Articles by Staff Writer Jake Bittle
Jake Bittle is a staff writer at Grist, covering climate change, energy, and natural disasters. He is the author of The Great Displacement: Climate Change and the Next American Migration. He is writing a book about Kern County, California, and is currently a New America fellow.
All Articles
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![Zack Crowder views his home after it was struck by a tornado on May 7 in Barnsdall, Oklahoma. Oklahoma is one of several inland states that has seen skyrocketing insurance costs in recent years.]()
![Zack Crowder views his home after it was struck by a tornado on May 7 in Barnsdall, Oklahoma. Oklahoma is one of several inland states that has seen skyrocketing insurance costs in recent years.]()
How ‘kitty cats’ are wrecking the home insurance industry
Supercharged thunderstorms and tornadoes are ravaging the Midwest, driving insurance costs to record highs.
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![Oil pump jacks at the Elk Hills oil field in Kern County, California.]()
![Oil pump jacks at the Elk Hills oil field in Kern County, California.]()
Inside a California oil town’s divisive plan to survive the energy transition
Kern County is betting on carbon capture to replace oil jobs and tax revenue. But will the county’s new economy repeat the sins of the old one?
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![A flooded home in the River Plantation neighborhood of Conroe, Texas on May 3, 2024. A series of storms dropped 23 inches of rain on parts of southeast Texas.]()
![A flooded home in the River Plantation neighborhood of Conroe, Texas on May 3, 2024. A series of storms dropped 23 inches of rain on parts of southeast Texas.]()
Texas flooding brings new urgency to Houston home buyout program
The San Jacinto River is a national hotspot for ‘managed retreat,’ but recent floods show how far local officials still have to go.
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![A dry irrigation canal runs between almond orchards in Chowchilla, California. The state's landmark groundwater law will force farmers to fallow tens of thousands of acres.]()
![A dry irrigation canal runs between almond orchards in Chowchilla, California. The state's landmark groundwater law will force farmers to fallow tens of thousands of acres.]()
In a first, California cracks down on farms guzzling groundwater
Regulators just imposed unprecedented fees on water usage in the state's agricultural heartland.
