Why the new year must begin in defense of federal workers
Some towns still don’t have drinkable water months after Hurricane Helene. A full recovery could take years.
The most exciting part of the day at Spruce Pine Montessori School is when the truck arrives to empty the porta-johns. At that point in the afternoon, the kids abandon their toy dinosaurs and monkey bars, throw up their hands, and yell in excitement as they run to watch the...
Mississippi River towns pilot new insurance model to help with disaster response
This story was originally published by St. Louis Public Radio. Early on Election Day, highways in the St. Louis area were inundated with water. Over several days, intense storms battered Missouri, bringing six to 10 inches of rain — record-breaking amounts for November. The flash flooding killed at least five...
How a dwindling helium supply is impacting public land management
In October, the Bureau of Land Management finalized a new resource management plan for Colorado’s Western Slope that will determine how 2 million acres of public land are managed for the next 15-20 years. The plan includes some conservation wins; it sets aside land designated as critical habitat, for example,...
How the world gave up on 1.5 degrees
When, at the annual United Nations climate conference in Paris in 2015, the countries of the world agreed to the goal of limiting global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, it seemed possible, probable even, that humanity was on track to avoid the worst effects of climate...
Trump has vowed to kill offshore wind energy — but it might not be easy
This coverage is made possible through a partnership between Grist and Deep South Today, a nonprofit network of local newsrooms providing essential journalism in underserved communities and ensuring its long-term growth and sustainability. President-elect Donald Trump’s vow to kill offshore wind energy development “on day one” of his second term is...
‘We lost’: How COP29 ended with a deal that made the whole world unhappy
Two weeks ago, diplomats from almost 200 countries arrived at a sports stadium on the outskirts of Baku, Azerbaijan, to debate a subject that had never before been at the center of a United Nations climate conference: money. World leaders have long agreed, in theory, on a dire need to...
At COP29, new rules for carbon markets made them even more controversial
Delegates closed out this year’s United Nations climate conference on Sunday after agonizing debates over the right way to deliver on the goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement. In addition to approving a new framework for international climate aid, nearly 200 countries approved guidelines meant to make it cheaper and...
How to take climate change out of the culture wars
Household appliances used to be a safe conversation topic, if a boring one. But these days, many Republican politicians see gas stoves, refrigerators, dishwashers, and laundry machines as symbols of the government meddling in people’s lives. Earlier this year, lawmakers in the House passed the “Hands Off Our Home Appliances...
Michigan wants to fast-track renewable development. Local townships are suing.
This coverage is made possible through a partnership with Grist and Interlochen Public Radio in Northern Michigan. A lawsuit is challenging how the state of Michigan plans to approve large renewable energy projects, just weeks before a new law is set to go into effect. About 80 townships and counties...