climate

The legal strategy young people are leveraging to address the climate crisis

5:19pm May 28, 2022

Youth-led climate lawsuits allege that state governments violated plaintiffs constitutional right to a clean environment. NPR's Michel Martin speaks with attorney Julia Olson about the strategy.

A worker carries used drink bottles and cans for recycling at a collection point in Brooklyn, New York. Three decades of recycling have so far failed to reduce what we throw away, especially plastics.

We never got good at recycling plastic. Some states are trying a new approach

1:32pm May 27, 2022

by Matthew Schuerman

New York is the latest, and largest, state to consider charging product-makers to dispose of their packaging. But lawmakers are clashing over how much to involve industry in creating a new system.

Black or brown hydrogen is extracted from coal. Gray hydrogen is made by heating natural gas. Both create carbon dioxide. Blue hydrogen captures about 90% of that carbon dioxide and stores it, usually underground. Green hydrogen uses renewable energy to s

Hydrogen may be a climate solution. There's debate over how clean it will truly be

10:18am May 27, 2022

by Reid Frazier

The federal government plans to build several hydrogen hubs around the country. The goal is to find a cleaner replacement for fossil fuels. But there are challenges in how hydrogen is produced.

Supreme Court decisions on abortion, gun control and religion likely to come soon

5:00pm May 26, 2022

by Nina Totenberg

Abortion, guns, climate change and religion are just four of the topics the Supreme Court has yet to deal with. Opinions in those cases will be released later this summer.

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National

A block in Massachusetts is the test site for ways to cool cities in the summer

4:48pm May 24, 2022

by Martha Bebinger

A single block in Chelsea, Mass., may offer a template for cities looking at what works — or doesn't — to cope with longer, hotter summers because of the warming climate.

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A sign reads "Danger Extreme Heat Conditions Ahead" in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, which is threatened by climate change, on March 23 near Borrego Springs, Calif.

Hot weather could be getting in the way of good sleep, a new study finds

5:26pm May 23, 2022

by Jaclyn Diaz

Scientists analyzed the correlation between sleep activity and hot nighttime temperatures. A lack of sleep is a risk factor for physical and mental health problems.

Unusually high temperatures in the South and Northeast U.S. on Saturday broke records marked on the same day in prior years.

National

Large swaths of the U.S. set daily temperature records

8:26pm May 22, 2022

by Emma Bowman

Many cities throughout the country, including in Massachusetts and Virginia, set new daily heat records on Saturday and Sunday.

This satellite image shows the active fire lines of the Hermits Peak wildfire, in Las Vegas on May 11, 2022.

US forest chief calls for a pause on prescribed fire operations

7:49pm May 20, 2022

by The Associated Press

The U.S. Forest Service has been facing much criticism for the prescribed fire in New Mexico that escaped its containment lines and joined with another blaze.

Ermias Kebreab speaks at Session 4 at TED Countdown Summit on October 14, 2021. TED Countdown Summit. October 12-15, 2021, Edinburgh, Scotland. Photo: Ryan Lash / TED

Environment

Ermias Kebreab: What do seaweed and cow burps have to do with climate change?

9:37am May 20, 2022

Each year, one cow can belch 220 pounds of the greenhouse gas methane. Animal scientist Ermias Kebreab experimented with alternative cow diets and found a surprising solution: seaweed.

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National

Much of the U.S. could see power blackouts this summer, a grid assessment reveals

7:34am May 20, 2022

by Laura Benshoff

A grid reliability report says power outages are likely in parts of the Midwest, California and Texas. The Western drought and a mismatch between supply and peak summer demand are some reasons why.

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