climate change
January 28, 2020 -
With Southern states' monopoly electric utilities clinging to a business model that's worsening the climate crisis, polluting the environment, and costing consumers dearly, there's growing interest in opening markets to competition. While a ballot initiative to end Florida's electricity monopoly was recently rejected by the state Supreme Court, there are efforts underway to end Virginia's monopoly system and to study the question in the Carolinas.
September 27, 2019 -
The North Carolina-based company recently released an updated climate plan promising "net-zero" carbon emissions by 2050. But Duke is clinging to coal decades longer than climate advocates say it should while pressing ahead with polluting fracked gas projects that could soon be economically unfeasible.
September 12, 2019 -
The more intense hurricanes now developing due to human-driven global warming are causing widespread pain throughout the U.S. South. But current policy choices mean some communities suffer more than others — and that environmental injustice will be among the topics addressed during this month's climate strike and U.N. climate summit.
September 9, 2019 -
Neil Jacobs, the federal agency's acting head, was reportedly one of the people behind its controversial statement that attempted to lend credibility to the president's incorrect claim that the storm would impact Alabama. He was assisted by Julie Kay Roberts, the NOAA chief of staff and communications director who previously worked for the Trump campaign.
August 30, 2019 -
Despite record global temperatures and near-unanimity among climate scientists that human activity is to blame, the North Carolina-based John Locke Foundation continues to cast doubt on the science of global warming and to stymie efforts to address the problem through public policy — and mainstream media outlets keep boosting its message and lending it credibility.
July 3, 2019 -
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has been researching how the climate crisis will affect farming, but it's withheld the findings from the public. That's just one example of how the Trump administration is making it harder for farmers across the South — a region especially vulnerable to climate change — to prepare for a warming world.
June 21, 2019 -
This month Michael Bloomberg announced the Beyond Carbon campaign, which aims to permanently shift the U.S. away from coal and natural gas and toward renewable energy. The initiative dovetails with efforts in Southern states to move toward more sustainable energy options and comes as the Trump administration rolls back rules on coal plant pollution.