Nondescript warehouses have begun to dot the rural Texas landscape in a silent gold rush. Passersby might mistake them for agricultural units or manufacturing plants. But instead of manufacturing tangible products, these featureless facilities make digital money—mostly bitcoin—through cryptocurrency mining, the large-scale computing operation that validates certain digital currencies through a decentralized ledger known as […]
This is a developing story. Check back for updates. The U.S. House of Representatives voted 220 to 207 today, passing the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) along partisan lines. The bill, which passed the Senate on Sunday now heads to President Biden’s desk to be signed into law. The spending package focuses on climate, prescription drug […]
Editors Note: In the hours after publication of this article, Sen. Joe Manchin announced that he had agreed to vote for $369 billion in funding for climate and energy. The bill has not come for a vote, and details on its contents are still emerging. Our original article, published before Manchin’s announcement, remains unaltered. An […]
A group of close to 100 concerned community members and Karankawa Kadla Indigenous people gathered in Corpus Christi, Texas, on Saturday, April 23, under the banner “Stop Enbridge.” The group came together to act against Enbridge’s plan to expand a crude oil and liquid natural gas (LNG) export terminal off Corpus Christi Bay near Ingleside, […]
At the end of February 2022, Russian forces started an invasion of Ukraine. In terms of the number of troops and weapons on the ground, it is now the largest military conflict on the European continent since World War 2. As we all watch the horror unfolding in Ukraine, the convenient narrative that Russian President […]
Bitcoin has given the world of crypto, sustainability-wise, a rather bad name. After all, the daily wattage of this particular blockchain surpasses that of Google and a few industrial nations, combined. The cryptographic “mining” of this mintage, while digital in process, is by that very token (pun intended), a function of electricity. In just the […]
New research shows that hemp supercapacitors have the potential to fight climate change by improving how we store renewable energy, while also sequestering carbon from the atmosphere back into the soil and hemp biomass. As the world continues to expel 33.1 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere annually, scientists are searching for […]
As record heatwaves have swept the Pacific Northwest this Summer, Branch Out has been on the ground in Central Oregon involved in drought and wildfire resistance projects for both immediate relief and long-term resilience in the face of future disasters. Following the guidance of our Elders, we will be making biochar to convert flammable brush […]
Hundreds of protesters led by a coalition of Indigenous youth activists and environmental organizations marched around Washington, D.C. on Thursday, April 1st, carrying a 320-foot long black snake. The snake is a direct reference to an ancient Lakota prophecy and symbolizes fossil fuel pipelines, such as the Dakota Access Pipeline, DAPL, and the Enbridge Line […]
Maritime shipping companies have long looked to the Arctic Ocean for a way around the infamous Suez Canal. Now because of climate change, the Northern Sea Route is about to open. But are the benefits for business worth the cost of the climate crisis? Ever Given The skyscraper-sized container ship stuck in the Suez Canal, […]