"Environmental activist Erin Brockovich has a new mission: bringing more transparency to data center construction and the impact those data centers have on nearby communities. Brockovich — who was famously played by Julia Roberts in a film dramatizing her legal case against Pacific Gas & Electric — recently launched a website with a map of data centers across the United States."
"A pair of House Democrats is asking a congressional watchdog to probe the Trump administration’s disaster declarations after high-profile denials of disaster aid requests."
"A judge has temporarily stopped the National Science Foundation from removing the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder from its leadership of the NCAR-Wyoming Supercomputing Center in Cheyenne."
With 2026 shaping up to be an exceptional El Niño year, expect lots of record-breaking heat waves and other extreme weather. But climate change will also contribute. Explaining the role of both is essential to complete coverage. Journalist Ethan Brown shares tips and resources for using climate attribution science as a powerful reporting tool. Plus, five questions to ask while covering the next extreme climate event.
"In the next five years, the Earth is overwhelmingly likely to surge again and again past the international climate threshold set as safe and shatter its hottest-year record along the way, according to new United Nations climate projections."
"Public utility commissions have a ton of influence over utility rate hikes and power plant construction, but only a handful of states let voters decide who’s on them."
"As Staci Hartwell sees it, her community has much more to lose than to gain from the development of a massive data center."
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
First, the good news: A new analysis of global wildfire activity in 2025 shows that the year had the second-lowest area burned since 2002.
But at the same time, the study also revealed that the world experienced some of the most destructive and deadly fire events in recent history, including the catastrophic Los Angeles fires of January 2025 that killed dozens and burned over 12,000 homes.
"President Donald Trump said new regulatory rollbacks on chemical refrigerants will reduce the prices consumers pay for groceries and will not impact the environment. However, U.S. chemical, refrigeration and air-conditioning manufacturers said the changes will raise prices and his administration’s own projections show that greenhouse gas pollution will increase."
"In the latest action to undo Biden-era regulations on climate change, the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday proposed repealing a rule that requires some public companies to report their greenhouse gas emissions and the risks they face from global warming."
