"From hail the size of golf balls to deadly heat, concert-goers in 2023 were forced to deal with extreme weather events that put them in harm's way during the world's warmest year on record, with temperatures predicted to climb even higher in 2024."
"After years of focusing on babies and children, researchers find that exposure to environmental hazards can have long-term effects on pregnant people’s health, too."
"Less than a year ago, a disastrous train derailment sent a massive plume of dangerous chemicals billowing over East Palestine, Ohio, startling the town of nearly 5,000 residents and onlookers nationwide. Now, a new report warns that more of these catastrophes may loom: At any given moment, more than an estimated 3 million people are unknowingly at risk, as toxic trains full of a highly combustible and carcinogenic chemical used to make plastic move between Texas and New Jersey."
"A federal worker safety enforcement directive for refineries, chemical plants, and other facilities with large amounts of chemicals has received an overhaul for the first time in 30 years."
The climate change debate is often so focused on fossil fuels and mining that it ignores impacts in economic, political, neo-colonial and social terms, writes BookShelf’s Melody Kemp in her review of “Carbon Colonialism: How Rich Countries Export Climate Breakdown.” Why concepts like corporate social responsibility do little to stem the losses that come with such development.
With the world in the midst of wars in Ukraine and the Gaza Strip, it’s time for journalists to appraise — and report on — the intersection of conflict and the environment, argues the new Backgrounder. That means considering the environment not only as a victim of war, but also as the cause of war and a means of carrying it out.
"On a warm day last spring, dozens of protesters gathered outside a shopping center on the west side of Hawaii’s Big Island. They weren’t there to boycott a store or a pipeline or to deride a politician. They came to revolt against a new ban on feeding cats in the parking lot. “Stop starving the cats,” the protesters chanted, according to a local newspaper."
"A federal judge is being asked to issue a stop-work order on a $10 billion transmission line being built through a remote southeastern Arizona valley to carry wind-generated electricity to customers as far away as California."
What environment stories will matter most in 2024 to communities of color and Indigenous communities? Columnist Yessenia Funes sheds light on concerns ranging from the environmental damage in Gaza and extreme weather across the United States to the fallout from the U.S. presidential election to the local impacts of the clean energy transition. Insights in the latest Voices of Environmental Justice.
"The president of Azerbaijan has added 12 women to the previously all-male organising committee for the Cop29 global climate summit, which the country will host in December."
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