel Islands can feel like another world. Beneath the surface sway towering kelp forests that are patrolled by huge sheephead fish, striking in pink and black with protruding teeth, along with refrigerator-sized giant sea bass. Seals and sea lions swim among colorful sponges and sea stars....
In New Mexico, a river runs through ‘the middle of a hellscape’
It’s an early May afternoon, and Charlie Barrett has parked his pickup in a pullout along a county road a few hundred feet from the Black River in southern New Mexico, just a mile from where it empties into the Pecos River. He has stopped to set up a video...
Fifty billion seedlings: Can Ethiopia replant its ravaged forests?
Niku Argane’s farm sits on a steep hillside in central Ethiopia’s semi-mountainous Gurage Zone, where years of flooding have carved deep gullies through the land. Soil that once produced enough barley and potatoes to feed his wife and four children — and left a surplus to sell in the market...