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Articles by Charlotte Ward
I am worried what future Wisconsin summers will look like | Opinion Original
An overheating climate —made worse by heat-trapping carbon pollution from burning fossil fuels — is increasing the risk and exposing millions of Americans to dangerous smoke and air quality. Charlotte Ward Special to Milwaukee Journal Sentinel July 24, 2026, 5:01 a.m. CT Every summer, my family leaves the sweltering South Carolina heat behind for Wisconsin.
Commentary: We must be a strong 'crew' that takes responsibility for spaceship Earth
What does it take to appreciate this planet we call home? For NASA astronaut Christina Koch, clarity came 252,756 miles from Earth during her Artemis II space mission. Koch shared being awestruck by the beauty of her home planet — and the blackness around it. “It truly emphasized how alike we are,” she observed. “How the same thing keeps every single person on Planet Earth alive.” Koch is from North Carolina, but the space success is also a source of pride in the Palmetto State.
8 Foods Most At Risk From Climate Change
For those of us shielded by first world privilege, it’s easy to overlook the food systems that nurture us and how an altering climate impacts them – especially when we have abundant choices at our fingertips. But as climate change worsens, the conditions needed to grow food will be increasingly disrupted, causing spikes in food prices and leading to more bare cupboards as food scarcity soars.
Rising Tides, Sinking Islands: How Low-Lying Nations Are Fighting To Survive
In Kiribati, a group of idyllic 33 islands in the central Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and Australia, generational knowledge has been handed down for centuries. A love of water – which is everywhere you look and provides a place for children to play, for adults to fish and to grow crops – is part of the way of life here.
Commentary: US Weather Service saved SC lives. Now their jobs are in danger.
Supporters of smaller government may be celebrating the recent firings at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, but the safety of South Carolinians has just been compromised. NOAA, an agency authorized and funded by Congress, plays a critical role in weather forecasting, extreme weather warnings and climate science.
Commentary: Trump’s 'commonsense' approach must include tackling climate change
President Donald Trump has called for “a revolution of common sense” while attempting to roll back many goals and incentives that move the United States toward cost-effective and efficient clean energy. Trump has promised to “drill, baby, drill” in the name of reliable domestic energy. But forcing a reliance on archaic, dirty fossil fuel energy and transport, while China wins the clean energy race, seems like anything but common sense.
Opinion: Helene, other brutal storms are making climate change real Original
I grew up in a fossil fuel family. My father was an engineer working on oil rigs in the North Sea off the coast of Scotland. I have memories of my mother crying at the train station as Dad left for another three-week stint on the rig. His work was high-risk. My father lost friends in the 1988 Piper Alpha disaster and when a helicopter went down on its way to an oil platform. I remember him coming home and not wanting to let go as he scooped me up in his arms.
Hurricane Helene: Meteorologists saved untold lives - it’s time to listen to their climate counterparts
Early on Friday morning, my family huddled on a mattress topper on the basement floor of our home in Greenville, South Carolina. Outside, howling gusts and heavy rain were interspersed with the thumps of falling branches. I could see the dark shadow of my neighbor's giant pine trees bending and rocking as they braced the 60mph winds of Helene. Everything in our backyard was alive and moving violently. Branches and vines whipping around like octopus tentacles.
Electrification Month sparks success
By Charlotte Ward CCL’s Electrification Month lived up to its name, igniting a wave of action and education nationwide. During August, CCLers powered past our national goal of 3,000 conversations about home electrification, ending the month with more than 3,400 conversations! So why this push? Two years ago, Congress passed a piece of legislation called the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) to make clean energy more accessible and affordable for everyday people.
Breaking the climate silence: How CCLers held tens of thousands of climate conversations
By Charlotte Ward In recent months, Citizens’ Climate volunteers across the country have had open and honest conversations with their friends, family, and communities about climate change. It began during Earth Month when we challenged volunteers to have 25,000 conversations about climate.
CCL Minnesota land statewide media coverage promoting clean energy benefits
By Charlotte Ward Clean energy is affordable, reliable, and safe — that’s the message CCL volunteers set out to convey through a local media drive to publish LTEs and op-eds in every congressional district in Minnesota. Using the media lever, the team of writers, led by CCL Northland chapter member Pat Fettes, vowed to complete the challenge in time for CCL’s 2024 Summer Conference and Lobby Day.
CCL Philly leads charge to convince Amtrak to scrap fossil fuel heating plan
Members of CCL Philadelphia pictured in a lobby meeting with Rep. Dwight Evans, June 2023 CCL Philly leads charge to convince Amtrak to scrap fossil fuel heating plan By Charlotte Ward When members of the Philadelphia chapter of Citizens’ Climate Lobby heard that rail giant Amtrak was planning to install gas-fired boilers in the city’s iconic 30th Street Station, they immediately saw an opportunity to advocate for electrification.
Climate Proof Your Home With 5 Simple Sanctuary Shields
With winter’s arrival and the escalation of extreme weather due to climate change, we’re reminded of our vulnerability in the face of nature and the urgent need to climate proof our homes. In fact, scientists caution that the Middle East may face heavier rains as climate change progresses, emphasising the importance of reinforcing houses to endure these increasingly harsh conditions.
7 Cities Leading The Way In Adaptation
In an era where climate change poses increasingly urgent threats – an influx of deadly weather disasters in 2023 has shown us how climate catastrophes are outpacing our ability to prepare – cities around the globe are fostering innovation for climate resilience. From intensifying natural disasters to ecological disruption, climate adaptation is no longer a luxury, it’s paramount to survival.
A Year Of Catastrophic Climate Emergencies
The health of Planet Earth is hanging in the balance. With carbon emissions rising, biodiversity nosediving, the global population continually rising and climate emergencies becoming the norm, our earth faces an unprecedented challenge that can’t be won without humanity’s cooperation. On World Environmental Health day, Sept 27th, we explore the most pressing problems the Earth has faced this year so far and how we must adapt to meet the shifting global landscape.
Commentary: We have a moral obligation to stop the world from warming
GREENVILLE — There are many concerns and anxieties that keep people awake at night. But those twilight fears rarely veer far from a universal theme — concern for the well-being and safety of those we love. We live in a complex world with a long laundry list of problems. But in recent years, we’ve witnessed a barrage of extreme weather events that show the unique way an altered climate escalates human suffering.
6 Facts About Captain Cook’s HMS Endeavour
HMS Endeavour was launched in 1764 in Whitby, northern England, then as a coal carrier named Earl of Pembroke. She was later converted into the HMS Endeavour and used by English naval officer and cartographer James Cook on his 1768-1771 voyage of exploration to Australia and the South Pacific. This voyage earned the Endeavour its place as one of the most famous ships in history.
10 of the Oldest Foods Ever Discovered
While some recipes, dishes and methods of food preparation have been passed down over centuries and even millennia, it can be difficult to determine exactly what our ancestors ate and drank. On occasion, though, archeological excavations afford us a direct insight into how people historically prepared and consumed food. In 2010, for example, marine archeologists retrieved 168 bottles of near-perfect champagne from a Baltic Sea shipwreck.
10 Key Figures in the History of Polar Exploration
For centuries humankind has explored ‘unknown’ parts of the world, charting lands, marking new towns and cities and learning more about the world’s geology and geography. The polar regions of the Arctic and Antarctica are some of the most dangerous and inhospitable places on Earth. Several people have undertaken voyages and expeditions to them, hoping to better understand the world’s polar regions, to find the Northwest Passage or to be the first to reach the North or South Poles.
Stark Images of Abandoned Soviet Military Bases
Against the backdrop of World War Two and the Cold War, the Soviet Union embarked on a programme of rapid military expansion outside of its borders. In addition to encompassing swathes of Eastern Europe and Central Asia, the Soviet Union had military bases across the world including in Egypt, Afghanistan, Vietnam and China. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, it splintered into 15 independent nations and its presence was removed from many of its global military bases.
Scenes of Struggle: Photos of Shackleton’s Disastrous Endurance Expedition
Walking the dogs with Endurance in the background by Frank Hurley Image Credit: Royal Geographical Society/Alamy Stock Photo Explorer Ernest Shackleton’s Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition – better known as the Endurance Expedition – launched in the summer of 1914. On 18 January 1915, Endurance became trapped in the ice of the Weddell Sea.
Photos of History’s Great Ocean Liners
Before planes, if somebody wanted to travel to another continent for pleasure, business or to start a new life, they would need to book a ticket on an ocean liner. Ocean liners were passenger ships, designed to transport people and cargo from one destination to another on a line. Built for speed and durability, these ocean liners were also furnished and fitted out with every amenity a passenger could want for a 2-week voyage.
Sail to Steam: A Timeline of the Development of Maritime Steam Power
For thousands of years, boats and ships have been an integral part of our lives. Travelling across lakes, rivers and oceans has led to migration, trade, war, exploration, leisure and developments in engineering, science, medicine and technology. Until the 18th century, boats and ships had largely been powered by people (rowing) or sails. The Industrial Revolution led to changes in the way ships were powered.
Amend Market Offers Clean Household Solutions
Plastic and disposables usage have gone through the roof. I wanted to create a way to stop plastic waste before it gets into the trash, and to get clean products that are good for your body. Photograph by Paul Mehaffey Post Views: 69
Letter: In assessing its power grid, SC cannot 'shy away' from climate change
It is good that Gov. Henry McMaster has asked our state’s electricity providers to make winter storm reviews of their power grids to see if South Carolina could face problems on par with the recent catastrophe in Texas. While a similar disruption is unlikely in SC due to our connection to other power providers and ability to purchase from elsewhere, it is important to prepare.
Off the Beaten Trails
John Muir famously wrote, “And into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul.” During times of stress and endurance, humans have instinctively turned to nature for rejuvenation and comfort. As we endure what we hope will be the last few grueling months of the pandemic, many of us are feeling uncertainty, anxiety, and burnout. Scientific studies show that the body’s nervous system quietens in nature, helping us feel less fatigued, sharper, and calmer.
Opinion: Today's storms show time is running out to address climate change Original
In the past four months, my Greenville neighborhood has lost around 100 trees and seen multiple houses damaged due to extreme weather. As I write this, I am one of around 64,000 customers without power after Tropical Storm Zeta savaged the Upstate. This is the third time in four months we have lost power due to extreme weather, but we are lucky: Our home escaped unscathed.
Female Lead - Town Carolina
On a Wednesday afternoon, the smell of teriyaki chicken wafts from a house off Anderson Road in Greenville. Inside, four high school girls are recreating a recipe they found via TikTok, preparing the dish in a scooped-out pineapple. The young women are learning, laughing, and enjoying themselves in the process. It’s an intentionally fun moment for a group of girls who bear a lot on their young shoulders.
Sacred Space
On a mild winter day, eight months ago, artists Genna Grushovenko and Rey Alfonso sat on the steps of a disused church, determined to make it theirs. They lit cigars and bid in an online auction. When they stepped, triumphant, off the stoop, the former Daybreak Church in the North Main neighborhood was destined for a new celestial path. Grushovenko and Alfonso, and their artist spouses, Signe Grushovenko and Patricia DeLeon, have socialized for years, traveling the art festival circuit.
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