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Every Ramadan, volunteers at Westall Mosque and OneSpace in Melbourne hold free weekly iftars (communal dinners to break the fast in Ramadan). This year, volunteers say numbers are up.
To cut down on the resulting landfill, attendees are asked to bring their own reusable food containers and water bottles. In dedicated bins, bottles and cans are collected and recycled under the state government’s container deposit scheme – adding A$12 to A$25 every weekend to each mosque’s coffers, volunteers say.
Many of the attendees are international students from Indonesia or Malaysia. Living away from their families, paying high tuition fees, and juggling precarious work with studies, they represent a segment of Australian society particularly hard hit by rising costs of living. These include a jump in food prices stemming from global warming-induced crop failures.
This is a small example of a global problem. The way Muslims around the world experience Ramadan is changing because of climate change, often for the worse.
Read more: Explainer: what is Ramadan and why does it require Muslims to fast?
Like members of Australia’s other Islamic communities, Melbourne Muslims of Indonesian background make up a privileged minority, living in a prosperous, peaceful country.
Muslims in other parts of the world face exacerbated challenges.
Several of the countries thought to be the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change are countries with Muslim majority populations (such as Indonesia, Bangladesh, and Pakistan).
In the Middle East and North Africa where Muslim majority countries abound, the World Food Program describes a “persistent food security crisis”.
In this region devastated by conflict and climate change, the World Food Program says the practice of abstaining from food (temporarily, as a religious tradition) has become an ongoing reality for millions throughout the year.
Food insecurity is made worse in the Middle East and North Africa by the aridity of the region, which contains 12 of the world’s driest countries. These include Algeria, Bahrain, Qatar, the Palestinian Territories, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Yemen.
With forecast reductions in rainfall predicted to decimate the gross domestic product (GDP) of Middle Eastern countries, climate change represents a critical threat to these countries.
Read more: ‘Salam, Ramadan Mubarak!’: 4 ways schools can bring Ramadan into the classroom
Food insecurity and water scarcity aren’t the only ways in which the effects of climate change are felt in Ramadan.
Increasing temperatures have led to the forcible displacement of communities from extreme weather incidents such as storms, wildfires and flooding.
In 2022, flooding in Pakistan destroyed water systems and forced more than five million people to rely on ponds and wells. This contributed to a rise in disease as this water was contaminated.
Heatwaves during times of fasting can also prove fatal. In 2018, dozens of people died, also in Pakistan, amid sweltering temperatures at the start of Ramadan.
After an extreme weather incident, a conflict-afflicted country will shoulder four times the hit to its gross domestic product, compared to a stable country.
Permanent GDP losses of 5.5% have been recorded in Central Asia and just over 1% in the Middle East and North Africa, following climate disasters.
Such losses compound the already precarious stability of these Muslim-majority countries.
Over time, extreme weather events such as flooding in Bangladesh impact the production of necessities.
At a practical level, the loss of income that results when entire towns are swept away affects local economies during Ramadan and beyond, as survivors spend less, and opt for more frugal celebrations.
Wealthier countries, in general, are better equipped to mitigate climate change impacts.
But in Muslim-majority countries in the global south there’s been a push for “greening” Ramadan, and for environmentally sustainable practices to be incorporated into daily Muslim life.
Mosques like Masjid Salman on an Indonesian university campus have incorporated tissue-less and water-efficient areas for wudhu (the ritual ablutions before prayer).
Solar panels installed in 2019 power the largest mosque in southeast Asia – Jakarta’s Istiqlal Mosque. Its capacity matches that of the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
The belief that caring for the environment is an aspect of the Islamic faith holds true for people like Indri Razak, a resident of Sumatra’s largest town of Pekanbaru and a member of the environmental group SRI Foundation.
She’s tried to implement a plastic-free lifestyle in a country where sustainability is just beginning to be embraced.
“As Indonesians whose population is in the hundreds of millions, we need to start taking measures in reducing food waste,” she says.
“I hate composting – it’s so much easier to chuck it all in the bin and off it gets collected by the garbage truck, but if I can do it, anyone can.”
In the meantime, a 1,400 year old fasting tradition continues in a world with a changing climate. Despite centuries of Ramadan, Muslims now practice their faith amid very modern environmental challenges.
Read more: Calls for a ‘green’ Ramadan revive Islam’s long tradition of sustainability and care for the planet
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‘A sea of trucks’ disproportionately pollutes Black and brown neighborhoods in Chicago
The Little Village Environmental Justice Organization and the Center for Neighborhood Technology counted trucks for freight electrification.
The Little Village Environmental Justice Organization and the Center for Neighborhood Technology counted trucks for freight electrification.
This coverage is made possible through a partnership between WBEZ and Grist, a nonprofit, independent media organization dedicated to telling stories of climate solutions and a just future. Sign up for WBEZ newsletters to get local news you can trust.
Paulina Vaca stands at the corner of Pulaski Road and 41st Street, one of Chicago’s busiest intersections for truck traffic.
“I’m seeing a sea of trucks,” said Vaca, the project associate with the nonprofit Center for Neighborhood Technology. “1-2-3-4-5-6-7, just off my field of vision and more coming and going.”
In just one hour, at the day’s peak, about 430 trucks pass through this spot in Archer Heights, a mostly Latino community on the Southwest Side. Trucks in cities belch pollution. In Chicago — North America’s largest freight hub — Black and brown communities living near the city’s industrial corridor are disproportionately paying for it with their health.
A new report from the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization and CNT measures the extent of the city’s truck traffic by counting trucks moving through one Cicero neighborhood and 17 Chicago neighborhoods, from Hegewisch to Albany Park. Using sensors installed in 35 spots, they counted over 24 hours the number of medium-and heavy-duty trucks. Over the course of a day, 5,159 trucks and buses were recorded in Archer Heights — the most of any neighborhood.
José Miguel Acosta Córdova, the transportation justice program manager with the LVEJO, said the data points to some key questions the city and state needs to answer. “When are there too many warehouses and when are there too many trucks?” he asked. 
More than $1 trillion in goods move through Chicago by way of truck, train, ship and plane every year, according to the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning. All six of the nation’s major freight railroads converge in Chicago. Millions of tons of cargo come through the region by way of O’Hare Airport and the canal connecting the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River.
But being an economic juggernaut comes at a health cost. The Respiratory Health Association ranked Illinois fifth out of all states for the highest number of deaths from diesel engine pollution per capita in 2023.
Diesel is what, in large part, moves freight around, according Brian Urbaszewski, director of environmental health programs for RHA.
“What comes out of the tailpipe of those engines is a collection of air pollutants: everything from nitrogen oxides to fine particulate matter, and even carbon dioxide,” Urbaszewski said. Exposure to these pollutants are associated with a host of medical issues, ranging from respiratory to cardiovascular health impacts.
Acosta Córdova said Illinois needs to adopt tighter truck regulations that are already in use in California and several other states. These policies would raise emission standards for tailpipe pollution and set a path for zero-emission trucks.
Vaca said that this new trucking data she and her colleagues compiled won’t surprise longtime residents of the city’s industrial corridors. But it is hard evidence that she hopes will help convince elected leaders that air pollution is an issue of life or death.
“Having these numbers, it’s really crucial to then advocate for more electric vehicles,” Vaca said. “To use this to advocate against permitting more industry in areas where it’s already overburdened.”
More than 1,000 lives and over $10 billion could be saved annually if the Chicago region electrified approximately 30% of all light and heavy-duty vehicles, according to a study published last fall by researchers at Northwestern University.
“We found that the majority of the health benefits from those reductions in pollution occur in environmental justice communities or communities of color, or disadvantaged communities in Chicago,” said Daniel E. Horton, a professor of earth and planetary sciences at Northwestern.
Last Friday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced finalized federal emissions standards for heavy vehicles that would require manufacturers to limit pollution from heavy trucks beginning with 2027 vehicle models. It’s estimated the new policy will prevent 1 billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions from entering the atmosphere. But Acosta Córdova said the guidelines do not go far enough to address the climate crisis. In Illinois, it’ll be years before residents see relief from freight driven air pollution.
“The biggest thing we want to see out of this is more data collection,” Acosta Córdova said. “But, also eventually, [we want] a full transition to zero emission trucks.”
A previous version of this story identified José Acosta Córdova as now the senior transportation policy analyst. He is now the transportation justice program manager.
Juanpablo Ramirez-Franco covers climate change and the environment for WBEZ and Grist. Follow him on X at @__juanpab.

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Suril Mehta, Dr.P.H., described his path from epidemiology to NIEHS and serving as a White House Senior Advisor for Chemical Safety.
By Ben Richardson
In February, Suril Mehta, Dr.P.H., a Division of Translational Toxicology environmental epidemiologist, completed a year-long detail at the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), where he helped develop regulations and policies related to air pollution, drinking water contamination, lead, ethylene oxide, PFAS, chemical accidents, and carcinogenic substances. During his tenure at CEQ, he also served as the White House’s interagency coordinator for the East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment response, and he led efforts to ensure environmental hazards were considered as part of President Joe Biden’s Cancer Moonshot initiative.
The spark that ignited Mehta’s career journey from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to NIEHS and eventually the Executive Office of the President? His older sister Eshani, a breast imaging radiologist and breast cancer awareness advocate, who has been a constant source of inspiration to Mehta throughout his life.
Environmental Factor recently met with Mehta to discuss his work at the White House, mentors who have inspired him, and the value of NIEHS research to inform and shape policymaking.
EF: What led to your detail at the White House and what were some of the highlights of your time there?
Mehta: The White House Council on Environmental Quality was looking for a public health scientist with a science and regulatory policy background, and given my career ping-ponging back and forth between the two over the past 18 years, I thought it was a natural fit for me.
The role itself involved ensuring that the best possible science and consideration for environmental justice were being incorporated into high-level, complex, and consequential environmental and occupational policy. I strongly believe we achieved that and then some. I would argue that this was probably the most productive year for science-based policies to mitigate hazardous environmental chemicals in the U.S. in decades.
EF: Where does the science behind all these major actions start?
Mehta: Partly at NIEHS with our funding and leading intramural research. I want everyone to know that our work here at NIEHS is not just science for science’s sake, but actionable research that influences policymaking. The proof is in the pudding over the last year. Your work to further public health is not just put on the shelf collecting dust — it’s being used to tangibly improve people’s lives.
In the last year, we proposed a drinking water regulation to remove all lead pipes within 10 years and made significant progress on regulations to limit chemicals under the Toxic Substances Control Act. For example, this year marked the ban of certain uses of asbestos in this country, a long-overdue and historic rulemaking that exemplifies the continuum from actionable research to successful policy. These efforts could not have been done without the tireless effort of civil servants working collectively across the federal government.
EF: What was a defining moment in your scientific journey?
Mehta: When I joined the EPA as a Presidential Management Fellow, I was coming as a junior-level environmental epidemiologist mostly focusing on primary research at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). However, I was immediately thrown into the fire of developing regulations and policies that impacted millions of people, dealing with lawyers, congressional statutes, environmental engineers, risk assessors, and other disciplines across and outside of the EPA.
That really was an “aha” moment for me. Seeing such a broad spectrum of environmental science — from nascent primary research all the way up to policy implementation and evaluation — has been incredibly beneficial in shaping my time at NIEHS and the White House.
EF: Which mentors have played a pivotal role in your career?
Mehta: One of my first formal mentors was Jennifer Parker [Ph.D.] at the National Center for Health Statistics within the CDC. She patiently guided me through learning data analysis while working on complex survey data, such as the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, which was a real boon for my career.
My current manager at NIEHS, Ruth Lunn [Dr.P.H.], has also been a great mentor for me. In her role as director of the Report on Carcinogens, she’s taught me how to conduct robust cancer hazard evaluations using systematic review methodology, specifically within the field of environmental and occupational health.
EF: What brought you to NIEHS?
Mehta: I wanted to get back to the science while also contributing to policy work, which NIEHS allowed me to do. I came from a children’s environmental health background, so working on the Report on Carcinogens was a bit of a shift. But those basic methods for applying systematic review to environmental exposures are the same regardless of the specific population, which is what brought me to where I am today.
EF: What do you enjoy most about working in the environmental health sciences?
Mehta: What I appreciate about environmental health is that your objective research, hazard conclusions, and policymaking can have a direct impact. There is a real opportunity for meaningful change, and our recent research evaluating our impact confirms this point.
Our field has advanced to purposely and intentionally account for communities with environmental justice concerns, vulnerable life stages, and people that are being overburdened by a mixture of hazardous chemical pollutants. We’re making a difference in the lives of people who wouldn’t otherwise have a voice.
(Ben Richardson, Ph.D., is a Presidential Management Fellow in the NIEHS Office of Communications and Public Liaison.)
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Climate change could pose an urgent threat to pollinators, with critical ecological and economic consequences. However, for most insect pollinator species, we lack the long-term data and mechanistic evidence that are necessary to identify climate-driven declines and predict future trends. Here we document 16 years of abundance patterns for a hyper-diverse bee assemblage¹ in a warming and drying region², link bee declines with experimentally determined heat and desiccation tolerances, and use climate sensitivity models to project bee communities into the future. Aridity strongly predicted bee abundance for 71% of 665 bee populations (species × ecosystem combinations). Bee taxa that best tolerated heat and desiccation increased the most over time. Models forecasted declines for 46% of species and predicted more homogeneous communities dominated by drought-tolerant taxa, even while total bee abundance may remain unchanged. Such community reordering could reduce pollination services, because diverse bee assemblages typically maximize pollination for plant communities³. Larger-bodied bees also dominated under intermediate to high aridity, identifying body size as a valuable trait for understanding how climate-driven shifts in bee communities influence pollination⁴. We provide evidence that climate change directly threatens bee diversity, indicating that bee conservation efforts should account for the stress of aridity on bee physiology.
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Kristin M. Conrad, Valerie E. Peters & Sandra M. Rehan
Maryse Vanderplanck, Baptiste Martinet, … Denis Michez
Panagiotis Theodorou, Sarah-Christine Herbst, … Robert J. Paxton
All datasets generated and/or analysed during the current study are publicly available. Long-term bee monitoring data are available via the Environmental Data Initiative (EDI) at https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/cdc8381b8b2be97188daeffcd6310e9b. Also available via EDI are the SEV-LTER meteorological data (https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/decdaa0c695cb2070c73f5b684a32e73), plant phenology data (https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/ceb693495ef57b8b1ba075ca1ee0f7ed), and plant biomass data (https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/5d6fa085c3d31bc1bc352081ec9e839a). Bee body mass, life history trait, and physiological tolerance data are available via the Open Science Framework (OSF) at https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/H2YV6. Projected future climate data are available from ClimateNA at https://climatena.ca/.
Computer code used in the analyses is available via Zenodo at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8412361 (ref. ⁹²).
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Funding was provided by the NSF Long-Term Ecological Research programme (DEB-1655499), the Southwestern Association of Naturalists, the University of New Mexico (UNM) Department of Biology, the UNM Graduate and Professional Student Association, and an NSF REU Site Award to S. Collins (DBI-1950237). The authors thank M. Aizen, F. Bozinovic, M. Dillon, R. Irwin, V. Martinson, H. Wearing and N. Williams for providing feedback that improved the manuscript; B. Wolf for equipment and advice on physiological measurements; M. Litvak, T. Duman, K. Hall and L. Baur for help with climate and plant community analyses; and D. Lightfoot, J. Bettinelli, O. M. Carril, J. McLaughlin, B. Turnley, A. Garcia and R. Martinez for their contributions to laboratory and field data collection.
Department of Biology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA
Melanie R. Kazenel, Karen W. Wright, Kenneth D. Whitney & Jennifer A. Rudgers
Washington State Department of Agriculture, Yakima, WA, USA
Karen W. Wright
USDA-ARS Pollinating Insects Research Unit, Utah State University, Logan, UT, USA
Terry Griswold
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M.R.K. created the conceptual framework, collected bee physiology and morphology data, analysed the data, and wrote the manuscript. K.W.W. designed the long-term bee monitoring study and completed specimen collection and identification. T.G. provided taxonomic expertise. J.A.R. and K.D.W. contributed to conceptualization, statistical analyses and writing. All authors helped to revise the manuscript.
Correspondence to Melanie R. Kazenel.
The authors declare no competing interests.
Nature thanks Bryan Danforth, Baptiste Martinet, Nicole Miller-Struttman and Justin Sheffield for their contribution to the peer review of this work.
Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
(a, b) Trends for the monsoon season in Socorro, NM, USA. In (a), points show the 6-month integrated aridity index, calculated from temperature and precipitation data recorded since 1900, with positive values indicating hotter and drier conditions relative to the mean. In (b), points show the coefficient of variation (CV) in the aridity index for non-overlapping 5-yr time windows (adapted from Rudgers et al., Ecology, 2018). (c) Predicted future monsoon season aridity trends for the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge (NM, USA) under low, moderate, and high CO₂ emissions scenarios (RCP 2.6, 4.5, and 8.5, respectively), using projected future climate data from six General Circulation Models (ACCESS 1.0, CanESM2, CCSM 4.0, CNRM-CM5, CSIRO-Mk3.6.0, and INM-CM4). RCP 2.6 data were only available for the CanESM2 GCM. Positive and negative values indicate hotter/drier and cooler/wetter conditions relative to the historic mean (2002–2019), respectively. In all panels, error bands represent 95% confidence intervals.
Left: Map of sampling sites at the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge, NM, USA (beige polygon in upper map). Bees were sampled in three focal ecosystem types: Chihuahuan Desert shrubland (green points), Chihuahuan Desert grassland (black points), and plains grassland (blue points). To sample bees, we installed one passive funnel trap at each end of five 200 m transects/site; traps are indicated by colored points in the lower panel. Maps were generated via ArcGIS v. 10.1 (ESRI 2012, Redlands, CA) using the World Imagery basemap⁹³ (sources: Esri, Maxar, GeoEye, Earthstar Geographics, CNES/Airbus DS, USDA, USGS, AeroGRID, IGN, and the GIS User Community; accessed 23 February 2022 via https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=10df2279f9684e4a9f6a7f08febac2a9). Upper right: Differences between sites in climate conditions (table) and plant community composition (figures). Table values are results from paired, two-sided t-tests comparing temperature and precipitation metrics from the month of greatest difference between the Plains and Chihuahuan Desert meteorological stations. Figures are NMDS plots⁹⁴ illustrating differences among ecosystems in plant cover for all species, and with the dominant species removed. Lower right: (a) Images of the environmental chamber used to assess thermal and desiccation tolerances of bees. The chamber consisted of an insulated ice chest (IceKool, Queensland, Australia). In the chamber, air temperature was controlled using a 162-W Peltier device (model AC-162, TE Technology, Traverse City, MI) and a custom-built controller that incorporated a TE Technology digital display (MP-2986) and control card (TC-36-25-RS486). (b) Traps used for bee collection. Each consisted of a 946 mL paint can filled with ~275 mL of propylene glycol and topped with a plastic automotive funnel (funnel height = 10 cm, top diameter = 14 cm, bottom diameter = 2.5 cm). The funnels’ interiors were painted with either blue or yellow fluorescent paint (Krylon, Cleveland, OH or Ace Hardware, Oak Brook, IL). Each trap was placed on a 45 cm high platform that was surrounded by a 60 cm high chicken wire cage to prevent wildlife and wind disturbance.
(a) Aridity index (inverse SPEI) as a function of maximum air temperature for the period leading up to the monsoon season (April–September), for the historic period (2002–2020) in the plains and Chihuahuan Desert ecosystems, and for 2021–2100 under three predicted future climate scenarios (RCP 2.6, 4.5, and 8.5) for the midpoint between ecosystems, using data from six General Circulation Models (ACCESS 1.0, CanESM2, CCSM 4.0, CNRM-CM5, CSIRO-Mk3.6.0, and INM-CM4). The red bar with an asterisk on the x-axis indicates the critical thermal maximum (CTMax) of the least thermally tolerant bee taxon in the dataset. The error band represents the 95% confidence interval. (b) Year-to-year variation in the aridity index calculated using two different PET estimation methods (Thornthwaite and Penman) for the spring and monsoon seasons in the plains ecosystem and Chihuahuan Desert ecosystems.
Phylogeny of the 339 bee species collected at the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge (NM, USA) from 2002–2019, with direction of predicted future change in abundance from 2002–2100 based on averaged projections from six General Circulation Models of global climate (white = insufficient data).
(a) Change in community-weighted mean (CWM) bee body mass with monsoon season aridity (inverse SPEI) and over time in the combined historic and predicted future datasets, for low (RCP 2.6) and high (RCP 8.5) climate change scenarios. Points represent means and error bars indicate s.e.m. for the linear or quadratic effect of aridity or year on CWM body mass using results from each of six General Circulation Models (GCMs; listed on y-axis). RCP 2.6 data were only available for the CanESM2 GCM. Positive and negative aridity values indicate hotter/drier and cooler/wetter conditions relative to the historic mean (2002–2019), respectively. Statistical results are from mixed effects models (see Methods). (b) Change over time in total bee abundance across study sites, using long-term historic data and predicted future data for low and high climate change scenarios (RCP 2.6 and 8.5). Each point represents the sum for each ecosystem × year combination of all species-level mean predicted abundance values that were calculated by averaging across predictions from the six GCMs. Points are colored by monsoon aridity averaged across the six GCMs. Positive and negative aridity values indicate hotter/drier and cooler/wetter conditions relative to the historic mean (2002–2019), respectively. Error bands represent 95% confidence intervals. Statistics are from linear regression analysis.
Points represent means and error bars indicate s.e.m. (mean n = 15 bee individuals/species/year; see Methods for sample sizes per species). Statistical results are from linear regressions. Mean body mass did not change over time within any species.
Relationship between spring or monsoon season aridity and proportion of forb and shrub individuals in flower from long-term plant phenology data (2002–2019), in three focal ecosystem types. Positive and negative aridity values indicate hotter/drier and cooler/wetter conditions relative to the mean, respectively. Error bands represent 95% confidence intervals. Statistical results are from mixed effects models.
Mean air temperature and total monthly precipitation trends for the plains ecosystem and Chihuahuan Desert ecosystems (grassland and shrubland) at the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge, for each month averaged across the years 2002–2019 (top) and for each month within each year (bottom).
Monthly aridity index (inverse SPEI) as a function of four other climate variables (temperature, precipitation, relative humidity, and vapor pressure deficit) for each month of the year (1–12). Data are from two meteorological stations at the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge (Chihuahuan Desert and Plains). Error bands represent 95% confidence intervals.
This file contains: Supplementary Tables 1–8, showing results from statistical analyses, with corresponding captions; a description of methods and results related to calculating potential evapotranspiration (PET) using two different estimation methods; and Supplementary Fig. 1, showing climate sensitivity function graphs.
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Kazenel, M.R., Wright, K.W., Griswold, T. et al. Heat and desiccation tolerances predict bee abundance under climate change. Nature (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07241-2
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Nicole Conlan writes jokes for Jon Stewart on “The Daily Show.” But her master’s in urban planning from USC and her experiences growing up in Colorado surrounded by skiers were just as relevant to her task on the Universal Studios lot last week.
The Emmy-nominated writer had 10 minutes to pitch a studio executive on her half-hour climate change sitcom. She described it as similar to “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” only set at a Colorado environmental group, poking fun at a character who gets involved in climate advocacy for selfish reasons and must slowly learn to care.
“Just a quick disclaimer: I named the character Nicole because I wanted to write the worst possible version of myself. But I’m not planning on acting in it. I would like somebody famous to be in my television show,” Conlan told the studio executive.
“The starting point for a lot of these episodes is in the climate space and the environmental world, but it really is a show about the characters and their interactions,” she added. “Kind of the same way ‘Parks and Rec’ is a show about local government, but it’s not really a show about local government. Or ‘Always Sunny’ is about running a bar, but it’s not really about running a bar.”
Conlan was one of 18 writers on the NBCUniversal campus — which hugs the Los Angeles River, within sight of Universal Studios Hollywood’s Hogwarts castle — for a climate change “pitchfest” organized by the Hollywood Climate Summit.
It was the group’s second such event, and the latest sign of a growing movement within the entertainment industry to tell stories that reflect reality — that is, stories about a world reshaped by rising temperatures, and a world it’s not too late to save.
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The Hollywood Climate Summit received 125 film scripts and TV pilots when it put out a call for submissions last year. The group and its advisors chose 51 semifinalists, evaluating entries based on the strength of the stories, the diversity of the characters and the attention paid to climate — although global warming didn’t have to be the explicit focus.
“We were hoping for scripts that addressed what we see as aspirational values in the age of climate,” said Heather Fipps, one of the summit’s co-founders. “This could be Indigenous LandBack stories. This could be ocean conservation. We’re looking for things that are not just apocalyptic or eco-terrorism-focused. We want to avoid the tropes of what we consider a climate story.”
Then a jury of entertainment industry veterans — some well-versed in climate, others new to this kind of storytelling — picked the finalist screenwriters, many of whom made it to the Universal Studios lot to pitch their stories to development executives.
“We did not have a hard time getting interest in the development executives coming. So that’s a good sign,” Fipps told me.
So far, there definitely aren’t enough references to the climate crisis on our screens.
When USC researchers analyzed 37,453 scripted television episodes and films released from 2016 through 2020, they found that just 2.8% mentioned climate change (or a long list of related terms). More recently, a consulting firm and an academic developed the Climate Reality Check, a test to determine whether a film or TV show acknowledges global warming. Of the 13 feature-length, fictional Oscar-nominated movies this year set in present-day or near-future Earth, just three passed the test.
Why does it matter whether Hollywood tells stories about the climate crisis?
Because for better or worse, the entertainment we consume can shape how we understand and interact with the world.
Researchers have found, for instance, that the beloved sitcom “Will & Grace” helped reduce prejudice against gay men. There’s also a long history of research suggesting that watching violence on screen can lead to increased risk of violent behavior.
So it’s encouraging to see screenwriters and producers coming together to talk climate — especially when the biggest barriers to avoiding a future of ever-deadlier heat waves, wildfires and hurricanes aren’t technological or economic, but rather political.
As the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication reported last week, there’s a huge “attitude-behavior gap” on climate in the United States. Lots of Americans say they would engage in political action on climate if someone they liked or respected asked them to — by signing a petition or donating money to an advocacy group or volunteering or contacting government officials — but few of them are actually doing so. They’re concerned about global warming but not doing much about it.
This is where TV and the movies could be a huge help — even when they’re not telling stories solely focused on climate.
Writers and studios could create action heroes who have solar panels on their roofs, or drive electric cars — or, gasp, take buses or trains instead of driving. They could have those characters mention global warming on occasion, or criticize fossil fuels.
“You put these stories in front of people where you’re hiding the spinach in the popcorn,” Jasmine Russ said.
Russ is vice president of production and development at Fabel Entertainment, one of the companies behind the “Bosch” television universe. She was recruited to listen to screenwriters’ climate pitches on the Universal Studios lot last week.
Global warming definitely wasn’t her focus beforehand. But by the end of the evening, it was front of mind.
Although she and her Fabel colleagues had talked previously about the possibility of telling stories dealing with climate themes, they weren’t sure how best to “thread the needle” between entertainment and environmental messages, she told me. So she was impressed by how deftly the writers at the pitchfest proposed “excellent stories” that just so happened to weave in climate.
She especially enjoyed the genre pitches — horror, science fiction, fantasy, anything “with a little bit of otherworldliness.”
“You don’t expect that,” Russ said. “People have this ‘Erin Brockovich’ idea of what an environmental story looks like.”
Our conversation made me think about “Echo,” the recent Disney+ show set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It was fabulously entertaining TV, centered on a superhero who happens to be Native American, Deaf and an amputee who uses a prosthetic leg. None of those elements formed the basis of the plot. But they all made the story richer and more engaging.
“Effortless representation is what we should all aim for,” Russ said. “That’s the most effective kind.”
The writers I spoke with last week didn’t have high hopes that their pitches would get picked up — at least not right away.
Each of them got a handful of 10-minute pitch sessions with executives — not much time. The event’s organizers told me that as far as they know, none of the finalist scripts from the first pitchfest in 2022 have been picked up, although one writer did connect with an executive on another project that got developed, and a second writer signed with a manager as a result of that event.
Still, several writers told me that they saw last week’s pitchfest as a valuable opportunity for networking and feedback.
For the Hollywood Climate Summit organizers, meanwhile, it was a chance to keep making their case to the studios.
“The reality is, every single person in this room has already made challenging content that is also entertaining. We turn tragedies into comedies all the time. And we’re here to show you that climate can be just the same,” said Ali Weinstein, one of the summit’s co-founders, during opening remarks to writers and executives before the pitches got started.
One major studio has shown a particular openness to the idea of telling climate-conscious stories.
That would be Universal Filmed Entertainment Group, whose parent company hosted the pitchfest. Last year the studio — which encompasses Universal Pictures, Focus Features and DreamWorks Animation — launched its GreenerLight Program, pledging to make sustainability a priority not only behind the scenes (by reducing planet-warming carbon pollution and other environmental impacts from the production of its films) but also in front of the camera.
“We have this really impactful voice. How can we use that to spread positive sustainability messaging across our content?” asked Kimberly Burnick, director of sustainable content and partnerships at Universal Pictures, who was at the pitchfest.
Considering how slowly films get made, it’s too soon to point to any movies that have hit theaters with climate themes as a result of GreenerLight in the year since the program launched, Burnick told me. But she was optimistic about what’s in the pipeline. She said that many of Universal’s filmmakers and creative executives are enjoying the challenge of “harnessing their impact,” and that she and her colleagues are trying not to push too hard, “so that nothing we’re doing feels forced.”
“We’re not going the mandate approach, but more of the partnership approach,” she said.
Burnick said the studio has been supported by the Natural Resources Defense Council’s Rewrite the Future team — staffers at one of the nation’s largest environmental groups who work with producers and writers to promote more and better climate stories.
Daniel Hinerfeld, an Emmy-winning filmmaker who oversees Rewrite the Future, told me the NRDC initiative has consulting deals with several major Hollywood production companies, although only two of those companies — Netflix and NBCUniversal — have made the deals public. NRDC also hosts public panels at the Sundance Film Festival and elsewhere, and offers annual fellowships that help screenwriters develop climate scripts by pairing those writers with industry veterans and climate experts.
Like other efforts to get film and TV executives to take the climate emergency seriously, Rewrite the Future is relatively new.
And like everyone else I interviewed for this story, Hinerfeld is optimistic.
He told me about Rewrite the Future’s first public event, at the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood in late 2019. About 45 minutes after the panel discussion ended, there were still maybe 90 people in the room, “yammering away,” he said.
“There was this huge pent-up desire to talk about this issue,” he said. “We realized at that moment we were on to something.”
Let’s keep the conversation going — and make it louder, and get more people involved. In Hollywood and everywhere else.
If you live in the Los Angeles area — or will be in town Thursday, April 11 — please consider joining us at USC for a great event.
Starting at noon, legendary actor and climate activist Jane Fonda will be in conversation with Willow Bay, dean of the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. After that, I’ll be talking environmental journalism, climate activism and strategies for staying hopeful with KCRW healthy communities reporter Caleigh Wells and Allison Agsten, who leads the USC Center for Climate Journalism and Communication. We’ll be moderated by my L.A. Times colleague Faith Pinho.
Hope you can be there! More details — and a link to RSVP — here.
This column is the latest edition of Boiling Point, an email newsletter about climate change and the environment in California and the American West. You can sign up for Boiling Point here. And for more climate and environment news, follow @Sammy_Roth on X.

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Four of the five pesticides found most frequently on the Dirty Dozen are fungicides: fludioxonil, pyraclostrobin, boscalid and pyrimethanil. 
Fungicides are applied on fruits and vegetables to prevent or kill fungal diseases like powdery mildew. They’re often applied after harvest to keep produce mold-free on its way to market. That’s likely why fungicide concentrations can be so high on some samples – higher than other pesticides applied earlier in the growing season.
Although the potential human health harms of fungicides aren’t as well studied as other pesticides, emerging evidence suggests many widely used fungicides may disrupt the hormone system. 
These four are no exception, although more studies are needed for all of them to understand the risks they pose to humans, particularly children.
Of the 46 items included in our analysis, these 12 fruits and vegetables were most contaminated with pesticides:
Some Dirty Dozen highlights:
See the full list of all 2024 Shopper’s Guide fruits and vegetables.
These 15 types of produce had the lowest amounts of pesticide residues, according to EWG’s analysis of the most recent USDA data.
Some Clean Fifteen highlights:
See the full list of all Shopper’s Guide fruits and vegetables.
In 2022, the USDA collected and tested several types of baby food, including sweet potatoes, green beans, peaches and pears, for pesticides. This is the first time the agency has sampled baby food for pesticides in over a decade.
The results, released in January 2024, show that non-organic baby foods are considerably less contaminated by pesticides than their whole fruit and vegetable counterparts, suggesting that baby food manufacturers and suppliers may be taking extra steps to reduce pesticides in baby food. 
The USDA test results are largely consistent with what EWG found in our 2023 tests of baby food, which detected residues in 38 percent of products tested. 
This is just the first round of results from a series of USDA tests that will be conducted through 2024. A more complete picture of these and a few other types of baby food (carrots, peas and applesauce) will be available next year, once more samples have been analyzed and the results released by the USDA. 
Meanwhile, you can read a summary of our analysis of the USDA’s first round of baby food tests here.
This year, the overall picture remains problematic: Too many pesticides are still found on too much of the produce millions of Americans eat every day.
Many peer-reviewed scientific studies have shown links between pesticides and human health problems. These findings raise important questions about the safety of pesticide mixtures found on produce. For example, research from Harvard University shows that consuming fruits and vegetables with high levels of pesticide residues may lessen the benefits of fruit and vegetable consumption, including protection against cardiovascular disease and mortality.
But EWG is especially concerned about how pesticides can harm children’s health. A recent EWG investigation published in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Health found that the EPA has failed to adequately protect children from pesticides. For almost 90 percent of the most common pesticides, the agency has neglected to apply the Food Quality Protection Act–mandated children’s health safety factor to the allowable limits.
The threats pesticides pose to children’s health have been known since at least 1993 – over 30 years ago – when the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine published a landmark study warning of inadequate oversight. 
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends parents concerned about their children’s exposure to pesticides consult EWG’s Shopper’s Guide.
EWG’s Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce is a suite of materials investigating the presence of pesticides in foods and the ways they could harm people, especially children – and to help consumers make the best, most informed choices for their families. 
We’ve published the guide nearly every year since 2004. 
EWG’s Shopper’s Guide is designed to support people who would like to minimize their exposure to pesticides. It includes two well-known lists: the Dirty Dozen, or the 12 fresh non-organic, or conventional, fruits and vegetables with the highest pesticide residues, as well as the Clean Fifteen, the conventionally grown fruits and vegetables with very low or no traces of pesticides.
Some pesticides have more data linking them to health concerns than others. These pesticides are particularly concerning for children, who are especially susceptible to many of the health harms associated with pesticide exposure. 
The presence of so many different pesticides in foods is also problematic. There’s little data available about how multiple pesticides interact with each other in the body or how such mixtures could compound each chemical’s individual potential health harms. But the data we do have suggests that when chemicals are present in a mixture, they may be toxic to humans at lower levels than when alone.  
When regulating pesticides, government bodies also consider them only one at a time. They don’t look at the potential total body burden for consumers. 
Here are more resources from EWG’s 2024 Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce:
EWG helps protect your family from pesticides! Donate $15 today and EWG will send you our Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce™ bag tag FREE to say thank you.
Download EWG’s Healthy Living App
Find personal care, cleaning, and food products on the EWG Healthy Living app.
EWG is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation. Copyright © 2024, Environmental Working Group. All Rights Reserved.

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The project will introduce small-scale waste-to-energy to expeditionary bases.
February 13, 2018
The U.S. Department of Defense’s Environmental Security Technology Certification Program (ESTCP) announced that it has approved Eco Waste Solutions to move forward with its Deployable Waste-to-Energy Convertor for Expeditionary Bases (SWECX) with Thermal Energy to Electrical Power System (TEEPS) project.
The project is in collaboration with companies Ethosgen and Rockwell Collins, which will assist Eco Waste Solutions with system engineering, design and hardware for the project.
"We've known for a long time that one of the major environmental challenges facing the Department of Defense is dealing with solid waste on expeditionary bases," said Jean Lucas, president of Eco Waste, in a statement. "Military installations often use open burn pits, which pose significant risks to the health of military troops, local populace and the environment. Our containerized waste systems can solve this problem, as they are easily deployable, operate in extreme climates and don't create airborne health hazards. The ESTCP project gives us an opportunity to take this further and demonstrate a practical approach to small-scale power generation from waste."
The project will help the Department of Defense address the issues of open burn pits and operational energy objectives while also maintaining the mobility and efficiency that an expeditionary base requires.
"This is a tremendous opportunity for the U.S. military to position itself on the cutting edge of waste-to-energy technology," said James Abrams, founder and president of EthosGen, in a statement. "Successful small-scale waste-to-energy simply hasn't been done like this before, and it could transform the way all expeditionary forces deal with waste."
Waste360 Staff
Staff, Informa – Waste360
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PUBLISHED Dec. 13 2022, 2:39 p.m. ET
Candles are staples in many households — especially during Jewish homes during the eight nights of Hanukkah. However, many of us are painfully aware of the environmental harm that can come with burning them.
Many candles unfortunately contain paraffins, some are made from petroleum, and others contain nasty fragrances and other toxins. That’s why we’ve rounded up our favorite eco-friendly Hanukkah candles to use this holiday season.
All of the options we’ve listed below are all-natural, and many of them are fully vegan. So, with that in mind, prepare to light up that menorah, without feeling like you’re negatively impacting dear old Mother Earth.
Honey Candles’ all natural beeswax candles are free of toxic ingredients, they’re hand-dipped, and they burn with a warm, yellow glow. All of the wicks are made from paper or cotton, and they’re made without any harmful ingredients that you wouldn’t want to permeate throughout your home. The candles, which are made in Canada, are also also zinc- and lead-free, ensuring that your holiday is safe as can be.
This Hanukkah In A Box Set Includes A Silver-Plated Menorah, A Box Of 44 Multicolor Candles, 5 Toy Dreidels With Hanukkah Gelt Play Money, And A Hanukkah Celebration Guide. All Arrive Nicely Packaged In The Pictured Gift Box. https://t.co/Ls9ZyNACE4 pic.twitter.com/EBU2KCuWr6
Traditions Jewish Gifts’ Organic Vegetable Wax Chanukah Candles are another solid option. Not only are they hand-dipped, but they’re also biodegradable, hypoallergenic, and petroleum-free. Made from a combination of soy oil, palm oil, and beeswax, they burn cleanly for more than an hour. The wicks are also made from 100 percent cotton, and they’re lead-free — so you can rest assured you won’t be breathing in any toxic fumes.
A post shared by GoodLight Natural Candles (@goodlightcandles)
Because beeswax is an animal byproduct (as it’s made by bees), beeswax candles are all-natural, but they obviously are not vegan. Therefore, for many, it’s crucial to find fully plant-based options.
Goodlight offers vegan Hanukkah candles that are made from GMO-free palm wax. They are also REACH compliant, which means they meet regulations that protect both humans and the planet, as a whole.
A post shared by ModernTribe (@moderntribe_jew)
Modern Tribe’s Soy Vey Eco-Friendly Hanukkah Candles are unfortunately sold out right now, but when they’re back in stock, you’d best believe we’ll be ordering a pack for ourselves. As the name explains, these candles are made from 100 percent soy wax, ensuring that neither you, nor the animals, will be suffering as a result of buying and burning these babies. Plus, the name is hilarious, and you should definitely repurpose the packaging.
A post shared by Stylish Jewish Decor and Gifts (@peacelovelightshop)
Not only are these organic vegetable wax candles plant-based and pesticide-free, but they’re also made in the U.S. — meaning transportation emissions are minimal. They’re also biodegradable, hypoallergenic, and petroleum-, lead-, and dye-free. And with 100 percent cotton wicks and recycled paper boxes, they’re eco-friendly from start to finish.
In addition to making sure your candles are eco-friendly, there are many other ways to ensure you’re celebrating Hanukkah sustainably.
There are many durable menorahs that will last you a lifetime — inheriting one from family or finding one on Judaica.com is a good place to start. Opting for a plant-based latke or sufganiyot recipe is also an easy way to make sure your festivities aren’t taking a toll on the planet. Just make sure you’re safely disposing of all the leftover oil when you’re done cooking with it.
And finally, staying away from plastic dreidels, and exchanging eco-friendly gifts is an easy way to keep your impact low this holiday season — with all that in mind, happy Hanukkah!
The Ultimate Guide to an Eco-Friendly Hanukkah: Recipes, Candles, and More for a Lit Holiday
A Step-by-Step Guide on Making Your Own Natural Candles
How to Make Natural Vegan Candles at Home
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Former UN climate chief warns of global impact of a possible regression in US green policies
Victory for Donald Trump in the US presidential election this year could put the world’s climate goals at risk, a former UN climate chief has said.
The chances of limiting global heating to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels are already slim, and Trump’s antipathy to climate action would have a major impact on the US, which is the world’s second biggest emitter of greenhouse gases and biggest oil and gas exporter, said Patricia Espinosa, who served as the UN’s top official on the climate from 2016 to 2022.
“I worry [about the potential election of Trump] because it would have very strong consequences, if we see a regression regarding climate policies in the US,” Espinosa said.
Although Trump’s policy plans are not clear, conversations with his circle have created a worrying picture that could include the cancellation of Joe Biden’s groundbreaking climate legislation, withdrawal from the Paris agreement and a push for more drilling for oil and gas.
Espinosa said: “We are not yet aligned to 1.5C. That’s the reality. So if we see a situation where we would see regression on those efforts, then [the likelihood of staying within 1.5C] is very limited. It would certainly be a much bigger risk.
“We could see a slowdown, an even bigger slowdown [in action to reduce emissions], which would unfortunately probably take us to an even more terrible scenario, unless we see strong leadership coming from other places, [such as] Europe.”
She said other countries must continue with climate action even if the US were to renege on its goals under Trump, but the absence of the US would be a significant blow. “What happens in the US has a very big impact in so many places around the world,” she said.
It is not all gloom, however. Espinosa was the executive secretary of the UN framework convention on climate change, parent treaty to the 2015 Paris agreement, in 2016 when Trump was elected president. She said that if other countries put up a united front in favour of strong climate action, it could help to counteract the absence of the US.
“When President Trump announced that they would withdraw from the Paris agreement, there was a certain fear that others would follow, and that there would be a setback in the pace of the climate change process. Not only did that not happen but some countries that had not yet adhered to the Paris agreement did so,” she said.
If Trump were to take the US out of Paris in a fresh term, she does not believe others would follow suit. “As of now, I don’t see countries really going back. I think that the process will continue.”
On the contentious issue – particularly for the US – of climate finance, Espinosa said Biden was now facing difficulty in getting climate finance commitments through a hostile Republican Congress.
“We are seeing a lack of leadership, including in the big countries that can make contributions,” she said. “[In the US] I think there is a willingness but there are also limitations. In the EU there has been a long period where they have been discussing the internal frameworks [for climate finance]. At the same time, we have been seeing a reduction of funds going in general to the global south, and very little is going to climate change. It’s really a question of giving it priority.”
She is also concerned that too much of the focus of climate finance and efforts to reduce emissions so far has been on shifting from a reliance on fossil fuels to renewables.
“We are now realising that nature will make or break net zero – decarbonising the energy sector will not be enough,” Espinosa said, calling for more emphasis on the role of nature, to halt deforestation and transform food production, which accounts for about a third of global emissions. “The 1.5C economy can only be achieved by ending deforestation and accelerating the transition to sustainable agriculture and food systems this decade.”
In 2024, most of the world’s population will go to the polls in elections, in the US, Russia, India, the UK and scores of other countries. Climate action will be a contentious issue in many of these elections, as some parties are arguing for stronger policies based on stark scientific warnings, while others oppose such action.
Espinosa warned of the opposition to climate action that is being orchestrated around the world. “In the US, we see a very well organised and very strong campaign intending to reduce the perception of the critical nature of action that needs to be taken.”
To combat this, she called for businesses to play a greater role in pushing for a low-carbon economy. “We need to work closely with the private sector, make them aware of the important opportunities that the new [low-carbon] economy provides. There are profitable investments that protect nature and innovate technologies.”

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