Environmental Politics

"Here's how the fabric went from a "miracle" fiber to TikTok slang for fake."

"Even if you’re not wearing polyester now, it’s probably sitting somewhere in your closet — after all, it is the most ubiquitous fabric for textiles on Earth. Is that bad? 

Judging by social media, the answer is solidly “yes.” Influencers want you to know it’s a form of plastic, fashioned from melted crude oil or PET bottles and extruded into threads. That disgust factor (“ugh, I’m wearing plastic?”) might help explain why “polyester” is now trending as an insult on TikTok.

"A new study suggests that El Niños — the natural climatic chaos agent that pops up periodically and spikes global temperatures — are getting stronger because of human-caused climate change."

"Cooling from air conditioning saves lives — more than 5,000 a year in the United States alone — but it also heats up the planet and taxes our electrical grid, scientists say."

"[T]he EPA is moving forward with revisions to a separate set of Clean Water Act regulations that would limit state and tribal authority over waterways—especially when it comes to weighing in on major energy projects like oil and gas pipelines, export terminals and hydropower dams."

"The Trump administration has rolled out several programs intended to pacify consumers frustrated with high beef prices and ranchers angered by beef imports."

"Almost half of the world’s farmers are poisoned by pesticides every single year, a study has found."

"Thousands of Americans die every year from a chronically underreported cause: heat."

"The Smithsonian Institution announced Monday that it will put its National Museum of the American Latino in a 145-year-old building on the National Mall instead of constructing a new one."

"The White House is reviewing a new proposal to permanently end EPA’s regulation of power plants’ carbon emissions."

"The plastics industry is offering schools curricula that cast plastics as safe, recyclable, and a source of good jobs. Critics say it’s propaganda."