Most recent 40 articles: New York Times - Climate Forward
 |
Oil Executives Privately Contradicted Public Statements on Climate, Files Show - New York Times - Climate Forward (Sep 14, 2022) |
|
Sep 14, 2022 · The documents, subpoenaed in a House investigation of climate disinformation, show company leaders contravening industry commitments.
Documents obtained by congressional investigators show that oil industry executives privately downplayed their companies’ own public messages about efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and weakened industry-wide commitments to push for climate policies.
Internal Exxon documents show that the oil giant pressed an industry group, the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative, to remove language from a 2019 policy statement that “could create a potential commitment to advocate on the Paris Agreement goals.” The Paris Agreement is the landmark 2015 ... | By Hiroko Tabuchi Read more ...
|
|
|
|
NYTimes: Cloud Wars: Mideast Rivalries Rise Along a New Front - New York Times - Climate Forward (Aug 28, 2022) |
|
Aug 28, 2022 · As climate change makes the region hotter and drier, the U.A.E. is leading the effort to squeeze more rain out of the clouds, and other countries are rushing to keep up.
Artificial lakes like this one in Dubai are helping fuel an insatiable demand for water in the United Arab Emirates.Credit...
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates - Iranian officials have worried for years that other nations have been depriving them of one of their vital water sources. But it was not an upstream dam that they were worrying about, or an aquifer being bled dry.
In 2018, amid a searing drought and rising temperatures, some senior officials concluded that someone was stealing their water ... | By Alissa J. Rubin Read more ...
|
|
|
|
NYTimes: Arctic Warming Is Happening Faster Than Described, Analysis Shows - New York Times - Climate Forward (Aug 11, 2022) |
|
Aug 11, 2022 · The warming at the top of the globe, a sign of climate change, is happening much faster than previously described compared with the global average, scientists said Thursday.
The rapid warming of the Arctic, a definitive sign of climate change, is occurring even faster than previously described, researchers in Finland said Thursday.
Over the past four decades the region has been heating up four times faster than the global average, not the two to three times that has commonly been reported. And some parts of the region, notably the Barents Sea north of Norway and Russia, are warming up to seven times faster, they said.
One result of rapid Arctic warming is faster ... | By Henry Fountain Read more ...
|
|
|
|
NYTimes: It's Been a ‘Summer of Disasters,' and It's Only Half Over - New York Times - Climate Forward (Aug 03, 2022) |
|
Aug 03, 2022 · Subscriber-only Newsletter
David Wallace-Wells
Opinion Writer
“We’re naming summer 'Danger Season’ in the U.S.,” wrote Kristy Dahl, the principal climate scientist for the Union of Concerned Scientists, in early June. A couple of days later, at Axios, the climate reporter Andrew Freedman echoed that warning: “America is staring down a summer of disasters.”
The season is now only half over, and the worst months for California fires, which typically provide the most harrowing images of the summer, still lie ahead. But the calendar has already been stuffed with climate disruption, so much so that one disaster often seemed layered over the last, with newspaper ... | By David Wallace-Wells Read more ...
|
|
|
|
NYTimes: Heat Waves Around the World Push People and Nations ‘To the Edge' - New York Times - Climate Forward (Jun 24, 2022) |
|
Jun 24, 2022 · Millions of Americans are once again in the grips of dangerous heat. Hot air blanketed Europe last weekend, causing parts of France and Spain to feel the way it usually does in July or August. High temperatures scorched northern and central China even as heavy rains caused flooding in the country’s south. Some places in India began experiencing extraordinary heat in March, though the start of the monsoon rains has brought some relief.
It’s too soon to say whether climate change is directly to blame for causing severe heat waves in these four powerhouse economies - which also happen to be the top emitters of heat-trapping gases - at roughly the same time, just days into summer. Read more ...
|
|
|
|
NYTimes: Extreme Weather Hits China With Massive Floods and Scorching Heat - New York Times - Climate Forward (Jun 23, 2022) |
|
Jun 23, 2022 · HONG KONG - China is grappling with extreme weather emergencies across the country, with the worst flooding in decades submerging houses and cars in the south and record-high heat waves in the northern and central provinces causing roads to buckle.
Water levels in more than a hundred rivers across the country have surged beyond flood warning levels, according to the People’s Daily, the ruling Communist Party’s mouthpiece. The authorities in Guangdong Province on Tuesday raised alerts to the highest level after days of rainfall and floods, closing schools, businesses and public transport in affected areas.
The flooding has disrupted the lives of almost half a million ... Read more ...
|
|
|
|
NYTimes: Indoor Farming Is a ‘No-Brainer - New York Times - Climate Forward (Jun 21, 2022) |
|
Jun 21, 2022 · Mr. Alexander is the author of “Ten Tomatoes That Changed the World: A History.”
It’s shaping up to be a tough year for agriculture: With record drought gripping the West, farmers in California’s Central Valley are leaving vast tracts of fertile land unplanted. A January cold snap in Florida devastated tomato crops there, leaving the survivors vulnerable to disease. Two months later, an unusually hard freeze in the Carolinas left some farmers with little to no strawberries and blueberries.
Yet neither drought nor frost is ever a concern for the growers of tomatoes, strawberries and other crops currently ripening inside enormous greenhouses, some sprawling across 175 ... | By William Alexander Read more ...
|
|
|
|
NYTimes: Why Do We Swallow What Big Oil and the Green Movement Tell Us? - New York Times - Climate Forward (May 17, 2022) |
|
May 17, 2022 · It has long been said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. By that definition, we’re the ones detached from reality if we keep accepting what the oil industry and the green movement keep telling us over and over again and expecting a different result.
The greens keep saying that because the price of wind and solar is now as cheap as, or cheaper than, fossil fuels, they’ve won the energy war. Game, set, match - welcome to the green planet.
The oil companies say - as they have in each previous energy crisis since 1973 - that the only answer to this energy crisis is the one they’ve offered for the past ... | By Thomas L. Friedman Read more ...
|
|
|
|
California Reveals Its Plan to Phase Out New Gas-Powered Cars by 2035 - The New York Times - New York Times - Climate Forward (Apr 13, 2022) |
|
Apr 13, 2022 · If adopted, the new measures would make a dent in the state’s greenhouse gas emissions and set the bar for the broader auto industry.
WASHINGTON - California on Wednesday made public an aggressive plan to mandate a steady increase in the sale of electric and zero-emissions vehicles, the first step in enacting a first-in-the-nation goal of banning new gasoline-powered cars by 2035.
Under the proposed rule, issued by the California Air Resources Board, the state will require 35 percent of new passenger vehicles sold in the state by 2026 to be powered by batteries or hydrogen. Less than a decade later, the state expects 100 percent of all new car sales to be free of the ... | By Lisa Friedman Read more ...
|
|
|
|
NYTimes: Putin's War Has Started a Global Food Crisis - New York Times - Climate Forward (Apr 05, 2022) |
|
Apr 05, 2022 · Note: Prices as of April 4.
Ms. Menker is the founder of Gro Intelligence, an artificial-intelligence company that forecasts global agricultural markets and the impacts of climate change. Mr. Shah is the president of the Rockefeller Foundation and a former administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development.
The humanitarian disaster produced by Russia’s needless invasion of Ukraine shocks the conscience: 10 million Ukrainians displaced and innumerable Ukrainians killed. But because Ukraine and Russia are both major food exporters, the human toll will grow much larger, far from Ukraine’s borders.
As Ukraine’s farms have turned into battlefields, ... | By Sara Menker and Rajiv Shah Read more ...
|
|
|
|
Tree Planting Is Booming. Here’s How That Could Help, or Harm, the Planet. - New York Times - Climate Forward (Mar 14, 2022) |
|
Mar 14, 2022 · Reforestation can fight climate change, uplift communities and restore biodiversity. When done badly, though, it can speed extinctions and make nature less resilient.
A tree planted for every T-shirt purchased. For every bottle of wine. For every swipe of a credit card. Trees planted by countries to meet global pledges and by companies to bolster their sustainability records.
As the climate crisis deepens, businesses and consumers are joining nonprofit groups and governments in a global tree planting boom. Last year saw billions of trees planted in scores of countries around the world. These efforts can be a triple win, providing livelihoods, absorbing and locking away ... | By Catrin Einhorn Read more ...
|
|
|
|
How Redlining Contributed to Air Pollution Across America - New York Times - Climate Forward (Mar 09, 2022) |
|
Mar 09, 2022 · A new study shows how redlining, a Depression-era housing policy, contributed to inequalities that persist decades later in U.S. cities.
Urban neighborhoods that were redlined by federal officials in the 1930s tended to have higher levels of harmful air pollution eight decades later, a new study has found, adding to a body of evidence that reveals how racist policies in the past have contributed to inequalities across the United States today.
In the wake of the Great Depression, when the federal government graded neighborhoods in hundreds of cities for real estate investment, Black and immigrant areas were typically outlined in red on maps to denote risky places to lend. ... | By Raymond Zhong and Nadja Popovich Read more ...
|
|
|
|
Amazon Rainforest May Be Approaching a Critical Tipping Point, Study Finds - New York Times - Climate Forward (Mar 07, 2022) |
|
Mar 07, 2022 · The region is nearing a threshold beyond which its forests may be replaced by grasslands, with huge repercussions for biodiversity and climate change.
The Amazon is losing its ability to recover from disturbances like droughts and land-use changes, scientists reported Monday, adding to concern that the rainforest is approaching a critical threshold beyond which much of it will be replaced by grassland, with vast consequences for biodiversity and climate change.
The scientists said their research did not pinpoint when this threshold, which they described as a tipping point, might be reached.
“But it’s worth reminding ourselves that if it gets to that tipping point, ... | By Henry Fountain Read more ...
|
|
|
|
The New York Times Climate Newsletter - New York Times - Climate Forward (Mar 01, 2022) |
|
Mar 01, 2022 · There’s the world as it is. And then there’s the world as it could be.
This newsletter will be about both.
This week, there’s a BIG thing that matters. It’s the long-awaited report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. It shows us the world as it is: already hotter than a century ago. It implores us to adapt, and adapt quickly, so that the future is livable, maybe even a little better.
The panel’s report was prepared by 270 scientists from 67 countries. It draws on thousands of scientific studies. It’s exhaustive. My colleagues, Brad Plumer, Raymond Zhong and Lisa Friedman wrote about the assessment.
How does it matter to our lives right ... | By Somini Sengupta Read more ...
|
|
|
|
U.S. Oil Industry Uses Ukraine Invasion to Push for More Drilling at Home - New York Times - Climate Forward (Feb 26, 2022) |
|
Feb 26, 2022 · The goal is “energy security,” lobbyists said, although clean-energy advocates counter that wind and solar provide more protection from boom-and-bust oil markets.
Russian troops hadn’t yet begun their full-on assault on Ukraine late Wednesday when the rallying cry came from the American oil and gas industry.
“As crisis looms in Ukraine, U.S. energy leadership is more important than ever,” the American Petroleum Institute, the powerful industry lobby group, wrote on Twitter with a photo that read: “Let’s unleash American energy. Protect our energy security.”
The crux of the industry’s argument is that any effort to restrain drilling in America makes a world already ... | By Hiroko Tabuchi Read more ...
|
|
|
|
Sale of Leases for Wind Farms Off New York Raises More Than $4 Billion - New York Times - Climate Forward (Feb 25, 2022) |
|
Feb 25, 2022 · The auctioned areas are expected to generate enough power for nearly 2 million homes once turbines are built.
WASHINGTON - The United States government netted a record $4.37 billion on Friday from the sale of six offshore wind leases off the coasts of New York and New Jersey, a major step in the Biden administration’s goal of ushering in a future powered by renewable energy.
The auction, of more than 488,000 acres in the Atlantic Ocean between Cape May, N.J., and Montauk Point, N.Y., was the Biden administration’s first offshore lease sale.
When turbines are built and start working, the auctioned acres are expected to generate up to 7,000 megawatts, enough to power ... | By Lisa Friedman Read more ...
|
|
|
|
A Top A.F.L.-C.I.O. Official Joins Greenpeace USA - New York Times - Climate Forward (Feb 24, 2022) |
|
Feb 24, 2022 · The move by Tefere Gebre, the No. 3 official at the A.F.L.-C.I.O., highlights what many labor and environmental officials say is a need to cooperate.
Signaling the growing importance of ties between labor and environmental organizers on climate change, the A.F.L.-C.I.O.’s third-ranking official has announced that he was leaving to join Greenpeace USA.
The official, Tefere Gebre, the labor federation’s executive vice president, will become chief program officer for the environmental group on Tuesday. He will oversee all of Greenpeace USA’s campaigns, communications, direct action and organizing and report to the group’s co-executive directors.
“I’m not leaving the ... | By Noam Scheiber Read more ...
|
|
|
|
Using Science and Celtic Wisdom to Save Trees (and Souls) - New York Times - Climate Forward (Feb 24, 2022) |
|
Feb 24, 2022 · Diana Beresford-Kroeger, a botanist and author, has created a forest with tree species handpicked for their ability to withstand a warming planet.
Diana Beresford-Kroeger at her home in Ontario. “If you build back the forests, you oxygenate the atmosphere more, and it buys us time,” she said.Credit...Nasuna Stuart-Ulin for The New York Times
MERRICKVILLE, Ontario - There aren’t many scientists raised in the ways of druids by Celtic medicine women, but there is at least one. She lives in the woods of Canada, in a forest she helped grow. From there, wielding just a pencil, she has been working to save some of the oldest life-forms on Earth by bewitching its ... | By Cara Buckley Read more ...
|
|
|
|
Climate Change Could Increase Risk of Wildfires 50% by Century's End - New York Times - Climate Forward (Feb 23, 2022) |
|
Feb 23, 2022 · Worsening heat and dryness could lead to a 50 percent rise in off-the-charts fires, according to a United Nations report.
A landmark United Nations report has concluded that the risk of devastating wildfires around the world will surge in coming decades as climate change further intensifies what the report described as a “global wildfire crisis.”
The scientific assessment is the first by the organization’s environmental authority to evaluate wildfire risks worldwide. It was inspired by a string of deadly blazes around the globe in recent years, burning the American West, vast stretches of Australia and even the Arctic.
The images from those fires - cities glowing ... | By Raymond Zhong Read more ...
|
|
|
|
Sea Ice Around Antarctica Reaches a Record Low - New York Times - Climate Forward (Feb 23, 2022) |
|
Feb 23, 2022 · The drop surprised scientists, and may help them understand more about climate change affecting Antarctica and its waters.
Sea ice around Antarctica has reached a record low in four decades of observations, a new analysis of satellite images shows.
As of Tuesday, ice covered 750,000 square miles around the Antarctic coast, below the previous record low of 815,000 square miles in early March 2017, according to the analysis by the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colo.
“It’s really unprecedented,” said Marilyn N. Raphael, a professor of geography at the University of California, Los Angeles, who studies Antarctic sea ice. Warmer ocean temperatures may ... | By Henry Fountain Read more ...
|
|
|
|
Your Climate Newsletter Is Getting Even Better - New York Times - Climate Forward (Feb 23, 2022) |
|
Feb 23, 2022 · Starting on Tuesday, Climate Forward will be coming out twice a week. Plus, Somini Sengupta, our global climate reporter, will be writing a new column.
This week, we’re covering a landmark report on wildfires, the outlook for California’s drought, and some unsung heroes of carbon storage.
I’m the international climate correspondent for The Times. I’ll start each week’s newsletter with a reported column. Sometimes, that could be a fresh way to look at the news that week. Other times, it could be a deep dive into a climate idea that people are talking about. Or you might meet someone new, someone with fresh ideas to tackle one of the biggest challenges of our ... | By Henry Fountain Read more ...
|
|
|
|
Biden Administration Halts New Drilling in Legal Fight Over Climate Costs - New York Times - Climate Forward (Feb 20, 2022) |
|
Feb 20, 2022 · The Interior Department is pausing new federal oil and gas leases and permits after a judge blocked the government from weighing the cost of climate damage in decisions.
WASHINGTON - The Biden administration is indefinitely freezing decisions about new federal oil and gas drilling as part of a legal brawl with Republican-led states that could significantly impact President Biden’s plans to tackle climate change.
The move, which came Saturday, was a response to a recent federal ruling that blocked the way the Biden administration was calculating the real cost of climate change, a figure that guides a range of government decisions, from pollution regulation to whether to ... | By Lisa Friedman Read more ...
|
|
|
|
Conflict and Climate Change Ravage Syria’s Agricultural Heartland - New York Times - Climate Forward (Feb 19, 2022) |
|
Feb 19, 2022 · Drought and a decade of war have brought failing crops and poverty to a region once known as Syria’s breadbasket. Even the bread has changed.
HASAKA, Syria - At a government bakery in Hasaka, Syria, a faded image of former President Hafez al-Assad looms over the aging machinery and clanging steel chains of the assembly line. The painting dates from long before the war, when this region of northeast Syria was still under government control.
Outside, a long line of families and disabled men wait for bags of subsidized flat bread, which sells at about a quarter of the market price.
What is new at this bakery, the largest in the region, is the color of the flour dumped ... | By Jane Arraf Read more ...
|
|
|
|
The Search Has Begun for an Antarctic Pioneer’s Lost Ship - New York Times - Climate Forward (Feb 19, 2022) |
|
Feb 19, 2022 · Explorers have started combing the Weddell Sea for one of the most revered ships in the history of polar exploration, Ernest Shackleton’s Endurance, which sank in 1915.
Credit...
Text by Henry Fountain
The hunt is on for Endurance, Ernest Shackleton’s ship that sits 10,000 feet below the icy Weddell Sea in Antarctica.
After an 11-day voyage aboard a South African icebreaker, the expedition, known as Endurance22, began searching for the wreck this week. Underwater drones equipped with cameras, sonar and lasers have been scanning 100 square miles of seafloor looking for the remains of the 144-foot wooden ship, which sank in 1915 after being crushed in ... Read more ...
|
|
|
|
At the Sierra Club, a Focus on Race, Gender and the Environment, Too - New York Times - Climate Forward (Feb 18, 2022) |
|
Feb 18, 2022 · A debate about John Muir and racism thrust Ramón Cruz into a new leadership role.
Ramón CruzCredit...Guerin Blask for The New York Times
As protests after the killing of George Floyd convulsed the nation in the summer of 2020, the executive director of the Sierra Club wrote an explosive blog post about John Muir, the storied conservationist who founded the environmental organization.
Muir, the executive director wrote, had made “derogatory comments about Black people and Indigenous peoples that drew on deeply harmful racist stereotypes.”
That blog post, and the internal debate that followed, led to the executive director’s departure last year. And while the ... | By David Gelles Read more ...
|
|
|
|
Expecting the Western Drought to End Soon? Not Likely, Forecasters Say. - New York Times - Climate Forward (Feb 17, 2022) |
|
Feb 17, 2022 · Despite some wet weather last fall, warm and dry conditions have settled in and are expected to continue through spring and beyond, according to a new assessment.
Dry conditions across the West that have dashed hopes for a respite from relentless drought are expected to continue across the region into spring and beyond, forecasters said Thursday.
Dan Collins, a meteorologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said in a briefing that a continuation of La Niña, a climate pattern that originates in the Pacific Ocean and influences weather worldwide, will contribute to what are expected to be higher than normal temperatures, and lower than normal ... | By Henry Fountain Read more ...
|
|
|
|
Lesson of the Day: 'How Bad Is the Western Drought? Worst in 12 Centuries, Study Finds.’ - New York Times - Climate Forward (Feb 17, 2022) |
|
Feb 17, 2022 · In this lesson, students will learn about how this megadrought is affecting people and communities. Then, they will connect the news to their own lives.
Lesson Overview
Featured Article: “How Bad Is the Western Drought? Worst in 12 Centuries, Study Finds.” by Henry Fountain
Drought is gripping the American West, which includes California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana. Climate change has fueled a drought that began in 2000, making the past two decades the driest since 800 A.D., according to a new study. That was 1,200 years ago!
In this lesson, you will learn how this megadrought is affecting the Western United ... | By Jeremy Engle Read more ...
|
|
|
|
How Tech Can (and Can’t) Help You Fight Soaring Energy Bills - New York Times - Climate Forward (Feb 16, 2022) |
|
Feb 16, 2022 · Thermostats like Nest go a long way toward helping you use less energy, but the real problem-solvers are people.
Brian X. Chen, The Times’s personal technology columnist, tested two types of products over four months for this column.
To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.
The cost of just about everything has gone up. But nothing has been more ulcer-inducing than the skyrocketing price of a basic need: energy.
The price increases stem in large part from the pandemic’s many disruptions. Pacific Gas & Electric, the largest power provider in California, recently said natural gas prices this ... | By Brian X. Chen Read more ...
|
|
|
|
Opinion | Climate Change Anxiety and Therapy - New York Times - Climate Forward (Feb 16, 2022) |
|
Feb 16, 2022 · The “realistic hope” that keeps my anxiety at bay comes from the many people around the world working to get C.D.R. processes up to a global scale. It’s time for elected officials at all levels of government to take decisive action to eliminate carbon dioxide emissions and to put into place policies that will allow C.D.R. solutions to flourish.
Rick WaymanSanta Barbara, Calif.The writer is the chief executive of the Foundation for Climate Restoration.
To the Editor:
An important point of the article in The Lancet that was cited in the Times article is that youth distress is directly related to the experience of governmental dismissal of and inaction on climate ... Read more ...
|
|
|
|
Taking Aim at Environmental Racism, Without Mentioning Race - New York Times - Climate Forward (Feb 16, 2022) |
|
Feb 16, 2022 · President Biden says he wants to alleviate the outsize burdens that Americans of color face from pollution. But using race to allocate help could mean legal trouble.
Before we get to the news this week, we wanted to tell you about some changes we’re making to the Climate Fwd: newsletter - changes meant to help make sense of the climate crisis and what it means for you. Starting next month, Climate Fwd: will be delivered twice a week instead of once. And, Somini Sengupta, the Times’s global climate correspondent, will be your new guide to the latest news and ideas as the newsletter’s lead writer. Please stay tuned for more.
Black, Latino and other people of color are ... | By Brad Plumer Read more ...
|
|
|
|
Biden Administration Promises to Buy 'Clean’ Industrial Materials - New York Times - Climate Forward (Feb 15, 2022) |
|
Feb 15, 2022 · A new initiative aims to reduce emissions from steel, cement, aluminum and other materials used in the industrial sector, which generates about a third of the nation’s greenhouse gases.
WASHINGTON - The Biden administration on Tuesday will set out a strategy for buying “clean,” lower-emissions steel, cement, aluminum and other industrial materials for federal agencies and projects, part of its effort to reduce carbon emissions from industrial manufacturing.
The industrial sector is responsible for about one-third of the greenhouse gases produced by the United States - pollution that is helping to heat the planet to dangerous levels. White House officials said they would ... | By Lisa Friedman Read more ...
|
|
|
|
California Returns as Climate Leader, With Help From the White House - New York Times - Climate Forward (Feb 15, 2022) |
|
Feb 15, 2022 · The Biden administration is restoring the state’s power to set its own limits on tailpipe pollution and is largely adopting the state’s rules regarding heavy trucks.
WASHINGTON - The Biden administration is preparing strict new limits on pollution from buses, delivery vans, tractor-trailers and other heavy trucks, the first time tailpipe standards have been tightened for the biggest polluters on the road since 2001.
The new federal regulations are drawn from truck pollution rules recently enacted by California and come as the Biden administration is moving to restore that state’s legal authority to set auto emissions limits that are tighter than federal standards, ... | By Coral Davenport Read more ...
|
|
|
|
NYTimes: Coastal Sea Levels in U.S. to Rise a Foot by 2050, Study Confirms - New York Times - Climate Forward (Feb 15, 2022) |
|
Feb 15, 2022 · More precise measurements indicate that the increase will happen “no matter what we do about emissions.”
Sea levels along the coastal United States will rise by about a foot or more on average by 2050, government scientists said Tuesday, with the result that rising water now considered “nuisance flooding” will become far more damaging.
A report by researchers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and other agencies also found that, at the current rate of warming, at least two feet of sea-level rise is expected by the end of the century.
“What we’re reporting out is historic,” said Rick Spinrad, the NOAA administrator, at a news conference ... | By Henry Fountain Read more ...
|
|
|
|
Opinion | Texas Must Update Its Power Grid - New York Times - Climate Forward (Feb 15, 2022) |
|
Feb 15, 2022 · Dr. Webber is a professor of energy resources at the University of Texas and the chief technology officer at the venture fund Energy Impact Partners.
A year ago, Texas found itself in the dark when a winter storm knocked power plants throughout the state off line.
One of the most obvious fixes would be for Texas to put aside its parochialism and fear of federal oversight and connect its grid with the rest of the country. Not only would this have eased the crisis last February; it could improve reliability for the rest of the country, save consumers money nationwide and accelerate the transition to clean energy in the power sector.
But Texas’ hidebound go-it-alone ... | By Michael E. Webber Read more ...
|
|
|
|
The White House Is Taking On Environmental Racism, but It Won’t Mention Race - New York Times - Climate Forward (Feb 15, 2022) |
|
Feb 15, 2022 · Communities of color bear a disproportionate burden from pollution, research shows. But using race to allocate federal help could result in legal problems.
WASHINGTON - As a candidate and then as president, Joseph R. Biden promised to address the unequal burden that people of color carry from exposure to environmental hazards.
But the White House’s new environmental strategy to tackle this problem will be colorblind: Race will not be a factor in deciding where to focus efforts.
Worried that using race to identify and help disadvantaged communities could trigger legal challenges that would stymie their efforts, administration officials said they were designing a ... | By Lisa Friedman Read more ...
|
|
|
|
White House Takes Aim at Environmental Racism, but Won’t Mention Race - New York Times - Climate Forward (Feb 15, 2022) |
|
Feb 15, 2022 · Communities of color bear a disproportionate burden from pollution, research shows. But using race to allocate federal help could result in legal problems.
WASHINGTON - As a candidate and then as president, Joseph R. Biden promised to address the unequal burden that people of color carry from exposure to environmental hazards.
But the White House’s new environmental strategy to tackle this problem will be colorblind: Race will not be a factor in deciding where to focus efforts.
Worried that using race to identify and help disadvantaged communities could trigger legal challenges that would stymie their efforts, administration officials said they were designing a ... | By Lisa Friedman Read more ...
|
|
|
|
How Bad Is the Western Drought? Worst in 12 Centuries, Study Finds. - New York Times - Climate Forward (Feb 14, 2022) |
|
Feb 14, 2022 · Fueled by climate change, the drought that started in 2000 is now the driest two decades since 800 A.D.
ALBUQUERQUE - The megadrought in the American Southwest has become so severe that it’s now the driest two decades in the region in at least 1,200 years, scientists said Monday, and climate change is largely responsible.
The drought, which began in 2000 and has reduced water supplies, devastated farmers and ranchers and helped fuel wildfires across the region, had previously been considered the worst in 500 years, according to the researchers.
But exceptional conditions in the summer of 2021, when about two-thirds of the West was in extreme drought, “really pushed ... | By Henry Fountain Read more ...
|
|
|
|
France Announces a Big Buildup of Its Nuclear Power Program - New York Times - Climate Forward (Feb 10, 2022) |
|
Feb 10, 2022 · President Emmanuel Macron outlined plans for a wave of new-generation atomic reactors as the country seeks to slash planet-warming emissions.
President Emmanuel Macron announced a major buildup of France’s huge nuclear power program on Thursday, pledging to construct up to 14 new-generation reactors and a fleet of smaller nuclear plants as the country seeks to slash planet-warming emissions and cut its reliance on foreign energy.
The announcement represented an about-face for Mr. Macron, who had previously pledged to reduce France’s reliance on nuclear power but has pivoted to burnishing an image as a pronuclear president battling climate change as he faces a tough ... | By Liz Alderman Read more ...
|
|
|
|
How Billions in Infrastructure Funding Could Worsen Global Warming - New York Times - Climate Forward (Feb 10, 2022) |
|
Feb 10, 2022 · Highway expansions tend to bring more greenhouse gas emissions. A few states are trying to change that dynamic, but it won’t be easy.
The highways in Colorado, one of the nation’s fastest-growing states, are frequently clogged with suburban workers driving into Denver, skiers heading high into the Rocky Mountains and trucks rumbling across the Interstates.
A Western frontier state with an affinity for the open road and Subaru Outbacks, Colorado’s traditional answer to traffic congestion could be summed up in two words: more asphalt.
But widening highways and paving new roads often just spurs people to drive more, research shows. And as concerns grow about how ... | By Brad Plumer Read more ...
|
|
|
|
Germany Has a New Climate Envoy: an American Greenpeace Activist - New York Times - Climate Forward (Feb 09, 2022) |
|
Feb 09, 2022 · Jennifer Morgan, the American head of Greenpeace, has lived in Germany since 2003 and has applied for German citizenship.
BERLIN - Germany on Wednesday announced the appointment of a new international climate envoy - an American, Jennifer Morgan, who is the current executive director of Greenpeace International.
Ms. Morgan, who said she has lived in Germany since 2003 and has applied to become a German citizen, will begin her new job as the special envoy for climate policy, working in the foreign ministry. She will become a junior minister after she is granted German citizenship.
Ms. Morgan will report directly to the foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, the former ... | By Christopher F. Schuetze Read more ...
|
|
|