In the wake of weeks of poor air quality, grape and cannabis growers are trying to assess the impacts—to product quality as well as to human health—of ash and smoke on their crops.
China installed enough solar and wind power between January and May to match the total electricity use of countries like Indonesia or Turkey, even as its clean energy industry faces deep financial strain.
China installed 198 gigawatts of solar and 46 gigawatts of wind in the first five months of 2025, setting a new global benchmark in clean energy expansion.
In May alone, China added 93 gigawatts of solar and 26 gigawatts of wind — enough to match Poland’s total electricity consumption, according to analysts.
Despite the rapid growth, major Chinese solar companies are reporting steep losses, with industry leaders warning of a “death cycle” due to extreme price competition.
Key quote:
“We knew China’s rush to install solar and wind was going to be wild but WOW.”
— Lauri Myllyvirta, senior fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute
Why this matters:
China’s breakneck pace in expanding its clean energy infrastructure marks a pivotal shift in global energy dynamics, especially as the country remains the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases. While its investments in solar and wind reflect major progress in reducing reliance on coal, the rapid expansion is coming at a financial cost. Fierce market competition has pushed prices down so far that manufacturers are struggling to survive, risking the long-term health of the sector. As clean energy becomes a cornerstone of China’s industrial strategy, the balance between economic growth and environmental sustainability will be tested. Globally, China’s choices shape the future of renewable energy supply chains, battery production, and climate outcomes.
A team of international scientists circumnavigating Antarctica has documented widespread environmental decline, including microplastics in ice and seawater, receding glaciers, and falling ocean salinity.
Researchers found microplastics in Antarctic glacial ice and seawater, signaling how far global plastic pollution has spread.
Glacier retreat and increasing meltwater are diluting ocean salinity, disrupting phytoplankton populations and ocean circulation.
Atmospheric “rivers” from Amazon forest fires carry black carbon to Antarctica, accelerating ice melt by reducing the reflectivity of snow and ice.
Key quote:
“Microplastics were visible when seawater was passed through a kind of strainer; they could even be seen through the camera lens.”
— Venisse Schossler, climatologist and mission coordinator
Why this matters:
Antarctica may seem remote, but its role in regulating the planet’s climate is immediate and vital. Its ice sheets help stabilize sea levels, and its cold waters serve as a massive carbon sink, absorbing heat and CO₂ from the atmosphere. As microplastics accumulate and glaciers melt faster, the Southern Ocean’s salinity and acidity are shifting, stressing marine life and weakening its capacity to buffer climate change. Disruption to phytoplankton — the foundation of ocean food webs and a major oxygen producer — has ripple effects throughout global ecosystems. Meanwhile, soot from Amazon fires, transported by high-altitude winds, darkens Antarctic snow, speeding melt. These linked systems show how human activities in one region can destabilize life-supporting processes halfway across the planet.
Scientists and entrepreneurs are racing to reinvent agriculture to feed a booming population and fight climate change, but their high-tech solutions keep falling short.
The original Green Revolution boosted food yields but created environmental and economic inequalities, especially for small farmers. Many couldn’t afford the fertilizers and irrigation required for success.
In his new book, journalist Michael Grunwald explores modern alternatives like carbon farming, vertical agriculture, and lab-grown meat, but finds most are failing under scientific or economic scrutiny. One indoor vertical farm alone, AeroFarms, needed all of America’s renewable power to scale, notes Grunwald.
Vaclav Smil's latest book argues that we don’t need miracles — just less waste and less meat. Up to 40% of food is discarded, and feeding crops to livestock is wildly inefficient.
Key quote:
[We predict] “a tragic mismatch of global food supply and demand by mid-century. We are not on track to meet future food needs. Not even close.”
— 2025 open letter authored by more than a hundred Nobel laureates
Why this matters:
With agriculture already a top driver of climate change, the future of food is a health and environmental crisis in the making. And yet, the most boring answer might be the right one: eat less meat, stop throwing out nearly half our food, and make better use of what we already grow. It doesn’t sound revolutionary, but maybe that’s the point.
Farmworkers, who face higher heat stroke risk than construction workers, have seen 28 deaths from heat illness since 2015, according to U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration data.
A proposed federal rule would require training, rest, water, and protections as temperatures rise, but its future is uncertain amid opposition from Republican lawmakers and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
The Trump administration recently fired the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's team of heat safety experts, potentially stalling further work on the rule.
Key quote:
“I’ve had bosses who, if they see you resting for a few minutes under a tree to recover yourself, think you’re wasting your time and send you home without pay.”
— An unnamed worker interviewed by Investigate Midwest in 2023
Why this matters:
As climate change drives longer and more intense heat waves, outdoor workers, especially in agriculture, are paying the price. Without enforceable federal heat protections, farm laborers often lack the right to rest, hydrate, or even receive basic training on how to recognize signs of heat stroke. This lack of oversight leaves thousands vulnerable to illness or death, particularly immigrant and low-wage workers already marginalized in the labor system. Heat exposure also compounds risks from other environmental stressors like pesticides, further harming worker health. Political efforts to weaken or delay regulation threaten to strip protections just as the science shows that such safeguards are urgently needed. As summers grow hotter, this is a growing labor, public health, and environmental justice issue.
California’s push to cut truck pollution and electrify freight fleets faces legal and political setbacks under President Trump, threatening public health in polluted regions like the San Joaquin Valley.
California’s Advanced Clean Trucks and Clean Fleets rules aim to shift the state’s trucking industry to zero-emission vehicles, but under the Trump administration, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has revoked key waivers that would allow the state to enforce its mandates on private fleets.
The San Joaquin Valley, where nearly half of California’s truck traffic passes through, has some of the dirtiest air in the U.S., contributing to high asthma rates and other health problems.
Despite setbacks, state regulators and industry advocates continue building infrastructure and pushing market incentives, though some businesses are pulling back on electric truck investments amid the regulatory uncertainty.
Key quote:
“There’s no question that the transition away from combustion trucks to zero-emission would save lives, prevent asthma attacks, and generate significant, significant public health benefits all around the state.”
— Will Barrett, senior director for nationwide clean air advocacy, American Lung Association
Why this matters:
The diesel trucks that keep America’s goods moving also pour nitrogen oxides and particulate matter into the air, especially in transportation corridors like California’s San Joaquin Valley. These emissions worsen asthma and lung disease and contribute to smog and climate change. While zero-emission trucks offer a path to cleaner air, the technology faces steep economic and political hurdles. Under Trump, the federal government has moved to block California’s authority to enforce clean truck rules — a blow to efforts that protect vulnerable communities from chronic exposure to toxic exhaust. Without federal support, state-led clean air efforts are harder to enforce, and public health gains become less certain.
Baotou is China’s rare earth capital, fueling global tech and military industries while dealing with toxic waste and widespread health problems.
Residents living near tailings ponds have faced cancer, birth defects, and neurological disorders linked to exposure from mining byproducts.
While Beijing touts environmental cleanup and economic progress, local communities have been displaced, and evidence of illness and contamination persists.
Key quote:
"Large-scale extraction quite often proceeds at the expense of the health and well-being of surrounding communities, pretty much regardless of the context."
— Julie Klinger, associate professor at the University of Delaware
Why this matters:
China calls Baotou its “rare earth capital,” and it’s not exaggerating. More than 80% of the country’s known reserves are extracted and processed here. But what’s left behind after the magnets and metals are separated is an environmental nightmare — tailings ponds leaking toxics substances, and ghost towns where farms once fed generations. While Beijing talks up cleanup efforts and green growth, those living closest to the waste say the truth is much dirtier. Global tech giants and defense contractors rely on Baotou, but its people are paying with their health. The rest of the world rarely looks back
Once-lifeless streams across West Virginia are being revived by community-led efforts to treat coal mine pollution, which is now also yielding valuable rare earth metals.
Decades of coal mining left streams across West Virginia acidic and contaminated with heavy metals, turning waterways orange and killing aquatic life. Nonprofit groups have built low-tech treatment systems using limestone and wetlands to neutralize acidity and trap metals like iron and aluminum.
A new state-operated facility at the abandoned Richard Mine uses higher-tech methods to clean up polluted water and recover rare earth elements, crucial for clean energy and military technologies. These elements dissolve naturally in acidic mine runoff, making them cheaper to extract than from raw ore.
Rare earth recovery could help fund future cleanups, as prices remain high. The effort is also boosting local economies through outdoor recreation and tourism, which now support more jobs than coal mining in the state.
Key quote:
“If we look to the future, coal is a much smaller part of the overall energy picture in the country and it’s unlikely to ever regain the same level that it once had.”
— Dave Bassage, program coordinator at New River Conservancy
Why this matters:
Acid mine drainage is a persistent legacy of coal mining that continues to contaminate streams and groundwater across Appalachia. It forms when exposed pyrite reacts with air and water to create sulfuric acid, dissolving toxic metals into waterways. The result is not just ecological damage — it also threatens drinking water for rural communities and corrodes infrastructure. But the same pollution causing these problems is now a potential source of rare earth elements, essential for solar panels, electric vehicles, and national defense. With global supply chains under strain, tapping into this accidental resource could be economically and environmentally significant, especially for communities long burdened by extractive industries.
www.theguardian.com
