The Trump administration announced its intention earlier this week to rescind the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Policy, also known as the “Roadless Rule,” which restricts road-building, logging, and mining across 58 million acres of the country’s national forests. The administration’s rationale was that the “outdated” Roadless Rule has exacerbated wildfire risks....
Why many low-income households can’t afford this free home improvement program
The federal Weatherization Assistance Program is the oldest and largest energy efficiency initiative in American history. Born from the 1973 oil crisis, it helps low- and moderate-income households make a litany of upgrades to their homes, such as installing insulation, sealing windows, and wrapping water pipes. The program, known as...
Pollution from wildfires can contaminate our water for up to eight years, new study finds
When wildfires devastated a wide swath of Los Angeles last winter, officials warned residents of several ZIP codes not to drink the water, or boil it first if they must. They worried that soot, ash, and other debris from the blazes might have infiltrated the groundwater, or that damaged pipes...
Chicago residents risk daily lead exposure from toxic pipes. Replacing them will take decades.
Growing up in Chicago, Chakena D. Perry knew not to trust the water coming out of her tap. “It was just one of these unspoken truths within households like mine — low-income, Black households — that there was some sort of distrust with the water,” said Perry, who later learned...
UNESCO appoints Indigenous co-chairs to protect languages and knowledge amid climate crisis
For more than 30 years, the United Nations has helped support research positions at universities to delve into the most pressing issues facing humanity: climate change, sustainable development, peace, and human rights. Nearly 1,000 UNESCO chair positions have been established in universities across 120 countries. But only a handful of...
How a 1.3-mile stretch of street became a much-needed park space in Queens, New York
The spotlight During the COVID lockdowns of 2020, people in cities all over the world were desperate to get outside. As everything slowed down, residents and city governments organized to block off sections of some streets to cars, instead giving them over to pedestrians and leisure activities — a global...
California rolls on with electric trucks, despite Trump’s roadblocks
Wes Lowe uses so much Claritin that he started an Amazon subscription to avoid running out. His kids take two asthma medications. This reflects the normalcy of pollution in California’s San Joaquin Valley, where residents breathe some of the dirtiest air in the nation. Lowe lives about 20 miles outside...
How shrinking the EPA could make wildfire smoke even more dangerous
This coverage is made possible in part through a partnership with Grist and Interlochen Public Radio in northern Michigan. For weeks, smoke from Canadian wildfires has poured down into the United States, drifting clear across the Atlantic into Europe. Pulmonologist Vivek Balasubramaniam, a professor of pediatrics at the University of...
What one town learned by charging residents for every bag of trash
Until a few years ago, the town of Plympton, Massachusetts, was quite literally throwing away money. People were producing so much trash that it was threatening to put the municipal transfer station out of business. Under the town’s system, residents would buy a $240 sticker for their cars that allowed...
Firefighting foams contain toxic PFAS. Could soybeans be the answer?
Jeff King has served on the volunteer fire department in Corydon, Kentucky, for over 30 years. He is well aware of the dangers of the job — including one that may be hiding in the supplies he and his crew use to keep others safe. Many of the foams firefighters spray...