Cindy O’Neil understands the boom-and-bust cycles of industry. Her husband spent years working in Carbon County’s namesake coal mines. In this pocket of central Utah, energy and the economy have long been intrinsically linked, at great sacrifice to county residents. “We’ve had the coal. We’ve…
There are many markers of fall: vibrant foliage, apple picking and pumpkin-spiced everything, to name a few. Cranking up the heat is another. With record-setting energy prices, everyone is bracing for higher bills. For the more than four million households that rely on heating oil, this winter…
Barrier islands like Tybee Island, off the coast of Georgia, should naturally accumulate sand from islands farther north, but human activity — development on the island, building sea walls and jetties, creating shipping channels — has disrupted that process. As a result, barrier islands are…
The Supreme Court opened its 2026-2027 term Monday with a climate case: a lawsuit brought by Boulder, Colorado, against ExxonMobil and Suncor, a Canadian oil company, over the costs of a warming planet. The case is one of dozens across the country in which local governments have sued fossil fuel…
Marvin Martin was in the Four Corners area of Dorchester one day when a train sped by on the Fairmount Line into downtown Boston. It was filled with white people, sitting comfortably and reading newspapers. It made him wonder why the commuter line seemed to pass through communities of color without…
To really understand what’s going on in the Nebraska Sandhills, Shelly Kelly told me, it’s helpful to see it from the air. From the window of her father’s Bonanza A36, we looked out over the heart of one of the most rural landscapes in the United States. The Sandhills are a 19,500 square-mile swath…
Matthew Mayich stepped onto the field of Sun Angel Stadium in Tempe, Arizona, at about 7 a.m. on August 20. It was the standout hockey player’s first official practice with his new team, and temperatures were already in the mid-80s. He and his Arizona State University teammates spent at least 45…
In the days and weeks after Hurricane Helene, people throughout western North Carolina and beyond found themselves thrust into new situations, forced to learn new skills to help themselves and their neighbors. Community centers, churches, and fire departments flung open their doors, and for months…
A new water tower in Turkey: $3 million. Upgrades for a museum in Stamford: $400,000. A first responders appreciation barbecue in Medina County: $10,000. These are just some of the public investments data center companies have paid for across rural Texas in the past year. According to a Texas…
A new residential development south of Denver is the testing ground for an unusual partnership that could transform home heating and cooling across the country. Dandelion Energy, a geothermal startup, and Lennar, one of the nation’s largest homebuilders, recently completed construction of nearly…