As residents of Louisiana this week struggle to recover from "one of the worst floods in modern history," there is a chance that federal aid may not be so forthcoming thanks to a trio of Bayou State Republicans, who back in 2013 voted against helping victims of another storm: Sandy. House majority whip Rep. Steve Scalise, Rep. John Fleming, and Sen. Bill Cassidy all cast their votes against the [...]

It's no secret that we have trashed, poisoned, and warmed oceans at an unprecedented rate via human-caused climate change and pollution.It seems that oceans may be paying us back in kind, according to a new study that found levels of bacteria responsible for life-threatening illnesses spiking in the North Atlantic region. [...]

Tarzan would feel right at home in these conceptual houses that blend into the forest. If you live or work in a city, chances are your view doesn’t contain much green. There may be a few trees lining the streets, but it’s nothing like architect Raimond de Hullu’s vision for urban development. In his mind, buildings and streets should look like something out of Life After People — only w [...]

Turning their backs on climate science and the consensus of governments and civil society across the globe, the world's biggest banks are dangerously advancing the climate crisis by pumping hundreds of billions of dollars into the world's most polluting fossil fuel industries, according to a new report published Tuesday. [...]

Germany, the fourth-largest economy in the world and a leader in renewable energy, produced so much energy this weekend from its solar, wind, hydro, and biomass plants that power prices went into negative territory for several hours. Consumers were being paid to use energy. [...]

Small things can make all the difference, but so can $3.32 trillion – the amount required by the American Society of Civil Engineers to rectify the US’ major infrastructure weaknesses. Even worse, ignoring the problem will only make it more expensive. The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) has released a study and an estimate revealing how expensive and expansive the crumbling infr [...]

Order sanctioning citizen direct action called "one of the boldest moves to stop the natural gas industry's attacks on our communities, climate and democracy." For one community attempting to stop fracking wastewater injection wells, civil disobedience just became a sanctioned civic right. [...]

Fracking is causing more disruptions than just earthquakes in West Virginia, according to a new study. The chemicals in leaked wastewater created from hydraulic fracturing is causing negative health effects there ‒ specifically when it comes to fertility. [...]

The oil spill that shut down a portion of the Keystone 1 pipeline in South Dakota last weekend is much bigger than initially estimated, TransCanada admitted on Thursday—almost 100 times bigger, in fact.The fossil fuel company said the "potential volume" of the spill in Freeman, discovered by a passerby on Saturday, was about 18,600 gallons, or 400 barrels. [...]

As the world's media attention is currently fixed on the conflict in Syria, and to a lesser extent Ukraine, there has been an ongoing economic conflict occurring against Russia. Economic sanctions against Russia have turned out to be a double edged sword, hurting European exporters and manufacturers as much as Russian importers and consumers. [...]

The Copenhagen City Council on Tuesday is expected to approve a vote to divest the city's investment fund, worth 6.9 billion kroner, or roughly $1 billion USD, from all its fossil fuels holdings. If the vote passes, the Danish capital will sell off its stocks and bonds in coal, oil, and gas in its continued effort to become "the world’s first CO2-neutral capital by 2025," Mayor Frank Jensen told [...]

While the dangers of a power system based on the burning of fossil fuels are increasingly apparent, a new report on Monday argues that a rapid, affordable energy transformation is, in fact, within our grasp. Within 15 years, the United States could slash greenhouse gas emissions from power production by nearly 80 percent below 1990 levels without increasing cost and, at the same time, meeting i [...]

The final tally is in: 2015 was the hottest year in recorded history—by a record-breaking margin. On Wednesday, NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced the official record for last year's runaway temperatures, which by NOAA's calculation hit an average of 58.62 degrees Fahrenheit (14.79 degrees Celsius). [...]

There's no question about it. A new epoch—the Anthropocene—has begun.  So says an international group of geoscientists, in a paper published Friday in the journal Science. They point to waste disposal, fossil fuel combustion, increased fertilizer use, the testing and dropping of nuclear weapons, deforestation, and more as evidence that human activity has pushed the Earth into the new age that [...]

A few months ago, entrepreneur Charles Devenish contacted me to tell me about his plans to develop various mining enterprises across India. He spoke about the massive amounts of untapped mineral resources lying beneath India that is just lying there and has been for a long time. [...]

The charade of the 21st United Nations climate summit will end, as past climate summits have ended, with lofty rhetoric and ineffectual cosmetic reforms. Since the first summit more than 20 years ago, carbon dioxide emissions have soared. Placing faith in our political and economic elites, who have mastered the arts of duplicity and propaganda on behalf of corporate power, is the triumph of h [...]

The global talks known as COP21 ended Saturday with nearly 200 countries agreeing to a carbon emissions-slashing deal (pdf).  But climate campaigners are saying that the agreement doesn't go far enough, and that the real work is just beginning. [...]

Watchdog groups are sounding the alarm after two of the oldest and largest corporations in the United States—DuPont and Dow Chemical—announced Friday plans to merge into a $130 billion giant, thereby establishing the world's biggest seed and pesticide conglomerate. The new behemoth, named DowDuPont, would then be split into "three independent, publicly traded companies through tax-free spin [...]

Days before this talk, journalist Naomi Klein was on a boat in the Gulf of Mexico, looking at the catastrophic results of BP's risky pursuit of oil. Our societies have become addicted to extreme risk in finding new energy, new financial instruments and more ... and too often, we're left to clean up a mess afterward. Klein's question: What's the backup plan? In her latest work, Naomi Kle [...]

Oakland California is suing Monsanto for contaminating the city’s storm water with toxic polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB), threatening the region's ecosystem. “Agrochemical giant Monsanto knowingly contaminated Oakland’s storm water and the San Francisco Bay with a highly toxic chemical for decades, a new lawsuit filed by the California city claims. Oakland wants the company to pay for the [...]

Revoking Enlist Duo approval, agency sides with green groups and pulls brake on 'lethal cocktail of chemicals' Citing "new information" on the herbicide's environmental toxicity, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Wednesday announced it will revoke its controversial approval of Dow's Enlist Duo after determining that its combination of chemicals may be significantly more harmful [...]

As the world gets hotter, climate activists are turning up the heat on ExxonMobil, the big oil giant they say bears responsibility not only for the ever-worsening climate crisis, but for perpetuating the "most consequential lie in human history." Amid a growing push for the corporation to be held accountable for its climate crimes, a coalition of activists was in Washington, D.C. on Thursday t [...]