Inside Climate News Audio

ICN executive editor Vernon Loeb speaks with Ed Yong, Pulitzer-winning science journalist and author of An Immense World, about the extraordinary sensory worlds of animals.Visit our website: https://insideclimatenews.org/Support our nonprofit newsroom: https://insideclimatenews.org/donate

Animals roam the Earth to mate, to hunt, to spread seeds and to participate in myriad processes that help sustain life. But what happens when their migration routes are impeded?Science journalist Hillary Rosner examines this question in her book Roam: Wild Animals and the Race to Repair Our Fractured World, and shares her insights in today’s interview with senior editor Michael Kodas.Visit our website: https://insideclimatenews.org/Support our nonprofit newsroom: https://insideclimatenews.org/donate

What is it like to experience the pain and joy of being human at a moment when the richness of the planet’s life is deeply threatened?Author Lydia Millet explores this theme, and more, in her memoir We Loved It All, the jumping off point for today’s conversation with reporter Kiley Bense. Lydia’s memoir, her first nonfiction book, follows a prolific and acclaimed body of fiction that grapples with themes of nature, animals and the consequences of climate change. Watch as she discusses what happens to human identity when we’re increasingly separated from the animal world, the challenges of writing about climate change in fiction, and what children’s toys will look like when animals we know today become extinct.

Go behind the scenes with managing editor Jamie Smith Hopkins and investigative reporter Katie Surma as they discuss how the Shuar people in Ecuador are combining ancestral knowledge and modern science to protect their forest from a Canadian mining giant.In the copper-rich mountains of southeastern Ecuador, residents working as “paraecologists” are documenting the biodiversity of their territory – home to endangered species, waterfalls, and medicinal plants – not simply for the record, but to protect the land from mining. The data paraecologists collect, such as species inventories and water samples, is translated into evidence that carries weight in courts. Increasingly, it’s winning cases. That’s because in Ecuador, nature has legal rights.Katie, who traveled to Maikiuants, Ecuador, to report this story, explains the work these paraecologists are doing, what impact it might have on mining in their community, and the complex relationships between human rights and the rights of nature. Read the story: https://insideclimatenews.org/news/22...Explore ICN’s reporting on the rights of nature: https://insideclimatenews.org/tags/ri...Subscribe to the ICN Sunday Morning newsletter: https://insideclimatenews.org/newslet... Support our nonprofit newsroom: https://insideclimatenews.org/donate

Go behind the scenes with senior editor Corey Mitchell and reporter Bob Berwyn as they discuss critical measures of the planet’s health.“Earth is being pushed beyond its limits while every key climate indicator is flashing red,” warned U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres after the release of the latest State of the Global Climate report from the World Meteorological Organization. The report highlights the significance of record-high concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and notes that the effects are visible everywhere, from the 11-year series of hottest-ever years to the way heat is accumulating deep in the oceans. And for the first time, it adds a new measure to the list of key climate indicators: Earth’s energy imbalance, which tracks the gap between the solar energy entering our atmosphere and the heat escaping back into space.Bob, who covers climate science for Inside Climate News, explains the real-world impacts of the energy imbalance, as well as melting glaciers, sea level rise, and pollution from unregulated space activity; and the disconnect between scientific knowledge and political action today.Read the story: https://insideclimatenews.org/news/23...Explore ICN’s reporting on climate science: https://insideclimatenews.org/categor...Subscribe to the ICN Sunday Morning newsletter: https://insideclimatenews.org/newslet... Support our nonprofit newsroom: https://insideclimatenews.org/donate

Go behind the scenes with managing editor Jamie Smith Hopkins, data journalist Peter Aldhous and reporter Jake Bolster as they discuss an exclusive ICN analysis of workforce chaos at the Department of the Interior.One year into President Donald Trump’s second term, the Department of the Interior is in turmoil, hobbling many of the agencies overseeing the country’s public lands and waters. Not only has Interior lost some 11,000 employees, it’s also reeling from a drastic centralization of personnel, moving large numbers of staff into the office of the Interior secretary, Doug Burgum. That shift has created a hostile work culture, made staff less efficient and broken important lines of communication, former employees say. According to an Inside Climate News analysis of federal workforce data, almost 1,800 workers have left Burgum’s office since the reorganization—the vast majority opting to retire or quit.Peter, who conducted ICN’s data analysis, and Jake, whose focus includes public lands, describe how they discovered and took on this story, what makes Burgum’s reorganization so unique, and what ripple effects it may cause for America’s vast public lands and waters. Read the story: https://insideclimatenews.org/news/17...Explore ICN’s reporting on public lands: https://insideclimatenews.org/topic/p...Subscribe to the ICN Sunday Morning newsletter: https://insideclimatenews.org/newslet... Support our nonprofit newsroom: https://insideclimatenews.org/donate

Go behind the scenes with managing editor Jamie Smith Hopkins and reporter Nick Kusnetz as they discuss how a recent visit by an FBI agent to a climate activist hints at a broadening Trump administration effort to target political opponents.An FBI agent arrived at the door of a former member of Extinction Rebellion NYC last month, saying she had questions about the environmental advocacy group. It wasn’t the first time climate activists have drawn scrutiny from the FBI. But the visit appeared to place this group on the leading edge of the Trump administration’s use of law enforcement to target protests and free speech that civil liberties advocates say are protected by the Constitution.Nick, an investigative reporter for ICN, explains details of the encounter, what it may have to do with President Donald Trump’s national security memo on domestic terrorism, and the unanswered questions about what broader investigative effort could be taking place. Read the story: https://insideclimatenews.org/news/08...Explore ICN’s reporting on activism: https://insideclimatenews.org/topic/a...Subscribe to the ICN Sunday Morning newsletter: https://insideclimatenews.org/newslet... Support our nonprofit newsroom: https://insideclimatenews.org/donate

Go behind the scenes with reporters Kiley Bense and Georgina Gustin as they discuss how agriculture is devouring the world’s grasslands, savannas and wetlands.Agriculture is the biggest driver of forest destruction around the world, especially in well-known places like the Amazon rainforest. But new research finds that other ecosystems—the world’s grasslands, savannas and wetlands—are being gobbled up for agriculture at nearly four times the rate as forests. As with forests, the main reason is livestock.Georgina, who reports on agriculture for Inside Climate News, describes what makes grasslands and wetlands such important ecosystems, what happens when they are replaced by cropland and pasture, and what’s driving the destruction in the United States. Read the story: https://insideclimatenews.org/news/25...Explore ICN’s reporting on agriculture: https://insideclimatenews.org/topic/f... Subscribe to the ICN Sunday Morning newsletter: https://insideclimatenews.org/newslet... Support our nonprofit newsroom: https://insideclimatenews.org/donate

Go behind the scenes with reporter Kiley Bense and oceans correspondent Teresa Tomassoni as they discuss how climate change is transforming the oceans for whale populations.Whaling was once a major engine of the global economy. Millions of whales were killed for their blubber until commercial whaling was banned in the 1980s. Since then, some whale populations have rebounded, but from the coast of California to the Antarctic Ocean, climate change is now threatening that progress. New research reveals how rising ocean temperatures are slowing birth rates and shrinking feeding grounds, pushing some whales closer to shore and into greater risk of entanglements. Teresa, who reports on oceans for Inside Climate News, describes what’s happening to humpbacks and Southern right whales, the science behind these findings, and what it means for the future of these species.Read the stories: https://insideclimatenews.org/profile...Explore ICN’s reporting on oceans: https://insideclimatenews.org/tags/oc... Subscribe to the ICN Sunday Morning newsletter: https://insideclimatenews.org/newslet... Support our nonprofit newsroom: https://insideclimatenews.org/donate

Go behind the scenes with executive editor Vernon Loeb and reporter Kiley Bense as they discuss the push and pull of climate action in Pennsylvania.As the Trump administration moves to dismantle the federal government’s ability to act against climate change, the real fight to curb carbon emissions is shifting to the state level. Case in point: Pennsylvania.Kiley, who reports on the Keystone State for ICN, describes the mixed bag of climate issues in Pennsylvania, from cap and trade programs, to uniquely vulnerable cultural treasures and the energy policies of “all-of-the-above” Gov. Josh Shapiro.Read the story: https://insideclimatenews.org/news/06...Explore ICN’s reporting on Pennsylvania: https://insideclimatenews.org/local/p... Subscribe to the ICN Sunday Morning newsletter: https://insideclimatenews.org/newslet... Support our nonprofit newsroom: https://insideclimatenews.org/donate

As the Trump administration moves to dismantle the federal government’s ability to act against climate change, the real fight to curb carbon emissions is shifting to the state level. Case in point: Pennsylvania.Kiley, who reports on the Keystone State for ICN, describes the mixed bag of climate issues in Pennsylvania, from cap and trade programs, to uniquely vulnerable cultural treasures and the energy policies of “all-of-the-above” Gov. Josh Shapiro.Read the story: https://insideclimatenews.org/news/06...Explore ICN’s reporting on Pennsylvania: https://insideclimatenews.org/local/p... Subscribe to the ICN Sunday Morning newsletter: https://insideclimatenews.org/newslet... Support our nonprofit newsroom: https://insideclimatenews.org/donate

Go behind the scenes with managing editor Jamie Smith Hopkins, Texas reporter Dylan Baddour and data journalist Peter Aldhous as they discuss ICN’s new investigation into how the fracking boom put an oil field in the Guadalupe River floodplain.An epic flood a generation ago drenched areas around Texas’ Guadalupe River, showing how quickly and dangerously the region could be submerged.Since then, Texas — with no state floodplain policy — has allowed oil companies to frack this same area, extracting fossil fuels underground in the Eagle Ford Shale. It may be, as one resident describes, “a disaster waiting to happen.”A new investigation by Inside Climate News found that more than 500 enormous oil tanks now dot the floodplains of the Guadalupe River — tanks that could upend, spill or float away in another devastating flood. Dylan and Peter explain how they undertook this important investigation and what it would mean if the basin floods again.Read the story: https://insideclimatenews.org/news/08...Explore ICN’s reporting on Texas: https://insideclimatenews.org/local/t... Subscribe to the ICN Sunday Morning newsletter: https://insideclimatenews.org/newslet... Support our nonprofit newsroom: https://insideclimatenews.org/donate

Go behind the scenes with executive editor Vernon Loeb and fisheries and aquaculture reporter Johnny Sturgeon as they discuss heat, health and opportunity in the world’s oceans.Oceans cover 70% of the earth’s surface, absorb 90% of excess heat trapped by greenhouse gases, and help prevent dramatic temperature spikes on land. Yet they’re often overlooked in conversations about climate change. The consequences are significant. Ignoring ocean damage nearly doubles the cost of climate change and has left a multi-trillion-dollar blind spot in climate finance, according to a new study released last week. Global ocean heat content also increased for the ninth consecutive year in 2025. Every second of last year, the Earth’s oceans absorbed the equivalent in energy to 12 Hiroshima-sized atomic bombs. Johnny, ICN’s newest staff reporter, pulls back the curtain on these and more of the most interesting developments in the oceans, including the untapped clean energy of the tidal energy industry, which has the potential to provide a carbon-free source of power with complete predictability. Read the story: https://insideclimatenews.org/news/15...Explore ICN’s reporting on oceans: https://insideclimatenews.org/tags/oc... Subscribe to the ICN Sunday Morning newsletter: https://insideclimatenews.org/newslet... Support our nonprofit newsroom: https://insideclimatenews.org/donate

Go behind the scenes with executive editor Vernon Loeb and science reporter Bob Berwyn as they discuss the latest reports on relentless human-caused global warming. Several new climate reports released this week indicate “an unprecedented run of global heat” in 2025, especially in the oceans and at the poles. Ten years ago, the signers of the Paris Climate Accord sought to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial temperatures. But at today’s pace of emissions, scientists say, the world is on track to hit that limit permanently by the end of this decade, sooner than expected when the deal was signed.Bob breaks down what this data means in practical terms, the threats to systems that sustain human societies, and how warming is colliding with the basic machinery of modern life. Read the story: https://insideclimatenews.org/news/13...Explore ICN’s reporting on climate science: https://insideclimatenews.org/categor... Subscribe to the ICN Sunday Morning newsletter: https://insideclimatenews.org/newslet... Support our nonprofit newsroom: https://insideclimatenews.org/donate

Go behind the scenes with executive editor Vernon Loeb and Washington bureau chief Marianne Lavelle as they discuss the complex and uncertain future of America’s oil interests in Venezuela.After the United States’ dramatic raid and capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, the Trump administration announced that U.S. oil companies would step into the high-cost, high-risk venture of rebuilding the Venezuelan industry.But will they? Given Venezuela’s murky political future, few analysts expect a rush to invest the billions needed to pump more oil from the world’s largest reserves.Marianne explains the history and context of this grab for Venezuelan oil, why American oil companies may eye the situation warily, and how to make sense of Trump’s ambitions. Read the story: https://insideclimatenews.org/news/07...Explore ICN’s reporting on the oil industry: https://insideclimatenews.org/categor... Subscribe to the ICN Sunday Morning newsletter: https://insideclimatenews.org/newslet... Support our nonprofit newsroom: https://insideclimatenews.org/donate

Go behind the scenes with executive editor Vernon Loeb and reporter Dan Gearino as they discuss the good, the bad and the ugly in climate news from 2025.What a year: policy fiascos, natural disasters and a steady march toward a future that is too hot.The Trump administration’s dismantling of environmental protection rules exceeded expectations, and on the world stage, the United States largely ceded its leadership role in climate policy to China.Each December, Inside Climate News takes a look back at the most consequential stories our team tracked across the year. Dan walks us through this year in climate, from attacks on science to the major cuts at federal agencies and the rapid rise of data centers – with some good news thrown in at the end. Read the story: https://insideclimatenews.org/news/28...Explore ICN’s reporting: https://insideclimatenews.org Subscribe to the ICN Sunday Morning newsletter: https://insideclimatenews.org/newslet... Support our nonprofit newsroom: https://insideclimatenews.org/donate

Go behind the scenes with managing editor Jamie Smith Hopkins and reporter Kiley Bense as they discuss how Pennsylvania is failing to track toxic oil and gas waste, while the amount sitting in landfills grows every year.Pennsylvania is ground zero for the fracking boom. It’s increased natural gas production there 37-fold since 2008. That production generates a lot of waste, but the state’s ability to track it has failed to keep up.A decade ago, regulators promised to improve reporting standards for the waste, which can include radioactive material, heavy metals and carcinogenic chemicals. But a new Inside Climate News investigation found huge discrepancies in state records, making it hard for Pennsylvania to enforce regulations around spills, leaks, transport and dumping on roads or in public waterways. “It could be dumped right next to somebody’s house and they would not even know,” a former state regulator told ICN. Kiley, who’s been digging into this issue all through 2025, explains what happens to oil and gas waste in Pennsylvania, what it means for residents, and the consequences of having so few guardrails. Read the story: https://insideclimatenews.org/news/19...Explore ICN’s reporting on fracking waste: https://insideclimatenews.org/project... Subscribe to the ICN Sunday Morning newsletter: https://insideclimatenews.org/newslet... Support our nonprofit newsroom: https://insideclimatenews.org/donate

Go behind the scenes with executive editor Vernon Loeb and reporter Georgina Gustin as they describe how a new Chinese-backed megaport in Peru could push the Amazon rainforest past its breaking point.When a massive Chinese-backed port opened in Chancay, Peru, it was the realization, nearly two decades in the making, of a dream to revolutionize global trade by connecting South America to Asia with a straight-shot shipping route across the Pacific.The port — Peru’s first project under the banner of China’s Belt and Road Initiative and China’s flagship infrastructure investment in South America — brings tremendous economic opportunities, but also environmental threats. The port reawakens old ambitions of roads, railways and water routes that could connect the riches of the Amazon to the continent’s west coast and the world’s largest ocean, efforts that scientists warn could speed the destruction of the world’s most climate-critical ecosystem.Georgina, our award-winning agriculture reporter who spent a month in Peru reporting this story, explains the enormous complexities and consequences flowing from the new port’s development and how its magnetic pull may spell disaster for communities and ecosystems in its orbit.Read the story: https://insideclimatenews.org/news/01...Explore ICN’s reporting on China’s Belt and Road Initiative: https://insideclimatenews.org/project... Subscribe to the ICN Sunday Morning newsletter: https://insideclimatenews.org/newslet... Support our nonprofit newsroom: https://insideclimatenews.org/donate

Go behind the scenes with managing editor Jamie Smith Hopkins and reporter Anika Jane Beamer as they explain why no one knows what happens to 110 billion pounds of manure produced in Iowa every year.Iowa raises about 23 million hogs each year. That many animals produce a lot of manure — some 110 billion pounds of it — but no one keeps track of where it goes.That’s a problem. Most manure from Iowa’s concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) gets spread as fertilizer across the state’s cropland, but if it isn’t handled well, the manure ends up in waterways, triggering algal blooms, polluting drinking water and endangering public health. Anika Jane, ICN’s Iowa reporter, explains how the state’s tracking system is failing, practical steps to solve the problem, and why Iowa’s manure problem matters to residents both in and outside the state.This story is a collaboration between Inside Climate News and Sentient Media.

Go behind the scenes with executive editor Vernon Loeb and climate science reporter Bob Berwyn as they break down the key outcomes of COP30.COP30 has wound down in Belém, Brazil – the U.N. climate change conference marked this year by Indigenous rights demonstrations, an actual fire, and not a lot of movement on global climate action. Before leaving Belém, Bob explains what happened at COP30, both within the formal proceedings and adjacent to them; how American influence was woven into the process; and what to look for leading up to next year’s COP31 in Turkey. Explore ICN’s reporting on COP30: https://insideclimatenews.org/tags/co... Subscribe to the ICN Sunday Morning newsletter: https://insideclimatenews.org/newslet... Support our nonprofit newsroom: https://insideclimatenews.org/donate

Go behind the scenes with executive editor Vernon Loeb and climate science reporter Bob Berwyn as they explain the key issues setting the agenda at this year’s U.N. climate change conference.COP30 is underway in Belém, Brazil, where nearly 200 countries have gathered for high-stakes global climate negotiations. Notably absent is the United States. President Donald Trump, who called climate change the “greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world” in a September address to the U.N. General Assembly, sent no federal delegation.From his reporting space in Belém, Bob shares an update on the conference so far: America’s absence and China’s influence, what California Gov. Gavin Newsom is doing at COP, and what can come of this year’s discussions, from adaptation indicators to financing and a possible action plan.Explore ICN’s reporting on COP30: https://insideclimatenews.org/tags/co... Subscribe to the ICN Sunday Morning newsletter: https://insideclimatenews.org/newslet... Support our nonprofit newsroom: https://insideclimatenews.org/donate

Go behind the scenes with executive editor Vernon Loeb and New York City reporter Lauren Dalban as they discuss what Mamdani’s election signals for climate issues in the Big Apple.Climate activists celebrated Tuesday night as assemblymember Zohran Mamdani was elected mayor of New York City. Mamdani, a previously obscure politician who rose to power through an unrelenting campaign for affordability, has vowed to address climate issues while in office — enforcing the city’s building decarbonization law, enacting his green school policy and handling the climate change-related issues residents often face, like flooding and extreme heat. Lauren explains Mamdani’s record on climate issues to date, how climate activists played a role in his campaign and what they’ll be watching for as soon as he takes office.Read the story: https://insideclimatenews.org/news/05...Explore ICN’s reporting on New York: https://insideclimatenews.org/local/n... Subscribe to the ICN Sunday Morning newsletter: https://insideclimatenews.org/newslet... Support our nonprofit newsroom: https://insideclimatenews.org/donate

Go behind the scenes with executive editor Vernon Loeb and reporter Katie Surma as they discuss how scientists are using AI to understand sperm whale communications, a discovery that could upend the way we interact with them.What separates humans from other species? The answer to that question may no longer be language. With the help of artificial intelligence, robotics and new recording technologies, scientists are edging closer to understanding whale communications and to perhaps one day even holding a conversation. The advances could strengthen legal protections for these animals, including the most powerful safeguard of all: rights. Katie, who covers international environmental justice and the rights of nature, explains how scientists are using AI to cross the language barrier with whales, how close they are to actually conversing, and what new research says about the “immense new legal world” that could emerge from it.Read the story: https://insideclimatenews.org/news/29...Explore ICN’s reporting on the rights of nature: https://insideclimatenews.org/tags/ri... Subscribe to the ICN Sunday Morning newsletter: https://insideclimatenews.org/newslet... Support our nonprofit newsroom: https://insideclimatenews.org/donate

Go behind the scenes with executive editor Vernon Loeb and renewables reporter Dan Gearino as they discuss how Virginia has become the data center capital of the world.Virginia, especially Northern Virginia, leads the world in data center development, far outpacing other top markets like Beijing. How did this come to be? Watch as Dan explains the history of this top data center boom town, the risk of an impending AI bubble, and what residents and regulators think of these very big buildings with very small parking lots.Read the story: https://insideclimatenews.org/news/26...Explore ICN’s reporting on data centers: https://insideclimatenews.org/topic/a... Subscribe to the ICN Sunday Morning newsletter: https://insideclimatenews.org/newslet... Support our nonprofit newsroom: https://insideclimatenews.org/donate

In October 2007, ICN opened its doors with a two-person team and a little bit of pilot funding. The day the website launched, it had 102 visitors: the second day, just 53. Today, the newsroom looks different: ICN has grown from a staff of two people to 40, and from only 100 readers to reaching many millions. Once just a small office in Brooklyn, ICN has opened reporting hubs in regions across the country and established bureaus coast to coast. In honor of ICN’s 18th anniversary, Vernon and David sit down to reflect on the newsroom’s defining moments, the pivotal moves to cover climate locally and globally, and what’s ahead for the team, the media landscape, and the climate crisis.Read our reporting: https://insideclimatenews.orgDonate:https://insideclimate.fundjournalism.org/donate/?amount=15&campaign=7013a000002DS1nAAG&frequency=monthly

Go behind the scenes with executive editor Vernon Loeb and North Carolina reporter Lisa Sorg as they discuss a never-ending fight over forever chemicals in NC drinking water.Environmentalists have been fighting for over a decade to get PFAS out of the Cape Fear River in eastern North Carolina. The insidious chemicals have eluded traditional water treatment systems and flowed through the taps of hundreds of thousands of people. Advocates scored a brief victory last year when the EPA announced new regulations to reduce PFAS in drinking water. Now the Trump administration plans to rescind them — leaving residents who fought for the standards devastated and enraged. Lisa explains how pervasive PFAS contamination is in North Carolina, where the chemicals come from, and what comes next for communities locked in this “forever war.” Explore more of Lisa’s reporting: https://insideclimatenews.org/profile... Subscribe to the ICN Sunday Morning newsletter: https://insideclimatenews.org/newslet... Support our nonprofit newsroom: https://insideclimatenews.org/donate

Go behind the scenes with executive editor Vernon Loeb and reporter Katie Surma as they discuss the violent crackdown on environmental and human rights activists in Ecuador.Last year, an average of three environmental defenders were killed a week around the world. Last week, Efraín Fueres became one of the slain.The Indigenous land defender was shot and killed in Ecuador amid protests against the high costs of living and government crackdowns on Indigenous and environmental activists. The country’s government sent troops into communities, declared a state of emergency, and cut internet and phone service. Ecuador’s President, Daniel Noboa, is now seeking to rewrite the country’s constitution – putting its strong protections for the environment and for Indigenous peoples at risk. Katie explains what precipitated this crisis in Ecuador, the prevalence of such killings around the world, and what it all means for the expanding rights of nature movement.Read the story:https://insideclimatenews.org/news/29...Explore more of Katie’s reporting: https://insideclimatenews.org/profile... Subscribe to the ICN Sunday Morning newsletter: https://insideclimatenews.org/newslet... Support our nonprofit newsroom: https://insideclimatenews.org/donate

Did you hear the one about the space lasers starting forest fires? Fringe conspiracy theories like this still swirl in certain parts of the internet. But some climate change disinformation is harder to spot – it’s subtle, sophisticated, and circulated by trusted sources. Executive editor Vernon Loeb sits down with Washington bureau chief Marianne Lavelle and ICN’s chief science writer Bob Berwyn to break down the facts and fiction in climate discourse today. They start with a report recently issued by the U.S. Department of Energy – a document commissioned to help set the stage for getting rid of federal regulations on greenhouse gas emissions. Watch as Marianne and Bob explain what mainstream climate scientists think of this report, what climate change disinformation has in common with Big Tobacco, whether climate skepticism is a uniquely American phenomenon, and much more.

Some 640 million acres of the United States are owned by the federal government for the benefit of the people. These public lands, widely loved by Americans, are being pulled in multiple directions over questions of who gets access, how the land is used and managed, and what values should guide those choices. Managing editor Jamie Smith Hopkins sits down with three ICN journalists who’ve been tracking these questions closely: Wyatt Myskow, who covers the Southwest; Jake Bolster, who covers Wyoming and the West; and senior editor Michael Kodas, who has deep expertise about both public lands and wildfires, subjects that frequently intersect. Watch as they explain what’s happening with public lands right now under the Trump administration, what role these lands play in climate change, and whose voices are being heard in the debates, from tribal nations to businesses and the American public.

Most of the meat we eat in the United States isn’t raised on small farms or fenced fields, as it was decades ago. Today, it comes from large concentrated animal feeding operations, also known as CAFOs. These industrial facilities house thousands of animals in close quarters – generating tremendous amounts of manure, climate-polluting methane, and a host of issues for neighbors. Managing editor Jamie Smith Hopkins sits down with four ICN journalists who have reported on CAFOs: Georgina Gustin, who covers agriculture and the many ways that farming, food systems and the environment intersect; Lisa Sorg, who covers North Carolina, one of the nation’s top hog producers; Phil McKenna, who reports on climate superpollutants like methane; and Anika Jane Beamer, who covers Iowa, where manure from CAFOs contributes to a long-running and far-reaching water contamination problem. Watch as they explain what we know – and don’t know – about CAFOs, the scale of the pollution they cause, what it’s like to live near one of these facilities, and whether elected officials and policymakers are doing anything about them.

China has invested more than $1 trillion in overseas infrastructure projects through its massive Belt and Road Initiative. Chinese corporations are building roads and railways, dams and ports, in developing countries around the world – an initiative marked by both its enormity and opacity. Executive editor Vernon Loeb sits down with reporters Katie Surma, Nicholas Kusnetz, and Georgina Gustin, who are investigating the Belt and Road Initiative for ICN’s “Planet China” series, and have been reporting on projects in Zambia, Indonesia, Peru and Argentina. Watch as they assess China’s claims to be “greening” the Belt and Road Initiative, discuss why China’s overseas investments may be more important than any other country’s, and explore what Chinese-led development means for the environment and for people living near projects around the world.

Spoiler alert: Yes, AI is bad for the climate. AI’s computing power relies on massive data centers that use enormous amounts of electricity and water. The Trump administration wants that energy to come from burning fossil fuels, rather than renewable sources. Where does that leave the climate and communities caught in the crosshairs? Executive editor Vernon Loeb sits down with Dan Gearino, ICN’s clean energy reporter; Arcelia Martin, who covers renewable energy in Texas; and Alabama reporter Lee Hedgepeth, who has been writing about a controversial data center planned in his state. Watch as they discuss the prospects for big tech and clean energy under the Trump administration, how Texas has become a leading renewables state, what communities think when data centers move in next door, and how the commitments of tech giants could change what’s ahead.

Go behind the scenes with Inside Climate News' executive editor Vernon Loeb and Washington bureau chief Marianne Lavelle as they discuss the future of the environmental justice movement amid Trump cutbacks.The environmental justice movement suffered a striking blow this year when the Trump administration rescinded $3 billion in grants to support EJ initiatives. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin terminated the grant programs and eliminated the EPA’s environmental justice office after the president tried to rebrand EJ as a “radical and wasteful” form of reverse discrimination and racial preferencing, lumping it together with DEI.The announcement hit Charles Lee particularly hard. Lee spent 26 years advancing EJ initiatives at the EPA, fighting to help communities that bear a disproportionate burden of pollution and climate risks. He put in his notice to retire, rather than stay through a second Trump administration.Marianne—who wrote a poignant profile on Lee’s life and work—explains what’s happened to environmental justice programs since the rescissions, the real distinction between DEI and special preferences, and what comes next for the environmental justice movement.Read the story: https://insideclimatenews.org/news/21072025/trump-administration-dismantles-epa-office-of-research-and-development/Subscribe to the ICN Sunday Morning newsletter: https://insideclimatenews.org/newsletter/?sunday-morningSupport our nonprofit newsroom: https://insideclimatenews.org/donate

Go behind the scenes with executive editor Vernon Loeb and reporters Martha Pskowski and Liza Gross as they discuss new reporting on the climate super-pollutant methane. The Trump administration says that drilling in the U.S. is cleaner than in other countries due to tighter environmental oversight. But Texas, the heart of America’s oil and gas industry, tells a different story. The state’s regulator grants nearly every request to burn or vent gas into the atmosphere. When this happens, the release also sends out toxic air contaminants that have escaped notice, until now. A new tool from an independent science research institute is revealing the harms these emissions may cause to human health. Martha and Liza share more of their findings, explaining how the Trump administration is putting the brakes on efforts to reduce methane emissions, what’s included in the “chemical soup” that makes up natural gas, and whether there’s any truth to the president’s claim of “clean” oil and gas production.Read the stories:https://insideclimatenews.org/tags/me...Explore ICN’s reporting on super-pollutants: https://insideclimatenews.org/topic/s... Subscribe to the ICN Sunday Morning newsletter: https://insideclimatenews.org/newslet... Support our nonprofit newsroom: https://insideclimatenews.org/donate

Go behind the scenes with executive editor Vernon Loeb and clean energy reporter Dan Gearino as they discuss the mounting demand for electricity to power AI.The data centers that power artificial intelligence require huge amounts of electricity. Some experts estimate we’ll need as much as 25% more electricity by 2030, and 78% by 2050, to meet this demand alone. Whether that electricity comes from renewable energy or fossil fuels has big implications for climate change. Dan explains why we should care about all this data center growth, what the current trajectory looks like, and ideas for a better path forward — for consumers and the climate. Read the story:https://insideclimatenews.org/news/28...Explore ICN’s AI & data center reporting: https://insideclimatenews.org/topic/a... Subscribe to the ICN Sunday Morning newsletter: https://insideclimatenews.org/newslet... Support our nonprofit newsroom: https://insideclimatenews.org/donate

Go behind the scenes with executive editor Vernon Loeb and conservation reporter Kiley Price as they explain why everyone’s talking about the Endangered Species List.More than 2,370 species have received protections from the federal government under the Endangered Species Act, from schoolbus-sized North Atlantic right whales off the East Coast to tiny Oahu tree snails in Hawaii.But only a fraction of that number has ever come off the law’s endangered-species list. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum recently compared it to “Hotel California: once a species enters, they never leave.” Kiley explains the effectiveness of one of the country’s most central conservation laws, why it’s under attack, and the most famous species to ever come off the list.Read the story:https://insideclimatenews.org/news/24...Explore ICN’s conservation reporting: https://insideclimatenews.org/topic/b... Subscribe to the ICN Sunday Morning newsletter: https://insideclimatenews.org/newslet... Support our nonprofit newsroom: https://insideclimatenews.org/donate

Go behind the scenes with executive editor Vernon Loeb and reporter Bob Berwyn as they explain why global talks on plastics pollution reached a disappointing end.Global talks on plastics fell apart this week as participating countries failed to agree on next steps for curbing harmful plastic pollution. Several countries, including the United States, opposed provisions that would put a cap on production – a red line that ultimately doomed the chance of consensus. Bob, who was on the scene in Geneva, explains what happened among the delegates, how countries might break the deadlock, and what’s to come in this escalating crisis.Read the story:https://insideclimatenews.org/news/15...Explore ICN’s plastics reporting: https://insideclimatenews.org/topic/p... Subscribe to the ICN Sunday Morning newsletter: https://insideclimatenews.org/newslet... Support our nonprofit newsroom: https://insideclimatenews.org/donate

Go behind the scenes with executive editor Vernon Loeb and senior editor Michael Kodas as they discuss the many factors – both natural and political – fueling this year’s intense fire season.Nearly 40 large wildfires are burning across the country, covering hundreds of thousands of acres. The largest among them is the raging Dragon Bravo fire, which closed the North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park for the rest of the season.The fires come as the National Park Service and other federal agencies face large cuts to their workforces, including among personnel who help fight wildfires.Michael, a noted wildfire expert, gives an in-depth look at wildland firefighting practices, what makes the Grand Canyon megafire so difficult to control, and how the Trump administration’s cutbacks are affecting our ability to cope with a growing wildfire problem. Read the story:https://insideclimatenews.org/news/04...Explore ICN’s wildfire reporting: https://insideclimatenews.org/topic/w... Subscribe to the ICN Sunday Morning newsletter: https://insideclimatenews.org/newslet... Support our nonprofit newsroom: https://insideclimatenews.org/donate

Go behind the scenes with executive editor Vernon Loeb and reporter Katie Surma as they discuss the tumultuous international gathering to protect the world’s wetlands.Representatives of more than 170 countries gathered in Zimbabwe last week for the Convention on Wetlands, a global environmental protection treaty aimed at saving Earth’s fastest-disappearing ecosystem. Geopolitics quickly took over. Disputes broke out between Russia, China, and other nations about a resolution to preserve Ukraine’s wetlands. The U.S. delegation was a no-show until the final days of the summit, when one American representative came to demand that conference documents include no mention of climate change, DEI, gender, the U.N.’s sustainable development goals, or “zero growth.”Katie, likely the only U.S. reporter attending the convention, breaks down the political maneuvers on display, why the world should care about wetlands, and one thing that gave her hope. Read the story:https://insideclimatenews.org/news/29...Explore Katie’s reporting: https://insideclimatenews.org/profile... Subscribe to the ICN Sunday Morning newsletter: https://insideclimatenews.org/newslet... Support our nonprofit newsroom: https://insideclimatenews.org/donate

Go behind the scenes with executive editor Vernon Loeb and Washington bureau chief Marianne Lavelle as they discuss the dismantling of EPA’s scientific research office.Last week the Trump administration quietly took a hugely consequential action affecting environmental protections in America: beginning to shutter the EPA Office of Research and Development. The decision follows a long pressure campaign from industry lobbyists to limit EPA’s ability to assess the health risks of chemicals like formaldehyde, ethylene oxide, arsenic and hexavalent chromium, and mitigate the harms they can cause. Marianne takes us inside the office, explaining its critical role in protecting the public, the politics at play, and why shutting the office down is such a devastating loss to the country.Read the story:https://insideclimatenews.org/news/21...Explore Marianne’s reporting: https://insideclimatenews.org/profile... Subscribe to the ICN Sunday Morning newsletter: https://insideclimatenews.org/newslet... Support our nonprofit newsroom: https://insideclimatenews.org/donate

Go behind the scenes with executive editor Vernon Loeb and reporter Keerti Gopal as they discuss Chicago’s slow approach to its massive lead-pipe problem.No city in America is more dependent on lead lines for drinking water than Chicago. A Biden-era EPA rule means the city must replace them, but it’s falling way behind deadlines, leaving residents at risk of harmful lead exposure.Keerti explains what Chicago is doing to address the problem, what the Trump administration and the EPA may do, and what accounts for the apparent lack of urgency.Read the stories: https://insideclimatenews.org/news/26...https://insideclimatenews.org/news/14...Explore Keerti’s reporting: https://insideclimatenews.org/profile... Subscribe to the ICN Sunday Morning newsletter: https://insideclimatenews.org/newslet... Support our nonprofit newsroom: https://insideclimatenews.org/donate

Go behind the scenes with executive editor Vernon Loeb and clean energy reporter Dan Gearino as they discuss what the One Big Beautiful Bill Act means for the EV market.President Trump’s giant tax and spending plan slices into every aspect of the national effort to address climate change – including clean energy incentives. One of the cuts that will be most visible to consumers, and will happen most quickly, is the elimination of the $7,500 consumer tax credit for buying a new electric vehicle and the $4,000 tax credit for buying a used electric vehicle. Dan explains what car buyers can expect as the cut-off date looms this summer, how the changes will hit the U.S. auto industry, and what it all means for global competition and the future of EVs.Read the story: https://insideclimatenews.org/news/03... Explore Dan’s reporting: https://insideclimatenews.org/profile... Subscribe to the ICN Sunday Morning newsletter: https://insideclimatenews.org/newslet... Support our nonprofit newsroom: https://insideclimatenews.org/donate

Go behind the scenes with executive editor Vernon Loeb and reporter Lisa Sorg as they discuss the collision between corporate interests, government regulators, and the health of North Carolinians. A plastics plant in North Carolina has been dumping massive amounts of a likely carcinogen into the city’s wastewater for years, sending it downstream into rivers that supply drinking water to about 900,000 people. Legal and regulatory brakes have failed: state regulators couldn’t enforce limits, and a conservative-controlled commission blocked tighter rules. Now, environmental groups are suing to force the company and the city to clean up their act. Lisa explains the high-stakes battle over corporate pollution, shaky regulation, and the right to a clean environment – and how the same battle is playing out for residents across North Carolina (including 8 million hogs). Read the story: https://insideclimatenews.org/news/29... Explore Lisa’s reporting: https://insideclimatenews.org/profile... Subscribe to the ICN Sunday Morning newsletter: https://insideclimatenews.org/newslet... Support our nonprofit newsroom: https://insideclimatenews.org/donate

Go behind the scenes with executive editor Vernon Loeb and reporter Wyatt Myskow as they discuss the Trump administration’s quest to sell off public lands. Last week a proposal to sell millions of acres of public lands was ruled out by the Senate parliamentarian. Environmental groups heralded the news, but the threat of sell-offs remains. The Trump administration already has rolled back other rules protecting remote areas of the country, including the provision to keep roads out of national forests. Wyatt explains what’s at stake when public lands are sold, how the American public feels about it, and where we’re heading in this fiercely partisan debate. Read the story: https://insideclimatenews.org/news/24... Explore Wyatt’s reporting: https://insideclimatenews.org/profile...Subscribe to the ICN Sunday Morning newsletter: https://insideclimatenews.org/newslet... Support our nonprofit newsroom: https://insideclimatenews.org/donate

Go behind the scenes with executive editor Vernon Loeb and reporter Liza Gross as they discuss the latest research on extreme heat and what policymakers are, and are not, doing to keep people safe. As temperatures rise across the globe, researchers are racing to learn more about how extreme heat affects human, plant, and animal health. In a new study, scientists found that heat waves are changing disease dynamics in unpredictable ways, giving pathogens an upper hand. Liza explains more on these findings, the need for this type of research being canceled by the Trump administration, the national debate around rules to keep workers safe from heat, and the most important thing people can do this summer to protect themselves against high temperatures. Read the story: https://insideclimatenews.org/news/04... Explore Liza’s reporting: https://insideclimatenews.org/profile... Subscribe to the ICN Sunday Morning newsletter: https://insideclimatenews.org/newslet... Support our nonprofit newsroom: https://insideclimatenews.org/donate

Go behind the scenes with Inside Climate News' executive editor Vernon Loeb and Florida reporter Amy Green as they discuss NOAA’s predictions for hurricane activity this year.Uncertainty swirls at the start of this year’s hurricane season. NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, forecasts an above-average number of storms, while the Trump administration fires employees, freezes funding, and dismantles agencies – like NOAA and FEMA – set up to help. Amy explains the role the federal government now plays in disaster response and recovery, how Floridians feel about hurricanes, and what to make of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ approach to climate change. Read the story: https://insideclimatenews.org/news/23... Explore Amy’s reporting: https://insideclimatenews.org/profile... Subscribe to the ICN Sunday Morning newsletter: https://insideclimatenews.org/newslet...Support our nonprofit newsroom: https://insideclimatenews.org/donate

Go behind the scenes with Inside Climate News' executive editor Vernon Loeb and reporter Teresa Tomassoni as they discuss the Trump administration’s efforts to promote deep-sea mining in U.S. and international waters. With a new executive order, President Trump paved the way for what his administration called “The Next Gold Rush,” promoting deep-sea mining of critical minerals used in defense systems, batteries, smartphones, medical devices, and more. On the eve of the U.N. Oceans Conference, Teresa explains what the executive order does—and does not—authorize, what’s at stake for vital underwater ecosystems, and some of her favorite mind-blowing facts about the oceans. Read the story: https://insideclimatenews.org/news/18... Explore Teresa’s reporting: https://insideclimatenews.org/profile... Subscribe to the ICN Sunday Morning newsletter: https://insideclimatenews.org/newslet... Support our nonprofit newsroom: https://insideclimatenews.org/donate

Go behind the scenes with Inside Climate News' executive editor Vernon Loeb and reporter Katie Surma as they discuss the secretive system forcing big payouts to fossil fuel companies. Big companies use free trade agreements to extract millions, even billions, of dollars from poor developing countries through a shadowy system known as investor-state dispute settlement. Katie explains how ISDS gives corporations surprisingly expansive rights, the harmful impact that has on people and the environment, and why it’s been able to continue for so long with so little public oversight.Read the series: https://insideclimatenews.org/project... Explore Katie’s reporting: https://insideclimatenews.org/profile... Subscribe to the ICN Sunday Morning newsletter: https://insideclimatenews.org/newslet... Support our nonprofit newsroom: https://insideclimatenews.org/donate

Go behind the scenes with executive editor Vernon Loeb and reporter Lee Hedgepeth as they discuss controversial plans to build a massive data center in the piney woods outside Birmingham. The 4.5-million-square-foot data center stands to be one of the largest in the country and could consume more than 10 times the amount of energy used by all residences in Birmingham each year. Lee explains how residents are reacting, what will happen to the woodlands targeted for the development, and why public officials are bound to secrecy.Read the story: https://insideclimatenews.org/news/11... Explore Lee’s reporting: https://insideclimatenews.org/profile...Subscribe to the ICN Sunday Morning newsletter: https://insideclimatenews.org/newslet... Support our nonprofit newsroom: https://insideclimatenews.org/donate

Go behind the scenes with executive editor Vernon Loeb and reporter Martha Pskowski as they discuss what the oil and gas industry is doing with billions of gallons of scarce Texas river water. Oil and gas companies have been drawing enormous amounts of water from the drought-diminished Rio Grande and Pecos River in Texas – but no one knew how much until Martha Pskowski began her reporting.Martha explains what she learned in her exclusive analysis of the data she obtained, what’s happening to all that water, and what it means for the residents and farmers who rely on these rivers.Read the story: https://insideclimatenews.org/news/13... Explore Martha’s reporting: https://insideclimatenews.org/profile...Subscribe to the ICN Sunday Morning newsletter: https://insideclimatenews.org/newslet... Support our nonprofit newsroom: https://insideclimatenews.org/donate