Climate Change

Fellow Frances Roberts-Gregory has a confession to make: She does not drive or own a car. For her, this approach is a part of a strategy to equip herself emotionally for inevitable future changes. The approach is also a part of her strategy to build deeper connections with her neighbors and colleagues so that she might survive the breakdown of systems and governance that she believes is likely to result from climate change.

Permitting of linear oil and gas pipeline projects involves complex processes undertaken by a range of parties that are each working to address specific regulatory goals and requirements. In recent years, the growth of the natural gas industry has expanded pipeline development into states unaccustomed to pipeline permitting and has increased the number of permits necessitating review by states and tribes. While this growth is a critical economic driver, it comes with challenges.

Fellow John Berger published a full-length feature on decarbonizing the United States in Sustain Europe, a semiannual magazine and website promoting responsible solutions to ensure long term climate protection. The article features an interview with David Freeman, one of the most knowledgable energy and utility policy experts in the U.S. Download the article (PDF, < 1 MB)

In a new opinion piece in The New York Times, Fellow Frank Lowenstein and colleagues argue that trees are some of our best allies in solving the climate crisis.

Editor's note: Fellow Kevin Kennedy has published a report, Putting a Price on Carbon: Evaluating A Carbon Price and Complementary Policies for a 1.5° World, for the World Resources Institute website. Read the Executive Summary and download the full report.

Illinois’ largest electric utility is trying a new approach to its energy efficiency programs for low- and moderate-income customers: working with community action agencies.

When the sun sets on the human race, and the cause of death isn’t an asteroid scorching the Earth, whoever or whatever comes after our kind might uncover the documents that defined us—the Magna Carta, any number of national constitutions and international treaties, classic works of fiction. And more recently, that canon has come to include a series of special reports from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC, warning of the unfolding catastrophe we’ve created for ourselves.

The most recent IPCC report on the ocean and cryosphere is among dozens released during the last 30 years, but its message is the most bold and urgent to date: If the world’s nations do not act with urgency, we – and future generations – will suffer from these changes. What can we do?, asks Fellow Cassandra Brooks.

Fellow Ayana Elizabeth Johnson spoke at the September 20th Climate Strike in New York City where, she says, "I was the oldest person to address a gloriously large and diverse crowd."