environmental-health
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Cities are quietly outpacing nations in climate progress
Cities worldwide are cutting emissions, greening streets, and adapting to climate threats faster than national governments, according to a new international report.
In short:
- A report from the Global Covenant of Mayors and C40 shows 75% of major cities in the network are reducing per capita emissions more quickly than their national governments, with an average drop of 7.5% from 2015 to 2024.
- Urban leaders are responding directly to rising local impacts of climate change — heat, flooding, and sea-level rise — by planting trees, electrifying transit, and improving walkability and energy efficiency.
- Despite growing efforts, cities face major funding gaps: The report estimates they need $4.5 trillion annually by 2030 to meet climate goals, far above the current $179 billion invested in 2024.
Key quote:
“I think they’re going above and beyond in some respects, about planning for the future, as well as actually implementing some of the things that the federal governments have signed on to.”
— Dan Jasper, senior policy advisor at the climate solutions group Project Drawdown
Why this matters:
Urban areas house over half the world’s population. Their concrete-heavy landscapes absorb and retain heat, turning heatwaves deadly. Aging sewer systems buckle under increasingly intense storms, while sea-level rise threatens coastal infrastructure. As cities expand, these risks grow. Yet cities are also nimble: Mayors can act faster than national leaders and often enjoy more public support for visible improvements. But without enough funding, even the most ambitious cities will struggle to protect their people from what’s coming.
Related: Mayors lead climate fight with practical solutions as federal support wanes
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California residents challenge methane policy they say pollutes under the guise of clean energy
Residents in California’s Central Valley are pushing back against a state-backed program that incentivizes methane digesters at industrial dairies, arguing it locks in pollution and worsens environmental health in Latino communities.
In short:
- California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) subsidizes methane digesters at large dairies, but critics say the policy encourages dairy expansion and entrenches fossil fuel infrastructure.
- Lawsuits and community advocates argue the program ignores local pollution and fails to meet environmental review standards, while benefiting corporations like Chevron and BP.
- Residents in towns like Planada, where many are undocumented Latino farmworkers, say they’re being treated as expendable in the state’s climate strategy.
Key quote:
“Many of us have witnessed this transition from an innovative regulation into a swag bag for venture capitalists, big oil, big agriculture, and big gas, increasingly coming at the expense of low- and moderate-income Californians.”
— James Duffy, former California Air Resources Board employee
Why this matters:
Methane digesters are promoted as a climate solution, but their deployment raises red flags for public health and environmental equity. These facilities concentrate pollution in rural, low-income communities already burdened by industrial agriculture. The Central Valley, a hub of dairy production, suffers from some of the worst air quality in the nation, with ammonia and nitrate pollution contaminating water and air. While digesters capture methane, they do not address emissions from cow burps or the fossil-fuel-intensive feed system. Worse, they may encourage larger herds and more waste. Critics warn the state's market-based approach favors industry profits over real emissions cuts.
Related: California's dairy farms and the controversy surrounding methane digesters
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Newsletter
Clean energy power line project faces legal challenge in Missouri
An 804-mile wind energy transmission line slated to cross four states is now under investigation by Missouri’s attorney general, threatening to derail one of the country’s biggest clean energy infrastructure projects.
In short:
- Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey launched an investigation into the Grain Belt Express project, claiming developers exaggerated job creation, misrepresented cost savings, and misled landowners.
- The $11 billion line, backed by Invenergy, aims to move wind-generated electricity from Kansas to Indiana but faces strong opposition from landowners, local officials, and Senator Josh Hawley.
- Though the project had secured permits in four states and federal support, Bailey is pushing to revoke Missouri’s approval, citing eminent domain abuse and private profit motives.
Key quote:
“This so-called renewable energy project is nothing more than a government-sponsored land grab disguised as environmentalism.”
— Andrew Bailey, Missouri attorney general
Why this matters:
The U.S. power grid is old, fragmented, and ill-equipped for the growing demands of modern life, including surging electricity use from AI data centers and a national push toward renewable energy. Projects like Grain Belt Express are designed to connect clean energy sources in rural areas to population centers hundreds of miles away, but they often collide with local resistance and complex permitting hurdles. Farmers and landowners worry about losing control over their property, especially when for-profit companies wield eminent domain. Meanwhile, delays in building new transmission lines slow the shift away from fossil fuels and threaten grid reliability.
Related: Senate passes GOP budget bill, hampering US shift to clean energy
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Brazil shifts from asbestos to rare earths amid global mineral race
Minaçu, a Brazilian city built on asbestos mining, is betting its future on rare earth elements as global demand surges and geopolitical tensions strain China’s dominance over supply chains.
In short:
- Minaçu, once home to the Americas’ only asbestos mine, is now producing rare earth minerals critical for electric vehicles and wind turbines, aiming to become a key player outside Asia.
- Although the Serra Verde mine promises safer, water-based extraction, residents report environmental concerns including water pollution and cattle miscarriages, with little company response.
- Despite mining royalties, the city has seen persistent poverty, and past mining booms failed to deliver broad economic benefits, raising doubts about rare earths repeating the pattern.
Key quote:
“The fact that more than 20% of the population remains socially vulnerable shows that the profits from asbestos mining do not result in quality of life for the local population.”
— Ricardo Gonçalves, geography professor at the State University of Goiás
Why this matters:
Rare earth elements are essential for modern technology — from smartphones to renewable energy to missile systems — but their extraction is often dirty, dangerous, and politically fraught. China has long dominated this market, but tensions with the U.S. are prompting new investments in alternatives like Brazil, which holds the world’s second-largest reserves. Yet mining communities such as Minaçu face a dilemma: while rare earths promise economic renewal, they may repeat the extractive harm of asbestos, a mineral that killed thousands and left environmental scars. Without safeguards, Brazil risks trading one toxic legacy for another. As the energy transition accelerates, ensuring it doesn't replicate old injustices is a challenge for both health and the environment.
Related: The hidden cost of powering your phone might be someone else’s cancer
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How China raced ahead on clean energy while America clung to oil
Even as the climate crisis intensifies, China and the U.S. are charting wildly different energy paths — one doubling down on clean tech, the other on fossil fuels.
In short:
- China is aggressively expanding its global dominance in clean energy by building solar, wind, battery, EV, and nuclear infrastructure at unprecedented scale — including major investments abroad.
- The Trump administration is pushing an oil-and-gas agenda at home and abroad, undoing clean energy incentives while lobbying allies to invest in U.S. fossil fuels.
- The U.S. once led in renewable tech but failed to sustain investment, allowing China to corner the market through coordinated government support and control over key materials.
Key quote:
“When the federal government of the United States decides to go out of the race, it doesn’t stop the race. Other countries keep moving.”
— Rafael Dubeux, a senior official in Brazil’s Finance Ministry
Why this matters:
America — once a solar and wind innovator — is now backpedaling. The Trump administration is tossing lifelines to oil and gas companies, lobbying countries to buy U.S. crude, and rolling back policies that helped launch renewables in the first place. The U.S. is bet on short-term profits. China is playing the long game.
Read more:
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Greenpeace faces ruin after oil giant wins lawsuit rewriting Standing Rock history
The company behind the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) convinced a North Dakota jury to blame Greenpeace for protests led by Indigenous activists — and now the nonprofit faces a $666 million penalty.
Episode one of SLAPP’d, the latest season of the Drilled podcast, focusing on the Greenpeace/DAPL trial.
In short:
- In 2016, thousands of people gathered near the Standing Rock Reservation to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline, led by Indigenous groups defending water and land rights. One of them, Cody Hall, became a public spokesperson for the resistance but was later targeted by a lawsuit.
- Energy Transfer, the pipeline’s builder, filed a sweeping racketeering suit alleging that Greenpeace and other nonprofits masterminded a violent conspiracy to sabotage the project — despite thin evidence and years of reporting confirming Indigenous leadership.
- The private security firm TigerSwan ran intelligence operations against protestors, and possible infiltrators may have posed as Greenpeace representatives, muddying the legal waters as Energy Transfer advanced a narrative that ultimately won over a jury.
Key quote:
“Greenpeace wasn’t running anything… They were merely an organization that was there as allies.”
— Cody Hall, former Red Warrior Camp spokesperson
Why this matters:
The verdict against Greenpeace in the Energy Transfer lawsuit is a landmark moment in how corporate power rewrites protest history. If a major energy company can bankrupt a nonprofit for supporting Indigenous-led protest, it chills dissent everywhere. And it distracts from the health and environmental harms these protests were trying to stop — namely, oil infrastructure that threatens water and cultural resources.
Read more:
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Ocean salinity shifts are melting Antarctic sea ice faster, scientists find
Rising salt levels near Antarctica are altering ocean dynamics, drawing up warm water and accelerating sea ice loss, new satellite data reveal.
In short:
- A new study finds increasing ocean salinity near Antarctica is driving warmer water to the surface, which speeds sea ice melt and hinders winter ice formation.
- The research, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, used advanced satellite algorithms and ocean buoy data to detect changes in water salinity over the past decade.
- Scientists warn the shift may mark a long-term transition in Antarctic ice behavior, with the feedback loop between melting, warming, and salt levels posing broad climate risks.
Key quote:
“We are entering a new system, a new world.”
— Alessandro Silvano, senior scientist at the University of Southampton
Why this matters:
Sea ice acts as the planet’s reflective shield, bouncing solar radiation back into space and helping to regulate Earth’s temperature. The loss of Antarctic sea ice not only exposes darker ocean water that absorbs more heat but also disrupts global ocean currents and weather systems. Rising salinity near Antarctica hints at a larger, destabilizing feedback loop: Warmer waters melt more ice, which then reinforces ocean mixing and heat absorption. This shift threatens to reshape sea level patterns and intensify extreme weather across the globe. As the climate warms, monitoring Antarctic changes becomes increasingly urgent, but recent U.S. cuts to satellite data programs could leave scientists with fewer tools to track these tipping points.
Read more: Melting ice and microplastics signal deepening disruption in Antarctica’s climate system
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