Racist Policies in Urban Neighborhoods Have Created Deadly “Heat Islands”
slobo/iStock/Getty This piece was originally published in The Guardian and appears here as part of our Climate Desk Partnership. Deadly urban heatwaves disproportionately affect underserved neighborhoods because of the legacy of racist housing policies which have denied African Americans home ownership and basic public services, a landmark new study has found. Extreme heat kills hundreds of people…
The Netherlands Is Sinking and Here’s Why
SanderStock/iStock/Getty This piece was originally published in Undark and appears here as part of our Climate Desk Partnership. The Netherlands often stop to take selfies in front of one of the country’s more than 1,000 windmills. Afterward, they might taste one of the many varieties of cheese for which the nation is famous. But most are…
Is BlackRock Going Green or Just Greenwashing?
This piece was originally published in the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists and appears here as part of our Climate Desk Partnership. On Tuesday, January 14, the New York Times ran a story in its “Dealbook” business section that contained some startling news. Larry Fink, the founder and chief executive officer of the world’s largest asset manager, BlackRock, announced that his…
5 Australian Fire Failures: Lessons for the World from a Climate Catastrophe
Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison visits a resident’s property in an area devastated by bushfires in Sarsfield, Victoria state on January 3, 2020.James Ross/Getty In August, 2018, when Scott Morrison became Australia’s 6th prime minister in 10 years, he presented himself as a responsible steward poised to bring continuity after a decade of leadership hiccups.…
Energy Companies Have a Great Friend At Trump’s Interior Department: Their Former Lobbyist
Tom Williams/Congressional Quarterly/Newscom, Zuma David Bernhardt, the man in charge of the nation’s public lands, has come through the revolving door of Washington, D.C. lobbying and back out again. Before becoming secretary of the Department of the Interior, he collected nearly $5 million for his firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck as a lobbyist and lawyer…
These Villages Battled a Blaze to Save Their Trees
Hajanirinta Rarivoarison, who goes by Haja, holds up a native sohisika seedling in a nursery built near Ankafobe Forest. Several of them burned down during the 2014 fire, but have since been rebuilt.Erik Vance This story was originally published by Atlas Obscura and appears here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. At first, the fire didn’t look…