Environmental Politics

"In the 20 years since Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, hurricane scientists have made great strides toward understanding how climate change influences tropical cyclones, at the same time as they have vastly improved hurricane forecasting. Better forecasts, in turn, save the country billions every time a storm makes landfall, according to a 2024 analysis published in the National Bureau of Economic Research."

"U.S. parks and museums are becoming the latest battleground in the nation’s culture wars as President Trump seeks changes to the way national parks and the Smithsonian tell the story of America."

"From space, NASA collects data that’s crucial for public health. Potential cuts could threaten that work."

"The Trump administration on Wednesday took formal steps to rescind a decades-old rule that protects 58.5 million acres of wild areas in national forests, including 4.4 million acres in California."

"The Trump administration placed more than 30 Federal Emergency Management Agency employees on leave Tuesday after they signed an open letter of dissent about the agency’s leadership, according to people familiar with the situation and documents reviewed by The Washington Post."

"President Trump is not only working to stop a transition away from fossil fuels in the United States, he is pressuring other countries to relax their pledges to fight climate change and instead burn more oil, gas and coal."

"The White House on Wednesday fired Susan Monarez as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention after she refused to resign amid pressure to change vaccine policy, which sparked the resignation of other senior CDC officials and a showdown over whether she could be removed."

"Misleading Mailer: Despite locals’ health concerns, the Chamber of Commerce has gone to unusual lengths to promote a data center, including sending a mailer with inaccurate information. 'Concierge Service': The chamber has a five-member operations team dedicated to xAI, one of Musk’s companies, as it tries to transform Memphis into a global hub of technological innovation."

"The move by the Colorado River Indian Tribes in Arizona and California would give rights of nature to the water, marking a historic first."

"The Rio Grande Valley is home to ocelots and other endangered species. Now, the federal government will not have to follow the Endangered Species Act and more than two dozen other federal laws to build the border wall through a national wildlife refuge."