Chicago

Weekly Climate News

March 4, 2021

  • The U.N. has suspended climate projects in Myanmar after the military seized control of the Myanmar government in a coup executed on Feb. 1.  

  • Claude Nyamugabo, environmental minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo, has been brought to court on accusations of illegal allocation of logging claims in the Congo rainforest to a Congolese cleaning company and two Chinese firms. 

  • The U.S. said it will terminate funding for “carbon-intensive” fossil fuel projects overseas. 

  • Environmental racism has impacted the health of marginalized communities for decades. Read this article on environmental justice advocates fighting pollution in Black communities by calling for civil rights protections to be included in the National Environmental Policy Act. 

  • Arkansas, Kansas, Minnesota and Montana, among other U.S. states, have proposed stricter penalties for protests against fossil fuel and pipeline projects. 

  • The gulf stream is weakening as a result of climate change. Check out this interactive article.

  • Mexico City initiated a plastic ban, which has raised concerns for women’s access to period products. 

  • New initiatives in the travel industry suggest a future of sustainable travel for the post COVID-19 world. 

  • More than 100 Chicagoans, motivated by environmental justice concerns, are involved in a hunger strike in protest of the city’s proposed location for a scrapyard in Southeast Chicago.

  • Seville, Spain, is using oranges to generate electricity. 

Weekly Climate News

Feb. 4, 2021

  • New Zealand climate advisers are encouraging steep cuts in carbon emissions to align with the 1.5 C global warming limit. 

  • Exxon Mobil, one of the world's largest international oil and gas companies, invested $3 billion in carbon capture.  

  • General Motors announced a phase-out of petroleum-powered cars and trucks, promising to sell only zero-emission vehicles by 2035. The company has also set goals for carbon neutrality by 2040.

  • Due to long-standing environmental injustices, Chicago’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout plan put polluted communities last, which left poorer communities of color among the last to receive the vaccine. 

  • U.S. President Joe Biden signed an executive order that strongly encourages the federal government to exclusively purchase zero-emission vehicles. 

  • A U.S. research institution that studies the impact of climate change in the Arctic has announced that it will be significantly enhancing efforts to connect the science it funds with the communities that live in the region.

  • Greenland’s glacier retreat is accelerating as a result of warming seas in response to climate change. 

  • Human pollution has been found deep in the world’s oceans. Read about it here.