Featured Posts
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Wildfire Smoke: How to Stay Safe Indoors
If it seems like wildfire smoke is everywhere this summer, you’re not imagining it. Wildfires are burning across parts of the United States, Canada, and Western Europe, and the smoke isn’t staying anywhere near the flames. Winds can carry it hundreds—or even thousands—of miles away. That means even if you live far from an active wildfire, you could still wake up to hazy skies and unhealthy air. Most of us know to stay indoors when the air gets smoky. But here’s something many people don’t realize: wildfire smoke can get inside your home, too. The good news? There are several easy things you can do to keep your indoor air…
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The Truth About Lithium Mining: How EV Batteries Compare to Fossil Fuels
One of the biggest criticisms of electric vehicles (EVs) is that they use lithium. You’ve probably seen comments online asking, “Have you looked into lithium mining?” The answer is yes. Lithium mining has environmental impacts. Every type of mining does. But many of the claims shared online leave out some important facts. They also ignore a simple reality: Most of us use lithium every single day. You’re Probably Using Lithium Right Now If you’re reading this on a smartphone, tablet, or laptop, you’re using lithium. It’s also found in: Yet somehow, lithium only becomes a problem when it’s inside an electric vehicle. Where Does Lithium Actually Come From? One common…
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The Rapidly Evolving World of Grid Battery Storage
For most of the 2010s, “grid-scale battery storage” meant one thing: rows of lithium-ion racks, stacked in shipping-container-sized enclosures, doing their job quietly behind chain-link fences. Then came Moss Landing — and the industry’s relationship with that assumption changed for good. What’s followed since has been one of the more interesting sprints in energy technology: a scramble to build storage that’s not just bigger, but safer, cheaper, and better suited to keeping a renewable-heavy grid running for hours or even days at a time. Moss Landing: The Wake-Up Call California’s Moss Landing battery storage facility was once the world’s largest and a symbol of the clean energy transition. But on…
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A Powerful El Niño Is Brewing—and Scientists Are Watching Closely
El Niño is a natural event where the surface water in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, near the equator, gets warmer than usual. This happens every few years, and it changes weather patterns all over the world — causing things like extra rain in some places, droughts in others, and shifts in temperature. A Record-Breaking El Niño on the Rise Scientists at NOAA say this year’s El Niño is growing fast and could become one of the strongest ever recorded since they started keeping track in 1950. There’s an 81% chance it will reach “very strong” status by fall. This El Niño only started last month, but it’s already…
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Unmasking CO₂ Myths: The Science You Need to Know
Welcome to the third part of my Fact-Checking Series, where I dig into myths about carbon dioxide and clear up misunderstandings about climate. Carbon dioxide, or CO₂, is an invisible gas that is all around us in the air. It’s made up of one carbon atom and two oxygen atoms. People and animals breathe it out when we exhale, and plants take it in to help them grow through a process called photosynthesis. CO₂ is also a strong greenhouse gas, which means it traps heat in the Earth’s atmosphere. Without CO₂, our planet would be too cold for us to live. While this is natural and important for life, too…
