Since the Trump administration took office in January 2025, it has taken or proposed at least 580 actions that directly threaten the environment, climate, and human health. NRDC is tracking the mounting hazard and harm. As soon as the second Trump administration took office in January 2025, we witnessed an ... [continued]
The post White House Watch: Tracking Attacks on Our Environment & Health appeared first on CleanTechnica.
Earlier this year I published the PEER technique for brainstorming interviewees: “four categories to help journalists generate more names on any given story — and think more creatively about whose voices might add something to that story.”
Now I’ve built a game to put that technique into practice — and improve your sourcing.
It’s much more fun.
Who should you call? has seven levels that move from identifying the type of source, to identifying who is missing from a story, to finding under-represented voices and picking a full interview list.
I included a ‘Blue vs Red’ teams mode for using the game in a class or training session. This allows you to introduce a competitive element by splitting a class into two teams. The lecturer can host a whole-class game on a big screen or let students play it themselves in smaller teams.
Play switches from one team to another when a team gets a question wrong. But play also switches if a team gets three answers correct in a row, to avoid the other team getting bored.
The game keeps track of each team’s scores and gives a running total at the end of each round.
The Solo version of the game allows students to play it on their own. This could be done in class — comparing scores and decisions at the end — or as an independent task or resource.
However you use it, students can continue to play the game and move through different levels outside of class.
The seven levels of the game don’t have to be played in order. If you want to focus on diversity, for example, you can select Level 4: Widen the net (“Find under-represented voices”) or Level 5: Check your habits (“Spot habits that narrow who is heard”) and click Start game under the list of levels.
If you want to develop editing skills around identifying what voices are missing from a story, click on Level 3: Find the blind spot.
If you want to go straight to building a list of interviewees for a series of story scenarios you can play Level 7: Build the interview list.
At the end of each level you get a score, so you can choose to stop there or continue on to the next level.
I didn’t write a line of code for this game. I generated the code using Claude’s Artifacts tool: my only coding contribution was to edit a link to a style sheet which broke when I hosted the game on GitHub.
I’ll write separately about how I approached the process and what I learned, but if you want to see the prompts and documents used to create the game I have published a transcript in a GitHub repo here.
The bulk of the work for the game was from the posts Here’s a framework to help fill the ‘human gap’ in your story and PEER: a technique for brainstorming interviewees and story sources. These were included in the initial prompt as the basis for the game (basically I was reversioning the posts as a game).
During the design process I also added some secondary research into diversity and sourcing I have collected over the years.
It’s not the only game I’ve vibe-coded for teaching. I have previously created much simpler Family Fortunes-style games to inject some interaction into some introductory classes covering news values and challenges facing the industry. One game invited students to guess the results of a survey of industry leaders; the other to remember the most common news values in a piece of research they were given to read. But with this game I took things up a notch to incorporate levels, visuals, wider research and more detailed iteration.
Have a play with the game (here’s the Claude-hosted version) and let me know in the comments below or on LinkedIn whether you find it useful — or if there’s anything that could be improved or added.
I’ll keep updating the game in response to feedback and add details of changes to the bottom of this post.
By Atharva Shinde Most Western clean-energy reporting takes a very specific picture of home charging for granted. You pull into a private driveway, plug into an attached garage wall-box, and pull cheap power while you sleep. That reality does not exist for most urban drivers in India. Data from Kazam ... [continued]
The post The High-Rise Bottleneck: Why EV Charging in Indian Apartments Is an Engineering Puzzle appeared first on CleanTechnica.
Under Trump, Americans could face an extraordinary increase in exposure to cancer-causing toxics and radiation. Over the nearly two years of President Donald Trump’s second term, his administration has taken more than 500 actions that harm public health or the environment. When faced with this onslaught of harm, it can ... [continued]
The post The Trump Administration’s Pro-Cancer Agenda appeared first on CleanTechnica.
The results of the US midterms on November 3 delivered a resounding victory for the Democrats, and a major loss for US president Donald Trump and the Republican party. Gaining control of the Senate and the House of Representatives has emboldened the Democrats, giving them a renewed sense of political ... [continued]
The post Democrats Are at COP31 to Show That the US Has Not Abandoned the Fight Against Climate Change appeared first on CleanTechnica.
From an airplane, most of the glaciers of the Rocky Mountain West look like small patches of white nestled into rugged landscape where the topography folds. The white is the snow cover, and lower down you can see the gray-blue bare ice. In the middle of the 20th century, over ... [continued]
The post 300 Glaciers Have Disappeared from the American West Since the Mid‑20th Century — the Survivors Have a Few Things in Common appeared first on CleanTechnica.
Loose links that float ships
Note to squeamish readers: If you’re grossed out by medical stuff, you might want to skip this one.
Yesterday morning, my oral surgeon installed an implant post on which, a few months hence, my #2 molar (top right, forward of the wisdom tooth) will be restored. Half a century after it got a gold crown, it had decay underneath and had to go. It’s the back one you see on the left, here:
It’s my second implant. The first was #5, a bicuspid (less obvious in that shot) that cracked when I bit down on something hard that had found its way into a dinner salad at a Palo Alto restaurant. As reported here, I also spent a lot of time having many teeth crowned with gold at the UNC Dental School in 1975.
But I’m actually here to talk about pain. Exactly twenty-four hours after the surgery, I still have some, but I can live with it. As you see, I’m writing now. Yesterday I distracted myself from post-surgical discomfort by staying away from my desk, doing yard work, and making phone calls on long walks and errands. Today the pain isn’t gone, but it’s also not bothering me.
The surgeon gave me a prescription for Tramadol, and I took a couple of half-pills in the hours following the surgery. I couldn’t tell if they did much, and I experienced no side effects. I never had an appetite for intoxication, and my two experimental experiences with recreational drugs did not leave me wanting more.
The first was with cocaine. This was in the 1970s, at a party in the woods outside of Chapel Hill. I knew almost nothing about cocaine at the time. The host said to me, “Ya’ll want some coke?” I said no. “Just put some of this white dust in your nose and see what happens,” he said. So I did. A while later, he asked how it felt. He was loving it, and so were others at the party. But I told him I felt nothing. Puzzled, he said, “Well, maybe ya’ll’s personality masks the effects.”
I was more of an extrovert then, so that was a credible statement. My other experience, also long ago, was with MDMA, aka Ecstasy. Did it once with very close friends, also long ago. It found it interesting that the drug removed whatever it is that might make other beings unlovable. Because I suddenly loved everything and everybody, including my friends’ big old dog, named Max. The thought balloon over Max’s head said, “Wow! You get it! You love me just like I love you! You’re dogs now!” After that wore off, I had no interest in experiencing drug-induced ecstasy again. I wanted love to come more naturally.
But back to pain. Sometime in the early 80s, I had a problem with a stuffy nose that bled a lot for no obvious reason. My otorhinolaryngologist, Dr. Thaddeus Pope, said the problem was a bad nasal cochna, also called a turbinate. The one in my left nostril had to go. He yanked it out using very little anesthesia, because the inner nose is too close to the brain, he said.
He was amazed that I didn’t seem especially bothered by the pain, which he warned would be intense. Afterwards, he installed one of his patented inventions: a sponge with a tube down the middle that expands to soak up blood from nasal surgery. That’s one, above. And yes, I see (now that I have been reminded) that it’s kind of a tampon you can breathe through.)
Ripping that out of my head a week later, after all the blood had dried, was also done without anesthesia and was a project because the sponge had scabbed on all sides to the walls of my nasal cavity.
Noting that I didn’t wince when he did any of this, he asked if I’d had dentistry without anesthesia as a child. I said yes. Our family dentist was trained in the 1930s, and used an old-fashioned drill that ran on pulleys. The work he did was also so bad that most of it needed to be replaced with lots of gold later. I told Dr. Pope that I didn’t have Novacain (the old name for Procaine) until I was seventeen and needed the ugly and defective cap on one of my incisors (the #9 tooth) replaced. “That explains it,” Dr. Pope said. “As a kid, you were trained in a dentist’s chair to tolerate high amounts of pain.” Pain tolerance is common for people who had lots of dentistry in the age before anesthesia, he explained.
Yesterday, my oral surgeon was also surprised that I seemed unfazed by the more painful of the numbing shots he gave me. (The kind shot through the hard palate on what dentists call the lingual side of my uppers.) So I guess the old tolerance is still there. I’m still marveling that this was probably a learned rather than an innate trait.
Cacti are among the toughest plants on the planet, withstanding scorching temperatures and parched conditions that would wilt a more sensitive sprout. But climate change may threaten these hardy plants more than previously thought, a new study suggests.
The agreement comes amid “substantial uncertainty” about PBS Charlotte’s long-term financial viability, according to a press release.
The post PBS North Carolina will acquire PBS Charlotte, combine operations appeared first on Current.
Perovskite is a relatively inexpensive material that has attracted thousands of researchers since 2009, when a team of scientists in Japan first demonstrated its use in solar cells. They achieved a solar energy conversion efficiency of little more than 3%, but since science loves a challenge, that was just the ... [continued]
The post The Perovskite Solar Cell Kraken Has Been Unleashed Upon The US appeared first on CleanTechnica.
CHEEK—On a rural road outside Beaumont, a Texas energy giant is preparing to pump carbon dioxide underground to permanently store it and keep the gas from contributing to global warming. The project could be the first of its kind to start operating in the state.
Golden Steering Wheel 2026 — ID. Polo wins in the category Best car under 25,000 euros German Car of the Year 2027 — ID. Polo wins overall and is the winner of the ‘Budget car’ category Autonis readers’ poll — with first place in the small car category, the ID. ... [continued]
The post Renowned Awards for the Newcomer: ID. Polo Wins Golden Steering Wheel, the Autonis Design Award and Is Voted German Car of the Year 2027 appeared first on CleanTechnica.
The foreign secretary argues that the world must now face the consequences of failing to cut emissions over the past three decades
The Netherlands' new subsidy rewards cleaner vessel propulsion, but its principal cost denominator leaves out shared shore infrastructure that turns vessels into repeatable freight services.
The post The Netherlands Has €231 Million for Cleaner Inland Ships. It Still Needs Electric Freight Corridors. appeared first on CleanTechnica.
Third day of UN talks begin but leaders of many big polluting nations absent
After a couple of hosts provide us a bit of background on Antalya (founded in 200BC, apparently) it is time to hear from António Guterres, the outgoing secretary-general of the UN, who will probably not be dancing.
Guterres starts by praising Turkey for the “excellent organization” of the Cop, which gets smattering of applause and perhaps a few raised eyebrows given the transport nightmares endured by attenders.
Continue reading...And we need beta testers to help us build it Civic Share is a shared search and research hub where journalists, nonprofits, and advocates can upload, share and find information relevant to the work they’re all doing. Our pilot topic is data centers, a topic at the heart of this shifting world of AI and information. Right now, a reporter in one state and an organizer in another could both…
Increasing extreme temperatures around the world are driving a new effort to frame climate action around health, rather than carbon targets and emissions, reports Nick Ferris at Cop31 in Antalya
Today United for the Future launches at COP31 today with a plan to unite 100 million people in peaceful, non-partisan marches in cities worldwide. Their goal is to assemble the largest coordinated climate demonstration in history in order to put climate action back at the top of the political agenda. ... [continued]
The post Science For The People, Right On! appeared first on CleanTechnica.
For a guy facing impeachment, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth isn’t exactly trying to get the media on his side. Before a press conference at the Pentagon on Tuesday — […]
The post What happened at Pete Hegseth’s first press conference in months appeared first on Poynter.
Esta semana, nos duele el bolsillo. El encarecimiento del coste de la vida es una preocupación a nivel global, y el cambio climático está añadiendo presión. Vamos a hacer números:
Para 2035, pronostican que, en todo el mundo, el calentamiento global aumentará la inflación de los alimentos en hasta 3,23 puntos porcentuales anuales y hasta 1,18 puntos porcentuales en la inflación general anual. Y se espera más presión para las regiones tropicales. Al final, esto se traduce en más familias con dificultades para tener una alimentación sana y equilibrada.
Si hablamos de cuánto dependemos de los combustibles fósiles, principal causa del cambio climático, las cosas no mejoran. La volatilidad de los precios de la gasolina, como estamos viendo con la guerra de Irán, no sólo hace más caro llenar el depósito, sino también los productos y servicios que dependen del transporte, la agricultura y la distribución.
– Elena González y Santiago Sáez, CCNow
Mongabay acaba de lanzar “Busco un científico”, una base de datos para encontrar expertos en medioambiente y clima en América Latina.
gl=document.createElement('script');gl.src='https://secure.givelively.org/widgets/simple_donation/fund-for-constitutional-government/covering-climate-now.js?show_suggested_amount_buttons=true&show_in_honor_of=true&address_required=false&has_required_custom_question=false&suggested_donation_amounts[]=25&suggested_donation_amounts[]=50&suggested_donation_amounts[]=100&suggested_donation_amounts[]=250';document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(gl);
The post El cambio climático nos está saliendo muy caro appeared first on Covering Climate Now.
For two election cycles, misinformation and election experts have wondered: Will content generated with artificial intelligence dominate races and mislead voters? Campaigns and their supporters still use conventional ads to […]
The post Political campaigns spent $187 million promoting AI-generated ads in the 2026 midterms. Did they work? appeared first on Poynter.
A historic restoration of Florida’s Everglades is proceeding at an unprecedented pace, although more scientific analysis is needed to understand how the fragile watershed is responding to the multi-billion-dollar effort, according to a new report.
ExxonMobil has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Venezuelan government and its state-owned oil company to explore opportunities in the country.
(Image credit: Brendan Smialowski)
In August 2025, Vice President JD Vance and Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lee Zeldin visited cold storage equipment manufacturer Alta Refrigeration to announce plans to roll back regulations the company opposed.
The transition to electric vehicles should be moving apace, but it is not. And why? Incompetence, expedience and cowardice
This is how it works. An industry puts tremendous effort into resisting change: lobbying governments, mobilising the media, pouring money into junktanks. It argues that a transition would threaten jobs, or damage the national interest, or harm poor people, while what it really fears is the cost of retooling its plants or developing new protocols. Then, when the inevitable cliff edge approaches, it whines that change is coming too soon. For reasons beyond its control, it isn’t ready, so the government must delay its plans.
This is what triggered the Dutch nitrate crisis, and the UK’s repeated “emergency” exemptions from the ban on a devastating class of pesticides. Now the same dynamic is driving the UK’s crisis over the transition to electric vehicles (EVs). The result is that, as the global climate summit, Cop31, begins, it looks as if our gift to the world will be a major, predictable and entirely avoidable increase in the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions.
George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist
Continue reading...Creating predictable demand for genuinely low-carbon steel is urgent. If properly designed, low-carbon steel credits can create a lead market for green steel and secure a future for a green steel industry in Europe. Many green steel projects have been announced across Europe in recent years. However, some are facing ... [continued]
The post Joint Letter on Low-Carbon Steel Credits in the Review of EU CO₂ Emission Standards for Cars appeared first on CleanTechnica.
WASHINGTON D.C. — Following is a statement from Tim Pawlenty, CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) on the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act (BAAJA) clearing its first procedural hurdle in the U.S. Senate: “Americans urgently need lower energy costs, a better electric grid and more energy made ... [continued]
The post Solar & Storage Industry Statement on Bipartisan Permitting Reform Bill Passing First Procedural Vote appeared first on CleanTechnica.
Today, we’re launching the Waymo Accessibility Network UK to inform the future of autonomous mobility in the UK and enable a more independent future of transport. Whether it’s travelling to work, visiting friends, attending an appointment or simply enjoying everything a place has to offer, everyone deserves the freedom to ... [continued]
The post Introducing the Waymo Accessibility Network UK: Co-Designing the Future of Autonomous Mobility appeared first on CleanTechnica.
EL PASO, Texas—Border communities voted in overwhelming numbers for Democratic candidates in the midterm elections last Tuesday.
When the Covid-19 pandemic normalized remote work, a second trend caught on: shutting down physical newsrooms.
A report from Northwestern University’s Local News Initiative, published Tuesday, looks at the cultural losses that news outlets face when their staff stops working together under one roof. Here’s LNI contributor and Columbia College Chicago journalism professor Jackie Spinner:
As pandemic-era safeguards that necessitated working from home waned, some have championed the technological advances that allow many journalists to report, edit and publish from basically anywhere with stable Internet access. But the cost savings from a smaller or nonexistent physical presence isn’t the only consideration. Less clear-cut is the impact on the elements of journalism that never appear on budgets, such as the training absorbed from looking over someone’s shoulder or the institutional knowledge gained and passed by working in proximity to others over time.
During the pandemic, several news outlets downsized their offices — from city high-rises to co-working spaces — due to financial constraints and new hybrid work schedules.
On Tuesday, I spent time looking for the local news outlets that have foregone or reduced office space and opted for primarily remote work in recent years. Here are some:
Are there any I’m missing? Let me know. And read the full piece here.
A Norwegian Scania has already plowed mountain roads. Sweden's new fuel-cell range extender adds tanks and fueling equipment to a battery truck and needs a business case.
The post Norway’s Electric Snowplow Worked. Sweden Added Hydrogen Anyway. appeared first on CleanTechnica.