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Salt in the womb: How rising seas erode reproductive health
This story is part of the series Expecting worse: Giving birth on a planet in crisis, a collaboration between Grist, Vox, and The 19th that investigates how climate change impacts reproductive health — from menstruation to conception to birth. Today, 30-year-old garment factory worker Khadiza Akhter lives in Savar,...
‘How did we miss this for so long?’: The link between extreme heat and preterm birth
This story is part of the series Expecting worse: Giving birth on a planet in crisis, a collaboration between Grist, Vox, and The 19th that investigates how climate change impacts reproductive health — from menstruation to conception to birth. When Rupa Basu was pregnant with her second child, her...
Photos help tell climate stories. This media library lets conservation orgs access them for free.
“When words become unclear, I shall focus with photographs. When images become inadequate, I shall be content with silence.”. As a writer, I obviously have a fondness for words. I believe in their power — while also recognizing their limitations. Much as we try to “show, not tell” through the written word, an article can’t quite approximate letting someone see or experience something for themselves. Photos and videos, on the other hand, come pretty darn close.
Can carbon offsets actually work? The Biden administration thinks so.
On Tuesday, the Biden administration unveiled new guidelines on “responsible participation” in the voluntary carbon market, or VCM — the system that allows companies to say they’ve canceled out their greenhouse gas emissions through the purchase of carbon credits. Theoretically, every carbon credit a company buys represents one metric ton of CO2 that has been reduced or avoided through projects that wouldn’t have happened without the funding — like tree-planting or the installation of wind turbines.
Recycling isn’t easy. The Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana is doing it anyway.
Allie “Nokko” Johnson is a member of the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana, and they love teaching young tribal members about recycling. Johnson helps them make Christmas ornaments out of things that were going to be thrown away, or melts down small crayons to make bigger ones. “In its...
Researchers explore mining seawater for critical metals
This story was originally published by Yale 360 and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Can metals that naturally occur in seawater be mined, and can they be mined sustainably? A company in Oakland, California, says yes. And not only is it extracting magnesium from ocean water — and from waste brine generated by industry — it is doing it in a carbon-neutral way. Magrathea Metals has produced small amounts of magnesium in pilot projects, and with financial support from the U.S. Defense Department, it is building a larger-scale facility to produce hundreds of tons of the metal over two to four years. By 2028, it says it plans to be operating a facility that will annually produce more than 10,000 tons.
Puerto Rico’s rooftop solar boom is at risk, advocates warn
This story was originally published by Canary Media. In Puerto Rico, residents are flocking to rooftop solar and backup batteries in search of more reliable, affordable — and cleaner — alternatives to the central power grid. Fire stations, hospitals, and schools continue adding solar-plus-battery systems every year. So do families with urgent medical needs and soaring utility bills. The technology has become nothing short of a lifeline for the U.S. territory, which remains plagued by prolonged power outages and extreme weather events.
As New York’s offshore wind work begins, an environmental justice community awaits the benefits
This story was originally published by Inside Climate News and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. On a pair of aging piers jutting into New York Harbor, contractors in hard hats and neon yellow safety vests have begun work on one of the region’s most anticipated industrial projects. Within a few years, this expanse of broken blacktop should be replaced by a smooth surface and covered with neat stacks of giant wind turbine blades and towers ready for assembly.
What’s the difference between Indigenous nations co-managing or co-stewarding their land? A lot.
For a decade, wind farm companies had been eyeing Molok Luyuk — a mountain ridge of religious importance to tribes in northern California, whose people have worked for years to protect it. It’s also widely biodiverse with elk, mountain lions, and black bears, as well as 40 rare plants such as the pink adobe lily.
The ‘Doomsday Glacier’ is melting faster than scientists thought
At the bottom of the Earth sits a massive bowl of ice you may know as the West Antarctic ice sheet. Each day, the ocean laps away at its base, slowly eroding the glaciers that line its rim. When they inevitably give in, the sea will begin to fill the basin, claiming the ice for its own and flooding coastlines around the world.
A pot of unspent federal money could have prevented Jackson’s water crisis
Late in the summer of 2022, the Environmental Protection Agency sent the Mississippi state government a routine report assessing its use of federal funding for water infrastructure. The agency concluded with the words: “no findings” — that is, the EPA found no issue with how Mississippi was spending its money.
Microplastics are in human testicles. It’s still not clear how they got there.
No human organ is safe from microplastic contamination, it seems — not even the testicles. Researchers at the University of Mexico recently tested 70 samples of testicular tissue — 47 from dogs and 23 from humans — and found microplastics in every single one. The attention-grabbing study, published last week in the journal Toxicological Sciences, highlights microplastics’ “pervasive presence” in male reproductive systems, and their potential consequences on male fertility.
As reservoirs go dry, Mexico City and Bogotá are staring down ‘Day Zero’
In Mexico City, more and more residents are watching their taps go dry for hours a day. Even when water does flow, it often comes out dark brown and smells noxious. A former political leader is asking the public to “prioritize essential actions for survival” as the city’s key reservoirs run dry. Meanwhile, 2,000 miles south in the Colombian capital of Bogotá, reservoir levels are falling just as fast, and the city government has implemented rotating water shutoffs. The mayor has begged families to shower together and leave the city on weekends to cut down on water usage.
The key to better climate outcomes? Respecting Indigenous land rights and autonomy.
Conservation efforts are more effective when Indigenous peoples and local communities are given more autonomy and involvement over their lands. That’s according to a new study published this month in the sustainability journal One Earth. Researchers analyzed 648 studies of conservation areas between 1991 and 2020, about half of...
Five creative visions for the future, from Looking Forward’s readers
Hey there, Looking Forward fam. In honor of our 100th newsletter last month, we launched a drabble contest, asking you to imagine the evolution of a single climate solution that excites you, 100 years from now. We are honored, and inspired, by the creative visions that so many of you sent in — the joyful, the poetic, and the slightly spooky. Enormous thanks to all who participated!
Northern Michiganders are getting off propane — and on to natural gas
This coverage is made possible through a partnership with Grist and Interlochen Public Radio in Northern Michigan. Like many buildings in this part of rural northern Michigan, the Tsuber Auto garage in the Village of Mesick is heated with propane, delivered by truck once or twice a month to the tank outside.
Billions of people cook over open fires. Are gas stoves the solution?
Could changing the way you cook help fight global warming? If you’ve considered this question and you live in a rich country, you’ve probably been thinking about whether to ditch your gas stove for an electric or induction cooktop. But for nearly a third of the world’s population, even that gas stove would be a big step up from the preindustrial cooking methods still in wide use across Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Some 2.3 billion people regularly cook their meals over open fires or on makeshift stoves using fuels like wood, animal dung, charcoal, and coal — methods that generate deadly local air pollution and are far more carbon-intensive than the electric and gas stoves enjoyed by the relatively wealthy of the world.
Small island nations get big climate victory in international maritime court
Island nations in the Pacific, Caribbean and West Indies won a major international legal victory this week that puts more pressure on large governments like the European Union and China to curb their carbon emissions. On Tuesday, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in Hamburg, Germany, unanimously...
South Korea’s energy trap: Government-funded dead end fossil fuel investments
When the war in Ukraine upended the global energy supply in 2022, South Korea suddenly found itself competing for natural gas. Cut off from Russia’s supply, an energy-starved Europe began buying up supplies worldwide. In 2022 alone, South Korea saw electricity costs rise approximately $17 billion because of the global spike in natural gas prices.
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