"President Biden on Friday appointed John Podesta, a veteran Washington insider who spearheaded the Obama administration’s climate strategy, to oversee the federal investment of $370 billion in clean energy under a landmark new climate law."
Levels of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, have doubled in the past 150 years due to human activity, particularly from fossil fuels and extensive farming. As part of an ongoing Society of Environmental Journalists special project focused on covering climate solutions, check out a methane resource toolbox and stay tuned for a methane reporting tipsheet in the coming weeks. Plus, watch the recording of an SEJ virtual webinar, Covering Climate Solutions: Containing and Monitoring Methane.
Biden administration efforts to measure its response to environmental injustice have spurred the launch of a place-based database that scores individual communities on the issue. The latest Reporter’s Toolbox reviews the new government index and suggests that despite weaknesses, it is still useful as part of a suite of similar tools. Learn more about how to effectively use the new database.
"Unrelenting pressure, short staffing, low morale and internal management tensions have plagued a premier U.S. Geological Survey science lab in Colorado, auditors found in a withering evaluation made public today."
"The Interior Department’s inspector general has concluded that a senior Bureau of Land Management official violated agency ethics rules last year when she met with a previous employer on potential changes to the agency’s regulation of oil and gas development and climate change."
"Unless you live under a rock, you've probably heard politicians and journalists talking about how the Inflation Reduction Act will advance the federal government's fight against climate change. But the landmark legislation, which President Biden signed into law on Tuesday, also contains a slew of smaller but significant investments in climate action at the state level."
A recent climate change disinformation kerfuffle involving House Republicans and White House climate czar Gina McCarthy (pictured, left) is an excellent reminder of how journalists can get caught up in the decades-long campaign to deny climate change, argues the latest WatchDog Opinion column. A warning about the effort to weaponize the idea of transparency when it comes to climate change.
Disasters driven by climate change can leave a lot of people needing help or being displaced long term. But a key safety net and a central federal aid agency often accomplish little to help climate refugees, reports the latest TipSheet. Get the backstory, plus the outlook, along with questions and resources for stories in your community in the wake of climate disasters.
"The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an agency that has had its reputation battered by a series of missteps in the Covid-19 pandemic, and a slow response to the monkeypox outbreak, will undergo an “ambitious” overhaul, Director Rochelle Walensky announced Wednesday."
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration database is as vast as the oceans the agency monitors and filled with information collected by a wide array of instruments operating above, below and on the water’s surface. The latest Reporter’s Toolbox delves into the NOAA Data Discovery Portal and takes a look at a new search tool that promises easier exploration of this treasure trove.
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