"Billionaire presidential candidates Michael Bloomberg and Tom Steyer are leaning into climate change as a campaign issue to stand out in a crowded Democratic field."
"The 2020 election could be a pivotal moment for the oil industry in Texas, and thus the rest of the U.S. energy sector."
"The plastic shopping bag has long been hunted by state and local policymakers pushing for its extinction. But still it thrives, thanks to the deep-pocketed chemical industry that birthed it and the political influence of retailers and restaurants. Only eight states ban single-use plastic bags. Nearly twice as many have laws protecting them."
"Mayflies, which form swarms in the billions that are visible on weather radar, are in steep decline, mirroring the plight of insects worldwide."
"People fleeing immediate danger due to the climate crisis cannot be forced to return home, the UN has said."
"Humanity will have given up on planet Earth if world leaders cannot reach an agreement this year to stop the mass extinction of wildlife and destruction of life-supporting ecosystems, the United Nation’s new biodiversity chief has warned."
"The Bureau of Land Management is preparing to overhaul grazing regulations, including how it addresses scofflaw ranchers on public lands."
"President Donald Trump on Tuesday warned the international community against heeding the advice of environmental activists — dismissing them as fear-mongering “prophets of doom” who will cripple global economies and strip away individual liberties in what he described as a misguided mission to save the planet."
"Greta Thunberg on Tuesday punched a hole in the promises emerging from a forum of the global political and business elite and offered instead an ultimatum: Stop investing in fossil fuels immediately, or explain to your children why you did not protect them from the “climate chaos” you created."
Despite warnings that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency would be dismantled under the Trump administration, it remains very much alive, thanks to the realities of politics and litigation. Yet its staffing, enforcement and science advisory roles remain under the gun. In the latest of our Backgrounders for the “2020 Journalists’ Guide to Energy & Environment,” we read the tea leaves on the future of the EPA.
