climate emergency
Effects of climate change on farming, federal spending explored by U.S. Senate panel
WASHINGTON — U.S. senators on the Budget Committee dug into the impacts of climate change on farming during a Wednesday hearing, raising concerns about what the next few decades hold for food production and the way of life. But Republicans and representatives of farm groups pushed back against increased government regulation. Brent Johnson, president of […]
EPA again proposes power plant carbon rules
The Obama administration’s 2015 Clean Power Plan — intended to cut carbon emissions from power plants — was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court. The Trump administration’s much-criticized replacement, the Affordable Clean Energy rule, derided as a “tortured series of misreadings” of the U.S. Clean Air Act, was also tossed by a federal court. […]
Some states hope to move climate-threatened species, but others say no way
This story is Part Two of a two-part series about a federal proposal to relocate endangered species outside their historic ranges. See Part One: Federal wildlife managers and ecologists weigh the risks of action — and inaction — to rescue species from climate change. North Carolina might need to move a snail. A tiny mollusk […]
Climate change is destroying habitats. But relocating species could be tricky.
[This story is Part One of a two-part series first published by Stateline about a federal proposal to relocate endangered species outside their historic ranges. Look for Part Two, which examines how state wildlife officials have widely diverging reactions to the proposal (with special focus on North Carolina) tomorrow.] Nine years ago, a team of […]
Special report: Despite urgency of climate crisis, several states see a backlash to renewable energy
BUCYRUS, Ohio — In four terms as a county elected official in northern Ohio, it was the most contentious issue Doug Weisenauer had ever seen. The state legislature had newly empowered county governments to drastically restrict wind and solar power development, a process formerly overseen by the Ohio Power Siting Board, and the meetings of […]
Explain it to me like I’m 12: An analysis of the governor’s “Deep Carbonization Pathways Analysis”
North Carolina has strayed from its path to “net zero,” a crucial way to meet its climate change goals. The state needs a course correction, so last week Gov. Cooper released the “Deep Carbonization Pathways Analysis” — a 101-page, dense-as-a-flourless-cake guide to reaching the state’s 2050 benchmark. The background: Over the past five years, the […]
New U.S. House Natural Resources chair opposes limits on fossil fuel development
In an exclusive interview, Rep. Bruce Westerman discusses the Republican plan for addressing climate change The incoming chairman of the U.S. House Natural Resources Committee wants to allow more mining and believes technology — not limitations on fossil fuel production — is the best way to address climate change. As part of their organization of […]
A moment of hope and light in a dark and violent winter
January has been yet another warm month in North Carolina and across much of the rest of the nation. After a brief and sharp holiday week plunge, temperatures have consistently felt more like mid-March – or, at least, what mid-March used to feel like. And while a globally warm winter certainly has some temporary advantages – especially for people living on the street and those trying to cope with temporarily inflated home heating costs – it’s hard not to be struck with a profound sense of unease at the rapid change afflicting the Earth's biosphere.
New report: Utility CEO’s take home giant salaries, even as companies fumble transition to sustainable energy
Duke Energy chief Lynn Good is among the highest paid despite company’s inadequate work to tackle the climate emergency Most Americans are aware of just how obscenely inflated many CEO salaries have become, but a new report from Joe Smyth of the Energy and Policy Institute on the compensation packages provided to the CEO’s of […]
How Putin’s war and small islands are accelerating the global shift to clean energy, and what to watch for in 2023
The year 2022 was a tough one for the growing number of people living in food insecurity and energy poverty around the world, and the beginning of 2023 is looking bleak. Russia’s war on Ukraine, one of the world’s largest grain and fertilizer feedstock suppliers, tightened global food and energy supplies, which in turn helped […]
NC Treasurer puts politics ahead of humanity’s future
Can morality play a role in capitalism? Should it? Human society has, of course, wrestled with this dilemma for centuries. For some market fundamentalists on the ideological right, all morality – at least when it comes to the roles of investors and consumers – is to be found in profits and bargains.