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A practical guide to using the climate law to get cheaper solar panels, heat pumps, and more.
The new rules are complicated. Here’s how to make sense of them if you’re shopping for an electric vehicle.
The long-delayed risk disclosure regulation is almost here.
Here’s what you need to know about the nuclear power comeback — including what’s going on, what’s new this time, and is it safe?
From the Inflation Reduction Act to our summer inferno to an anti-car paradise and everything in between.
Want to use your gifts to help the climate? Here’s where seven climate advocates are donating.
Fighting for clean air and water. Accelerating the green energy transition. Centering economic and racial justice. Engaging future generations of climate innovators.
Nonprofits across the U.S. and around the world are tackling the problem of climate change in zillions of different ways. In recognition of the scope of their work, we at Heatmap are starting a new tradition for Giving Tuesday — asking some of the most prominent voices in the climate space where they would donate this year.
The answers they gave us are varied, exciting, and urgent, with a cause for every interest and concern. Learn how to donate or get involved with an effort close to your own heart, below.
What UPROSE does: Organizes the multiracial, multi-ethnic, multi-cultural population of Sunset Park, Brooklyn to promote sustainability and climate justice.
How you can support UPROSE: Get involved or donate here.
Where Yeampierre would donate this year: NYC Environmental Justice Alliance; NY Renews Climate; and Climate Justice Alliance.
Why: “All three of these organizations have a long and continued track record of shaping policy, base building, and operationalizing a just transition. All are frontline-led and center racial justice and equity in all aspects of their operations. All have changed the landscape and are central to decision-making on all things climate.”
What Generation180 does: Mounts public campaigns for electrification with relentless positivity.
How you can support Generation180: Donate here.
Where Wertz would donate this year: Hollywood Climate Summit.
Why: “This holiday season, I’d consider giving to Hollywood Climate Summit for their important climate communications work. Hollywood is an extremely powerful industry, and for the past four years, the annual Hollywood Climate Summit has served as an urgent call to action for the entertainment industry to address the climate emergency through a compilation of think tanks, workshops, and activities. The climate movement needs to change hearts and minds, and HCS is encouraging the entertainment community to help us achieve the cultural shift we need to advance an equitable, sustainable future.”
What the Indigenous Environmental Network does: Draws on the history of indigenous peoples to empower Native groups working to protect their homelands.
How you can support the IEN: Donate here or explore other ways to support the IEN.
Where White would donate this year:Tonatierra
Why: “We would love to spotlight the incredible work of Tonatierra. They are a family-based organization lifting up the grassroots from the local work on the ground to the United Nations. Sadly, they recently lost their co-founder, Tupac [Enrique Acosta].
“The work of Tonatierra in lifting up Indigenous communities over the past decades has been tireless and selfless. They fight for Indigenous Peoples community empowerment bringing together Indigenous people from the north and south in the fight for justice and human rights all within the framework of the protection of Mother Earth as we are all connected to the land.”
What the Rainforest Alliance does: Leverages business incentives to protect irreplaceable ecosystems — and the communities that rely on them.
How you can support the Rainforest Alliance:Get involved or donate here.
Where Katz would donate this year: Fundación Proyecto Tití and The Billion Oyster Project
Why: “Fundación Proyecto Tití works to stop deforestation and protect the cotton-top tamarin monkey. Also known as the tití, these one-pound primates are only found in the forests of Colombia, but deforestation is destroying their already diminished habitat. Only about 7,000 titís remain in the wild. The organization is effective in part because it works so well with the local community to protect endangered forests and replant degraded lands. The group has a U.S. sponsor, so all gifts are tax-deductible.
“The Billion Oyster Project is a growing New York-based conservation organization working alongside the Harbor School on Governor’s Island to clean up the New York estuary, once home to the largest number of oysters in the world. The Billion Oyster project not only grows oysters, [it] also helps everyone better understand the connection between clean water, biodiversity, and the food we eat. If Billon Oyster is successful — and they are well on the way — in the near future, all New Yorkers will have cleaner rivers and more wildlife thriving throughout the area.”
What SELC does: Defends the local environment in court, using the law to help move the U.S. South toward a more sustainable future.
How you can support SELC: Get involved or donate here.
Where Campaigne would donate this year: Memphis Community Against Pollution
Why: “Memphis Community Against Pollution has done some of the most impressive organizing around in its quest for environmental justice for Black communities in Southwest Memphis. The organization played David as it slayed the Goliath Byhalia crude oil pipeline, then worked successfully to force the closure of another facility that had been releasing toxic, cancer-causing pollution for more than four decades. MCAP has now focused its fierce attention on a climate behemoth: the quasi-federal utility TVA, which is proposing one of the largest methane gas buildouts in the country, a move that would lock the region into fossil fuels for decades to come.”
What Rewiring America does: Teaches U.S. homeowners about the tangible benefits of clean electricity.
How you can support Rewiring America: Get involved or donate here.
Where Young would donate this year: Community-based organizations like Baltimore’s Civic Works
Why: “Changing a handful of machines in our homes and driveways is one of the most important things you can do for the planet. The Inflation Reduction Act and climate philanthropists are accelerating this work at the national level, but for Giving Tuesday, we say go local. Community-based organizations with longstanding, personal connections and deep knowledge of the local landscape are often some of the best-positioned to advance electrification thoughtfully and equitably. This giving season, find an organization working to increase resiliency and improve the quality of life for their community by weatherizing low-income homes, providing financial assistance to install heat pumps, or advocating for local government action to help strengthen building codes and gain access to solar or EV charging.”
What the CATF does: Advocatesfor climate technologies to decarbonize the global energy system.
How you can support the CATF: Donate here or explore other ways to support CATF.
Who Shaheen would donate to this year: Western Resource Advocates, the Center for Applied Law and Policy, and ClearPath
Why: “We appreciate the work the following organizations are doing to advance effective, pragmatic solutions to climate change. In the U.S., we'd like to showcase Western Resource Advocates, which drives evidence-based solutions to the climate crisis, protecting and sustaining the environment, economy, and people of the interior West; the Center for Applied Law and Policy, which seeks to further innovation in environmental law and policy; and ClearPath, which develops and advances policies that accelerate innovations to reduce and remove global energy emissions.”
What RMI does: Brings cutting-edge research and analysis to business, governments, and the public to build a carbon-free future.
How you can support RMI: Explore ways to give here.
Where Singh would donate this year: Relp
Why: “Relp’s work not only addresses the pressing energy challenges in developing nations but also holds the potential to revolutionize the renewable energy landscape, forging a path toward a greener and more sustainable future for all. Their mission creates a ripple effect in the renewable energy sector, offering a way to scale renewable investments in regions that need them the most. Their comprehensive grasp of renewable energy markets combined with their ability to generate investment opportunities [that were] previously thought infeasible transforms what was once seen as unattainable into achievable milestones.”
Here are steps you can take to prepare and common misconceptions to keep in mind.
Hurricane Idalia is the first Atlantic hurricane of the 2023 season to make landfall in the continental United States, but it will by no means be the last. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, has predicted an “above normal” hurricane season for the year, driven in part by record-high sea surface temperatures.
Hurricanes bring many variables with them, and their effects don’t end when the wind and rain stops. I spoke with Joel Cline, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, about steps you can take to prepare and common misconceptions to keep in mind. Here are the dos and don’ts of hurricane season:
Do: Harden your home
Preparing for a hurricane can begin long before hurricane season. If you live in an area that tends to see storms, consider investing in structural improvements that can harden your home against a hurricane, like roof braces and storm-rated doors and windows. Some states, including Florida, provide subsidies to help defray the costs of those improvements, and the earlier you have those improvements in place the better protected your home will be. Just remember that “hurricane-proof” is a bit of a misnomer; each hurricane is different, and one set of improvements, like storm shutters, won’t protect against every variable.
Do: Write up a plan
Long before a hurricane arrives, you can create a plan for how your family should react. Map out local evacuation routes and decide meeting points in case you get separated, like a local emergency shelter.
Once you’ve made your plans, discuss them with friends and family members who live elsewhere — if you have a kid away at college, for example, talk to them about what they should do. Ready.gov, the federal government’s landing page for disaster preparedness, has many resources available to walk you through each step of the process.
Don’t: Evacuate to somewhere near a river
The locations of evacuation shelters are chosen for many reasons, such as being located outside of flood zones. If you have to evacuate and choose not to go to an evacuation shelter, stay away from rivers. You might feel safer being away from the coast, but rivers can often flood in the wake of a hurricane, Cline told me.
Do: Assemble your emergency kit and secure important documents
Put together an emergency kit with food, water, and medicine; Ready.gov suggest several days’ worth of non-perishable food and water, including one gallon of water per person per day. Toss in items like backup batteries for your phones, flashlights, and a battery or hand-cranked emergency radio so you can listen for alerts. Also make sure you have copies of your important personal documents in case they get lost or damaged.
If you’re planning on staying at home, make sure you’re prepared to spend a few days without utilities. “I don't think people prepare enough for being without power for a long period of time,” Cline said. “We've become very dependent on power, so people don't have enough resources to get by, like canned foods or ice or water to flush toilets.”
Do: Properly set up a generator
If you have a generator or decide to buy one, make sure you have enough fuel to last you a few days and prioritize only the most essential needs — no TVs, for example. Generators should be kept at least 20 feet away from your house; according to NPR, carbon monoxide deaths often spike in the wake of large storms due to improperly-placed portable generators. If you can, try to get a few carbon monoxide alarms that are either battery-powered or have battery backups.
Don’t: Fixate on the storm’s category
Instead of just paying attention to a storm’s categories, keep an eye on how local conditions are changing.
“I think people rely too much on the categories of systems for their own preparedness levels,” Cline said. While categories are a handy shorthand for storm severity, they don’t say much about what localized impacts should be.
Rather than focusing on that number, Cline told me, people should look for information specific to their area. “They should prepare for the impacts for their area by listening to the local weather forecast office. Local forecast officers track the local conditions, so they'll know about how the rainfall, storm surge, and winds will impact your area.”
Cline said one of the most common mistakes people make ahead of a storm is a behavior called anchoring, or locking firmly onto information that suggests the impact of a storm might not be too bad. This is a normal human trait: We want to be reassured. But that can be dangerous.
“Don’t anchor on something your neighbor might have told you about how the storm will miss your area or won’t be too bad,” Cline said. “That might have been true 24 hours ago, but not anymore.”
Case in point: Idalia was upgraded from a tropical storm to a hurricane, and as it approached Florida it danced between Category 2 and Category 4, eventually making landfall as a Category 3 storm before weakening back down to Category 2. Those changes happened quickly, and could have been easily missed.
Do: Stay off your phone
Call one person outside of the impacted area to give them an update on your situation, but otherwise try to stay off the phone. Cell service is often impacted in the wake of a storm, and emergency personnel need to use those phone lines to coordinate their response.
Don’t: Rush outside or back home
Hurricanes linger in more ways than one. It can be easy to assume that the coast is clear once the storm has moved on, but Cline said that can prove deadly.
“When the sun's out, and there's no wind, and it’s a couple of days after the storm, you may drive around to look at things,” Cline told me. “That’s not a good idea, firstly because emergency people are trying to get around, but also because you might end up driving into a flooded roadway. And that's where we lose a lot of people as well. People don't understand the lingering impacts.”
Don’t go back to your home until officials give the all-clear. When you return, look out for hazards like downed electrical wires or chemicals. Take stock of your home and contact your insurance company. Once you do, rebuilding can begin.
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