Trump to City: Mop Dead
A maintenance worker mops the lobby of Trump Tower in 2016.Bryan R. Smith/Getty Images Yesterday, President Donald Trump tweeted his take on a proposal to build a barrier to protect his hometown from storm surges like the one that killed 44 people and caused $19 billion in damage and economic losses during Hurricane Sandy in…
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…
Australia’s Nightmare Fires Are on Track to Spew an Entire Year’s Worth of the Country’s Emissions
Sam Mooy/Getty The bushfires raging for months across Australia have devastated communities and wildlife, but they pose another major but less visible threat—this one to the global fight against climate change. While the fires are made worse by climate change, they’re actually part of a disruptive and dangerous cycle: As trees and brush burn, they’re also…