Covering Climate Now

Covering Climate Now is a project co-founded by Columbia Journalism Review and The Nation aimed at strengthening the media’s focus on the climate crisis. WBUR is one of more than 250 news organizations around the world that have committed to running a week’s worth of climate coverage in the lead-up to the United Nations Climate Action Summit in New York on Sept. 23, 2019.

These NH teachers want students to connect climate change to what's happening in their own backyards

A number of states have adopted school science standards that include teaching about climate change.

Here & Now

05:00Apr 4, 2022

A general view of the Action Hub is pictured during the COP26 UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow on Nov. 11, 2021. (Paul Ellis/AFP/Getty Images)

COP26 falls short of the aggressive action needed to halt climate disaster

Experts say nations will need to keep pushing for more aggressive, concrete plans soon.

Here & Now

05:02Nov 11, 2021

Ocean waves continue to come ashore a day after a winter storm in Scituate, Mass., Jan. 28, 2015. (Michael Dwyer/AP)

Shelter From The Climate Storm? Experts Say Vermont Needs To Prepare For 'Climigration'

While there are no solid predictions for how many people will move to the Green Mountain State as a result of the climate emergency, or even when that migration could...

Local Coverage

Apr 21, 2021

The Dave Johnson coal-fired power plant is silhouetted against the morning sun in Glenrock, Wyoming, in 2018. (J. David Ake/AP/File)

Companies Try New Technology To Suck Greenhouse Gas Out Of The Atmosphere

Several companies are trying to pull carbon dioxide directly out of the atmosphere.

Here & Now

05:27Apr 19, 2021

Why Georgia's 50-Year-Old Salt Marsh Law Matters For The Future

Fifty years ago, Georgians pressured their state government into passing a progressive law that protects its salt marshes.

Here & Now

05:19Sep 25, 2020

Some experts believe pandemics like the coronavirus are made worse as climate change effects increase. Climate change protesters demonstrate outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London back in February. (Stefan Rousseau/PA via AP)

Today Is Earth Day. This Is Your Reminder That After Coronavirus, Another Grave Threat Looms

As we recover from the pandemic while still confronting a climate emergency, writes Frederick Hewett, do we dare ponder what situation we'll find ourselves in 10 years from now?

Cognoscenti

Apr 22, 2020

Levi Draheim, 11, wears a dust mask as he participates in a demonstration, Friday, July 12, 2019, in front of the Miami City Hall in Miami. Several youth organizations participated in the demonstration and die-in ahead of the start of Youth Climate Summit in Miami. (Wilfredo Lee/AP)

Why Don’t We Treat The Climate Crisis With The Same Urgency As Coronavirus?

Urgent action to prevent a pandemic is, of course, necessary and pressing. But the climate crisis represents a far graver and deadlier existential threat, writes Owen Jones, and yet the...

Cognoscenti

Mar 12, 2020

Youth climate strike protesters march through Boston toward the State House. (Robin Lubbock/WBUR)

Scenes From The Youth Climate Strike In Boston

Thousands of young people from Massachusetts and surrounding states have "gone on strike," emptying out classrooms to gather at Boston City Hall Plaza Friday to demand bold and immediate action...

Local Coverage

03:21Sep 20, 2019

A new report by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change finds that the Earth's soil is degrading at an alarming rate. (Michael Tewelde/AFP/Getty Images)

U.N. Report Links Soil Degradation To Climate Change

Scientists revealed that the Earth's soil is being lost 10 to 100 times faster than it is forming.

Here & Now

09:45Sep 20, 2019

What can and cannot be recycled? (Ezequiel Becerra/AFP/Getty Images)

Exposing The Myth Of Plastic Recycling: Why A Majority Is Burned Or Thrown In A Landfill

Very little of plastic we recycle is actually removed from the waste stream.

Here & Now

10:55Sep 20, 2019

The Trump administration says it's revoking a waiver that allowed California to set its own standards for automobile emissions. (Frank Franklin II/AP)

Trump Administration Official Defends Decision To Revoke California's Emissions Standards Waiver

He says concerns about clean air must be addressed by “practical steps that are not informed by ideology.”

Here & Now

06:20Sep 20, 2019

Tatiana Schlossberg pictured at Zion National Park in Utah, May 2019. (Courtesy)

On Climate Guilt, 2020, And Why Your Jeans Are Bad For The Environment: 5 Questions With Tatiana Schlossberg

The former New York Times science reporter (and Kennedy family scion) is out with a new book that illustrates how everything in our lives comes back to the climate --...

Cognoscenti

Sep 20, 2019

The author speaking at an event near the Massachusetts State House in June 2019. (Courtesy Eben Bein for Our Climate)

The Words Of One Young Climate Activist: 'We Cannot Consider Ourselves Separate From The Natural World'

In 12 years, I will be 27 years old, writes Izzy Goodrich. I will not yet have experienced three full decades on Earth before it begins its irreversible decline.

Cognoscenti

Sep 20, 2019

Emerging flaring of gas at the Shedgum Gas Plant, Saudi Arabia, captured by the Sentinel-2 satellite in September 2019. (Photo credit: European Space Agency)

Attacks On Saudi Oil Plant Carry Heavy Environmental Cost

One researcher says attacks on oil facilities can have disastrous environmental consequences.

Here & Now

05:22Sep 19, 2019

Dr. Lewis Ziska says attempts were made by the Trump administration to suppress his climate change related research on how rising carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere are altering the nutritional content in rice. (Benson Ibeabuchi/AFP/Getty Images)

Former USDA Scientist Says He'll Make A Bigger Impact On Climate Change Research Outside Of The Government

A scientist at the USDA recently resigned after citing attempts by the Trump administration to suppress his climate change related research.

Here & Now

09:52Sep 19, 2019

'Choked' By Air Pollution: An Invisible Consequence Of Climate Change

Climate change is exacerbating the negative health effects of air pollution.

Here & Now

09:47Sep 19, 2019

The scene at a March youth climate strike around the steps of the State House (Robin Lubbock/WBUR)

What To Know About Friday’s Youth Climate Strike In Boston

Organizers estimate 10,000 people from across Massachusetts will participate in a rally at City Hall Plaza and a march to the State House.

Local Coverage

Sep 19, 2019

demonstrates how you can use a magnetic fields to contain and insulate a hot fusion plasma. Here the magnet pushes the bright plasma away from the wall of the glass tube. (Robin Lubbock/WBUR)

For Green Energy, MIT Aims To Build 'A Star On Earth'

Skeptics joke that fusion is the energy source of the future ... and always will be. But a local company says it's getting close to making reliable fusion energy a...

Local Coverage

07:09Sep 19, 2019

In this July 27, 2018, file photo, the Dave Johnson coal-fired power plant is silhouetted against the morning sun in Glenrock, Wyo. (J. David Ake/AP)

The Hundreds Of Ways Trump Has Trampled Science

It's time to hold our leaders accountable for suppressing, denying, censoring and otherwise sidelining science, write Rachel Licker and Andrew Rosenberg.

Cognoscenti

Sep 19, 2019

View of the downtown Phoenix city skyline as seen from South Mountain Park. (Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images)

Phoenix Residents Will Need To Adapt To An Even Hotter Climate

Higher temperatures, the urban heat island, and the prospect of prolonged drought will force Phoenix to adapt to living with climate change in the desert.

Here & Now

11:08Sep 18, 2019