Grist

What’s a winemaker to do on a warming planet? Much has been written about how climate change threatens viticulture around the globe — or at least, threatens to fundamentally change the practice. A long-lasting drought in Chile is forcing winemakers to rethink irrigation systems. Vintners in California must not only endure wildfires but also the smoke that comes with them and lingers, which can alter the taste of their grapes. Severe frosts in the Champagne region of France are also altering

They tower overhead and sway in the wind and often teem with squawking birds, yet trees are easy to ignore. Urbanites rush by them without noticing, and without appreciating all the work they do: Trees reduce temperatures, mitigate flooding, and provide habitat for animals.  City leaders are no exception to this oversight. As mayors around the world pledge to reduce municipal greenhouse gas emissions, they’re missing the literal low-hanging fruit of bolstering urban forests, dozens of sc

When rain falls on the RVs that line Big Sandy Creek, it sounds like gunfire. The harder it pours, the louder it gets. But what bothers Ashlee Willis most is how the wind makes them sway. It is so unsettling that she cowers in her camper’s narrow hallway with her two frightened cats, a Taylor Swift blanket stuffed into their carrier in case they have to flee.  It always reminds her of that terrible night in July, when the creek ran so high and so fast that the mobile home Willis lived in

For the past two years, more than a dozen major banks have been not only reneging on their climate commitments, they’ve been actively making the crisis worse.  In 2024 and 2025, during the leadup to President Donald Trump’s second inauguration, all six of the nation’s largest banks abandoned the Net-Zero Banking Alliance, a voluntary climate coalition, precipitating the Alliance’s complete shutdown in October. Since then, others including Royal Bank of Canada, Scotiabank, HSBC, NatWest,

Tomás Ayala leaps off the side of a small dinghy and into the dark swell of water. His arms slice through the waves like a cutlass as he dives deep into the bay off the southeastern coast of the Puerto Rican island of Culebra. Armed with a spear gun, Ayala swims even deeper as he scans the perimeter of the reef for his target. It doesn’t take long. Mere seconds later, a cloud of blood darkens the water around a large hogfish — proof enough that he found his mark. He snatches up his catch an

No city dealing with a lot of lead pipes spends as much as Chicago does to replace them.  With more than 400,000 lead water service lines, Chicago has the largest known inventory of lead pipes of any city in the country. Officials say replacing each one costs about $31,000 on average — more than six times the Environmental Protection Agency’s national estimate of $4,700 a line. Grist, WBEZ, and Inside Climate News surveyed other cities with the most lead service lines in the country —

Amid the many political casualties of 2025 — mass federal layoffs, shuttered agencies, and clean energy spending cuts — the passing of one of the last decade’s defining political projects went almost entirely unnoticed. On December 31, 2025, the Green New Deal Network, a coalition of climate, labor, and social justice organizations, officially died.  The coalition wasn’t intended to last forever, but its demise was sped up by the political mood that got President Donald Trump reelected i

At first glance, Lent Hill Dairy Farm in Steuben County, New York, looks like most other industrial dairies. There are red buildings that house some 4,000 cows, a staggering manure pit, and two gigantic dome-like structures that serve as anaerobic co-digesters. These giant machines break down manure and local food waste to produce biogas. This renewable natural gas, or RNG, is then typically transported for use as electricity, heating, and fuel. But at Lent Hill, the gas produced isn’t just h

Environmental and Indigenous rights defenders remained among the world’s most targeted human rights advocates in 2025, despite landmark rulings by international courts affirming governments’ obligations to protect both the environment and those who defend it. At least 358 human rights defenders were killed last year, according to a report released last week by Front Line Defenders, a Dublin-based group that provides support for global human rights activists. Nearly a quarter, 84,

France has been preparing for climate-fueled heat waves for more than two decades. In 2003, more than 14,800 people died as summer temperatures hovered above 95 degrees Fahrenheit for two weeks. The devastating event led French policymakers to build one of the world’s most comprehensive heat-resilience programs.  The following year, the French government unveiled a national heat plan that included a four-tiered alert system. When temperatures rise and trigger the highest alert level, aut

It’s been nearly eight years since Congress reauthorized the farm bill, the massive legislative package that funds programs run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. What used to be passed roughly every five years, the farm bill touches nearly every aspect of agricultural production in the U.S. It puts billions toward conservation programs, nutrition assistance, rural development, crop insurance, and climate-smart practices.  But persistent disagreements between lawmakers over these and othe

How Climate Change Gets Under the Skin Gets Under the Skin A warming world is putting pressure on every system in your body. Heat waves, wildfire smoke, infectious diseases, and other health threats amplified by climate change are jeopardizing decades of public hea

Dear Leslie, I work as a civil engineer, and I want to change the way roadway projects are seen, from constant expansion to holistic community-led improvement — but I feel like I don’t have enough traction as an entry-level employee. I am scared I will get sucked into the system as it is now and never effect the change I envision. How do I make sure I don’t fall into this trap?  — A Worried Engineer Submit a question for a future Ask a Climate Therapist column

Serap Erdal stopped at a light pole in Chicago’s Grant Park, pulled out her phone, and began pinching at the screen. Behind her, towering skyscrapers cut into a sunny blue sky as she scanned her palm-sized map of the city. The researcher barely noticed the hum of city buses, cars, and cyclists buzzing around her in the city’s busy downtown. She was working out what was in the cool summer air.      Fixed to the pole above her was one of the city’s new solar-powered air

Beaver Island sits in the middle of the northernmost end of Lake Michigan, about 70 miles from the maritime border with Canada. The forested island, just a little bigger than San Francisco in size, is a popular summer destination for tourists and home to about 600 permanent residents. Getting there requires a boat or plane ride. Getting electricity to the island isn’t as easy. Power comes from mainland Michigan through cables that cross roughly 30 miles of lake bed. Outages are common during

As the impacts of climate change continue to escalate, a growing number of climate scientists and policymakers cite Indigenous lands as a model for their rich biodiversity and effective carbon storage. But that recognition has not always translated into space for Indigenous leaders in climate negotiations, access to climate resilience funding, or enforcement of human rights standards.  That has been the case for decades. But the problems do not stop there. New research shows that approac

After the world’s largest producer of wood pellets built what it called a state-of-the-art biomass facility near Ruby Bell’s home in Faison, North Carolina, she started organizing. Bell told her residents about the potential impacts, and tried to prevent the company from adding to the area’s environmental burden. It has been an uphill climb.   The retired educator recalls the day that the reality of the effects set in. She had spent the afternoon talking to residents about their exp

The crisis on the Colorado River is simple: The seven Western states that border the essential waterway use more water than it contains. Chronic overuse has drained its two largest reservoirs, Lake Powell and Lake Mead, and a two-decade drought cycle has pushed them to the point of collapse.  The dream solution to this crisis is an agreement among all involved to use less water. Such a deal would decide who must reduce consumption, which means asking which cities would ban irrigating law

Just a few weeks ago, the Trump administration said it was going to pull hundreds of scientific instruments out of ocean waters near the Pacific Northwest, North Carolina, and the Irminger Sea, south of Greenland. It was part of the administration’s plan to roll back funding from a multimillion dollar research program dedicated to studying complex ocean and planetary dynamics, including climate change.  Then, last week, it put the brakes on that decision. The National Science Foundation

On a humid Thursday morning, the Ramathibodi Poison Center in Bangkok thrums with activity. Four staff members field roughly 130 emergency hotline calls every day. By 11 a.m., they have already answered 42. Some callers are worried they’ve consumed something toxic. Others are medical students seeking advice on treating overdose patients. But every day, several physicians call from across Thailand looking for advice on treating snakebite victims.  The nurses, pharmacists, and paramedics f