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Solar Panel Prices Are Low Again. Here’s Who’s Winning and Losing
For decades, one of the near-constants in the shift to renewable energy was that solar panel prices were decreasing. This downward curve hit a bump in 2020. Global prices began to rise, largely due to supply disruptions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time, analysts said the price increases...
Texas Droughts Are Getting Much More Expensive
The financial costs of drought in Texas have risen rapidly over recent decades, according to a new analysis of federal crop insurance data. The Washington-based nonprofit Environmental Working Group, a longtime critic of the federal crop insurance program, analyzed data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and showed that drought accounts for more crop insurance payouts than any other weather phenomenon and that Texas draws more crop insurance payouts than any other state.
Lawsuits Targeting Plastic Pollution Pile Up as Frustrated Citizens and States Seek Accountability
The plastic pellets washing up on beaches and in marshes around Charleston, South Carolina, became very obvious about five years ago. Called nurdles, these pebble-sized particles that are the raw material for many plastic products floated, too, in the aquamarine waters of the harbor, many carried at high tide to Sullivan’s Island, known for its white sand and million-dollar homes, where they caused alarm.
In Push to Meet Maryland’s Ambitious Climate Commitments, Moore Announces New Executive Actions
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore Tuesday issued a wide-ranging executive order on reducing climate pollution, directing the Maryland Department of the Environment and other agencies to develop a host of initiatives including a zero-emission heating equipment standard to reduce pollution and improve ambient air quality inside homes. Announcing his plan at...
Biden’s Chinese Tariffs Could Hamper E-Bike Sales in the U.S.
In May, the Biden administration slapped new tariffs on a range of Chinese goods, including a 100 percent levy on electric vehicles. Though few Chinese EVs are sold in the U.S., the decision reflects a tense trade war between the two countries, and the administration’s fear that China will soon bombard the market with cheap electric cars.
California Regulators Approve Community Solar Decision Opposed by Solar Advocates
In the last two years, California regulators have voted to cut incentives for home solar installations and slash them for apartment buildings and multi-tenant commercial buildings. Last week, the state’s Public Utilities Commission delivered another disappointment to solar advocates, voting 3-to-1 to approve changes to community solar programs that advocates fear will result in few new projects.
In New York, Attorney General Letitia James’ Narrow View of the State’s Green Amendment
ALBANY—Citizens who breathe air polluted by New York’s largest landfill have no legal right under the state’s Green Amendment to block that facility’s application for a permit to expand, lawyers for the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) argue. In a response filed Friday to a...
Armed Groups Use Deforestation as a Bargaining Chip in Colombia
Early this year Colombia was lauded by NGOs and journalists around the world for protecting its forests. Deforestation had dropped precipitously and it seemed that President Gustavo Petro had delivered on his commitment to make Colombia a “world power in life.”. But these hopes were punctured at a press...
Climate Change is Fueling the Loss of Indigenous Languages That Could Be Crucial to Combating It
There are roughly 7,000 languages spoken around the world. Indigenous groups speak more than 4,000 of them, despite making up less than 6 percent of the global population. These languages often hold secrets to the inner workings of the planet, from the best times to plant certain crops to the healing properties of critical medicinal plants. However, a growing body of research shows that climate change is driving the loss of native languages worldwide—in big ways and small.
A German Climate Activist Won’t End His Hunger Strike, Even With the Risk of Death Looming
Eighty-five days into a hunger strike, German environmental engineer and climate activist Wolfgang Metzeler-Kick had lost more than 61 pounds, his face and body were gaunt and his blood sugar was critically low. The physicians overseeing the health of the four remaining hunger strikers in Berlin, Germany have ceded responsibility...
Using Less of the Colorado River Takes a Willing Farmer and $45 million in Federal Funds
Wyoming native Leslie Hagenstein lives on the ranch where she grew up and remembers her grandmother and father delivering milk in glass bottles from the family’s Mount Airy Dairy. The cottonwood-lined property, at the foot of the Wind River Mountains south of Pinedale, is not only home to Hagenstein,...
Toyota Opens a ‘Megasite’ for EV Batteries in a Struggling N.C. Community, Fueled by Biden’s IRA
GREENSBORO, N.C.— When Muhammud Abu-Kass’ high school teacher told him about an opportunity at a nearby community college to be trained to work for Toyota’s first and only electric vehicle battery plant and get paid for it, he paused his plans to pursue an engineering degree. “Getting...
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