How big is your climate shadow? The concept is emerging to replace the carbon footprint—which critics say is at best time-consuming and, at worst, meaningless.

For more on the Climate Shadow concept from Emma Pattee, check out this related article.

With climate change, rising seas are eroding Hawaii’s coast near homes with cesspools. Sea rise also is pushing the island’s groundwater closer to the surface, allowing the cesspool effluent to mix with the water table and flow into the ocean. And scientists say cesspool pollution may even percolate into streets and parks in low-lying former wetlands in the future.

Entrenched business wisdom says that community-led economic systems are pure fantasy. Douglas Rushkoff disagrees.

So much is happening, both wonderful and terrible – and it matters how we tell it. We can’t erase the bad news, but to ignore the good is the route to indifference or despair

by Rebecca Solnit

Thu 12 Jan 2023 01.00 EST

Every crisis is in part a storytelling crisis. This is as true of climate chaos as anything else. We are hemmed in by stories that prevent us from seeing, or believing in, or acting on the possibilities for change. Some are habits of mind, some are industry propaganda. Sometimes, the situation has changed but the stories haven’t, and people follow the old versions, like outdated maps, into dead ends.

We need to leave the age of fossil fuel behind, swiftly and decisively. But what drives our machines won’t change until we change what drives our ideas. The visionary organiser adrienne maree brown wrote not long ago that there is an element of science fiction in climate action: “We are shaping the future we long for and have not yet experienced. I believe that we are in an imagination battle.”

Five industry leaders discuss affordable housing, climate change, adaptive reuse and a multibillion project coming to O‘ahu.

Thu 24 Mar 2022 06.15 EDT

Last modified on Thu 24 Mar 2022 11.16 EDT

Independent testing of more than 100 packaging products from US restaurant and grocery chains identified PFAS chemicals in many of the wrappers, a Consumer Reports investigation has found.

The potentially dangerous “forever chemicals“were found in food packaging including paper bags for french fries, wrappers for hamburgers, molded fiber salad bowls and single-use paper plates.

Microplastic pollution has been detected in human blood for the first time, with scientists finding the tiny particles in almost 80% of the people tested.

The discovery shows the particles can travel around the body and may lodge in organs. The impact on health is as yet unknown. But researchers are concerned as microplastics cause damage to human cells in the laboratory and air pollution particles are already known to enter the body and cause millions of early deaths a year.

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Six old mining sites owned by the Nature Conservancy will be some of the first utility-scale solar farms in the region — and the nonprofit group hopes the model can be replicated nationwide

The University of Hawaii climate change expert explains why freaking out doesn't help, the need for COP26 to be more inclusive and how lawmakers could make a meaningful difference with increased funding.

The effects of a warming planet are also expected to make it more expensive to safeguard land and water.

The effects of drought and climate change are seen at Hoover Dam, which will soon hold the smallest amount of water since it was filled in the 1930s.

After decades of international pressure by a UN group, leaded gasoline is no longer being produced.