"One of the main agencies that rates the creditworthiness of big borrowers, including cities and corporations, has brought on board a data firm specializing in climate risks. It's a signal that rating agencies are paying more attention to global warming and its impact in the financial markets."
"U.S. coastal cities face billions of dollars in costs for the extensive infrastructure projects needed to protect against rising seas and worsening storms. From Boston to Miami, government officials are only beginning to grasp the enormous expense of what will be required."
"European climate researchers said Monday that last month was the hottest July — and thus the hottest month — ever recorded, slightly eclipsing the previous record-holder, July 2016."
"A top climate scientist quit USDA, following others who say Trump has politicized science." "One of the nation’s leading climate change scientists is quitting the Agriculture Department in protest over the Trump administration’s efforts to bury his groundbreaking study about how rice is losing nutrients because of rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere."
The latest Inside Story column takes a look at how one reporter turned a series of complex policy stories on renewable energy and pollution into an accessible, localized narrative — and in the process won a Society of Environmental Journalists’ explanatory reporting award. A Q&A about the project with Baltimore Sun’s Scott Dance.
For environmental journalists covering this summer’s record-high temperatures, finding accurate data on local temperature extremes is key. Our latest Reporter’s Toolbox helps you locate the source of local data via the National Weather Service, then walks you through how to pinpoint your area’s numbers for high temperatures and for heat-related extremes.
"In early July, Bangladesh became the first country to grant all of its rivers the same legal status as humans. From now on, its rivers will be treated as living entities in a court of law. The landmark ruling by the Bangladeshi Supreme Court is meant to protect the world's largest delta from further degradation from pollution, illegal dredging and human intrusion."
"Pollution has plagued this Birmingham, Alabama, neighborhood for decades. Will anything ever change?"
"About half a million acres of land in the rural Yazoo backwater area in Mississippi is underwater, a devastating blow for a poor region where agriculture is the economy’s lifeblood".
"Nestled in the foothills of Washington’s Cascade Mountains, the bustling Seattle suburb of Issaquah seems an unlikely candidate for anxiety over wildfires."
