Across seven decades and a dozen presidencies, America’s scientific prowess was arguably unmatched. At universities and federal agencies alike, researchers in the United States revolutionized weather forecasting, cured deadly diseases, and began monitoring greenhouse gas emissions. As far back as 1990, Congress directed this scientific might toward understanding climate change,...
10 charts prove that clean energy is winning — even in the Trump era
At every light switch, power socket, and on the road, an unstoppable revolution is already underway. Technologies that can power our lives and jobs while doing less harm to the global climate — wind, solar, batteries, etc. — are getting cheaper, more efficient, and more abundant. The pace of progress...
Indigenous delegates at the UN raise alarm on voluntary isolated peoples
This story is published through the Indigenous News Alliance. At the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues — the world’s largest convening of Indigenous peoples — Indigenous leaders from South America are taking the chance to spotlight threats facing isolated peoples, also known as uncontacted people. Deforestation is closing...
With climate action at stake, pro-Trump statement at UNPFII met with silence
This story is published through the Indigenous News Alliance. During the opening day of this year’s United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, or UNPFII, one speech took a striking turn. Indigenous leaders and representatives of nation states delivered 3-minute monologues about the plight and importance of Indigenous women around...
More women view climate change as their number one political issue
A new report from the Environmental Voter Project (EVP), shared first with The 19th, finds that far more women than men are listing climate and environmental issues as their top priority in voting. The nonpartisan nonprofit, which focuses on tailoring get out the vote efforts to low-propensity voters who they’ve identified as...
Balcony solar took off in Germany. Why not the US?
Raymond Ward wants to see solar panels draped over every balcony in the United States and doesn’t understand why that isn’t happening. The technology couldn’t be easier to use — simply hang one or two panels over a railing and plug them into an outlet. The devices provide up to...
From Greenland to Ghana, Indigenous youth work for climate justice
For the last week, Indigenous leaders from around the world have converged in New York for the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, or UNPFII. It’s the largest global gathering of Indigenous peoples, and the forum provides space for participants to bring their issues to international authorities, often when their...
A forthcoming Supreme Court decision could limit agencies’ duty to consider environmental harms
A forthcoming Supreme Court decision is poised to weaken a bedrock law that requires federal agencies to study the potential environmental impacts of major projects. The case, Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County, Colorado, concerns a proposed 88-mile railroad that would link an oil-producing region of Utah to tracks that...
The Trump administration says it wants a ‘nuclear renaissance.’ These actions suggest otherwise.
In March, in a thunderous op-ed in Power Magazine, a trade publication covering the electricity industry, Republican senators Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty of Tennessee called for President Donald Trump to make some major institutional changes in the Tennessee Valley Authority, America’s biggest public utility.  A couple months earlier, TVA’s...
Despite global opposition, Trump just fast-tracked deep-sea mining
President Donald Trump wants federal agencies to fast-track applications for deep-sea mining in an effort to make the United States a global leader in the nascent industry. Trump issued an executive order Thursday declaring that U.S. policy includes “creating a robust domestic supply chain for critical minerals derived from seabed...