In the last few years, many elected leaders have attacked voting rights, cast doubt on free and fair elections, and served private interests over the public good. To pull American democracy back from the brink, we must use the full force of the law—a

On May 20th, CARB will vote on the Clean Miles Standard, a first-of its kind regulation that would require ridehailing companies like Uber and Lyft to electrify their fleets by 2030. If approved, the Clean Miles Standard would cut pollution in citie

On Friday, a Minnesota administrative law judge ruled the state can proceed with finalizing new clean car standards that will give Minnesotans more control over air quality improvements and progress toward the state’s greenhouse gas reduction goals,

We’ve heard a lot of opinions about what is, and isn’t, infrastructure. Now I’ll add my hot take: Soil is infrastructure.

Embedded in the Biden Administration’s new American Jobs Plan is a powerful, proven tool for cleaning up the power sector—and the economy as a whole—driving job creation in energy, and dramatically improving public health. Here’s what a clean energy

We need to quickly transition to a clean energy future in Illinois to prevent additional negative public health impacts from fossil fuel plants. The Clean Energy Jobs Act (CEJA) HB 0804/ SB1718 is the only bill that puts Illinois on a path to 100% ca

Yesterday, the Biden-Harris administration announced the formation of a task force whose goal is to review and strengthen scientific integrity across the federal government. The task force was mandated by a presidential memorandum signed by President

Scientists have many reasons to organize, mobilize, and advocate — whether it’s to stand up for democracy and voting rights, to push for evidence-informed solutions to threats like climate change or the COVID-19 pandemic, or to demand structural chan

Ensuring that everyone’s vote counts the same is also a crucial aspect of electoral integrity, as measured through bias in results, including malapportionment, and racial and partisan gerrymandering. Ohio is one of many states where legislatures are

Earlier this month, the Biden administration announced its intent to ban the sale of menthol flavored cigarettes. If finalized, public health experts and anti-tobacco advocates believe this would be a big step forward in tobacco regulation and could

BP, Shell, and ConocoPhillips have all taken some steps toward transparency about their lobbying—but none is doing enough to keep the American Petroleum Institute (API) and other trade associations in line with the companies’ own supposed climate amb

In 2010, coal-fired power plants generated 50 percent of US electricity. Last year, coal plants were responsible for only about 20 percent. That’s good news for public health and the climate, but bad news for coal miners and coal-fired power plant wo

This blog post was co-authored by Dr. Adi Martínez-Román with the University of Puerto Rico Resiliency Law Center. Islands and their people are more vulnerable to climate impacts than continental jurisdictions. They are more unprotected from climate

La Dra. Adi Martínez-Román del Centro Legal de Desarrollo de Resiliencia de la Universidad de Puerto Rico es co-autora de este escrito. Las islas y su gente son más vulnerables a los impactos climáticos que las jurisdicciones continentales y se encue

On Thursday, California’s air quality regulator, the California Air Resources Board (CARB), released the first draft of their plan to ensure all new passenger cars and trucks are electric drive by 2035. A key component of CARB’s proposal would ramp u

Two seemingly disconnected announcements over the last few weeks are giving us a glimpse of what “normal” looks like right now in terms of our climate. In reflecting how profoundly we’re altering our climate system, NOAA’s new 30-year “climate normal

The way we plan and pay for our electric transmission imposes crushing cost burdens on new renewable energy development. The transmission assumptions used for new supplies need to be re-examined so we have a realistic basis for the requirements place

About five years ago, when UCS looked at the economics of coal plants, we found that about 40 percent of coal plants were more expensive than cleaner alternatives. Almost every year since our report has come out, a new study has come out and come to

At its core, much of science is about understanding what is happening in the world. That is certainly true of the science of democracy, studying how the structures of democracy work. And American democracy is frail—and eroding under the weight of bas

As a bright-eyed matriculating graduate student entering my PhD at Rockefeller University, I thought I would face two choices upon earning that hard-won degree: academia or industry. 2020 effectively jolted me out of that conventional line of thinkin

A new analysis by the Union of Concerned Scientists—and co-created with the Utility Workers Union of America—offers a blueprint for how to prevent many more communities in the United States from suffering economic devastation as the nation shifts awa

Across the country, including here in the Midwest, we are transitioning away from coal as a fuel source. While this brings important emission reductions and new opportunities for clean energy development, we still don’t do a great job supporting comm

I recently appeared in a video made by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). The video, where I talk about climate science communication, is part of a series on “Countering Science Misinformation.” While recording it, I real

A terrible and unjust crisis looms large, risking millions of people’s lives and threatening our collective ability to overcome this global pandemic. We—the US and other richer nations of the world—can and must do a lot better, and urgently. So many

Last month, I had the honor of participating in the National Academy of Sciences’ 158th Annual Meeting in a session led by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), entitled “Rebuilding the Federal Science Workforce.” The sessio

In its first 100 days the Biden administration has already made great strides in building back and strengthening science, but much work still lies ahead.

This week, UCS led a group of 16 scientific, professional, and academic organizations, including the American Public Health Association (APHA), the American Geophysical Union (AGU), Ciencia Puerto Rico, 500 Women Scientists, and the American Associat

Take a moment to recognize, remember, and honor those who have suffered and died of injuries and illnesses related to their work—and commit to stand in solidarity with our working brothers and sisters and call on our elected leaders to do the same.

One year ago today, the nation was enduring hell. 63,000 people in the US were dead from COVID-19. 20 million people had lost jobs. Political officials—desperate to hide the severity of the pandemic and their failures to contain it—had muzzled expert

On April 23, UCS provided a full set of written comments to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) as part of that agency's request to solicit feedback on the formation of an Office of Public Participation. Earlier in the week, I had the cha