"Smartphones, computers and electric vehicles may be emblems of the modern world, but, says Siddharth Kara, their rechargeable batteries are frequently powered by cobalt mined by workers laboring in slave-like conditions in the Democratic Republic of Congo."
"The Colorado River is in crisis. The problem has been building for decades but has come to a head in recent years because the major manufactured reservoirs on the river have fallen to dangerously low levels, prompting the Biden administration to call for unprecedented cuts in water usage among the 40 million people who rely on the river."
"Extreme weather patterns have sparked several improvements to the climate resiliency of Tennessee Valley Authority electrical infrastructure over the past two decades. However, a report from a government watchdog found the huge utility still has work to do in mitigating climate hazards to the regional power grid."
"Last year permitting reform emerged as one of the most divisive climate policy debates in the United States. During my own reporting on geothermal energy, an underutilized source of renewable power, industry representatives insisted that the onerous permitting process is the single biggest challenge to expanding geothermal development."
"The crisis facing billionaire Gautam Adani has revealed a potential pitfall in India’s ambitious plan to reduce emissions: its reliance on the country’s most affluent and powerful private citizens."
"Two of Congress’ biggest beneficiaries of fossil fuel industry money have introduced legislation to block a federal gas stove ban that does not exist and has not been proposed."
"For the first time, the U.S. government in 2022 included methane emissions from dams and reservoirs in its annual report of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions to the Inventory of Greenhouse Gases and Sinks required by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change."
"Firefighters were battled dozens of raging wildfires in Chile on Sunday, seeking to gain control of one of the country’s worst natural disasters in years as the death toll rose to at least 24 with nearly 1,000 more injured."
"A freight train derailment in Ohio near the Pennsylvania state line left a mangled and charred mass of boxcars and flames Saturday as authorities launched a federal investigation and monitored air quality from the various hazardous chemicals in the train."
The Sunrise Project is looking to fund freelance investigative journalists to conduct medium- to long-term investigations into private financial institutions' role in driving the climate crisis. Submissions are due by Feb 23, 2023.
