Category «Climate Change»

EPA Plans to Revoke Legal Basis for Tackling Climate Change

The New York Times [no paywall]: “Lee Zeldin, the Environmental Protection Agency’s administrator, said the agency would rescind a 2009 declaration, which concluded that planet-warming greenhouse gases pose a threat to public health and underpins the government’s legal authority to combat climate change. Speaking on a conservative podcast called “Ruthless,” Mr. Zeldin said the E.P.A. …

Subjects: Censorship, Climate Change, Economy, Environmental Law, Financial System, Government Documents, Health Care, Housing, Legal Research

Extreme Weather Disinformation Reporting

“How a storm of false and misleading claims about extreme weather events spread unchecked on social media putting lives at risk CCDH’s new research shows that social media companies are letting falsehoods about extreme weather events like the LA Fires and Hurricane Helene spread unchecked on their platforms. CCDH found that X, YouTube, and Meta …

Subjects: Climate Change, Environmental Law, Internet, Knowledge Management, Social Media

DOGE builds AI tool to cut 50 percent of federal regulations

Washington Post no paywall: “The U.S. DOGE Service is using a new artificial intelligence tool to slash federal regulations, with the goal of eliminating half of Washington’s regulatory mandates by the first anniversary of President Donald Trump’s inauguration, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post and four government officials familiar with the plans. The …

Subjects: AI, Censorship, Climate Change, E-Records, Economy, Education, Energy, Environmental Law, Financial System, Government Documents, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Search Engines

Home Insurance Executives Are Raking It In—at Your Expense

American Prospect: “Climate disasters are causing “record-high insurance losses,” a recent CNN article began, citing insurance industry research. The first half of 2025 brought about “a new market reality,” it said, with climate-related losses for insurers setting a record for the January-to-June period. It is true that insurance companies have made some large payouts for …

Subjects: Climate Change, Economy, Environmental Law, Financial System, Legal Research

Trump Administration to Slash Environmental Protection Rules for Rocket Launches

ProPublica: “A draft executive order viewed by ProPublica directs the secretary of transportation to “use all available authorities to eliminate or expedite” environmental reviews for launch licenses — a change Elon Musk’s SpaceX and others have long sought. The Trump administration is considering slashing rules meant to protect the environment and the public during commercial …

Subjects: Climate Change, Environmental Law, Government Documents, Legal Research, Transportation

Extreme Weather

“Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCHD) How a storm of false and misleading claims about extreme weather events spread unchecked on social media putting lives at risk. CCDH’s new research shows that social media companies are letting falsehoods about extreme weather events like the LA Fires and Hurricane Helene spread unchecked on their platforms. CCDH …

Subjects: Climate Change, Environmental Law, Internet, Social Media

Trump Action Tracker

Christina Pagel – “With the help of amazing volunteers, I’ve converted my Trump action tracker spreadsheet into an easy to use website – now up to 740 actions and counting. Today I’m launching TrumpActionTracker.info – a live, searchable list of authoritarian‑style actions from Trump’s second term (over 740 actions so far). Logging actions of the …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Climate Change, Education, Energy, Environmental Law, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Legal Research

The Most Observed Plants & Animals in Each US State

Kottke – “XKCD mapped the most observed plant and animal for all 50 US states as reported by iNaturalist users. I had no idea bumble bees were such a popularly observed animal — the common eastern bumble bee (Bombus impatiens) is most-observed in Vermont, Wisconsin, Maine, Connecticut, Illinois, and Minnesota. Also popular: white-tailed deer, bison, …

Subjects: Climate Change, Environmental Law

The Light Pollution Map

The loss of dark skies is so painful, astronomers coined a term for it – ‘Noctalgia’ is a feature of the modern age. The Light Pollution Map uses the Bortle Scale to help find places to mitigate noctalgia. Building the world’s most detailed, interactive global light‑pollution map. Visualize Bortle classes, SQM values & certified Dark‑Sky …

Subjects: Climate Change, Environmental Law

White House’s plan to downsize the federal government, in charts

Washington Post – no paywall: “President Donald Trump and his advisers have called for dramatically shrinking the size and scope of the federal government, dispatching officials to agency after agency to block funding and slash staffing. The Supreme Court has revived the administration’s efforts to lay off workers, allowing planned reductions in force to resume …

Subjects: Censorship, Climate Change, Courts, Economy, Education, Energy, Environmental Law, Financial System, Food and Nutrition, Government Documents

Improving Climate Modeling

Improving Climate Modeling – “Researchers from the University of Chicago and ETH Zurich have created a global dataset of extreme weather events to support better storm detection and climate modeling. The dataset includes over 49,000 examples of events such as intense rain bands, powerful cyclones, and persistent atmospheric blocks that can trigger floods, heatwaves, and …

Subjects: Climate Change, Environmental Law