LG Fuel Cell Systems quitting Ohio after receiving...

NORTH CANTON, Ohio — LG Fuel Cell Systems is shutting the doors on its Fuel Cell Prototyping Center, laying off about 70 employees and unilaterally ending a 12-year relationship with the state of Ohio and Stark State College. The state spent $4.7 million to build the lab on the Stark State campus in 2006 for Rolls-Royce Fuel Cell Systems and SOFCo-EFS Holdings, a small Ohio company that had developed a fuel-cell and...

Ohio could generate 20,000 jobs with better energy...

The changing transportation industry could bring major jobs and investment to Ohio if the state has an energy policy in place to promote it, says a coalition of business leaders and industry. A new Powering Ohio report from Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Synapse Energy Economics and Case Western Reserve University’s Great Lakes Energy Institute found new energy technologies could lead to $25 billion in new investment in Ohio...

Green Energy Tide Sweeps Rural America Despite Pus...

The Trump administration may be denying that humans contribute to climate change. But the marketplace is fully accepting such scientific findings. It’s true even in Trump country — or the midwestern United States — that is placing its bets with renewable energy. The president’s skepticism of manmade global warming coincides with his support of fossil fuels — that they have comprised the preponderance of energy use and that...

‘Conceivably the Worst’: Groups, Lawma...

Bernard McNamee, a climate change denier who helped write the Trump administration’s failed coal and nuclear bailout plan, was confirmed Thursday as a commissioner on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). The Senate approved the nominee on a straight party-line vote of 50-49 after Sen. Joe Manchin, the pro-coal Democrat of West Virginia, withdrew his support due to his concerns about McNamee’s stance...

Greenland’s ice sheet is melting at its fastest ra...

The ice that sits atop Greenland spans an area more than three times the size of Texas and almost two miles deep at its thickest. If this frigid white expanse ridged with crystal blue rivers of meltwater were to thaw completely, it would raise global sea levels by more than 20 feet. Which is why it’s alarming that scientists are reporting this week that this sheet of ice is thawing, and doing so at an accelerating rate not...

Thousands of Australian Students Strike Over Clima...

Thousands of Australian students defied their country’s Prime Minister Friday when they walked out of school to protest insufficient government action on climate change. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison had criticized the planned School Strike 4 Climate Action protests on Monday. “Each day I send my kids to school and I know other members’ kids should also go to school but we do not support our...

‘A kind of dark realism’: Why the climate change p...

Smoke and steam billow from Belchatow Power Station, Europe’s largest coal-fired power plant, operated by PGE Group, on Wednesday near Belchatow, Poland. (Kacper Pempel/Reuters) In the daunting math of climate action, individual choices and government policies aren’t adding up. Solar panels are being nailed to rooftops, colossal wind turbines bestride the plains and oceans, and a million electric vehicles are on U.S....

15-year-old climate activist to world leaders: ‘No...

  As U.N. climate conference kicks off in Poland, youth around the world demand urgent action. Swedish 15-years-old Greta Thunberg decided to go on school strike every Friday at the parliament to get politicians to act on climate chance following Swedens hottest summer ever. (Credit: JONATHAN NACKSTRAND/AFP/Getty Images) Around the world, more and more young people are standing up to call for immediate action on climate...

Climate change impacts report presents risks, oppo...

Clean energy advocates hope the increased threats highlighted in the federal report will push the state to embrace climate action. Clean energy advocates say last month’s federal report on climate change underscores the need for action in Ohio, which faces increased risks from flooding, heat and pollution, according to the report. “There is dire certainty if we do not act on climate: loss of clean energy investment to other...

The Anthropocene—Coming Soon to a Theater (and Mus...

Three artists have created an entire body of work to get to the heart of the ineffable human epoch. “Log Booms #1”. Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, 2016 © Edward Burtynsky, courtesy Howard Greenberg and Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery, New York / Nicholas Metivier Gallery, Toronto Anthropocene is a clunky word for an even more unwieldy concept. But props to the Merriam-Webster team who have given us a dictionary...

Why people become vegans: The history, sex and sci...

At the age of 14, a young Donald Watson watched as a terrified pig was slaughtered on his family farm. In the British boy’s eyes, the screaming pig was being murdered. Watson stopped eating meat and eventually gave up dairy as well. Later, as an adult in 1944, Watson realized that other people shared his interest in a plant-only diet. And thus veganism – a term he coined – was born. Flash-forward to today, and Watson’s...

Using Trump Tax Cut for Good: Patagonia Donates $1...

Outdoor retailer Patagonia is giving away the $10 million it made as the result of the “irresponsible” Republican tax cut. “Based on last year’s irresponsible tax cut, Patagonia will owe less in taxes this year—$10 million less, in fact. Instead of putting the money back into our business, we’re responding by putting $10 million back into the planet. Our home planet needs it more than we...

Even Republicans at odds with Trump’s climat...

But many people still don’t agree with the consensus science that shows humans are the dominant cause of climate change Americans, including Republicans, are becoming more convinced that climate change is causing extreme weather and sea-level rise, according to a new poll from Monmouth University. Nearly two-thirds of Republicans, 64%, now think climate change is happening, compared to 49% three years ago. And more of the...

Scared about climate change? Read these encouragin...

Four writers explain why they’re not giving up. Know anybody out there who might need some encouraging words, a little realistic help bucking up in the face of scary prospects involving the climate and … whatever? Here are four good short pieces to help us all stay upbeat. Start with Rebecca Solnit, whose reminders that the future is unknowable and that good things do happen are always bracing: “I don’t know exactly if...

Weakening methane standards will hurt SE Ohioans

In mid-November, I traveled to Colorado to give testimony to the federal EPA regarding the rollback of methane standards that are vital to our community. I work for the Ohio Environmental Council as their southeast Ohio regional director, but I testified to amplify my own voice, as well as the voice of my neighbors as someone directly affected by methane pollution. Our region is at the epicenter of the Utica Shale deposit...