"The U.S. government has a specialized plane loaded with advanced sensors that officials brag is always ready to deploy within an hour of any kind of chemical disaster. But the plane didn’t fly over eastern Ohio until four days after the disastrous Norfolk Southern derailment there last year."
"The Biden administration moved Tuesday to block China’s access to the American market for clean energy technology by doubling duties on solar cells and effectively quadrupling the price of electric vehicles from China."
"Fifty countries are meeting in France on Tuesday to discuss the lack of access to clean cooking methods worldwide which causes millions of deaths every year and fuels global warming."
"In recent years, these data centers have been rapidly expanding in the United States. But the gargantuan facilities do more than keep cloud servers running — they also guzzle absurd amounts of water to run cooling systems that protect their components from overheating."
"The White House has unveiled tighter rules for research on potentially dangerous microbes and toxins, in an effort to stave off laboratory accidents that could unleash a pandemic."
"They’re delivering solar power after dark in California and helping to stabilize grids in other states. And the technology is expanding rapidly."
"The automaker led by Elon Musk is no longer planning to take the lead in expanding the number of places to fuel electric vehicles. It’s not clear how quickly other companies will fill the gap."
For all the talk about the energy transition and the robust growth in electric vehicle sales, there’s one big reason for unease: getting charged. The new Backgrounder takes a deep dive on the state of EV charging stations in the United States, exploring Tesla’s diminishing dominance, coming charger standardization, charging levels, software and for-pay realities, plus the effects of government policy.
Whether trees fall to chain saws or go up in smoke, deforestation is a major climate change driver. But on-the-ground reporting on forest loss is often challenging. Global Forest Watch provides worldwide land cover change data and tools that can help journalists contextualize deforestation events. Mongabay editor Morgan Erickson-Davis explains the power of this free online platform and shares her favorite features.
"An orangutan appeared to treat a wound with medicine from a tropical plant— the latest example of how some animals attempt to soothe their own ills with remedies found in the wild, scientists reported Thursday."
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