The words “climate tipping point” brings to mind collapsing ice shelves, rainforests burning to a crisp, and other irreversible environmental disasters. But what if I told you that not all climate tipping points are bad? A recent study in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences outlines the positive “tipping elements” needed to address…
This story was published in partnership with the Center for Public Integrity and The World. It was sunny and 82 degrees, a perfect August day for a trip to the public beach just outside Toledo. But hardly anyone was here. And no one was swimming. “DANGER,” warned a red sign posted in the sand near…
This story was published in partnership with the Center for Public Integrity and The World. For decades, fertilizer was too expensive for African farmers. It had to be imported, and transportation into the continent was expensive. Now, though, Africa is turning a corner toward producing more of it locally. A Moroccan company has signed a…
In early January, members of the Chesapeake Bay Commission sat in a gray conference room in Annapolis, Maryland, for a routine meeting. The 21-member legislative body, with representatives from Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Maryland, convenes regularly to coordinate interstate efforts to restore and protect the Chesapeake Bay. But as the meeting drew to a close, EPA…
This story was originally published by Yale Environment 360 and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. As public concern about plastic pollution rises, consumers are reaching for canvas bags, metal straws, and reusable water bottles. But while individuals fret over images of oceanic garbage gyres, the fossil fuel and petrochemical industries…
This story was originally published by HuffPost and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. To reverse the rapid loss of species around the globe, world governments should protect nearly one-third of all lands and oceans and slash major sources of pollution by the end of the decade, according to a new…
This story was originally published by Mother Jones and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. On Wednesday, scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and National Aeronautics and Space Administration released their combined study on 2019 weather trends around the world. The main takeaway was stark: 2019 was the second-warmest…
On Friday, an auction held in the New York City offices of the law firm Kirkland & Ellis LLP, will determine the future of 1,300 acres in South Philadelphia and signal what lies ahead for shuttered oil and gas facilities all over the country. For more than 150 years, the land has hosted the largest…
On Wednesday night, more than 100 first-year Harvard law students gathered at a restaurant in Cambridge, Massachusetts, for a reception hosted by the corporate law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP. The opulent affair, replete with lobsters for snacking, an ice sculpture, and an open bar, was one of many regular functions held…
In the rolling Appalachian foothills of Ohio, Sunday Creek runs bright with shades of red and orange. The 27-mile-long tributary flows through the ruins of abandoned coal mines, which sprawl beneath the southeast part of the state like a labyrinth. The companies that dug the century-old mines are long gone. But residents in this rural…
