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Home//Covering Climate Now: COP26

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Covering Climate Now: COP26

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 400+ news organizations from more than 50 countries that have committed to a week of heightened climate coverage in the lead-up to the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow

COP26 President Alok Sharma (C) speaks during an informal plenary stocktake on day 14 of COP26 at SECC on Nov. 13, 2021, in Glasgow, Scotland. (Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

COP26 ends with some compromises but mostly disappointments

There were agreements on curbing emissions as well as a blanket call to draw down fossil fuel use.

Here & Now

05:28Nov 15, 2021

The Prime Minister of Barbados Mia Amor Mottley speaks during the opening ceremony of the COP26 U.N. Climate Summit, in Glasgow, Scotland, Monday, Nov. 1, 2021. (Alberto Pezzali/AP)

'Our people are watching': Barbados PM's warning about climate change among memorable COP26 speeches

Activists and world leaders have taken the opportunity over the past two weeks to deliver powerful speeches about the future of the planet.

Here & Now

06:05Nov 12, 2021

A view of the damage after heavy rain and devastating floods in Waverly, Tennessee, in Aug. 2021 (Peter Zay/Getty Images)

Flood control lessons from the Dutch as we enter a wetter future

Like many parts of the world, the Netherlands experienced heavy rainfall this year. But unlike its neighboring countries, it averted disastrous floods.

Here & Now

10:58Nov 12, 2021

A cross marks one of several Pointe-au-Chien Indian Tribe burial grounds along Bayou Pointe-au-Chien in southern Louisiana on Wednesday, Sept. 29, 2021. The cemetery is one of many sacred grounds the local community is trying to save from coastal erosion and sea level rise. (Jessie Wardarski/AP)

Bridging faith and science in the existential struggle against climate change

Katharine Hayhoe, chief scientist for the Nature Conservancy and a devout Christian, shares how she bridges the divide.

Here & Now

10:57Nov 12, 2021

The site of the site of Three Mile Creek fire that occurred in 2015 in central Alaska. (Dan Grossman)

Frequency of wildfires in Alaska concerns scientists

There's evidence that the frequency and intensity of burning in that state have increased in recent decades.

Here & Now

06:02Nov 12, 2021

A dried out lake stands near the Navajo Nation town of Thoreau on June 06, 2019, in Thoreau, New Mexico. Due to disputed water rights and other factors, up to 40% of Navajo Nation households don’t have clean running water and are forced to rely on weekly and daily visits to water pumps. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Forced relocation of Native Americans has made them more vulnerable to climate change, study finds

A study shows how forced relocation of Native Americans in the U.S. has moved them to lands more susceptible to climate change.

Here & Now

10:46Nov 11, 2021

A cow at Reinford Farms. (Brett Reinford)

For one Pennsylvania farmer, cutting methane emissions helps business

Dairy farmer Brett Reinford first installed methane digesters on his family farm 13 years ago.

Here & Now

09:26Nov 11, 2021

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

Sólheimajökull Glacier (Karyn Miller-Medzon/Here & Now)

Glaciers, disappearing at alarming rate, prove no match for global warming

Citizens from around the world have converged on COP26 to beg for leaders to save glaciers.

Here & Now

11:07Nov 10, 2021

David Hondula is the first-ever heat mitigation officer for the city of Phoenix. (Peter O'Dowd/Here & Now)

Phoenix — the hottest big city in the U.S. — hires first-ever heat mitigation officer

David Hondula will be charged with lowering urban temperatures to avoid heat-related deaths, which have soared to new records in recent years.

Here & Now

09:39Nov 10, 2021

Feb. 1, 2020: Fire burns in the grass near Bumbalong, south of the Australian capital, Canberra. (Rick Rycroft/AP/File)

‘Climate denial’ to ‘climate delay’: Rupert Murdoch's News Corp pivots media narrative in Australia

The media tycoon seems to be rethinking his strategy on climate change.

Here & Now

09:36Nov 9, 2021

Aurora borealis over the remote East Coast of Greenland. Melting ice on the world's largest island is now contributing more to sea level rise than Antarctica and all the world’s glaciers combined. (Scott Badger)

Journalist Porter Fox goes to the coldest places on Earth to explore climate change

"The Last Winter" documents retreating snow and ice around the planet.

Here & Now

10:48Nov 9, 2021

Exhaust plumes from cooling towers a a coal-fired power station in Germany. (Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

What's net-zero — and why do we have until 2050 to get there? Climate change questions, answered

As the international climate summit in Glasgow heads into its final week, speeches and headlines are full of buzzwords like net-zero and carbon budget.

Here & Now

08:51Nov 8, 2021

A school of fish and a sea can in a healthy coral reef off the coast of Isla Mujeres, Mexico on Sept. 26, 2018. (Donald Miralle/Getty Images for Lumix)

How insurance is protecting a coral reef from climate impacts in Mexico

Climate change is forcing the insurance industry to adapt and come up with new products.

Here & Now

09:37Nov 5, 2021

A woman reads a book in Hyde Park in London, United Kingdom. (Chris J Ratcliffe/Getty Images)

Novelists illustrate the climate futures that could await us

Authors Kim Stanley Robinson and Omar el-Akkad discuss the responsibility fiction writers have to address the climate crisis.

Here & Now

10:59Nov 5, 2021

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez speaks to the media during the annual hurricane preparation exercise at the City of Miami's Emergency Operations Center (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez on what he hopes to see at COP26

Miami's mayor Francis Suarez is leading a delegation of U.S. mayors at the U.N. climate change conference.

Here & Now

05:58Nov 5, 2021

Kenyan climate activist Elizabeth Wathuti speaks during the opening ceremony of the COP26 U.N. Climate Summit, in Glasgow, Scotland, Monday, Nov. 1, 2021. (Alberto Pezzali/AP)

Kenyan climate activist Elizabeth Wathuti joins youth voices at COP26

The 26-year-old climate activist from Kenya founded the Green Generation Initiative, a group that helps young people become environmentally conscious through growing trees.

Here & Now

05:38Nov 4, 2021

The Trans-Alaska pipeline and pump station north of Fairbanks, Alaska. (Al Grillo/AP)

Biden's success in cracking down on methane emissions will depend on new technology

Methane, a climate-warming gas, often escapes from wells and pipelines.

Here & Now

03:23Nov 4, 2021

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

More than 40 countries agree to phase out coal. The U.S. isn't among them

More than 40 countries have signed on to a deal to phase out coal-fired power by 2050. Critics say the plan doesn't go far enough.

Here & Now

05:38Nov 4, 2021

A Ferrari drives past a mural depicting Dandelion buds as wind turbines and an overflowing bin on November 3, 2021 in Glasgow, United Kingdom. As World Leaders meet to discuss climate change at the COP26 Summit, many climate action groups have taken to the streets to protest for real progress to be made by governments to reduce carbon emissions, clean up the oceans, reduce fossil fuel use and other issues relating to global heating. (Peter Summers/Getty Images)

Chin up, climate crusaders. We're about to rebuild America

The U.S. is on the verge of making biggest the investment in tackling the climate crisis the world has ever seen, writes Margie Alt. We should be shouting that from...

Cognoscenti

Nov 4, 2021