Grist

What's at stake for energy and climate this election season? Join Grist and Interlochen Public for Michigan’s Energy Future: Affordability and Climate Resilience, a live virtual conversation exploring the challenges facing Michigan and the decisions shaping its energy future. 🎤 Featuring Vivian La of Grist & Interlochen Public Radio, Daniel Brown of Huron River Watershed Council, and Wenona Singel of MSU Law, moderated by Ellie Katz of IPR. 📅 Tuesday, October 20 | 12:00 p.m. EDT 🔗 Register to join us: https://luma.com/gxrzqjg9 #Climate #Energy #Michigan #ClimateResilience #Affordability

Earlier this month, after a series of stops and starts, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced changes to a long-running program that is supposed to help farmers and rural small businesses stand up renewable energy projects. The new rules effectively make any solar power development ineligible for funding through the Rural Energy for America Program, or REAP. It’s the latest of multiple rollbacks by the second Trump administration that advocates say are essentially making the program unusable. Installing solar systems on farmland can cost tens of thousands of dollars upfront, which many agricultural producers may not have or may be reluctant to spend, given their low profit margins. REAP has long provided financial support to farmers to build out renewable energy systems on their land. These projects often provide multiple benefits to participants. First, they can help lower utility bills for agricultural producers and rural businesses by providing their operations with additional power. But farmers and business owners are also able to sell excess energy back to the grid. By cutting costs or padding revenue, these systems can be a lifeline at a time when farmers are facing escalating costs for things like fertilizer, fuel, labor, and seeds, making it difficult to make ends meet. Read more: https://lnkd.in/g7GhGpEQ

We are thrilled to share that Grist has picked up two National Edward R. Murrow Awards! The first goes out to the entire Grist team for winning the General Excellence award in the Small Digital Organization category. This award celebrates the work of our entire newsroom. And a special congratulations goes to Grist's Sachi Mulkey for winning Best Hard News for her piece on Trump's attacks on science during his first 100 days in office. Thank you, Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA).

Climate change is terrible. But working on the solutions could be delightful. Our fantastic Climate Week NYC event featured a live Science Friday taping with Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson. In this clip, alongside host Flora Lichtman, Ayana talks about why we need to do a better job explaining that climate solutions can be fun and gratifying — and pitches a new tagline for climate work. Listen to the full conversation soon on the Science Friday podcast. This event took place at Symphony Space and was supported by Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), The Wilderness Society, Alnoba Lewis Family Foundation, and University of Washington College of the Environment

What Brightline's bankruptcy tells us about the future of passenger rail: https://lnkd.in/gdUbYSqE

The words “harm” and “take” are at the core of what has made the Endangered Species Act so effective. Here’s an example that shows why: Decades of logging in the Pacific Northwest had eliminated much of the forest habitat of the northern spotted owl. But after the species was listed under the act in 1990, cutting down those trees was considered to be harming the owl, and therefore illegally “taking” it. Some animals listed as endangered in recent decades have received additional “critical habitat protections,” that provide an extra layer of scrutiny. But those listed during the Endangered Species Act’s early years — like the Florida panther and the California sea otter — rely entirely on the broader language in the law, like “harm” and “take.” But the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says that it now considers it legal to kill a federally protected animal (to “take” it under the language of the Endangered Species Act), as long as it wasn’t on purpose. A rule also went into effect this month saying that damaging an animal’s habitat is no longer considered “harming” it. Read more: https://lnkd.in/e9WtdthA

On Tuesday, the day after Labor Day, a small band of activists marched past the gates of a sprawling plant nursery in Leicester, North Carolina, outside of Asheville. Their petition calls on Costa Farms to ensure that plant nursery workers have sufficient protections from extreme heat, including access to water, shade, and paid breaks. The activists were taking part in a multi-state action organized by WeCount, a worker-led labor and human rights group, targeting the five cities in the U.S. where Costa Farms, the world’s largest grower of indoor houseplants, operates nurseries. Planting Justice, WeCount’s new campaign to protect outdoor workers across the South, aims to bring corporations like Costa Farms to the table and create consumer awareness around where their plants come from — and the human cost of growing them. Read more: https://lnkd.in/gMkzW5Yi

Wendell Berry made his choices and stuck to them. He did not have a computer or a smartphone. He wrote more than 50 books of poetry, fiction, and essays, mostly with a pencil and paper, from his farmhouse in Henry County, Kentucky. By the time of his passing last week, the 92-year-old had lived many lives — as a farmer, teacher, philosopher, environmental activist — and inspired several generations of writers, farmers, and advocates in turn. From these varying perspectives, Berry grappled with humanity and the natural world. His answer to the fundamental question of how to live right was to start small — to revere the Earth’s endless beauty, and to work a little, each day, to reverse the harm we’ve caused. Only the hard work of tending the land and learning its rhythms again can heal it, he believed. In coming into relationship with the smallest handful of earth, you can understand what it means to fight for change almost too enormous to fathom. To Berry, by tending a sprouted seedling in the ground, you can recognize you are it, and it is you. Read more: https://lnkd.in/gDxV-Tbg

KERA – North Texas Public Broadcasting and Grist are pleased to announce the hire of reporter Celeste Guajardo to cover the impacts of climate change in North and West Texas, from worsening extreme weather to shifting energy systems and economies. “I am thrilled to be working in my home state again,” Guajardo said. “Given my career first began in North Texas, it’s fitting for me to now cover critical climate stories in this region.” The hire marks the continued expansion of Grist’s Local News Initiative, which aims to bolster coverage of climate change in communities across the United States through partnerships with local newsrooms. https://lnkd.in/gUYGRjrq

You good? Making NYC green and affordable, that's the question we're asking live at Climate Week NYC. On Wednesday, Sept 23, Grist is teaming up with Climate One for a live recording of their nationally distributed radio show/podcast at Symphony Space. The conversation cuts straight to a tension a lot of us feel in this work. Decarbonization and affordability are too often framed as trade-offs, when the real failure is designing climate policy that leaves people behind. On stage: Louise Yeung, NYC's Chief Climate Officer Daphany Rose Sanchez, grassroots leader (G50 '19) Jake Bittle, Grist reporter Hosted by Kousha Navidar of Climate One, and Rachel Bouton at Grist More deets. Symphony Space, 250 West 95th Street Wed, Sept 23 at 2PM Register: https://lnkd.in/gfsXAWxS #ClimateWeekNYC #Climate #JustTransition #Affordability