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. …
Read More »Europe Rules That Insufficient Climate Change Action Is a Human Rights Violation
Climate law experts are already calling it one of the most impactful rulings on human rights and climate change ever made. Today’s judgment, from the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), was read out in front of an eclectic gathering of concerned plaintiffs from around the continent. A group of …
Read More »These Women Came to Antarctica for Science. Then the Predators Emerged
Content warning: This article includes scenes of physical and sexual harassment and assault. The trouble in Antarctica started in Boston. It was August 1999, and Stanford geologist Jane Willenbring was then a 22-year-old self-described “country bumpkin.” She had just arrived to start her master’s in earth science at Boston University. …
Read More »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 …
Read More »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 …
Read More »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 …
Read More »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 …
Read More »Insurance Rates Are Soaring for US Homeowners in Climate Danger Zones
This story originally appeared on Inside Climate News and is part of the Climate Desk collaboration. For most of his life, Cory Infinger has lived down a hill and along a bend in the Little Wekiva River, a gentle stream meandering northwest of Orlando. During Hurricane Ian, in September 2022, …
Read More »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 …
Read More »The Designer Who’s Trying to Transform Your City Into a Sponge
Your city isn’t prepared for what’s coming. The classical method for dealing with stormwater is to get it out of town as quickly as possible, with gutters and sewers and canals. But more and more, that strategy is breaking down: As the atmosphere warms, it can hold more moisture, spawning …
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