Pension Funds Push Forward on Climate Goals Despite Backlash

Pension Funds Push Forward on Climate Goals Despite Backlash

In the past few months, some of the largest banks and asset managers in the United States have quit net zero networks, the climate groups that encourage their members to set ambitious carbon reduction targets and collaborate internationally on sustainability efforts. But the week after Donald J. Trump won re-election in November, NYCERS, a pension … Read more

How to Plan a Garden With Climate Change in Mind

How to Plan a Garden With Climate Change in Mind

The silent season is drawing to a close. All winter, there was little birdsong to lift my heart. The occasional caw of a crow, the chickadee-dee-dee of a chickadee, the big song of the little Carolina wren that now stays on our Pennsylvania farm all winter. But no courtship call of great horned owls, no … Read more

In Japan, an Iceless Lake and an Absent God Sound an Ancient Warning

In Japan, an Iceless Lake and an Absent God Sound an Ancient Warning

For at least six centuries, residents along a lake in the mountains of central Japan have marked the depth of winter by celebrating the return of a natural phenomenon once revered as the trail of a wandering god. It would only appear after days of frigid temperatures had frozen Lake Suwa into a sheet of … Read more

E.P.A. Offers a Way to Avoid Clean-Air Rules: Send an Email

E.P.A. Offers a Way to Avoid Clean-Air Rules: Send an Email

Last year, the Biden administration required coal- and oil-burning power plants to greatly reduce emissions of toxic chemicals including mercury, which can harm babies’ brains and cause heart disease in adults. Now, the Trump administration is offering companies an extraordinary out: Send an email, and they might be given permission by President Trump to bypass … Read more

Why These Islanders Hunt Dolphins

Why These Islanders Hunt Dolphins

The call of a conch shell roused the dolphin hunters from their beds. Under moonlight, the six men shuffled to the village church. There a priest led them in a whispered prayer, his voice barely audible over the sound of crashing waves; the tide was high that day. Saltwater pooled in parts of the village, … Read more

At This Clinic in Hawaii, Nature Is the Medicine

At This Clinic in Hawaii, Nature Is the Medicine

50 States, 50 Fixes The air is filled with birdsong, the land a tableau of soft greens and gentle light. This is Ho‘oulu ‘Āina, a 100-acre preserve with an unusual twist. Linked to a community health center, it is a place where patients come to heal the land, and themselves. As climate change accelerates and … Read more

As Trump’s Policies Worry Scientists, France and Others Put Out a Welcome Mat

As Trump’s Policies Worry Scientists, France and Others Put Out a Welcome Mat

Just hours after opening its new program for American researchers called Safe Place For Science in reaction to Trump administration policies, Aix Marseille University received its first application. Since then, the university in the south of France known for its science programs, has received about a dozen applications per day from what the school considers … Read more

Supreme Court Will Not Hear Appeal in ‘Juliana’ Climate Case

Supreme Court Will Not Hear Appeal in ‘Juliana’ Climate Case

The Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear an appeal in a landmark climate case brought by 21 young people against the federal government, ending its 10-year journey through the courts. But the case provided a blueprint for numerous other climate-related lawsuits that have had greater success. Juliana v. United States argued that the government … Read more

E.P.A. Investigations of Severe Pollution Look Increasingly at Risk

E.P.A. Investigations of Severe Pollution Look Increasingly at Risk

A refinery in New Mexico that the federal government has accused of some of the worst air pollution in the country. A chemical plant in Louisiana being investigated for leaking gas from storage tanks. Idaho ranchers accused of polluting wetlands. Under President Biden, the Environmental Protection Agency took a tough approach on environmental enforcement by … Read more