Source: Union of Concerned Scientists From Assessment to Action A cumulative impacts approach to environmental protection can lead to better policies and better outcomes. But cumulative impacts analysis is not the destination—it’s the way we get from evidence to effective action. If we want cumulative impacts to change conditions on the ground, we need to change the way we talk about them—and who we talk to. The Union of Concerned Scientists recently released Unfinished Busin

Source: Union of Concerned Scientists How We Unlock the Huge Solar Potential in Massachusetts’ Environmental Justice Communities Massachusetts has tremendous solar potential in environmental justice neighborhoods: enough to power all of the Commonwealth’s nearly three million homes. Activating this resource is key to fulfilling the state’s decarbonization and affordability goals. This is particularly vital as energy costs have become an everyday point of discussion for Massac

Source: Union of Concerned Scientists While most of us were prepping for the holiday season by baking cookies or readying ourselves for time with family, President Trump had different plans: just days before the end of the year, he issued a broad work-stoppage order against every major offshore wind project under construction. The cost of his latest attack on the industry, especially at the onset of a particularly cold winter? Less reliable power and higher prices for famili

Source: Union of Concerned Scientists Our Energy Sources Should Evolve Too Data centers for AI are driving huge increases in electrical load, and there’s currently not enough power on the grid to match the projected growth. The Trump administration, having hamstrung solar and wind , is now trying to promote new fossil gas generation as the solution. There is no shortage of reasons to be concerned about this pro-fossil preference—the toxic pollution , the costs of unreliab

Source: Union on Concerned Scientists The Road to True Grid Resilience is Paved With Science and Community Voice Those of us who live in the central United States are all too familiar with extreme weather events and their implications for the electricity that powers our homes and businesses. Off the top of my head, I can think of several storms that cut the power to my home in Wisconsin, including a particularly severe form of thunderstorm called a derecho in June of 2022 .

Source: Union of Concerned Scientists Nations will soon be gathering in Belém, Brazil for the annual UN climate “conference of the parties”— COP30 —against a backdrop of incredibly challenging geopolitical and climate realities. Grossly insufficient action from world leaders has already resulted in worsening climate extreme events and has put the crucial, science-informed goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels out of reach . As I write this, Jam

Source: Union of Concerned Scientists Next week, COP30 —or the UN Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)—returns to my home country of Brazil, in Belém. The UNFCCC is the treaty adopted by most of the world’s countries in 1992 to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations and prevent dangerous human-induced interference with the climate system. Longer ago than I like to think about… I was actually in Brazil for the UN’s C

Source: Union of Concerned Scientists The US government’s move to enact the fossil fuel industry’s agenda by basing climate and energy policy on official disinformation could cause us to despair. As my colleague Carlos Martinez recently wrote, “99% of the peer-reviewed scientific literature substantiates… human-caused climate change and its impacts.” But apparently, we must keep fighting the same lies, misrepresentations, and mischaracterizations—straight out of the dis

Source: Union of Concerned Scientists A Hurricane’s Explosive Growth and Western Wildfires Amid Fresh Climate Naysaying We’ve just...

Source: Union of Concerned Scientists Why More Frequent Wildfires and Extreme Rainfall Are a Particularly Perilous Combo July’s deadly...

Source: Union of Concerned Scientists The true costs of coal, natural gas, and other fossil fuels aren’t always obvious—but their impacts...

Source: Union of Concerned Scientists Attribution science shows us precisely how much climate change is shaping and changing our world....

Source: Union of Concerned Scientists How Major Carbon Producers Drive Sea Level Rise and Climate Injustice Major fossil fuel producers...

Source: Union of Concerned Scientists A Runner’s Quest Through a Changing Landscape In 2022 I visited Glacier National Park for the...

Source: Union of Concerned Scientists Last month, the Pew Research Center released a report on public trust in scientists–overall and,...

Source: Union of Concerned Scientists Five Ways the Fossil Fuel Industry Tries to Co-opt UN Climate COPs The fossil fuel industry’s...

Source: Union of Concerned Scientists How Do You Talk to Children about Climate Change? One Book Has a Few Ideas Science communication is...

Source: Union of Concerned Scientists How to Protect Coastal Infrastructure at Risk from Sea Level Rise A new UCS study released today,...

Source: Union of Concerned Scientists Taking a Lesson from the Tobacco Ad Ban to Shut Down Fossil Fuel Greenwashing When was the last...

Source: Union of Concerned Scientists From Whale Oil to Wind Power: The Fossil Fuel Industry’s Disinformation Is an Ocean of Hypocrisy...