comic warning about ignoring science

Good news! A huge THANK YOU to all our donors. We're full-steam ahead.

Our mid-summer campaign raised $12,000, exceeding our goals and powering us into a strong finish to 2020

We normally reserve this space for noteworthy environmental news. But I need time for a heartfelt "thank you."


Last week we concluded our annual mid-summer appeal. Thanks to readers like you, we exceeded our fundraising goal, raising more than $12,000.

More than 170 readers like you gave, in amounts ranging from $5 to $1,000. Given the uncertainties swirling around us all these days, we're honored by the stability your gifts bring, and – more importantly – the support it shows. We promise to use this money efficiently. We've got some exciting programs in the pipeline for the fall. Here's how we'll be investing that money:

  • We just wrapped up our summer internship program. Two bright, promising early career journalists joined us from MIT's Graduate Program in Science Writing: Lucy Jakub and Kate Petersen. They wrote with passion, urgency and knowledge about ocean conservation, clean energy, and plastic pollution. Thanks to you, we can now afford a fall intern. We are looking forward to welcoming Hannah Seo of NYU's Science, Health and Environment Reporting Program in a few weeks.
  • We're excited to continue our acclaimed series, Agents of Change, which gives early-career scientists from historically under-represented backgrounds a platform to write boldly about their work. We concluded the first cohort this summer and will launch the second class later this year. Stay tuned!
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A man wearing a red shirt that appears to be wet

Clothes that cool you, warm you — and make power as you move

In a bid to cool people, not rooms, engineers made a printable fabric that turns body motion into electrical signals that switch on cooling and heating when you need it.
Methane cycle diagram, burning fossil fuels, landfills, plant decay in wetlands, melting permafrost, digestive processes in termites and animals.
Credit: VectorMine/BigStock Photo ID: 346141099

Gas from thawing Arctic permafrost is changing world's climate future

Scientists warn that thawing permafrost in the Arctic is releasing large amounts of methane and carbon dioxide, adding to global warming.
A Chevron gas pump showing a sale of $128.36 for 18.606 gallons
Credit: Jim Germond, EHS

The true cost of Trump's fuel economy rollbacks

Weakened US fuel-efficiency rules and promises of cheaper cars could yet see drivers pay higher running costs while increasing planet-heating emissions.
Black and white cows with manure digester for production of biogas in background.
Credit: CreativeNaturePhotography/BigStock Photo ID: 146327492

California illegally spurred “gold rush in cow manure,” lawsuit alleges

California regulators broke state environmental laws by allowing polluters to buy clean fuel credits from large farms that are extracting gas from manure, a policy that harms poor communities and perverts the state’s clean air program, four advocacy groups allege in a lawsuit.
Rural landscape showing farm with solar photo voltaic panels system on a barn roof.
Credit: Bilanola/BigStock Photo ID: 314404684

The USDA just made it way harder for farmers to get grants for solar

Even farmers who were already promised funds from the REAP program may never get them under the Trump admin’s new restrictions. Some are suing.
A view of rows of rice plants in a field

‘Thrilling’: Dutch cattle farmers switch to rice as solution to warmer climate and sinking peatlands

Dutch cattle farming dries out peatland and releases CO2. Is switching to Japanese rice-growing a solution?
A view of a glacier retreating from a rocky landscape

‘Explosion of melt rates’: 20% of Swiss glaciers lost in five years

Switzerland has lost almost one-fifth of its ice in just five years, research has found, in a dramatic reshaping of the Alpine country whose big white glaciers have been reduced to moonlike rock deserts, scientists say.

From our Newsroom
Multiple Houston-area oil and gas facilities that have violated pollution laws are seeking permit renewals

Multiple Houston-area oil and gas facilities that have violated pollution laws are seeking permit renewals

One facility has emitted cancer-causing chemicals into waterways at levels up to 520% higher than legal limits.

Regulators are underestimating health impacts from air pollution: Study

Regulators are underestimating health impacts from air pollution: Study

"The reality is, we are not exposed to one chemical at a time.”

Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro speaks with the state flag and American flag behind him.

Two years into his term, has Gov. Shapiro kept his promises to regulate Pennsylvania’s fracking industry?

A new report assesses the administration’s progress and makes new recommendations

silhouette of people holding hands by a lake at sunset

An open letter from EPA staff to the American public

“We cannot stand by and allow this to happen. We need to hold this administration accountable.”

wildfire retardants being sprayed by plane

New evidence links heavy metal pollution with wildfire retardants

“The chemical black box” that blankets wildfire-impacted areas is increasingly under scrutiny.

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