President Donald Trump has recently floated the idea of scrapping the federal agency aimed at helping people through disasters like hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes and floods. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) brings in emergency personnel, supplies and equipment to stricken areas and works to ensure Americans are prepared for emergencies.  Some states have been unable ..read more

RICHMOND, Va.—Last month, a couple of weeks before the end of the regular legislative session, Virginia lawmakers killed a bill to reform the state’s process approving utility-scale solar projects despite achieving some rare support from both the environmental and agricultural communities. Continued concern from localities over a loss of control won out. The bill would ..read more

Hannah Smith-Brubaker runs a farmer-led nonprofit that, for over 30 years, has focused on teaching climate-resilient agricultural practices across the Northeast.  Since 2023, Smith-Brubaker has expanded from hosting 50 educational workshops and a regional conference every year to providing direct financial and technical assistance to farmers seeking on-the-ground change. Her organization, Pasa Sustainable Agriculture, has ..read more

On a sweltering August morning in 1988, Cesar Chavez ended a 36-day water-only fast to protest high rates of cancer and birth defects among California grape workers and their children, which he blamed on the profusion of pesticides in the fields, water and air around farming towns.  Thirty-seven years later, state regulators launched the nation’s ..read more

The National Weather Service is reducing the number of weather balloons it launches across the country, an early tangible decrease in services offered in the wake of cuts by the Trump administration.  The NWS, part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, announced last week that it was halting or reducing weather balloon operations at ..read more

Wetlands and ephemeral streams provide a wide variety of benefits to people and wildlife, from flood protection for local communities, to preventing pollutants from entering the water supply, to breeding grounds for endangered bird species. Wetlands can also act as carbon sinks, sequestering carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.  Since the 18th century, the United States ..read more

During the summer of 2023, Matthew Schneider-Mayerson and a team of fellow researchers binge-watched 250 of the most-rated movies from the past decade—purely for research purposes.  The group was primarily keeping an eye out for one thing: Is climate change mentioned? In most cases, the answer is no.  Only 13 percent of the films had ..read more

In 2019, Carola Rackete faced serious jail time. She had just rescued dozens of migrants in dire condition off the coast of Libya. Defying the Italian government, Rackete docked her ship in Lampedusa to save the lives of those on board.  Today, Rackete, a 36-year-old German citizen, is one of the newest members of the ..read more

How Chicago’s Little Village became a hotspot for environmental racism and the fight for equal access to health The Trump administration’s efforts to block funding and enforcement for environmental justice threaten hard-won progress to reduce toxic pollution in overburdened places. In many communities, residents have worked for decades to improve health through better air, water ..read more

Amid funding cuts for environmental initiatives on a federal level and attacks on abortion access at the state level, experts are seeing the effects of a correlation between reproductive care and climate change impacts.  Although scientists have studied the effects of extreme heat and pollution on fetal and maternal health for years, recent legislative action ..read more