Tag Archives: climate-change

Toronto Wants to Manage Storms and Floods—With a Rain Tax

This story originally appeared on Canada’s National Observer and is part of the Climate Desk collaboration. A plan to charge Toronto homeowners and businesses for paved surfaces on their properties is creating a public backlash, a deluge of negative international media attention, and even derisive comments from Donald Trump Jr. …

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One Couple's Quest to Ditch Natural Gas

This story originally appeared on Grist. It was produced by Grist and originally copublished with the Guardian. It's republished here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. My wife and I live in a green, two-story colonial at the end of a cul-de-sac in Burlington, Vermont. Each spring, the front …

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The Next Heat Pump Frontier? NYC Apartment Windows

Future generations will marvel at the ridiculous ways we’ve been keeping warm. With a furnace, you’re inefficiently burning toxic, planet-warming gas. In a big city like New York, your building might have a boiler that burns oil or gas to heat water or produce steam, which feeds wheezing radiators in …

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Enjoy Your Favorite Wine Before Climate Change Destroys It

Unless you’ve got a cellar stockpiled to last you the rest of your life, climate change is probably coming for your favorite wine. Temperature fluctuations during the growing season create the flavors, alcohol content, and even color of your preferred fermented grape juice—producing a beautiful ballet in a bottle. So …

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The US Is About to Drown in a Sea of Kittens

This story originally appeared on Grist and is part of the Climate Desk collaboration. It’s almost that magical time of year that the Humane Society of America likens to a “natural disaster.” Kitten season. “The level of emotions for months on end is so draining,” said Ann Dunn, director of …

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The Global Danger of Boring Buildings

Thomas Heatherwick is on a mission. The world’s architects and city planners need to be driven to stop filling cities with dull buildings, the designer and founder of Heatherwick Studio believes. The health of the planet—and its population—may be at stake. If planners keep sanctioning buildings that nobody loves, then …

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