Sustainability

US President Donald Trump speaks during a State of the Union address in the House Chamber of the US Capitol in Washington, DC.

The Planet-Sized Hole in Trump’s State of the Union Address The Planet-Sized Hole in Trump’s State of the Union Address

Although climate change received no attention during the president’s speech, Americans must continue to find new ways of making progress against the ongoing environmental crisis.

Feb 26, 2026 / StudentNation / Ilana Cohen

Rowan Wernham and Yasha Levine in San Francisco, 2022.

Want to Understand California’s Water Crisis? Look to the Pistachio. Want to Understand California’s Water Crisis? Look to the Pistachio.

A conversation with the documentarians Rowan Wernham and Yasha Levine about their film Pistachio Wars, a look at how one family came to control much of the state’s water.

Jan 15, 2026 / Q&A / Lara-Nour Walton

Salmon swimming against the current to spawn in the streams in Alaska in August 2025.

The Fight for the Last Wild Salmon The Fight for the Last Wild Salmon

In Alaska, the last stronghold for wild salmon, Native tribes and conservationists are working to save the fish from both climate change and decades of corporate greed.

Dec 18, 2025 / StudentNation / Colin Warren

Capitalism’s Toxic Nature

Capitalism’s Toxic Nature Capitalism’s Toxic Nature

A conversation with Alyssa Battistoni about the essential and contradictory nature of capitalism to the environment and her new book Free Gifts: Capitalism and the Politics of Nat...

Dec 8, 2025 / Books & the Arts / Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins

Students and alumni at Tufts University demonstrate for fossil fuel divestment in April 2015.

Winning a Fossil Fuel Divestment Pledge Is Hard. Keeping It Is Harder. Winning a Fossil Fuel Divestment Pledge Is Hard. Keeping It Is Harder.

Nearly a decade after promising to withdraw millions in fossil fuel investments, the University of Massachusetts has stalled on its clean energy transition. What happened?

Nov 6, 2025 / StudentNation / Eric Ross

Trump’s AI Deregulation Is His Oppenheimer Moment

Trump’s AI Deregulation Is His Oppenheimer Moment Trump’s AI Deregulation Is His Oppenheimer Moment

He has chosen to unleash a powerful and potentially cataclysmic new technology on the world with no regard for consequences.

Oct 20, 2025 / Feature / Michael T. Klare

What Was the Cybertruck?

What Was the Cybertruck? What Was the Cybertruck?

Elon Musk’s car from space offered a vision for a sustainable and autonomous future. All along, it was as awkward, easily bruised, and volatile as the entrepreneur himself.

Oct 16, 2025 / Feature / Maya Vinokour

The water level at Lake Mendocino continues to drop, hitting a record low of 29 percent capacity in June 2021.

We’re Not Ready for a World of Water Scarcity We’re Not Ready for a World of Water Scarcity

Will aquifers become the United States’ strategic reserves, alongside oil reserves and the nuclear weapons we keep in “reserve” to protect our wealth?

Sep 24, 2025 / Frida Berrigan

A group of men engaged in illegal gold mining look for specks of gold in Kibi in southern Ghana.

The Other Side of Trump’s Tariffs: Ghana’s Toxic Gold Rush The Other Side of Trump’s Tariffs: Ghana’s Toxic Gold Rush

As gold prices spike across the globe, illegal mining is exploding—and driving the west African country toward ecological collapse.

Sep 15, 2025 / Feature / Jocelyn C. Zuckerman

AI Water Use Sucks Our Planet Dry

AI Water Use Sucks Our Planet Dry AI Water Use Sucks Our Planet Dry

Computer centers swallow billions of gallons a year.

Aug 13, 2025 / OppArt / Peter Kuper

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