News & Commentary

IPCC: We Cannot Look Away—Climate Risks Are Cascading

February 28, 2022 Latest NewsUnited StatesJeff Turrentine

The U.N. panel’s latest report paints a picture of the grim effects of global warming—and underscores the need for urgent, transformative adaptation.

Here’s What’s Happening at COP26

November 13, 2021 Latest NewsInternational

We’re keeping track of the latest news from Glasgow as government and climate leaders hash out how to rein in runaway warming.

IPCC: We’ve Already Warmed the Planet to Catastrophic Effect, but the Level of That Catastrophe Is Up to Us

August 9, 2021 Latest NewsUnited StatesJeff Turrentine

There’s no going back, but there is a way forward: Act now and go big.

Biden’s American Jobs Plan Is Also a Climate Plan

June 4, 2021 Latest NewsUnited StatesJeff Turrentine

The $2 trillion it would invest in the country’s infrastructure and workforce will help the United States recover from the past while preparing for the future.

A Race to Track the Southern Seas

May 13, 2021 Latest NewsInternationalBrian Palmer

To help prepare coastlines for the worsening effects of the climate crisis, scientists need more historical sea level records from the Global South—and they’re looking everywhere, from libraries to attics.

Biden Pledges to Cut U.S. Carbon Emissions in Half by 2030

April 22, 2021 Latest NewsUnited StatesJeff Turrentine

It’s urgent. It’s ambitious. But most of all, it’s totally doable.

With His “Climate Day” Orders, Biden Moves to Protect the Country—Its People, Lands and Waters, and Science

January 27, 2021 Latest NewsUnited StatesJeff Turrentine

National security, environmental justice, scientific integrity, and the economy are just a few issues covered by the president’s sweeping climate strategy.

Climate Change Is Drying Out the American West

June 4, 2020 Latest NewsUnited StatesBrian Palmer

A new study shows that drought is no longer a periodic crisis, but a harbinger of things to come.

By 2070, More Than 3 Billion People May Live Outside the “Human Climate Niche”

May 14, 2020 Latest NewsUnited StatesBrian Palmer

If we don’t act now to curb climate change, we may be faced with the migration of a third of the world’s future population.

Australia Is Burning. Jakarta Is Drowning. Welcome to 2020.

January 10, 2020 Latest NewsInternationalJeff Turrentine

The planet is sending us an unmistakable signal that we need to wake up and take real action to combat the climate crisis. And this is the decade we need to do it.

Fight for Climate Action or “Stop Pretending”?

September 13, 2019 Latest NewsUnited StatesJeff Turrentine

As far as future-building strategies go, Greta Thunberg’s passionate optimism beats Jonathan Franzen’s placid pessimism any day.

Why Is HUD Ghosting America’s Hurricane-Ravaged Communities?

February 8, 2019 Latest NewsUnited StatesJeff Turrentine

The Trump administration promised $16 billion to help places like Texas, Puerto Rico, and Florida weather future storms. Now, nearly a year later, it won’t even return their calls.

Climate Change Is Already Driving Mass Migration Around the Globe

January 25, 2019 Latest NewsUnited StatesJeff Turrentine

To ignore this fact—as the Trump administration insists on doing—is to hamper U.S. foreign policy.

The Oil and Gas Industry Wants Us to Protect It From Climate Change

August 31, 2018 Latest NewsTexasJeff Turrentine

Seriously. It’s asking American taxpayers to fund a 60-mile seawall along the refinery-heavy Texas Gulf Coast.

As Waters Rise, Should Seaside Communities Retreat?

June 29, 2018 Latest NewsUnited StatesJeff Turrentine

Whatever the decision, action is needed—and sooner rather than later.

A Year of Climate Change, as (Not) Presented by the EPA

May 11, 2018 Latest NewsUnited StatesJeff Turrentine

On the first anniversary of the agency’s removal of climate change info from its website, a look back at one of the earth’s roughest years on record and the fight to set things right.

Why Nobody Likes Trump’s Infrastructure Plan

February 16, 2018 Latest NewsUnited StatesJeff Turrentine

For starters: It would endanger the environment, imperil water systems and other public assets . . . and then make states pay extra for it all.

The Dangers Our Big Storms Dredge Up

October 11, 2017 Latest NewsUnited StatesJeff Turrentine

Hurricanes like Harvey and Maria put those who live near toxic waste sites in double jeopardy.

Irma? Harvey?—We Need to Talk About Infrastructure. Now.

September 8, 2017 Latest NewsUnited StatesJeff Turrentine

But if we don’t discuss flood protection, too, it’s meaningless.

Did Climate Change “Cause” Harvey?

September 1, 2017 Latest NewsUnited StatesJeff Turrentine

Scientists say no—but it did make the storm much, much worse.