Texas Signed off on the Restoration of This Old Coal Mine. Now a Leaky Landfill Is Contaminating Groundwater.
Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas Tribune This story was originally published by Grist and The Texas Tribune and appears here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. It seems like everyone in Rockdale is talking about Sandow Lakes Ranch. That’s because so many residents of this old mining hub in Central Texas believe that the fate of the…
Should There Be a Public Takeover of PG&E?
In an interview with HuffPost, the Silicon Valley progressive accused the power company of prioritizing high executive salaries and payouts to investors over infrastructure upgrades needed to operate safely in a hotter, drier climate. “The for-profit motive does not work,” Khanna said by phone Wednesday. “The public utility is a much better option because you’re…
After Getting Whaled on by Environmentalists, the Trump Administration Is Helping a Vulnerable Sea Mammal
ANDREYGUDKOV/Getty The Trump administration isn’t exactly heralded as a friend to nature’s creatures. It has, after all, rolled back Endangered Species Act protections, shrunk national monuments, and proposed opening the United States’ largest national forest up to logging and construction. But earlier this month, the administration announced it plans to designate more than 300,000 square…
The Answer to Climate-Killing Cow Farts May Come From the Sea
Cristina Byvik One day in January 2014, police rushed to a farm in Rasdorf, Germany, after flames burst from a barn. They soon discovered that static electricity had caused entrapped methane from the flatulence and manure of 90 dairy cows to explode. Headline writers had a field day. But the incident pointed to a serious…
Amazon Watch: What Happens When the Forest Disappears?
A car drives along a section under construction of the Trans-Amazonian highway (BR230) near Ruropolis, Para state, Brazil.Nelson Almeida/Getty This story was originally published by Yale Environment 360. It appears here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. The contrast is staggering. On one side of a narrow track is cool, moist rainforest, stretching northwest for hundreds of…
How to See Fall Colors Without a Car
The fall tree colors on Max Patch, a bald mountain located along the Appalachian Trail in North Carolina.George Rose/Getty This story was originally published by CityLab and appears here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Amid farm fields in upstate New York is a wooden platform that serves as the Appalachian Trail’s very own train station. It…