Unearthed: The Mining Issue
Unearthed: The Mining Issue
Recent
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![pallets of avocados]()
![pallets of avocados]()
Tariffs won’t just hit your wallet. They could also increase food waste.
From farm to retail, the threat of trade barriers is already impacting the food supply chain.
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![A man stands looking out in the distance on his farm]()
![A man stands looking out in the distance on his farm]()
The $20B question hanging over America’s struggling farmers
Extreme weather wiped out billions in crops last year — but most federal aid may end up going to the wrong farms.
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![Fire victims meet with FEMA officials on January 14, 2025 in Pasadena, California, where a FEMA opened a recovery center to help residents who lost their homes or businesses.]()
![Fire victims meet with FEMA officials on January 14, 2025 in Pasadena, California, where a FEMA opened a recovery center to help residents who lost their homes or businesses.]()
Trump wants to wind down FEMA. Could states fill the gap?
Shuttering the disaster agency could leave poor and rural communities exposed.
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![Collage of cyclist riding in bike lane, dollar bill, and smokestack]()
![Collage of cyclist riding in bike lane, dollar bill, and smokestack]()
The government aims to cut funding for safer streets. Here’s who would be hurt most.
The Department of Transportation considers freezing funding for bike lanes and other pedestrian safety projects as the Trump administration leans into fossil fuels.
Topics
Grist reports on topics like Politics, Energy, Equity, Solutions, and how they intersect with climate. All topics.
Extreme Weather
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Utilities are shutting off power to a growing number of households
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‘It’s all been scrapped’: Bootcamps for women in wildland firefighting canceled after DEI cuts
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US Forest Service firings decimate already understaffed agency: ‘It’s catastrophic’
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How the Eaton Fire destroyed a delicate truce over Altadena’s future
Indigenous Affairs
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Alaska Natives want the US military to clean up its toxic waste
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A $250M investment will help this lithium mine get up and running. That’s bad news for these tribes.
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In Canada, Indigenous advocates argue that mining companies violate the rights of nature
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‘Like a virus’: Corruption has infected the fight against climate change
Staff Picks
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Expecting worse: Giving birth on a planet in crisis
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![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
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![Collage featuring warehouse worker carrying cardboard box off-gassing ethylene oxide]()
An invisible chemical is poisoning thousands of unsuspecting warehouse workers
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![Collage of farmworkers carrying produce, snippets of a dollar bill, and tomatoes — all centered around an empty dinner plate]()
The people who feed America are going hungry
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![illustration in the style of WPA posters of 3 electricians with electric bolts above them; a heat pump and solar panels in the background]()
To get off fossil fuels, America is going to need a lot more electricians
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![Senator Debbie Stabenow speaks with an aide before a committee meeting]()
The Senate’s new farm bill would prioritize the climate. Too bad it’s basically doomed.
More climate fiction
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![A woman carries a sign that says]()
![A woman carries a sign that says]()
The US and Canada have long managed the Great Lakes together. That era could be ending.
Political tensions are threatening the future of the largest freshwater ecosystem on Earth.
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![A woman sits on the ground with a baby in front of her. They are wearing large hats, and the baby holds a cardboard sign reading]()
![A woman sits on the ground with a baby in front of her. They are wearing large hats, and the baby holds a cardboard sign reading]()
The world’s biggest youth climate lawsuit lost in court, but it ‘changed the world’
The landmark Juliana v. United States sparked a global movement to defend children's rights to a healthy climate, a campaign that's already scored two wins.
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Renewables surged in 2024 — but so did fossil fuels
A new report finds that while electricity demand skyrocketed, the deployment of new wind, solar, and nuclear power did, too.
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![A man poses for a photo while standing in a large field with sparse vegetation]()
![A man poses for a photo while standing in a large field with sparse vegetation]()
Chile’s lithium boom promises jobs and money — but threatens a critical water source
The Atacama Desert is a major source of lithium for EV batteries. As global demand ramps up, the local Lickanantay people are racing to protect already scarce water supplies and their way of life.
Watch This
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![The sun sets on the mining vessel ‘Hidden Gem’]()
![The sun sets on the mining vessel ‘Hidden Gem’]()
Digging for minerals in the Pacific’s graveyard: The $20 trillion fight over who controls the seabed
“The soul of our ancestors, when they leave this world, they go into the deep.”
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![A geologic map of Arizona's castle rock quadrangle]()
![A geologic map of Arizona's castle rock quadrangle]()
Why Biden and Trump both support this federal mineral mapping project
A U.S. Geological Survey effort to find underground deposits of clean energy metals has gotten bipartisan support.
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![A woman in traditional Indigenous clothing holds her fist aloft during a protest]()
![A woman in traditional Indigenous clothing holds her fist aloft during a protest]()
Most critical minerals are on Indigenous lands. Will miners respect tribal sovereignty?
Grist spoke with five experts to understand what free, prior, and informed consent should look like in this new era of extraction.
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![A gas pump and ev charger juxtaposed]()
![A gas pump and ev charger juxtaposed]()
Is mining critical minerals better than extracting fossil fuels?
Extracting resources from the Earth always comes with costs. As we race toward a cleaner, greener future, there is a risk of repeating the abuses of mining for coal and other fossil fuels.
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