Climate

Cities are trying to understand how concrete stores heat — with interesting results

5:58pm January 15, 2024

by Britney Cordera

More cities are trying to understand how heat gets stored in concrete and how that impacts temperatures. They're doing this through mapping the urban heat island and finding interesting results.

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A view of the plume of gas lighted up by the lava from the erupting volcano seen from Suðurstrandavegur, the road that leads to Grindavík, Iceland, on Sunday.

World News

An Icelandic town is evacuated after a volcanic eruption sends lava into nearby homes

12:18pm January 15, 2024

by Joe Hernandez

The Icelandic Meteorological Office said the eruption began just before 8:00 a.m. local time Sunday about a half mile from the town of Grindavík after a series of intense earthquakes.

The clothing company Aether's retail store in San Francisco, part of the city's Proxy development, is made out of three shipping containers.

Shipping container buildings may be cool — but they're not always green

5:00am January 15, 2024

by Chloe Veltman

Shipping containers may seem like a sustainable construction material, but are they actually eco-friendly? Many people don't want a heavily-used container — and the energy bills are through the roof.

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John Kerry, President Biden's climate envoy, delivers a speech during the U.N. climate summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt on Nov. 15, 2022. Kerry is planning to leave his role.

John Kerry to step down after 3 years as Biden's top climate diplomat

10:06pm January 13, 2024

John Kerry, who has led the Biden administration's international climate efforts, is leaving his role. He's been central to Biden's efforts to establish the U.S. as an international climate leader.

A flare burns natural gas at an oil well on Aug. 26, 2021, in Watford City, N.D. Oil and natural gas companies would have to pay a fee for methane emissions that exceed certain levels under a new rule proposed by the Biden administration.

EPA proposes a fee aimed at reducing climate-warming methane emissions

5:09pm January 12, 2024

by The Associated Press

The new fee is intended to encourage the oil and gas industry to lower emissions of methane and thereby avoid paying.

The James H. Miller Jr. Electric Generating Plant in Adamsville, Alabama is a coal-fired facility. In 2023 U.S. greenhouse gas emissions declined 1.9% because less of the country's electricity came from plants like this one.

U.S. cut climate pollution in 2023, but not fast enough to limit global warming

5:00am January 10, 2024

by Jeff Brady

Climate-warming greenhouse gasses in the U.S. declined 1.9% last year, but that's only a third of what's needed to meet Paris climate change goals.

2023 was the hottest year on record – by a large margin

4:43pm January 09, 2024

by Rebecca Hersher

2023 was the hottest year on record by a significant margin, according to official European Union temperature data.

Sharifa Tomlinson runs Arrowrock Farm in Riverside, Ohio, where she sells her chickens to a U.S. Agriculture Department-funded program that processes them for food banks. She wants to help other Black farmers tap into the department's programs.

National

Can $3 billion persuade Black farmers to trust the Department of Agriculture?

5:30am January 08, 2024

by Amy Mayer

The Biden administration hopes changes to farming can help achieve its climate agenda. The Department of Agriculture has an additional goal: improving service to Black and other underserved farmers.

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Has there been a change in frequency in earthquakes and volcanic eruptions?

5:07am January 08, 2024

While earthquakes and volcanic activity around the world may have been in the news a lot over the past year, there's no real increase. The number of climate disasters, however, is rising.

Environment

Biden administration moves to protect forests with older trees from logging

8:10am January 07, 2024

by Ayesha Rascoe

NPR's Ayesha Rascoe speaks with Meg Krawchuk of Oregon State University about the Biden administration's proposal to protect old growth forests. Old trees contain more carbon than younger trees.