Environmental Issues

The director of the Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change, Vishal Prasad (2nd R), speaks to the media in The Hague on July 23, 2025. The world’s highest court on July 23 declared that states have a legal obligation to tackle climate change and that failing to do so was a “wrongful act” that could open the door to reparations.

The World Court Adds Muscle to the Climate Fight The World Court Adds Muscle to the Climate Fight

After a “landmark” ruling from the International Court of Justice, journalists can expect more lawsuits against fossil fuel companies.

Jul 31, 2025 / Mark Hertsgaard

People wade in the waters of the Great Salt Lake at Antelope Island in August 2021.

The Great Salt Lake Is a Ticking Time Bomb The Great Salt Lake Is a Ticking Time Bomb

Retreating water levels are exposing stretches of cracked, arsenic-laden lakebed in Utah. Future dust storms will carry an extra hazard.

Jul 29, 2025 / StudentNation / Adelaide Parker

Premature babies receive care in an incubator at Al-Helou Hospital, where they are at risk due to fuel shortages, in Gaza City, on July 17, 2025.

Desperate for Fuel in Gaza Desperate for Fuel in Gaza

An extraordinary eyewitness report reveals that food isn’t the only thing Palestinians are starved of. Fuel is almost as scarce.

Jul 24, 2025 / Mark Hertsgaard

Vanuatu's Climate Change Minister Ralph Regenvanu, center, delivers a speech ahead of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) session tasked with issuing the first advisory opinion on states’ legal obligations to address climate change in The Hague on July 23, 2025.

How Climate Justice Reached the UN’s Top Court—and Won How Climate Justice Reached the UN’s Top Court—and Won

The International Court of Justice’s ruling that countries have a legal duty to curb climate change was the result of a yearslong campaign that began with university students.

Jul 23, 2025 / Panthea Lee

A woman in a dark coat walks by a Dollar General store in New York City

This Viral Speech Shows How We Win Back Rural America This Viral Speech Shows How We Win Back Rural America

Voters aren’t tuning out because they don’t care. They’re tuning out because they’ve been exhausted by fake choices, sold out by both parties, and tired of inauthenticity.

Jul 18, 2025 / Kaniela Ing

A car is seen part submerged in floodwater in England, 2019.

Americans Are Concerned About Climate Change—but They Should Be Afraid Americans Are Concerned About Climate Change—but They Should Be Afraid

Americans still don’t comprehend how imminent, dangerous, and far-reaching the threat is—and journalists are partly to blame.

Jul 17, 2025 / Mark Hertsgaard

US Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Democrat from Rhode Island, speaks during an interview on Capitol Hill on July 8, 2025, in Washington, DC.

Has the Climate Movement Been Too Polite? This Senator Thinks So. Has the Climate Movement Been Too Polite? This Senator Thinks So.

US Senator Sheldon Whitehouse called on Democrats to stop enabling the fossil fuel industry’s “malevolent propaganda operation.”

Jul 10, 2025 / Mark Hertsgaard

Children's clothes hang on the branch of a tree on the bank of the Guadalupe River near Camp Mystic on July 6, 2025, in Hunt, Texas.

Summer Camp Kids Did Not Have to Die in the Texas Floods Summer Camp Kids Did Not Have to Die in the Texas Floods

The deadly consequences of Trump’s National Weather Service budget cuts.

Jul 7, 2025 / David Dickson and Mark Hertsgaard

Amsterdam climate protest

People Want Climate Action. This Data Shows It. People Want Climate Action. This Data Shows It.

It's an extraordinary popular mandate that extends across partisan divides and national borders.

Jul 3, 2025 / Mark Hertsgaard

Greenpeace activists deploy a giant banner at St. Mark’s Square in Venice on June 23, 2025.

Bezos Does Venice Bezos Does Venice

Back in New York City, Mamdani’s win shows even billionaires don’t always get what they want.

Jul 1, 2025 / Katrina vanden Heuvel

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