Tabla de contenidos para The 2025 Environment Edition en The Goodnewspaper

THE FUTURE IS STILL IN OUR HANDS. We invite you to color in the front cover, based on your vision of a brighter climate future. As someone who has a lot of anxiety about a lot of things, I know that the fear surrounding climate change is some of the most visceral. I feel it in my body in a way that feels even more primal and acute than other things that trigger my nervous system. My skin sweats when it’s extraordinarily hot outside. My nose can smell smoke in the air during wildfire season. My stiff joints know it’s time for winter to come to a close already, darn it! But despite the immense discomfort these things bring me, I also know that they are my body’s way of…

Climate change is a threat for us all, but its impact disproportionately affects non-white populations. Racial inequalities stem from generations of injustice and colonization and continute to harm BIPOC communities today. Climate justice is a movement that seeks to rectify those inequities, with the goals of reducing unequal harms of climate change, producing equitable benefits from climate solutions, and including affected communities in decisionmaking processes. Unfortunately, most people who are concerned about climate change remain unfamiliar with climate justice goals. But there is hope in turning the tide. In a study by the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, published in early 2025, only about onethird of Americans had heard about climate justice. But after reading a description of climate justice goals, many more Americans said they support climate justice…

In 2022, Hawaii shut down its last remaining coal plant, which removed 180 megawatts of fossil-fueled power from Oahu’s grid. The state was the first in the nation to commit to ending the burning of fossil fuels for electricity by 2045. In its place is now the Kapolei Energy Storage system, which began commercial operations at the end of 2024. While the battery can’t directly replace the coal plant’s production, working alongside the island’s solar sector, it has proven capable of filling the former plant’s role. Plus, Kapolei reacts far more quickly than the coal plant and absorbs power back from the grid to store for later use. It also includes a “black-start capability.” This means that, in the event of a disaster like a cyclone or an earthquake that…

The world’s largest vacuum sits atop a dormant volcano in Hellisheiði, Iceland. As a carbon dioxide capture and storage facility — dubbed “Mammoth” — the vacuum sucks in air and strips out the carbon, sequestering it underground and locking it permanently in stone. According to its manufacturer, Climeworks, the facility has the capacity to pull 36,000 tons of carbon from the air annually. That’s the equivalent of taking 7,800 gas-powered cars off the road for a year. Although it’s not the first facility of its kind, Mammoth is ten times bigger, and more efficient, than its predecessor, Orca. “What we did at Mammoth relative to Orca is that we cut down the number of steps … which now helps us ensure that more of the carbon that we capture actually…

A popular screening method for movies, the Bechdel Test, is getting a climate-focused facelift. The Bechdel Test was first coined in 1985 when cartoonist Alison Bechdel created a comic strip that proposed new criteria to measure films. A movie passes the test if it includes at least two women characters who talk to each other about something other than a man. Now the nonprofit Good Energy has created a similar test to evaluate whether the reality of climate change is being reflected in films and television. A story passes Good Energy’s Climate Reality Check if two conditions are met: Climate change exists in the world and at least one character acknowledges it. It seems easy, but a lot of films fail. Even in films like the disaster flick “2012” —…

As the world continues to experience more frequent and impactful weather-related disasters — often caused and intensified by climate change — it’s clear we all need to be prepared for when our own realities may be affected. However, it can be easy to descend into a spiral of hypervigilance and ultra-preparedness, or conversely, debilitating fear. We’re here to tell you that there is indeed a balanced middle ground! Being prepared is a gift to your future self, as well as a strategic action for your current self. Once you know you have what you need, you can both take solace in that small amount of personal agency — and have more energy to act when you really need it. Plus, the better prepared you are, the more resources are available…

In 2023, Italian climate researcher Gianluca Grimalda took the road less traveled. When tasked with conducting climate change research in Papua New Guinea, Grimalda opted out of flying — and instead “slow traveled” there from Europe, by train, cargo ship, ferry, and car. The journey there took 35 days, but the 28,000-kilometer trip back — which was complicated by visa deferrals and unexpected volcanic activity — took two months. When he finally returned to his office in Europe, he was promptly fired. Despite his arduous journey and subsequent dismissal, Grimalda estimates that he reduced his greenhouse gas emissions tenfold by opting out of plane travel. It wasn’t until February 2025 that Grimalda received monetary compensation for unfair dismissal. “[I’m] sad because I lost a job I loved,” he told Euronews.…

For many of us, anxiety and depression stemming from the climate crisis have become nearly ubiquitous with the plight of modern life. We deliver quippy one-liners about the world being on fire, share memes about how “cooked” we are amid these perilous “end times,” and perhaps most disturbingly, feel completely incapable of doing anything about it. But while this prevailing theme is unsettling, it also echoes a silver lining: We aren’t alone in these feelings. “For us, mental health isn’t just about individuals,” Jhonatan Yuditya Pratama, an Indigenous ambassador from Borneo said last year at a conference for Connecting Climate Minds, a global research project that seeks to understand the links between climate change and mental health. “It’s about the collective well-being of our communities and the land itself,” Pratama…

Aptly-named, The Climate Museum brands itself as “a museum for everyone wondering: ‘What can I do about climate change?’” Founded in 2015, the nonprofit museum works to inspire action through arts and cultural programming, reaching over 100,000 people in the past decade. Following a number of pop-up locations and shows, it will now have a permanent three-story home in Manhattan, set to open in 2029. “This permanent, year-round space will make our signature, interactive arts and cultural programming more accessible to more people,” Miranda Massie, founder and director of The Climate Museum, said in a press release. “Ultimately, this means more climate dialogue and action — moving us closer to a safe and just future.” In the meantime, the museum’s free programming will continue in pop-ups and an interim location…

GOOD Know what’s going on in your area! The National Center for Science Education tracks climate change education bills across the country. Check out its interactive map at ncse.ngo/catalyzing-action/action-news BETTER Donate to Climate Generation, a network of youth, educators, and activists making it easier for teachers to teach about climate change through training, toolkits, and policy. climategen.org BEST Let your state officials know you support climate change education by calling them or testifying in legislative committee hearings for a particular bill. Visit myreps.datamade.us to find your local representatives.…

GOOD Explore the Energy Saver Guide, a comprehensive document with tips and recommendations for renters and homeowners alike to save energy —and money —at home. energy.gov/energysaver/energy-saver BETTER Check out no or low-cost energy efficiency tips to make your home more affordable and sustainable. From insulation to laundry, you can reduce your footprint with ease. ggg.news/articles/sustainable-home WHAT'S THIS? THIS IS THE GOOD BAR. We believe in celebrating good and then joining in to make a difference. The Good Bar is full of advice from the Good Good Good community on how to take action. Start small and work your way up. BEST If you are able, invest in clean energy! Solar and wind energy systems and heat pumps are becoming more accessible for residential use. energy.gov/energysaver/residential-renewable-energy…

Scientists believe that an aquatic single-celled organism known as UTEX 3222 — cheekily nicknamed “Chonkus” — could be our newest ally in cleaning up carbon emissions. The fast-growing cyanobacterium, which guzzles down light and carbon dioxide using specialized compartments, was first identified by microbiologist Braden Tierney on an underwater expedition off the coast of Sicily. After taking samples of seawater from the mouths of volcanic vents, Tierney and his team got help from the scientific nonprofit Align to Innovate to identify their deep ocean treasures. “There’s more and more excitement about isolating new organisms,” Tierney told Grist. Upon closer examination, Chonkus immediately set itself apart from other algae-like organisms. “When you grow a culture of bacteria, it looks like broth and the bacteria are very dilute in the culture. But…

It’s easy to fall into the mental trap that eating meat-free meals, sorting recyclables, and carpooling doesn’t do a whole lot to move the needle on the climate crisis. But according to a recent report from Project Drawdown — a nonprofit dedicated to advancing climate solutions “as quickly, safely, and equitably as possible” — individual and household actions hold a lot more power than expected. Small, collective actions like taking public transit and installing LED lights have the potential to produce about 25 to 30% of the reductions in greenhouse gas emissions needed to avoid the most dangerous impacts of climate change. “Helping solve climate change is a collective act, and each of us has a set of levers for changing the systems around us,” wrote the study’s lead authors…

In 2012, law and public policy expert Tiza Mafira noticed a gap between growing environmental issues and the way her clients approached them. “People were talking about plastic pollution and recycling, but nobody was talking about plastic prevention,” Mafira told Yale Environment 360. “I thought, ‘There’s potential to regulate plastics before they become waste, not after.’” That same year, Mafira began collecting signatures for an online petition to charge one-to-two-cent fees for plastic bags in her home country of Indonesia. After raking in more than 70,000 signatures, 27 cities adopted Mafira’s pledge for a three-month trial. “One of the best days of my life was when the trial ended,” Mafira recalled. “One of the cities — Banjarmasin, in South Kalimantan — said, ‘It’s been surprisingly easy, and we think the…

Sometimes it feels like climate progress is an endless uphill battle. At a time when a lot of world leaders, governments, and corporations seem not to share our sense of urgency, there are still people putting the work in, knocking on doors, and shaking corporations by the shoulders to say, “Do better.” These recent climate wins are proof of that activism in action. 1. 2,000 Swiss Women Prevail In Landmark Human Rights Case The group KlimaSeniorinnen Schweiz — which translates to Senior Women for Climate Protection Switzerland — is comprised entirely of women activists all over the age of 64. Collectively, they sued Switzerland for inadequate climate policies. And they won. Their case was first brought forward in November 2016. Last April, after eight years of litigation, the court found…

According to research from The Lancet, 84% of 16- to 25-year-olds globally currently experience climate anxiety. College campuses are a place where anxiety is alchemizing into action in real-time. At the University of California, a new course — Climate Resilience: Transforming Climate Distress to Action — teaches students to shift their mindsets with science-backed support. Pupils hear lectures from climate leaders and work through a series of exercises to better manage their stress and anxiety. It’s been so successful that it will be offered at 10 UC campuses in the coming months. “There’s an arc or a process for leading people out of these kind of dark inner worlds, where they feel alone and separate, toward a more illuminated view of reality,” Elissa Epel, a stress researcher at UC San…

Every U.S. presidential administration introduces new policy changes to the country’s biggest sectors, including healthcare, manufacturing, energy, agriculture, and more — and the environment is not immune to the influences of the White House. But even as climate policies ebb and flow on a federal level, subnational support for climate progress remains strong and steadfast. When the (first) Trump administration withdrew from the Paris Agreement in 2017, more than 4,000 mayors, governors, university presidents, and business leaders formed the America Is All In movement — a coalition committed to meeting the emissions reduction target set by the international treaty. A 2019 study found that this localized “bottom-up” approach to leadership from towns, cities, states, and businesses could reduce the nation’s emissions by up to 37% by 2030, with or without…

In September of 2024, the city of Linhares, Brazil granted legal rights to the waves at the mouth of the Doce River, which runs into the country’s Atlantic coast, giving the area the “intrinsic right to existence, regeneration, and restoration,” according to Hakai Magazine. This means that the waves should continue to form naturally and the water must be clean. The move comes after the 2015 collapse of the Fundão dam, which resulted in gallons of waste from an iron mine being poured into the Doce River. The sludge built up at the mouth of the waterway, weakening its waves. Restoration only began in 2022 after a flood cleared the buildup. The law will require Linhares to protect the physical shape of the river, as well as the ecological cycles…

Forests around the world have fallen victim to fire and drought, and the lush laurel trees of the Canary Islands are no exception. “In recent years the Canaries have undergone a severe process of desertification and we’ve lost a lot of forest through agriculture,” environmentalist Gustavo Viera told The Guardian. “And then in 2007 and 2009, as a result of climate change, there were major fires in forested areas that are normally wet.” As the technical director of Life Nieblas, a publicly funded water collection project, Viera and his team have been at the forefront of “cloud-milking ” — a zero-energy technique that uses a netting of metal pins to collect condensation from low-hanging fog. “We needed to solve the problem of the fragility of the netting while minimizing the…

GOOD Follow people at the forefront of good climate news like Alaina Wood (@itsthegarbagequeen), Jacob Simon (@jacobsimonsays), and Sam Bentley (@sambentley) on Instagram. BETTER Sign up to receive the Inside Climate News email newsletter. The Pulitzer Prize-winning, nonpartisan outlet sends independent climate news straight to your inbox. insideclimatenews.org/newsletter BEST Subscribe to and financially support Climate Central, a nonprofit and independent newsroom that funds vital peer-reviewed research on climate change impacts and solutions. Donate at giving.climatecentral.org…

01 Nyad: Diana Nyad’s (Annette Bening) history-making swim from Cuba to Florida is interrupted by a box jellyfish, which is miles offshore from its normal habitat. “Global warming,” surmises Bonnie Stoll (Jodie Foster). 02 Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One: Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) talks climate change with Eugene Kittridge (Henry Czerny), who says the next world war will be over “drinkable water” and “breathable air.” 03 Don’t Look Up: This satirical climate allegory centers on two scientists (Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence) as they desperately try to warn the world about an extinction-level event.…

Eddie Ahn is not just an environmental justice lawyer — he’s also a self-taught artist. In 2024, the Korean-American activist wrote and illustrated “Advocate: A Graphic Memoir of Family, Community, and the Fight for Environmental Justice.” “I think one theme in the book is essentially my cheerfulness around work, being willing to do it all and then of course, recognizing there are limits to that, too, that one person can only do so much as well,” Ahn told EcoWatch. “I’m trying to explain nonprofit work and even what it means to work against something as catastrophic as climate change.” Ahn’s artwork can also be found wrapped around the sides of ten utility boxes throughout San Francisco. “I’ve been surprised they’ve lasted this long,” Ahn said of the vinyl art, which…

Extreme Weather Survivors is a nationwide community that connects people who have been directly harmed by “unnatural” disasters like extreme wildfires, floods, heat, deadly air pollution, drought, and hurricanes. In the face of disaster or tragedy, the group fosters “peer-to-peer” connections and “disaster mentorship,” to help people get the support they need, both logistically and emotionally. Once community members are ready, they can turn their experiences into storytelling and advocacy opportunities to fight climate change and build resilient communities. In the fall of 2024, EWS teamed up with nonpartisan advocacy organization Science Moms and All Hands and Hearts, a disaster relief nonprofit, for a storytelling campaign. Airing advertisements across social media, broadcast TV, and streaming services, the project featured real people impacted by climate disasters. “We want to just flat…

A similar approach has come to pass with the help of eco-chaplains, who lead group healing circles — both with and without spiritual or religious ties. Consisting of breathing exercises, guided conversations, and even colorful “climate feelings” wheels, these group sessions adapt the tenets of disaster, spiritual, and hospital chaplains to help people move through unimaginable feelings. “They are asking how do we deal with regret, with complicity, with lament, with saying goodbye to species,” Rev. Alison Cornish told NPR of her colleagues. “They are creating rituals that honor all of those.” Eco-chaplains connect with diverse groups; some who are retired, others who are just beginning careers in climate policy and science. Julia DaSilva, a 25-year-old climate activist in Canada, has focused on fossil fuel divestment during her college years.…