European Union Plans “Largest Ever Ban” on Toxic Chemicals
Getty Images This story was originally published by the Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Thousands of potentially harmful chemicals could soon be prohibited in Europe under new restrictions, which campaigners have hailed as the strongest yet. Earlier this year, scientists said chemical pollution had crossed a “planetary boundary” beyond which lies the breakdown of global ecosystems. The…
Turns Out Biofuels Aren’t All They Were Cracked Up to Be
picture alliance/Contributor/Getty This story was originally published in Wired and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. The borders of the Corn Belt have always been fuzzy. The sprawling patchwork of cornfields that spreads across the Midwestern United States is one of the most productive agricultural regions on Earth. Over 36 percent of the world’s corn comes from…
EPA Has Finally Opened Civil Rights Investigations Over Pollution in “Cancer Alley”
Emily Kask/AFP/Getty Images This story was originally published by the Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has opened a series of civil rights investigations into state agencies in Louisiana to examine whether permits granted in the highly polluted industrial corridor, known locally as Cancer Alley, have violated Black citizens’…
Drought and Demand Is Threatening a Critical Component of the Western Grid
David McNew / Getty This story was originally published in High Country News and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Thirty-nine years ago, due to record-breaking snowfall in the Upper Colorado River Basin, Lake Powell rose substantially, catching river managers off-guard. By late June, the reservoir was nearly overflowing, forcing operators—for the first…
The White House Just Launched a Huge Conservation Initiative
Andrew Lichtenstein/Contributor/Getty This story was originally published by the HuffPost and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. The Biden administration has launched a $1 billion program to advance its goal of conserving 30% of the nation’s lands and waters by 2030. The program, called the America the Beautiful Challenge, will serve as a “one-stop-shop” for states, tribes, territories,…
Supreme Court’s Stealth Attack on the Clean Water Act Was Too Extreme for John Roberts
Chief Justice John Roberts with the associate justices of the Supreme Court.Brendan Smialowski/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images This story was originally published by Slate and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. This past Wednesday, the Supreme Court issued a 5–4 shadow docket order reviving a Trump-era ruling that radically limited the ability of states and tribes to restrict projects,…