A Judge Just Blocked South Dakota’s “Riot-Boosting” Law, But Anti-Protest Measures Keep Spreading
Greenpeace activists hang from a bridge to block oil traffic in Houston. The protesters were the first to be charged under Texas’ new “critical infrastructure” law.Greenpeace A judge on Wednesday issued a preliminary injunction to block enforcement of South Dakota’s new “riot-boosting” law, which passed earlier this year to deter pipeline protests. The law threatens…
The Trump Administration Will Prevent California From Setting Its Own Fuel Efficiency Standards
Jim Lo Scalzo-Pool/Getty The Trump administration is expected to announce on Wednesday that it will strip California from having any legal authority to require stricter tailpipe pollution standards than the federal government, the New York Times reported Tuesday. The Times reports: The formal revocation of California’s authority to set its own rules on tailpipe pollution—the…
How a Revolution in Climate Science Is Putting Big Oil Back on Trial
A man in the Bahamas searches through rubble after Hurricane Dorian.Ramon Espinosa, AP The outer banks of the Carolinas and the Bahamas are picking up the pieces after the battering from Hurricane Dorian—the first direct hit of this year’s extreme weather season. Already the damages for 2019 are well above the 40-year average for billion-dollar events,…
We Know There’s Lots of Plastic in the Ocean. Why Can’t We Find It?
Sebnem Coskun/Anadolu Agency/Getty This story was originally published by Wired and appears here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Humans unleash mountains of plastic into the sea each year, and that rate is only accelerating as plastic production grows around the world. The confounding bit is that scientists know little about where all that plastic is ending up—in…
There Is an Important Climate Solution Democrats Never Talk About. But Why?
What’s with the silence? It might be that they simply aren’t aware of the technology, which is still in its infancy—or they might simply prefer tried-and-true methods like tree planting and regenerative agriculture (which are also important). It’s also possible the candidates are hesitant to support negative emissions technologies because they are frequently linked to more…
The Democrats Are Ignoring a Climate Refugee Crisis That’s Happening Right Now
Last weekend, at least 119 Bahamians fleeing the destruction left by Hurricane Dorian were forced off a ferry headed for the east coast of Florida because they lacked visas. This came despite visa-free travel between the United States and the Bahamas, a trip so common some make it without even needing passports. On Monday, President…