Most recent 30 articles: Grist Climate and Energy
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Ithaca bets on heat pumps in mobile homes - Grist Climate and Energy (May 26) |
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May 26 · This story was supported by the Economic Hardship Reporting Project.
Technically, Holly Hutchinson lives in Ithaca, New York, a university town in the Fingers Lakes region in the north-central part of the state. But she also lives at an important intersection between two national crises: affordable housing and the race to stave off climate disaster.
She can tell you from experience that the housing dilemma is pushing more Americans into mobile homes; she lives in one herself.
“Like many places in the country, purchasing a home here has become just out of reach for so many of us,” she said. “What is the alternative? Well, mobile homes are relatively ... Read more ...
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New research defends curbside recycling as an effective climate tool - Grist Climate and Energy (May 23) |
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May 23 · Recycling was once all the rage. Reduce, reuse, recycle! We recited it like a mantra. To toss our cans and bottles into the blue bin was to take on personal environmental responsibility; it meant we care. However, of late, local governments once responsible for maintaining curbside recycling services have slowly pulled back, saying that the math simply doesn’t add up.
A study from the University of Florida suggests, however, that the practice is still worth our while, and, in fact, can help small municipalities reach their climate goals
Communities have increasingly reduced their acceptance of glass and aluminum, and some have eliminated curbside pickup altogether amid ... Read more ...
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Montana’s new anti-climate law may be the most aggressive in the nation - Grist Climate and Energy (May 20) |
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May 20 · Montana Republican lawmakers have passed legislation that bars state agencies from considering climate change when permitting large projects that require environmental reviews, including coal mines and power plants. Gov. Greg Gianforte signed the bill last week, marking what could be considered the nation’s most aggressive anti-climate law.
Under House Bill 971, Amanda Eggert reports for the Montana Free Press, the Montana Department of Environmental Quality and other state regulators can’t consider greenhouse gas emissions and climate impacts when conducting environmental reviews for large projects. The move builds off a decade-old state law that already banned the state from ... Read more ...
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El Niño could cost the global economy $3 trillion - Grist Climate and Energy (May 18) |
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May 18 · Forecasters are predicting the formation of an El Niño later this summer, a natural weather phenomenon that fuels above-average global heat and more intense natural disasters in parts of the world. A new study reveals that there are also strong economic repercussions to an El Niño - the pattern threatens to slow the global economy by as much as $3 trillion.
The planet’s weather over the past three years has been dominated by El Niño’s opposite extreme, La Niña, which has had a cooling effect on the globe despite the warming effects of climate change. The shift to El Niño, which is characterized by warmer-than-normal sea surface temperatures in the eastern Pacific Ocean, in ... Read more ...
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Pacific Northwest heat wave breaks records for May - Grist Climate and Energy (May 16) |
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May 16 · The unseasonably hot weather that placed more than 12 million people throughout the Pacific Northwest under a heat advisory could stick around for a few more days. That’s uncomfortable news for residents battling record-setting temperatures topping 90 degrees in a region uniquely vulnerable to heat waves.
Monday marked the fourth blistering day of a hot spell that saw temperatures more than 20 degrees higher than typical throughout Oregon and Washington.
In Seattle, the mercury climbed to a searing 86 degrees on Saturday - a record for May 13 - before setting another record of 89 degrees the next day. Portland, Oregon, reached 93 degrees over the weekend, breaking a ... Read more ...
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Is carbon capture viable? In a new rule, the EPA is asking power plants to prove it. - Grist Climate and Energy (May 12) |
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May 12 · For years, fossil fuel companies and utilities have touted carbon capture and storage, or CCS, as a way to cut climate pollution from the power sector. Now, federal regulators are asking them to walk the walk.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA, on Thursday proposed a new rule to nearly eliminate climate pollution from the nation’s coal- and natural gas-fired power plants by 2040. In contrast to previously proposed regulations that required “generation-shifting” - forcing utility companies to replace their fossil fuel-fired power generators with renewables, a strategy that the Supreme Court shot down last summer - the new proposal focuses on what’s achievable ... Read more ...
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Lawsuit: Oil and gas pollution violates New Mexico’s constitution - Grist Climate and Energy (May 12) |
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May 12 · A coalition of Indigenous and environmental groups filed a lawsuit this week against the state of New Mexico, alleging the state has failed to protect the earth, air and water against pollution, as spelled out in the New Mexico constitution.
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in state district court, is the first time the 1971 amendment to the constitution that stipulated such protection has been used for a legal claim, according to the Center for Biological Diversity, one of the groups in the suit.
“Indigenous people and frontline community members in New Mexico have been seeking assistance to control oil and gas pollution because they live in areas where there’s fracking all ... Read more ...
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Wildfires have burned nearly 1 million acres in western Canada - Grist Climate and Energy (May 9) |
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May 9 · Nearly a million acres have been destroyed in wildfires across the western Canadian province of Alberta, with more than 30,000 people forced to evacuate and oil production forced to halt after a state of emergency was declared this weekend.
The province, which is the country’s largest producer of crude oil and natural gas, has discontinued the production of the equivalent of 145,000 barrels of oil amidst the fires.
While recent rain showers have slowed the progression of several fires, the storms could also bring lightning to the area, which could spark more flames, according to Marc-André Parisien, a research scientist at the Canadian Forest Service. Additionally, the ... Read more ...
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Chile’s national lithium strategy raises questions about the environmental and social costs of EVs - Grist Climate and Energy (May 3) |
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May 3 · There are few minerals that play as pivotal a role in the global energy transition as lithium. The silvery white, soft, reactive metal is particularly good at storing energy, which is why it is used in all commercial electric vehicle batteries today and is unlikely to be replaced by another material anytime soon. The demand for lithium batteries is expected to grow more than five times by 2030.
Recognizing its strategic importance, economic potential, and its environmental consequences, President Gabriel Boric of Chile, the world’s second largest producer of the metal, announced plans in late April to increase state participation in the country’s lithium ... Read more ...
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Major hurricanes expected to increase in 2023, researchers forecast - Grist Climate and Energy (Apr 28) |
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Apr 28 · Forecasters are predicting activity similar to the 2017 hurricane season, which saw Maria, Harvey, and Irma make landfall to devastating effect. Though fewer hurricanes overall are expected to make landfall this year, the number of major hurricanes like Maria is expected to be roughly the same.
Major hurricanes refer to those classified as Category 3 and above, with wind speeds up to 150 miles per hour. The average number of major hurricanes per year is two.
A big contributor to a more active hurricane season is hotter ocean temperatures and rising sea levels, according to Xubin Zeng, a researcher at the University of Arizona who leads the forecasts each ... Read more ...
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Spring wildfires in the eastern US got off to a roaring start this year - Grist Climate and Energy (Apr 25) |
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Apr 25 · Spring fire season is a regular occurrence in the eastern U.S. It’s not nearly as dramatic as what’s seen across the West, mostly due to the region’s increased rainfall and high humidity, but it can cause serious damage. Wildfires have scorched 351,821 acres so far this year, and firefighters throughout the mid-Atlantic and South remain on alert, with “red flag” warnings and burn bans across multiple states.
Things got off to a roaring start in southern New Jersey, where firefighters have battled 160 wildfires, four of which were major. The largest of them tore a streak across the rural Pine Barrens region and saw 200-foot walls of flames earlier this month; it burned nearly ... Read more ...
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Deadly heat threatens the lives and livelihoods of 1 billion people in India - Grist Climate and Energy (Apr 24) |
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Apr 24 · A year ago, extreme heat waves in India killed dozens of people, slashed crop yields by as much as one-third in some areas, and set a landfill ablaze in Delhi, casting toxic smoke over the surrounding neighborhoods. Temperatures soared 15 degrees Fahrenheit above normal, hitting 115 degrees in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh and sparking more than 300 wildfires across the country. Even as power plants burned more coal to provide the power needed to keep people cool, the country experienced a nationwide electricity shortage.
Such scenes will become the norm as extreme heat, driven by climate change, kills crops, starts fires, and endangers people’s health across the globe. ... Read more ...
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For Uganda’s vanishing glaciers, time is running out - Grist Climate and Energy (Apr 23) |
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Apr 23 · Enock Bwambale stopped at the lip of the dying glacier, its blunted nose arcing steeply down to scoured rocks, then shouted up to his fellow guide Uziah Kule that the ice was too sheer to descend on foot. Hacking his axe into the crusty surface, he twisted in an ice screw so I could rappel down the stubby face of the Stanley Glacier in Uganda’s Rwenzori Mountains National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site on the border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Safely down, our small group took in the view of the heights of Mount Stanley: Margherita Peak - at over 16,700 feet (5,100 meters), the third highest point in Africa - and Alexandra Peak, between which hides the ... Read more ...
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1 in 3 Americans breathe unhealthy air, new report says - Grist Climate and Energy (Apr 20) |
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Apr 20 · A new report by the American Lung Association found that more than 1 in 3 Americans were exposed to unhealthy levels of air pollution between 2019 to 2021. Released on Wednesday, the 24th annual State of the Air report grades Americans’ exposure to two of the nation’s most pervasive air pollutants: ground-level ozone, an air pollutant that forms smog, and particle pollution, also known as soot.
The report found that while overall smog and soot pollution continues to decrease across the U.S., racial and geographic disparities are rising. As climate-fueled wildfires and drought increase and intensify, more people living in the West face potentially deadly particle and ozone ... Read more ...
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The first natural-gas ban in the US just got shot down - Grist Climate and Energy (Apr 18) |
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Apr 18 · When the city of Berkeley, California passed the country’s first ban on the use of natural gas in new buildings in the summer of 2019, environmental advocates celebrated the move as an important precedent for other cities to follow. And follow they did: There are now at least 99 similar ordinances in place across the country, the vast majority of which require appliances like stoves and heaters to be electric. But on Monday, a federal appeals court threw many of those bans into question.
A three-judge panel of the Ninth U.S Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled that Berkeley’s ban is preempted by a federal law, and is therefore illegal. The decision marks a ... Read more ...
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Inside climate activists’ uneasy relationship with 'net-zero’ - Grist Climate and Energy (Apr 11) |
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Apr 11 · In the premier episode of Apple TV’s climate show, Extrapolations, it’s 2037 and Earth is in turmoil. Global temperatures have reached record highs. Wildfires rage on every continent. People lack clean drinking water, while a stone-faced billionaire hoards patents to life-saving desalination technology.
People are understandably upset. Because it’s nearly a decade and a half in the future, protests now include towering holograms and desperate calls to limit global warming - which has long since blown past 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) - to 2 degrees C. One thing is eerily familiar, though: In one scene, demonstrators chant “net-zero now!” - a catchphrase with ... Read more ...
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Warming temperatures trigger earliest spring on record in parts of eastern US - Grist Climate and Energy (Apr 5) |
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Apr 5 · Spring has sprung unusually early in the eastern United States. From parts of the Gulf Coast all the way up through southern New England, leaves are popping out of shrubs and trees days or even weeks ahead of schedule. Some areas are experiencing their earliest spring on record, which means communities are also enduring an unusually early allergy season. Experts say rising temperatures, among the most visceral consequences of unfettered fossil fuel combustion, play a role in this year’s accelerated spring.
Phenologists - people who study biological life cycles - use two metrics to delineate the change in seasons: First bloom, when plants begin to flower, and first leaf-out, ... Read more ...
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From peak to plummet in 15 years: Coal continues its precipitous decline - Grist Climate and Energy (Apr 4) |
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Apr 4 · Not long ago, coal was booming in the United States. The country’s power generators used more of that fuel in 2007 than ever before - a little over 1 billion tons. Four years later, the generating capacity of the nation’s coal-fired power plants peaked at 318 gigawatts, enough electricity for 238 million homes.
But over the last decade, the U.S. energy sector has made a dramatic pivot away from the greenhouse gas-spewing fossil fuel. Research shows it continues to do so at an astonishing pace. Nearly half of the generating capacity seen in 2011 is expected to vanish by the end of 2026, according to a report published Monday by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial ... Read more ...
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Melting Antarctic ice may strangle vital ocean currents - Grist Climate and Energy (Apr 3) |
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Apr 3 · As Antarctic ice melts, all of that fresh water pours into the ocean, essentially diluting it by reducing its salinity. That, in turn, is dramatically slowing the currents that, like a conveyor belt, carry oxygen, carbon dioxide, and nutrients through the sea and around the world.
A study published last week in the journal Nature modeled the impacts of this phenomenon, called overturning circulation, on the deepest ocean currents, particularly in the southern hemisphere. It found that the world is on the verge of a potentially catastrophic slowdown, which could have a devastating effect on climate change, marine ecosystems, and the stability of Antarctic ice.
“Our ... Read more ...
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Biden administration releases road map to scale up nuclear, hydrogen, and energy storage - Grist Climate and Energy (Mar 31) |
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Mar 31 · Last week, the Department of Energy, or DOE, released a road map for scaling up three emerging technologies that could make or break the U.S. energy transition. According to the agency, advanced nuclear, clean hydrogen, and long-duration energy storage are crucial for reaching net-zero emissions. The problem is, self-sustaining markets for these technologies don’t exist yet.
The department’s new “Pathways to Commercial Liftoff” reports identify key challenges and potential solutions for getting these industries off the ground. They provide, for the first time, concrete numbers on how much additional energy capacity is needed from each of the three new technologies to reach ... Read more ...
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The tiny island nation of Vanuatu just scored a big climate win - Grist Climate and Energy (Mar 31) |
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Mar 31 · Youth activists and a tiny South Pacific nation have won a climate victory that could spell big trouble for the world’s leading polluting nations.
The United Nations passed a pioneering resolution Wednesday put forth by the nation of Vanuatu asking the world’s highest court to weigh in on the role national governments must play in stemming emissions and fighting climate change.
The advisory opinion, which might not come for two years, could impact thousands of lawsuits filed worldwide against governments for their inaction in addressing the crisis. It could even lead to penalties for the biggest polluters. Any opinion issued by the International Court of Justice would be ... Read more ...
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It’s not just oceans that are rising. Groundwater is, too. - Grist Climate and Energy (Mar 29) |
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Mar 29 · Beneath our feet there is an invisible ocean. Within the cracks of rock slabs, sand, and soil, this water sinks, swells, and flows - sometimes just a few feet under the surface, sometimes 30,000 feet below. This system of groundwater provides a vital supply for drinking water and irrigation, and feeds into rivers, lakes, and wetlands. Across the globe, it contains 100 times as much fresh water than all of the world’s rivers and lakes combined.
As Earth warms, groundwater - long seen as an immutable resource - is in flux. Most often, climate change is associated with a decrease in groundwater, fueled by worsening drought and evaporative demand. But in some areas, this water is ... Read more ...
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US renewable power surged ahead of coal for the first time last year - Grist Climate and Energy (Mar 29) |
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Mar 29 · Last year, U.S. renewable electricity generation surpassed coal for the first time, according to newly released federal data. The report marks a major milestone in the transition to clean energy, but experts say that much faster progress is needed to reach international climate targets.
According to the Energy Information Administration, a federal statistical agency, combined wind and solar generation increased from 12 percent of national power production in 2021 to 14 percent in 2022. Hydropower, biomass, and geothermal added another 7 percent - for a total share of 21 percent renewables last year. The figure narrowly exceeded coal’s 20 percent share of electricity ... Read more ...
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The IPCC says we need to phase down fossil fuels, fast. Here’s how the US could do it. - Grist Climate and Energy (Mar 24) |
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Mar 24 · On Monday, a panel of the world’s top climate scientists released a grave warning: Current policies are not enough to stave off the most devastating consequences of climate change. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC, climate pollution from the world’s existing coal, oil, and gas projects is already enough to launch the planet past 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) of warming, and world leaders must abandon up to $4 trillion in fossil fuels and related infrastructure by midcentury if they want to keep within safe temperature limits.
Instead, rich countries like the United States are going in the opposite direction. Just last week, ... Read more ...
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Climate change could spur severe economic losses, Biden administration says - Grist Climate and Energy (Mar 22) |
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Mar 22 · Climate change is generating major economic problems in the United States, the Biden administration said in an annual report published this week. The assumptions that higher-income countries like the U.S. would safely weather the risks associated with global warming, and that those risks would be clear cut, have proven to be false, administration economists wrote. A “wide array of risks” are currently impacting the “well-being of American communities,” the White House Council of Economic Advisers wrote in its report, particularly low-income and minority neighborhoods.
Heat, flooding, wildfires, and diseases that spread from animals to humans threaten public health and health ... Read more ...
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Immediate action is needed to ensure 'a livable future for all,’ UN report says - Grist Climate and Energy (Mar 20) |
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Mar 20 · Current and future risks from climate change are far worse than previously estimated, but urgent action is still possible to “secure a liveable future for all.”
That’s the message the world’s foremost authority on climate change delivered on Monday as it published the final part of its latest major assessment, a “synthesis” outlining the peril humanity faces from greenhouse gas emissions - and what we can do to avoid it.
The release is from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC, a United Nations body of leading climate experts from around the world. Every few years since its founding in 1988, the group has published a major assessment on the latest ... Read more ...
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A government program hopes to find critical minerals right beneath our feet - Grist Climate and Energy (Mar 17) |
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Mar 17 · In a remote and heavily forested region of northern Maine, a critical resource in the fight against climate change has been hiding beneath the trees. In November, scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey, or USGS, announced the discovery of rocks that are rich in rare earth elements near Pennington Mountain. A category of metals that play an essential role in technologies ranging from smartphones to wind turbines to electric vehicle motors, rare earths are currently mined only at a single site in the United States. Now, researchers say a place that’s been geologically overlooked for decades could be sitting on the next big deposit of them - although a more thorough survey would be ... Read more ...
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Greenland’s marine ecosystem is experiencing a radical ‘regime change’ - Grist Climate and Energy (Mar 6) |
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Mar 6 · When marine biologist Mads Peter Heide-Jørgensen began studying the boreal waters that surround Greenland 40 years ago, an inflatable raft carried him through vast expanses of polar pack ice, with narwhals and walruses frequently passing by. The astounding blue sea ice seemed almost inviolable in its grandeur.
But with Greenland reaching its highest temperatures in the past 1,000 years, the scene is changing. Arctic sea ice, which is responsible for maintaining cool polar temperatures, is dwindling rapidly. The oldest and thickest of it has declined by 95 percent during three decades of global warming.
“There’s a whole beautiful landscape that used to be there,” said ... Read more ...
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UN reaches historic agreement to protect the world’s oceans - Grist Climate and Energy (Mar 6) |
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Mar 6 · The 193 countries of the United Nations have agreed on a first-of-its-kind treaty to protect the biodiversity of the world’s oceans - a massive step toward a goal decades in the making. The agreement, which was reached at U.N. headquarters in New York over the weekend, still needs to be formally adopted by the intergovernmental organization and ratified by its individual member countries.
For more than a century, oceans have served as a de facto dumping ground for industrializing nations. Wealthy countries like the United States, which cast their plastic and other trash into the sea, rely on the ocean to suck up vast quantities of carbon emissions while plumbing its depths for ... Read more ...
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Construction begins on controversial lithium mine in Nevada - Grist Climate and Energy (Mar 3) |
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Mar 3 · Construction began this week on an open-pit mine at the largest lithium deposit in the United States, even as tribes and environmental groups continue a years-long effort to block the project.
Lithium Americas Corp. announced that it began construction on the Thacker Pass lithium project in Humboldt County, Nevada, after the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals denied a request Wednesday by mine opponents to block work.
The Bureau of Land Management approved the $2.2 billion mine project in January 2021. Mining operations would cover 5,000 acres and create a pit deeper than a football field. Lithium is a key component in the batteries of electric vehicles.
Thacker Pass, ... Read more ...
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