Traditional models still ‘outperform AI’ for extreme weather forecasts
Computer models that use artificial intelligence (AI) cannot forecast record-breaking weather as well as traditional climate models, according to a new study.
Debates on degrowth: What drives us to keep growing?
Economic growth does not increase our well-being. It drives environmental damage and will inevitably slow as we hit resource limits. Yet countries, companies, and individuals remain fiercely attached to growth. This article uses systemic analysis and System Dynamics diagrams to explore why we keep pursuing more, despite what we know.
Small modular nuclear reactors are a dead end
Small modular reactors (SMRs) are being promoted as cheaper, safer, and faster to build than older nuclear plants, winning support from some environmentalists and a more pro‑nuclear public. Amid an energy crisis and soaring AI‑driven electricity demand, SMRs look promising—but many critics still see them as a dangerous dead end.
Congress is about to legalize the liquidation of America’s national forests
Through the Fix Our Forests Act, Senate Democrats are about to hand the Trump administration permanent statutory authority to log America’s national forests at landscape scale.
Inside the battle between Chile’s salmon industry and its Indigenous peoples
A multibillion-dollar industry backed by Chile’s new president threatens the Kawésqar people’s right to the sea.
A realistic ‘energy transition’ is to get better at using less of it
We must develop a realistic plan for energy descent, rather than clinging to naive fantasies of endless consumer abundance powered by alternatives to fossil fuels.
How a different kind of education built the world’s most equal democracies
Nordic countries used an education system rooted in human ecology and civic formation to build high‑trust, more equal democracies. Could similar changes in U.S. schools help confront inequality, polarization and the climate crisis?
Q&A: Why does gas set the price of electricity – and is there an alternative?
Electricity prices could be decoupled from gas prices by changing how the market works, but ideas for doing so either have not been tested or have problems of their own. In an age of cheap renewables, cutting fossil fuel use, not scrapping market rules, is key to breaking the link.
Real economic change requires more than reform, we must build a solidarity economy
Elections and protest movements may shift public attention, but systemic change depends on building resilient economies capable of replacing the structures now driving inequality and social fragmentation. The solidarity economy, an evolving network of post-capitalist worker-driven coalitions, is what we need.
US policy, gangs and climate change are reshaping Central America
Migration and democratic decline in Central America cannot be understood separately from the intertwined impacts of US intervention, gang violence, economic instability and climate disruption. As droughts, displacement and insecurity deepen, the region faces growing pressure toward both migration and authoritarian rule.
Rebuilding after wildfire: Paradise, California hosts a gathering on community resilience
A gathering in Paradise, California, will bring together fire-affected communities, local leaders and resilience practitioners to explore what rebuilding after catastrophe can look like beyond simply restoring the old normal.
Wars destroy lives and the climate. Why aren’t we counting military emissions?
War is a major driver of greenhouse gas emissions, yet most conflict-related emissions remain excluded from official climate accounting. Governments and international climate bodies must begin treating military emissions and the climate costs of war as central issues of accountability and justice.
