House Democrats Spell Out Climate, Clean Energy Pr...

The net-zero-by-2050 roadmap calls for clean energy tax credits, transmission expansion and a more resilient grid. Democratic members of the U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee on the Climate Crisis on Tuesday unveiled a mammoth and wide-ranging policy plan to embed climate action and resilience within the country’s economy. The report — which sought to put racial and environmental justice at the center of its...

How to Get Off Fossil Fuels Quickly—and Fairly

When it comes to a just transition, it’s going to take a radical reimaging not only of our economy but also of our culture and the shape of our social structures. YES! co-hosted a conversation with experts from the nonprofit The Land Institute to discuss policy proposals and new ways to rebuild our sense of self and community from the bottom up. The discussion was prompted by a new book, The Green New Deal and Beyond, by...

3 Years and $3 Trillion Could Shift the Climate Ch...

A new report from the International Energy Agency details what it will take to lock in this year’s drop in emissions. Photographer: Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg Photographer: Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg Plummeting carbon emissions and big government spending—two of the defining narratives of 2020 so far—could create an unprecedented opportunity for the world to meet the goals enshrined in the 2015 Paris climate change...

Vatican Asks Catholics to Ditch Fossil Fuel Invest...

The Vatican urged Catholics to closely consider where they invest their money and to take a close look at the environmental impact of the companies they may be shareholders in, as Reuters reported. Pope Francis has frequently criticized wanton greed that has led to environmental degradation and a climate crisis that is uprooting the lives of the world’s most vulnerable and impoverished people. On Earth Day, the Pope...

Scientists’ warning on affluence

Abstract For over half a century, worldwide growth in affluence has continuously increased resource use and pollutant emissions far more rapidly than these have been reduced through better technology. The affluent citizens of the world are responsible for most environmental impacts and are central to any future prospect of retreating to safer environmental conditions. We summarise the evidence and present possible solution...

The energy job market is in trouble. Here’s ...

The coronavirus is inflicting a heavy toll on America: Over 100,000 dead, almost two million infected, and more than 40 million unemployed. Beating the virus is the top priority. But we also need to put people back to work as fast as safety allows. How we go about that now will determine our nation’s economic future for decades. To achieve lasting prosperity, we need to rebuild better by investing in jobs that restart the...

Promise of Cracker Plants Comes Up Short, Group Wa...

PITTSBURGH, Pa. – A group of economists and engineers from seven universities in Ohio and Pennsylvania, including John Russo, have published a letter sent to the governors of Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia warning that the projected impact of the petrochemical industry won’t be as great as initially thought. The letter follows a recent report by Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis stating the Royal...

Investors Want Companies to Disclose Environmental...

There’s a growing push from large investors in publicly traded companies to hold the companies accountable for the environmental impact of their practices. In the latest salvo, global companies worth more than $10 trillion are urging companies to disclose their environmental impact to investors, as Forbes reported. Activist campaigns have proven remarkably effective recently, as major investment firms...

If My House Were the World: The Renewable Energy T...

For the past two decades, my wife Janet and I have been trying to transition our home to a post-fossil-fuel future. I say “trying,” because the experiment is incomplete and only somewhat successful. It doesn’t offer an exact model for how the rest of the world might make the shift to renewable energy; nevertheless, there’s quite a bit that we’ve learned that could be illuminating for others as they contemplate what it will...

U.S. Ranks 24th in New Environmental Performance I...

President Trump‘s claim that the U.S. has the cleanest air and water in the world has been widely refuted by statistics showing harmful levels of pollution. Now, a new biannual ranking released by researchers at Yale and Columbia finds that the U.S. is nowhere near the top in environmental performance, according to The Guardian. Not only is the U.S. not in the top 10, it’s not in the top 20. It ranks 24th in the...

Trump Opens Marine Sanctuary to Commercial Fishing

In a move that environmentalists warned could further imperil hundreds of endangered species and a protected habitat for the sake of profit, President Donald Trump on Friday signed a proclamation rolling back an Obama-era order and opening nearly 5,000 square miles off the coast of New England to commercial fishing. “We’re opening it today,” Trump said during a roundtable talk in Maine with commercial...

‘Another Blow to the Black Community’:...

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday mandating federal agencies bypass key environmental reviews of energy and infrastructure projects. Trump said the rule was designed to stimulate the economy in response to the coronavirus pandemic, but critics say the move will disproportionately impact communities of color amidst ongoing national protests following the police murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor...

Clean Water Act Rollback: Trump’s EPA Limits...

The Trump administration has finalized a rule making it harder for states and tribal communities to block pipelines and other infrastructure projects that threaten waterways. The change concerns Section 401 of the Clean Water Act, which essentially gives states and tribes veto power over projects that would hurt their water quality, The Hill explained. The changes, announced by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)...

Corporations Don’t Have to Pay Pollution Fin...

Corporations that flouted environmental regulations and spewed pollutants into the air and dumped them into waterways will not be required to pay the fines they agreed to during the pandemic, according to The Guardian. The forbearance of payments totals $56 million from ten corporations for a variety of violations across the country, including polluting air and water in already vulnerable communities, like East Chicago,...

LESS THAN 10% OF ALL PLASTIC TRASH EVER PRODUCED H...

May 21, 2020 — Plastic. It’s not hard to see how anyone who is appalled at the despoliation of the environment could think that the world would be better without it. Nearly 10% of the world’s oil is used in making it. It has enabled the proliferation of cheap goods — cramming closets, landfills and otherwise-unspoiled places where it could remain for decades, if not centuries. Yet, because it’s so much lighter than the steel...