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!
  • And we're passionate about continuing to deliver top quality news to your inbox. Every edition of our daily newsletters, Above the Fold and The Daily Climate, takes upwards of 12 hours of staff and researcher time as we hunt down articles and vet them for relevance and urgency. Your donations allow us to deliver this free of charge to inboxes worldwide.

If you haven't donated yet, you can still help by giving today here at our Network For Good donation page. A modest monthly donation – $11 or $21 per month – helps keep this a vibrant space for science and science news, where we can give voice to researchers and help marshal and push promising science into public discussion and policy.

And if you're not yet a subscriber, try our daily newsletter, The Daily Climate. You can sign up here.

We also have a host of topical weekly newsletters, on everything from plastic pollution to population. You can peruse the whole list here.

And, finally, if you are a reader and a donor, a HUGE THANK YOU for staying engaged. You're pushing us all forward.

UN plastics treaty
Credit: UNEP

Opinion: UN plastics treaty should prioritize health and climate change

Delegates should push for a treaty that takes a full-lifecycle approach to plastic pollution.

As parties to the United Nations Environment Assembly gather this week in Paris to negotiate a first-ever Global Plastic Treaty, they have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to prevent public heath crises and mitigate climate change.

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Senator Whitehouse puts climate change on budget committee’s agenda

For more than a decade, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse gave daily warnings about the mounting threat of climate change. Now he has a powerful new perch.
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Is kelp the next ocean hero? Only if we can protect it

New research shows we’ve long underestimated the environmental benefits from kelp forests. Now these important ecosystems are threatened.
mountain valley pipeline energy climate
Photo by Mike Benna on Unsplash

Mountain Valley pipeline poised for completion

The contested Mountain Valley pipeline now has a clear path to completion, but its pending boost from Congress has sparked a new round of debate over President Joe Biden’s energy and climate agenda.

iowa farm politics water
Image by David Mark from Pixabay

In Iowa, a tale of politics, power, and contaminated water

Here in the heart of US farm country, the wretched quality of Iowa waterways is a well-known lament.

The little-known, massive advantage that renewables hold over coal

There are many good reasons to burn less coal: It’s polluting, expensive, damaging to human health, and emits more carbon pollution than any other form of electricity. But an oft-overlooked factor is that burning fuel to generate electricity is astonishingly inefficient.

millet farming food climate
Image by Bishnu Sarangi from Pixabay

As Farmers Face a Warmer Future, an Ancient Grain Shows Promise

The Midwest is known for its rows and rows of corn and soybeans that uniformly cover the landscape. But in central Missouri, farmer Linus Rothermich disrupts the usual corn and soybean rotation with Japanese millet. He has been growing it since 1993.

mount everest climate deaths
Image by David Mark from Pixabay

Climate change to blame for up to 17 deaths on Mount Everest, experts say

Experts say this is likely to be one of the deadliest years on record on Mount Everest, with variable weather caused by climate change being blamed as one of the main reasons for the deaths of up to 17 people.

From our Newsroom
halliburton fracking

How the “Halliburton Loophole” lets fracking companies pollute water with no oversight

Fracking companies used 282 million pounds of hazardous chemicals that should have been regulated by the Safe Drinking Water Act from 2014 to 2021.

President Joe Biden climate change

Op-ed: Biden’s Arctic drilling go-ahead illustrates the limits of democratic problem solving

President Biden continues to deploy conventional tactics against the highly unconventional threat of climate change.

oil and gas wells pollution

What happens if the largest owner of oil and gas wells in the US goes bankrupt?

Diversified Energy’s liabilities exceed its assets, according to a new report, sparking concerns about whether taxpayers will wind up paying to plug its 70,000 wells.

Paul Ehrlich

Paul Ehrlich: A journey through science and politics

In his new book, the famous scientist reflects on an unparalleled career on our fascinating, ever-changing planet.

oil and gas california environmental justice

Will California’s new oil and gas laws protect people from toxic pollution?

California will soon have the largest oil drilling setbacks in the U.S. Experts say other states can learn from this move.

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