“How do you do that to people?” one homeowner asked. “How do you insure people in the South, take all of these premiums, and then just belly-up?” Great reporting on insurance industry woes and trickery from @zteirstein.bsky.social | grist.org/economics/in...

Catching up on this vital series from @grist.org on the "Disaster Economy" - such good reporting here from @zteirstein.bsky.social on insurance bankruptcies leading to mergers and payouts for execs while families are left high and dry. grist.org/economics/in...

SCOOP from me: I uncovered that the Interior Department just quietly defunded *two* multimillion dollar research programs studying how whales move and behave near U.S. wind farms actively being built. Trump blames wind turbines for whale deaths, then cuts vital research on the topic. 🧵

Supersoaker winters and parched summers in the American West fuel soil-borne fungus. This piece traces newly built testing protocols, real-time surveillance, and a near-ready dog vaccine that could pave the way for a human shot. By @zteirstein.bsky.social in @grist.org

Bodes well for multilateral climate negotiations next month

"If you live in the United States, you could be forgiven for thinking that renewable energy is on the outs," writes @zteirstein.bsky.social. But the world is betting on solar and wind, despite Trump's championing of fossil fuels in the US.

Big huge thanks to @seywarddarby.bsky.social for this thoughtful summary of my recent piece on valley fever for the @longreads.com newsletter. Full piece is here: grist.org/health/valle...

This is a great read by @zteirstein.bsky.social. Living in Arizona, Valley Fever is scary! This piece breaks down the threat perfectly, how climate is turbocharging it, and the challenges to protect the public under an administration attacking public health. grist.org/health/valle...

SPECIAL REPORT: A large swath of the U.S. currently does not have the basic, ground-level immunity necessary to stop the spread of viruses that had once receded into the past, a six-month NBC News investigation in collaboration with scientists at Stanford University finds.

❤️ data (and amazing work by @zteirstein.bsky.social ‪ @compatibilism.bsky.social and Jesse Nichols) grist.org/business/a-l...

This latest story builds on Expecting worse: Giving birth on a planet in crisis, a project by @vox.com, @grist.org and @19thnews.org that examines how climate change impacts reproductive health — from menstruation to conception to birth. Explore the full series here: www.vox.com/climate/3515...

Climate change reshapes reproductive health — from conception to birth. Now, in a new collab with our friends at @grist.org, new data show how heat, poor air and floods are rewriting the earliest stages of life. @zteirstein.bsky.social at @vox.com: www.vox.com/climate/4578...

With @zteirstein.bsky.social and Jesse Nichols for @grist.org, here’s a chart-heavy look at some of the dynamics underlying the business of disaster: grist.org/business/a-l...

U.S.-funded contraceptives worth nearly $10 million are being sent to France from Belgium to be incinerated, after Washington rejected offers from the U.N. and family planning organisations to buy or ship the supplies to poor nations, two sources told Reuters. www.reuters.com/legal/litiga...

In March, a jury ordered Greenpeace to pay $666 million to the companies behind the Dakota Access pipeline. But Indigenous leaders, water protectors, activists, and court records agree: Greenpeace played a bit part in the Standing Rock movement, at best. grist.org/project/indi...

the times is reporting that fema let call center operator contracts expire on july 5, the day after the texas flood, and calls answered went from 99.7% that day to 36% the next to 16% the next www.nytimes.com/2025/07/11/c...

A 15-yo is now caring for his little brothers bc ICE snatched their mom. And another family that the local Santa Barbara paper found, pretty much same thing. Think how many stories aren’t being told www.independent.com/2025/07/11/c...

A community’s rapid response to a heavily militarized raid targeting undocumented immigrants in Los Angeles’ diverse MacArthur Park neighborhood helped stave off authorities. capitalandmain.com/when-ice-cam...

The conversation around who should shoulder the blame for what in Texas overlooks the larger context: Trump has eliminated pretty much all disaster preparedness funding the federal government offers. Including the resilience program HE established. grist.org/extreme-weat...

Wind and solar projects that start construction before July 2026 or are placed in service by 2027 would be able to take advantage of existing tax credits. Under the IRA, those credits were set to continue in some form until the country achieved its climate goals. grist.org/politics/sen...

👀 Scoop: Trump and Republicans want USPS to sell off its brand new EVs and chargers. That would mean literally **ripping up post office parking lots** to auction off assets with no private-sector value. It’s buried in the Senate’s “One Big Beautiful Bill.” www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

Couldn't agree more with this. It's jaw-dropping to see the patty cake people are playing with him after what was a full constitutional assault that, oh by the way, is almost certainly going to lead to tens of thousands of people in the global south dying needlessly.

How herring lost their memory (over-fishing of older individuals) 🐟🚫🧠 @judeisabella.bsky.social @iainmckechnie.bsky.social nautil.us/how-these-fi...

Would be huge for home buyers

Great story on vibrio bacteria from @theadvocatebr.bsky.social that will certainly save lives if widely read. No mention, however, of the fact that rising temperatures are fueling the spread of flesh-eating bacteria. www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/...

It is hard to keep up with everything going on these days, but @zteirstein.bsky.social for @grist.org on the House IRA repeal vote is some of the most clearheaded political analysis I’ve seen. Read to understand more about the moment in which we’ve found ourselves: grist.org/politics/hou...

Latest House GOP bill has faster phaseout of IRA clean electricity credits—need to start building wind/solar/battery/geothermal before 60 days after law passes and finish by end 2028, or no credit. Nuclear gets an exception—a new reactor can get the credit if it starts construction by end 2028.

Some of the CDC's main channels for communicating urgent health information to the public have gone silent.

Excited for the WBUR festival in Boston later this month! I’ll be speaking with Harvard Medical’s @gaurabbasu.bsky.social about health in the climate era. Tickets still available!

You think what's being done to land-based ecosystems is bad? Take a look at what's happening under the sea. It's as if all birds and other wild animals were being hoovered out of forests for our mass consumption, shredding the trees and everything else in the process. Out of sight, out of mind.

Here is a rundown of exactly how the GOP proposal would change every clean energy tax credit. While it looks like a bunch of nips and tucks, it's probably more akin to a full repeal. More analysis from us to come. heatmap.news/politics/way...

The delayed reveal here is that this would cost California tax payers a grand total of 20 extra bucks a year. Every dollar counts but introducing dengue-stopping mosquitoes in a state where the disease is starting to appear locally with regularity thanks in part to climate change is a no brainer.

"If scientists want to increase public urgency around climate change, they should highlight clear, concrete shifts instead of slow-moving trends. That could include the loss of white Christmases or outdoor summer activities canceled because of wildfire smoke." grist.org/science/brea...

NEW: US weather forecasting is in worse shape than previously known, with 30 NWS forecast offices missing meteorologists-in-charge and about a dozen offices at risk of no longer serving their communities 24/7. www.cnn.com/2025/05/02/w...

1000 or so+ (at least) National Weather Service/NOAA employees took early retirement today alone with more likely. NWS offices in many cases were already understaffed and services are being cut. Mark this day. So many implications.... 27000 collective years of experience...Gone

100 days into Trump's 2nd term, I took a look back at Project 2025, the blueprint that dominated the final stretch of the presidential election. Trump said he knew nothing about it, but his administration has already accomplished a third of its goals...and that's not all. grist.org/accountabili...

I went to SEJ last week and the vibes were…kinda weird! I wrote about it for @niemanlab.org: www.niemanlab.org/2025/04/a-co...

In this week's paper, as part of #The89Percent project, I wrote about how way, way, waaaaay more people care about climate than you might think.

Disaster season is about to kick into high gear. Come to our SEJ panel on how to report on extreme weather events from national and local perspectives. With Colleen at the helm, you know it’s gonna be good!

I went on @volts.wtf podcast with @jeffstjohn.bsky.social to talk about the fate of the IRA, funding freeze lawsuits, congestion pricing, and more. What an honor to chat with these two heavyweights. Listen here: www.volts.wtf/p/what-the-f...

Today @vox.com launched our latest project, Escape Velocity — all about how clean energy's momentum is strong enough to outlast the challenges of our current moment. Contrary to the headlines you've been seeing on climate, there's a lot of hope to be found. www.vox.com/climate/4084...

Pretty surprised the Guardian would publish a story with a headline like this based on research conducted by a small advocacy group using a single lab and questionable sample sizes.

Capitalizing on a small news lull to say that I will be at #SEJ2025 in Phoenix next week along with several of my Grist colleagues. Looking forward to panels with @colleenhagerty.com, @yessfun.com, @jkutzie.bsky.social, @virginiagewin.bsky.social, @adamlmahoney.bsky.social, & others. Come through!

The 30th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing is fast approaching. In 2020, @georgiajcatt.bsky.social and I made this podcast all about the long legacy of that tragedy. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

This is a real theory popularized by a microbiologist named Arturo Casadevall who posits that the emergence of Candida Auris on multiple continents simultaneously is linked to the fact that fungi are evolving alongside rising global temperatures and adapting to the heat of the human bloodstream.

I'm seeking sources for a feature about the items disaster survivors found most helpful during extreme weather events. I'm hoping to crowdsource ideas from across the US, with a focus on sharing diverse experiences and perspectives. If you're interested in contributing, please send me a DM!

South Florida is losing tens of millions of dollars for flood control projects aimed to stem not just future SLR flooding but current day flooding because Trump admin slashed funds www.miamiherald.com/news/local/e...

Feeling this on a smaller scale in the climate science world. Researchers are terrified to talk to me about projects they would have been thrilled to discuss six months ago. I’ve had to offer anonymity to researchers investigating *mosquito-borne illnesses.*

In case you missed it, Trump also signed an executive order today directing the AG to go after state and local climate policies. Potentially bigger deal than coal order, imo… www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...

The Trump administration has plans to dismantle a FEMA program that funds climate adaptation projects to help communities and states prepare for weather disasters. (Like the ones we keep having in KY.) @zteirstein.bsky.social Jake Bittle @gristnews.bsky.social kentuckylantern.com/2025/04/07/f...