First of all: ceasefire now. The first and most salient reason for ceasefire is that the occupation of Palestine is a gross human rights violation. But yes, it is a environmental violation as well, and that is something worth witnessing and recording because environmental injustice is also a story of human injustice. This round-up provides an overview.
A Collection of Environmental Reporting on Israel’s War on Gaza (EcoFiles, January 26, 2024)
We’re seeing the end of winter here–lots of rain, although I wouldn’t be surprised if we got a little more snow before April.
Ice storms, January downpours, heavy snow, no snow: Diagnosing ‘warming winter syndrome’ (The Conversation, January 25, 2024)
Consumption/consumerism
How America’s Diet Is Feeding the Groundwater Crisis (New York Times, December 24, 2023)
Generative AI’s environmental costs are soaring — and mostly secret (Nature, February 20, 2024)
Details keep emerging on how very much not recyclable plastic is and how many decades the plastic industry absolutely knew that:
‘They lied’: plastics producers deceived public about recycling, report reveals (The Guardian, February 15, 2024)
Plastic recycling is a scam (HEATED, March 1, 2024)
Energy
Why carbon capture isn’t a magic bullet solution to the climate crisis (Marketplace Tech [podcast], January 29, 2024)
The False Promise of Carbon Capture as a Climate Solution (Scientific American, March 1, 2024)
Analysis: World will add enough renewables in five years to power US and Canada (Carbon Brief, January 12, 2024)
Pollution
A chemical disaster occurred almost every day in 2023 (HEATED, January 5, 2024)
A Year Later, the Stream Flowing Under Peoples’ Homes in East Palestine is Still Polluted (February 2, 2024)
“Tesla is a routine, systemic polluter that ignores environmental laws across every aspect of its business.”
It’s The Impunity, Stupid (E. W. Niedermeyer, February 2, 2024)
Revealed: the 1,200 big methane leaks from waste dumps trashing the planet (The Guardian, February 12, 2024)
Justice
“Scientists announced they’re changing the names of birds named after people. Things are about to get complicated.”
Dropping Names (Slate, January 25, 2024)
I always appreciate when climate journalists take the time to explain a little bit about how the sausage gets made. In this case, Amy Westervelt looks at the questionable practice of borrowing and adapting climate stories or storytelling techniques without attribution–which, in addition to failing to recognize the labor of researching and reporting, sometimes introduces errors or misrepresentation.
What If Climate Media Stopped Being Extractive? (January 27, 2024)
Encouragement
Four case studies of communities or groups who took on big climate issues and succeeded:
Yes, climate activism can win (HEATED, January 11, 2024)
Rebecca Solnit: Slow Change Can Be Radical Change (Lit Hub, January 11, 2024)
We are late bending the climate change curve – but bending it still matters (Highly Allochthonous, January 16, 2024)
Hurricane Idalia shows nature may provide the best shoreline protection (NPR, February 15, 2024)
For fun
A charming essay about a stewarded trail, segueing into reflection about public versus private space.
The Gnome Trail (Culture Study, February 4, 2024)
Grist Magazine released the winning stories of their 2024 contest for hopeful climate fiction!
Rewilding Our Stories, a community for ecofiction readers and writers, is doing a reading challenge this year: 24 books with environmental themes in 2024. You can follow along with our prompts in Storygraph, or join us on Discord for the discussion. I’ve really loved the monthly forums–some folks summarize their nonfiction reading, which has been useful and interesting, and of course it’s great to see what titles people select for the different categories. It’s not too late to join, if you’re interested–you don’t have to read 24 books this year to get something out of the experience.
If you’re looking for ecofiction inspo for the challenge, you might like the podcast FutureVerse. in which the hosts talk to climate fiction authors about the future.
Sara Davis 