Articles by The Washington Post

Neither Dallas nor Houston has hit 100 degrees yet this year, but in one of the coldest regions of the world, Siberia’s “Pole of Cold,” the mercury climbed to 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit (38 Celsius) on June 20.

Have fun when unpacking and using your farm-fresh produce. Some people say they feel like it’s Christmas. 

The move changes the way the Clean Water Act has been applied for half a century.

Trump’s open hostility toward any action on climate will elevate it to a defining issue in the 2020 campaign.

“It’s a sad reminder of where the world’s former leader on climate change now stands,” one critic said.

The wheels are coming off the Paris accord.

Republican lawmakers in this political moment are carefully contemplating whether and how to address climate change in a way that doesn’t “overwhelmingly disturb their political coalitions.

We are the first generation to feel the sting of climate change, and we are the last generation that can do something about it.

“We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there is such a thing as being too late. … We must move past indecision to action."

Believing one thing and doing another is how most of us behave.

People begin to understand it’s not just saving the environment for wildlife, but for their own future.

The jury is still out on whether grass fed beef is better for the environment (it’s only slightly better nutritionally), and, “grass-fed” doesn’t mean a cow was never served grain.

The answer includes Benjamin Franklin, Mutiny on the Bounty and centuries of records.

Qatar, the world's leading exporter of liquefied natural gas, may be able to cool its stadiums, but it cannot cool the entire country.

Life in Southern California, once as mild and predictable as the weather, is being transformed as the climate grows hotter, drier and in some regions windier, fueling more intense wildfires, deadly mudslides and prolonged extreme drought.

Over the past two decades, the 2 degrees Celsius number has emerged as a critical threshold for global warming. In the 2015 Paris accord, international leaders agreed that the world should act urgently to keep the Earth’s average temperature increases “well below” 2 degrees Celsius by the year 2100 to avoid a host of catastrophic changes.

As the National Park Service turns 100, a look at 59 wonders it works to preserve.

The ultimate Outoors destination in the USA.

If you travel, you will leave a charcoal smudge in your wake. You can’t help it. Eco-friendly travel practices can lift the remorse and lighten the blemish on Mother Earth.

Whether you’re feeling flight-shamed, hotel-shamed or just plain shamed for being a traveler, chances are you’re probably wondering how to reduce your carbon footprint when you travel. Even with so many travel companies claiming to be green, it’s not easy.

A Guide to Carbon Offsets.

The latest mash-up between traditional retailers and used-clothing purveyors is pushing the limits of how, and where, secondhand items are sold.

The term “clean living” has even been qualified by the National Association of Realtors’ MLS listing service, which recently introduced environmentally friendly designations to highlight energy-efficient, high-performance home features that decrease energy bills in the short term and increase return on investment over the long term.

Kermit got it wrong: Being green can be easy — at least when it comes to owning a green home.

One silver lining of the coronavirus lockdown is that it comes at the start of the growing season. Between now and the fall, folks have the chance to coax food from the soil while also feeding the soul.

Climate change means more floods, which overwhelm urban sewers and send raw sewage into rivers and streams. Philadelphia is aiming to capture rainwater before it flows into city drains.

THE NOVEL coronavirus has halted much of the country — but it has not stopped the Trump administration from ramming through unwarranted and unwise rollbacks of major environmental rules. Administration officials have pressed government workers, even amid the pandemic, to rip up regulations well before the November election, which would make them harder for a new president to reinstate. The pressure appears to be working.

Flexible CSA models are sprouting up around the country, proving that subscription services can work for farmers and consumers.

A French study, published in October in JAMA Internal Medicine, has found that people who eat a mostly organic diet reduce their overall cancer risk by 25 percent.

Some consumers may not realize just what’s behind the organic label.

“A good friendship is a wonderful antidepressant,” says psychologist Janice Kiecolt-Glaser, director of the Institute for Behavioral Medicine Research at the Ohio State University College of Medicine in Columbus. “Relationships are so powerful, we don’t always appreciate the many levels at which they affect us.”

Which worries you more: the risk of fire or the risk of chemical flame retardants in your kids' pajamas?

Why has the clean label — for which there is no regulatory definition — so captured the public’s devotion? Why are dermatologists so disdainful of the concept? And what does it mean?

Worldwide climate change is driving “a fundamental reshaping of finance.”

What to do with that — a world that is breaking down, and a child who is growing up?

2°C: BEYOND THE LIMIT

Copenhagen officials estimate that 75 percent of all trips must be done by bike, foot or public transportation to meet their 2025 goals.

An uncertain climate future makes investors nervous.

Conservationists and authors of a United Nations report on biodiversity loss say individuals have the power to create meaningful change.

The world has until 2030 to drastically cut our emissions. Where do we begin?

Any effort to slow population growth must center on reproductive justice

Here is the stark and sad truth: There is almost no way to explore the planet without harming it.

A company called Oceanix is building a prototype floating island as an experimental solution for crowded coastal cities threatened by climate change, the company told the United Nations habitat program Wednesday.

Unlike “seasteading,” Silicon Valley’s vision of independent city-states that float outside national rule, the islands proposed by Oceanix would follow local laws. Nor would these be playgrounds for the rich, Collins Chen said. He told The Washington Post he was “not ready to share” projected costs. But he staked his claims of affordability on the cheapness of prefabrication and marine development. Construction costs would stay low, he said, because the floating hexagons can be mass-produced in factories and towed to destination bays.

Trees are the most efficient carbon-capture machines on the planet. Through photosynthesis, they absorb carbon dioxide, the greenhouse gas that traps heat in the environment, and turn it into energy. That energy creates new leaves, longer stems and more mass — locking away carbon.

It sounds like an idea plucked from science fiction, but the reality is that trees and plants already do it.

Naomi Klein makes a passionate case that market capitalism can’t avert disaster.

After years of denying that the planet was growing hotter because of human activity, an increasing number of Republicans say they need to acknowledge the problem and offer solutions if they have any hope of retaking the House.

Is it possible to create beautiful clothing that doesn’t imperil the environment?

Do we really have to stop eating meat?

If you’re an omnivore who thinks good food is hard to find on vacation, try traveling while vegan.

Cemetery operators say they are seeing increasing interest in these less-conventional, end-of-life options.

I’m far more worried about our kids. They hear about our planet’s rising temperature and rapidly melting ice, giant islands of floating plastic, and the more than 16,000 animals threatened with extinction almost as much as we do, and they’re feeling the impact.

Kids are terrified, anxious and depressed about climate change. Whose fault is that?

The climate crisis is so monumental that it’s easy to feel paralyzed in the face of it. For parents raising the children who will inherit a damaged planet, the prospect can feel particularly daunting.

Today, it’s entirely possible to be eco-conscious without giving up comfort or breaking the bank.

Can you pass Climate Change 101?

The gradual disappearance of fish is a death knell for Tombwa, a town of 50,000 that has little else to offer residents.

One million plant and animal species are on the verge of extinction, with alarming implications for human survival, according to a United Nations report released Monday.

“There is no documented historic precedent" for the scale of changes required, the body found.

It’s worth understanding how the world comes up with climate targets — and what might happen if we fail to meet them.

Eroding air quality was linked to 10,000 additional U.S. deaths over a two-year period