by Shelley Robbins Natural gas is in the headlines as the war in Ukraine continues, cementing the U.S. as the world leader in gas exports. At home, groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce argue for more gas-fired power, citing the need for reliability in advance of the summer cooling season. Not…

by Rochelle Davis and Gerald W. Adelmann Harold Washington Elementary School in the Burnside neighborhood on the south side of Chicago got a new schoolyard in 2020. It features a running track, sports fields and playground equipment — but what Washington’s Principal Sherri Walker likes best are the little conversational groupings of rocks. “It’s so special for…

by Pragya Rai You may have seen the now-iconic video of a sea turtle with a plastic straw lodged in its nose. It is well known that plastic has invaded every corner of the planet, from Mt. Everest, the tallest peak on Earth, to the Mariana Trench, the deepest spot in the ocean. …

by Maureen Cunningham Lead in drinking water is an urgent national problem, but you wouldn’t know it from listening to certain members of Congress. This neurotoxin known to cause devastating cognitive and behavioral problems is especially harmful for infants and children. Today, there are an estimated 10 million lead pipes carrying — and…

by Jeff Peterson The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) recently released a discouraging new assessment of sea-level rise along the American coast. Press reports focused on the near-term estimates of up to 2 feet of sea-level rise by 2050. Hundreds of thousands of homes and parts of hundreds of communities will be…

by Laurie Mazur The Biden administration’s Justice40 Initiative was created with communities like Highland Park, Michigan, in mind. Launched in 2021, Justice40 aims to deliver 40% of federal investments in climate resilience and clean energy to “disadvantaged communities.” By some definitions, Highland Park qualifies as “disadvantaged.” A municipality outside the City of Detroit…

by Samantha Hamilton Climate change affects all Americans, but people of color and low-income communities are hit first and worst. For Emma Woods of Springfield, Massachusetts, this wasn’t news. Woods’ working class, predominantly African American and Latinx neighbors already suffer from higher rates of asthma, heart disease, and diabetes than those in whiter…

by Vihaan Mathur and Odessa Zhang On the day he was sworn into office, Gov. Glenn Youngkin declared he would pull Virginia out of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a multistate effort to cap carbon emissions from power plants. The question is: Does anybody care? Why has Youngkin faced so little resistance, especially from young people…

by Mark Rupp Last month, the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its Sixth Assessment Report. At the core of the report is a stark warning that, to date, our efforts to adapt to the changing climate are not enough to protect people and ecosystems around the globe. But here in the…