The Elephant
The climate change and environmental emergency: a comprehensive resource for journalists, politicians, policy makers, activists and citizens
The ElephantThe climate change and environmental emergency: a comprehensive resource for journalists, politicians, policy makers, activists and citizens
Visit: grist.org
An invisible, toxic chemical has been poisoning residents in Puerto Rico for decades
2024-08-22 by in Grist.org: Climate. Justice. Solutions.An industrial worker got one whiff of ethylene oxide. Twenty years later, he still hasn’t recovered — and his community is searching for answers.
The lost history of what Americans knew about climate change in the 1960s
2024-08-05 by in Grist.org: Climate. Justice. Solutions.It wasn't just scientists who were worried, but Congress, the White House, and even Sports Illustrated, newly unearthed documents show.
Plants and their pollinators are increasingly out of sync
2024-07-30 by in Grist.org: Climate. Justice. Solutions.As global temperatures rise and seasons shift, bees and other pollinators are missing critical connections with flowers and crops.
Tagged under: Bees
'Roadspreading’ returns: How Pennsylvania’s oil industry quietly dumped waste across the state
2024-07-24 by in Grist.org: Climate. Justice. Solutions.Spreading fracking wastewater on roads is banned. Oil and gas companies do it anyway.
It's official: US air quality got worse in 2023
2024-03-22 by in Grist.org: Climate. Justice. Solutions.When it comes to air quality, neighboring countries are in it together. In 2023, wildfire smoke from across the Canadian border became a primary source of air pollution in major U.S. cities, according to a report released this week. The annual World Air Quality Report by IQAir, a Swiss air quality technology company, showed that […]
How to 'decouple' emissions from economic growth? These economists say you can't.
2024-03-04 by in Grist.org: Climate. Justice. Solutions.At least, not fast enough to reach international climate targets.
Tagged under: Degrowth | Economics
Biden’s climate law fines oil companies for methane pollution. The bill is coming due.
2024-02-20 by in Grist.org: Climate. Justice. Solutions.Recent research suggests that the IRA’s methane fee could batter the oil and gas industry to the tune of more than $1 billion.
Tagged under: Methane
Climate change has killed 4 million people since 2000 — and that’s an underestimate
2024-01-30 by in Grist.org: Climate. Justice. Solutions.“Nobody is counting it, and nobody is moving in the direction of counting it."
Tagged under: Health
The link between climate change and a spate of rare disease outbreaks in 2023
2023-12-22 by in Grist.org: Climate. Justice. Solutions.The temperature-sensitive pathogens that caught U.S. communities off guard are a grim preview of the future.
Tagged under: Health
As climate risks mount, the insurance safety net is collapsing
2023-10-10 by in Grist.org: Climate. Justice. Solutions.Natural disasters now cost the U.S. insurance industry $100 billion a year. What happens when no one wants to pick up the tab?
Tagged under: Economics | Insurance | Collapse
The 7 climate tipping points that could change the world forever
2023-08-30 (or before) in Grist.org: Climate. Justice. Solutions.As the world warms, these Earth systems are changing. Could further warming make them spiral out of control?
Tagged under: Amazon Rainforest | Climate Change | Trees | Tipping Points
The true cost of climate pollution? 44% of corporate profits.
2023-08-28 by in Grist.org: Climate. Justice. Solutions.Yet governments are still pouring $7 trillion into subsidies for fossil fuels.
Tagged under: Economics | Fossil Fuels
Climate change is coming for your olive oil, too
2023-08-25 by in Grist.org: Climate. Justice. Solutions.Overall inflation is easing. But heatwaves in Europe have doubled the price of live oil over the past year.
Tagged under: Drought | Climate Change | Heatwaves
On Maui, returning home means confronting toxic risks
2023-08-22 by in Grist.org: Climate. Justice. Solutions.A growing body of research has demonstrated that wildfires leave behind a trail of toxic chemicals that can take years to eliminate.
Tagged under: Wildfires
Youth v. Fossil Fuels
2023-06-09 by in Grist.org: Climate. Justice. Solutions.In Held v. Montana, 16 youth climate activists argue Montana's enthusiastic support of fossil fuels violates their constitutional rights.
Tagged under: Activism | Fossil Fuels
Should we pull carbon out of the air with trees, or machines?
2023-05-30 by in Grist.org: Climate. Justice. Solutions.It’s not as simple as it sounds.
Tagged under: Trees
Is carbon capture viable? In a new rule, the EPA is asking power plants to prove it.
2023-05-12 by in Grist.org: Climate. Justice. Solutions.“The EPA is calling the bluff on the power industry.”
Tagged under: Carbon Capture and Storage
Deadly heat threatens the lives and livelihoods of 1 billion people in India
2023-04-24 by in Grist.org: Climate. Justice. Solutions.Increasingly extreme heat waves will imperil India's development goals and slow economic growth, new research shows
Tagged under: Economic Growth | India
Rich countries export twice as much plastic waste to the developing world as previously thought
2023-03-13 by in Grist.org: Climate. Justice. Solutions.Current estimates only cover “the tip of the plastic waste iceberg.”
Starved of new talent: Young people are steering clear of oil jobs
2022-10-18 by in Grist.org: Climate. Justice. Solutions.Who wants to work for the brands that brought you climate change?
Tagged under: Climate Change
Extreme weather is making mining waste a major problem
2022-06-02 by in Grist.org: Climate. Justice. Solutions.New report calls for revamped safety standards as companies race to meet demand for clean energy minerals.
Tagged under: Extreme Weather | Minerals
Study: Climate change is creating disease hotspots
2022-04-28 by in Grist.org: Climate. Justice. Solutions.“The coming decades will not only be hotter, but sicker.”
Tagged under: Climate Change | Health
Biden administration moves to restore mercury rules for power plants weakened under Trump
2022-02-01 in Grist.org: Climate. Justice. Solutions.EPA reaffirmed its authority to regulate mercury and other hazardous air pollutants.
Tagged under: Joe Biden | Donald Trump
Native opposition to Nevada lithium mine grows
2021-10-28 in Grist.org: Climate. Justice. Solutions.Tribes near the proposed mine at Thacker Pass say they weren't adequately consulted.
Tagged under: Lithium | Activism
US regulators: Climate change is a major threat to the economy
2021-10-21 in Grist.org: Climate. Justice. Solutions.In a 133-page report, the Financial Stability Oversight Council noted that climate-fueled disasters are “increasing and already imposing substantial economic costs.”
Tagged under: Climate Change | Economics
Indigenous resistance has cut U.S. and Canada's annual emissions
2021-09-10 in Grist.org: Climate. Justice. Solutions.A new study shows indigenous resistance cut emissions by at least 25%.
Tagged under: Activism
What Biden could learn from Bill Clinton's unfinished work on environmental justice
2021-02-24 in Grist.org: Climate. Justice. Solutions."The boogeyman when you’re fighting systemic racism is implementation."
Tagged under: Joe Biden
Exxon's "emission reduction plan" doesn't pledge to cut emissions
2020-12-15 in Grist.org: Climate. Justice. Solutions.This semantic trick allows oil companies to “cut” emissions and grow them at the same time.
Tagged under: Exxon
How the Kingston coal ash spill unearthed a nuclear nightmare
2020-12-15 in Grist.org: Climate. Justice. Solutions.Workers wondered: What happened the night the dredging stopped?
Tagged under: Nuclear Power | Coal
Can we ‘restore’ the climate? These young activists want us to try.
2020-12-11 in Grist.org: Climate. Justice. Solutions.They’re ready to talk about carbon removal. Are you?
Tagged under: Activism
The surprising reasons why people ignore the facts about climate change
2020-07-28 in Grist.org: Climate. Justice. Solutions.Two new studies dig into the reasons why people ignore facts about climate change. The takeaway: Evidence alone isn’t enough.
Tagged under: Climate Change
The curse of 'both-sidesism': How climate denial skewed media coverage for 30 years
2020-07-28 in Grist.org: Climate. Justice. Solutions.Study finds big newspapers -- including the NYT -- favored arguments against climate action.
A pipeline, a protest, and a polluted past
2020-06-12 in Grist.org: Climate. Justice. Solutions.A small pipeline poses big questions about the future of natural gas in New York.
Tagged under: Electricity Grid | Activism
A landmark lawsuit against Big Oil is back from the dead
2020-05-28 in Grist.org: Climate. Justice. Solutions.Will ExxonMobil, Shell, and friends have to pay for seawalls?
Weathercasters are talking about climate change — and how we can solve it
2020-01-28 in Grist.org: Climate. Justice. Solutions.As more weathercasters talk about the science of climate change on the air, some are taking the next step and discussing how to solve it.
Tagged under: Climate Change
U.N. report: 'Human rights might not survive' climate crisis
2019-07-03 in Grist.org: Climate. Justice. Solutions.It's time for human rights defenders to come together on climate action, expert says.
Climate movement grandpa James Hansen says the Green New Deal is 'nonsense'
2019-04-24 in Grist.org: Climate. Justice. Solutions.His solution to climate catastrophe? You may want to sit down for this one: a carbon tax.
Devil's Bargain
2018-02-08 in Grist.org: Climate. Justice. Solutions.We already have planet-cooling technology. The problem is, it’s killing us.
Tagged under: Climate Change | Geoengineering
Mass extinction threatens the world's pollinators — and its crops
2016-02-26 in Grist.org: Climate. Justice. Solutions.A new UN-sponsored study suggests that 40 percent of invertebrate pollinators could go extinct.
Tagged under: Extinction
None of the world's top industries would be profitable if they paid for the natural capital they use
2013-04-17 by in Grist.org: Climate. Justice. Solutions.A sobering new study finds that the world's biggest industries burn through $7.3 trillion worth of free natural capital a year. And it's the only reason they turn a profit.
Tagged under: Capitalism
What is the safe upper limit for atmospheric CO2?
2008-01-01 in Grist.org: Climate. Justice. Solutions.The nation's top climate scientist, NASA's James Hansen, apparently now believes "the safe upper limit for atmospheric CO2 is no more than 350 ppm," according to an op-ed by the great environmental writer Bill McKibben. Yet while preindustrial levels were 280, we're now already at more than 380 and rising 2 ppm a year! Like many people, in the 1990s I believed 550 was the target needed to avoid climate catastrophe -- but now it's clear that: 550 ppm would lead to the greatest disaster ever experienced by human civilization -- returning us to temperatures last seen when sea levels were some 80 feet higher. This is especially tr...
Tagged under: Oceans | Amazon Rainforest | Sea Level
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