In October 2022, two protesters with the group Just Stop Oil shocked the world by tossing tomato soup at Vincent van Gogh’s iconic “Sunflowers” in London’s National Gallery. “Are you more concerned about the protection of a painting or the protection of our planet and people?” said one of them,...
The EPA is rolling back drinking water limits for 4 PFAS. Thousands more remain unregulated.
Last week, environmental groups decried plans from the Environmental Protection Agency to rescind and “reconsider” drinking water limits for four per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, compounds linked to cancer and damage to the immune and endocrine systems, among other health effects. The limits had been finalized by the Biden...
Despite backlash, more states are considering laws to make Big Oil pay for climate change
As climate disasters strain state budgets, a growing number of lawmakers want fossil fuel companies to pay for damages caused by their greenhouse gas emissions. Last May, Vermont became the first state to pass a climate Superfund law. The concept is modeled after the 1980 federal Superfund law, which holds...
Solar grants held hostage in Pennsylvania legislature — as demand soars
Charles Suppon has big plans for the Tunkhannock Area School District. At any given time, the northeastern Pennsylvania district’s chief operating officer can rattle off statistics about fields in which its schools excel: arts, AP classes, and softball, as well as on-the-job training programs for future farmers, welders, and more. Goats and...
Trump’s 2-year reprieve gives coal plants ‘a free pass to pollute’
Last year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency gave this country’s nearly 200 remaining coal-fired power plants until 2027 to install or improve air quality monitoring devices on smokestacks to meet federal guidelines to cut hazardous pollutants including mercury, arsenic, lead, and particulate matter. But through executive action, President Donald Trump...
If you want to claim the solar tax credit, install now
For the last two decades, homeowners have been able to claim thousands of dollars in federal tax credits to help offset the high upfront costs of going solar. Things were supposed to stay that way through 2034. But, this week, the U.S. House of Representatives proposed abruptly ending the incentives...
After disasters, AmeriCorps was everywhere. What happens when it’s gone?
After devastating fires tore through Los Angeles in January, a crew of more than 300 young people showed up to help, many of them members of the national service program AmeriCorps. Among them was Julian Nava-Cortez, who traveled from northern California to assist survivors at a disaster recovery center near...
Ice roads are a lifeline for First Nations. As Canada warms, they’re disappearing.
It was the last night of February and a 4×4 truck vaulted down the 103-mile winter road to Cat Lake First Nation in northern Ontario, a road made entirely of ice and snow. Only the light of the stars and the red and white truck lights illuminated the dense, snow-dusted...
Trump’s USDA tried to erase climate data. This lawsuit forced it back online.
The United States Department of Agriculture says it will restore climate-related information on its websites, following a lawsuit filed earlier this year by agriculture and environmental groups that say farmers rely heavily on these critical resources to adapt to warming temperatures. In January, following President Donald Trump’s inauguration, the USDA’s...
The government just killed an essential way to assess climate risk
Nearly 30 billion-dollar storms rocked the United States last year. Thanks to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s disaster tracking database, we know that catastrophes are getting more expensive overall, and we’re seeing more of them crossing the 10-figure threshold. But the era of billion-dollar disasters is over, because the...