Environment
Carbon Sequestration Isn’t The Long-Term Solution. Is it a Short-Term One?
The Texas Observer’s Best Features of 2018
Our favorite longreads of the year.
The Texas Observer’s Best Features of 2018 Our favorite longreads of the year. – by Rose Cahalan and Forrest Wilder December 26, 2018 Like children, it...Read More
Six Stories About Rural Texas You Should Read Before 2018 Ends
From the shuttering of Dairy Queens, driver's license offices and rural hospitals across the state to an only-in-Texas alligator tale, you may have missed this great reporting.
I understand if the wild and weird news cycle of 2018 has got your head spinning. This rollercoaster ride of state and national politics has some reporters near...Read More
The Strange, Record-Setting Weather Extremes Texans Faced in 2018
Scientists predict temperatures, seasonal extremes and flooding will continue to intensify if carbon emissions aren’t immediately reduced.
In 2018, natural disasters touched nearly every part of the country. Hurricanes Michael and Florence hit the East Coast, killing at least 89 people and causing ...Read More
Is Texas’ Overcrowded, Underfunded State Parks System Being Loved to Death?
Texans love their state parks. But our state's public lands are overcrowded and rapidly deteriorating. Maybe it's time to take the long view.
by Joe Nick Patoski December 17, 2018 In July, on a 100-degree day in the desert, 562 miles west of Houston, I stood on the concrete bank of the San Solomon...Read More
As Speaker of the House, Will Dennis Bonnen be a Menace to the Environment?
Despite his earlier reputation as a hatchet man for environmental regulation bills, activists are cautiously optimistic that they can find common ground with Bonnen as speaker.
As chair of the Texas House Committee on Environmental Regulation from 2003 to 2008, Representative Dennis Bonnen was labeled a “tyrant,” a “Clean Air Vil...Read More
How Climate Change Is Driving Central American Migrants to the United States
In the poor, violent Northern Triangle of El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala, worsening floods, drought and storms are pushing a growing number of migrants north.
Donald Trump thinks there’s an immigration crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border. He has no idea what’s coming. Thousands of Central American migrants arrive at ...Read More
Audit Says State Windstorm Insurance Program is Failing… Again
After Hurricane Harvey, the windstorm insurer of last resort for the Texas coast is “broke, in debt and facing a shrinking revenue pool.”
In 2008, after hurricanes Ike and Dolly ravaged the Texas coast and caused more than $30 billion in property damage, the state’s quasi-governmental windstorm ...Read More
Trump Administration Report: Climate Change Is Hurting Texas
If greenhouse gasses aren’t curbed, the Texas economy will likely face devastating consequences from climate change.
Sea levels along the Texas coast could rise by as much as 8 feet by 2100, submerging parts of the Galveston and Corpus Christi shoreline. Temperatures may incre...Read More
In Texas, One of the World’s Oldest, Weirdest Fish Finally Gets its Due
Long considered “trash fish,” alligator gar have patrolled Texas rivers for millions of years. Now this living fossil may finally be getting its due.
In Texas, One of the World’s Oldest, Weirdest Fish Finally Gets its Due Long considered “trash fish,” alligator gar have patrolled Texas rivers for mi...Read More