"This week’s storms — with more still heading east — fit a pattern of worsening extremes under climate change and demonstrate anew that local, state and federal officials have failed to do nearly enough to prepare for greater and more dangerous weather."
"Many of the millions of Texans who lost power for days after a deadly winter blast overwhelmed the electric grid now have it back, but the crisis was far from over in parts of the South, with many people lacking safe drinking water."
The Center for EcoJustice at the Iliff School of Theology (Denver) will host its second annual conference virtually, focusing on the intersection of environmental racism and immigration.
Applications are open for the National Science-Health-Environment Reporting Fellowships (SHERF), a collaboration of the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing (CASW), the Association of Health Care Journalists (AHCJ) and the Society of Environmental Journalists (SEJ). Early-career US journalists will receive training, networking, mentoring, new sources and story ideas — while allowing them to stay at their jobs. Read the announcement, watch the recording of the Nov. 21 info webinar or apply now (Dec. 31 deadline).
"New research shows that oceanic shark and ray abundance has declined by nearly three-quarters since 1970, and industrialized fishing is to blame."
"The agency, seeking information on an animal rights group, attempted to recruit a former truck driver as an informant, the truck driver says."
"The WHO team's main public conclusion so far is that it's "extremely unlikely" that the virus originated in a lab in Wuhan. The scientists think the virus most likely started in bats, then jumped to other animals, then to humans."
"From a small lab in Cambodia, Dr. Jessica Manning is on the lookout for emerging diseases."
"Energy analysts and experts said the blackouts in Texas underscore the U.S. electric system’s need for more of almost everything, from additional power lines criss-crossing the country to large-scale storage systems that can supply electricity when demand spikes or renewable generation declines."
"New legislation would ban all fracking in California by 2027, taking aim at the powerful oil and gas industry in the state already planning to ban the sale of new gas-powered cars by 2035."
