Atmos

The question is no longer whether the system must be rebuilt for a more electrified future—it is whether the country can move quickly enough to rebuild it before the next crisis. If the United States’ electrical grid were a highway, much of it would be clogged with bumper-to-bumper traffic. The growth of data centers, along with the decarbonization-inspired push toward electrification of everything from heat pumps to electric vehicles, has driven up electricity demand.

“The task of a teacher is to provide a non-coercive rearrangement of desire.” —Gayatri Spivak Within the spinning pot of the Earth churns a layer of liquid iron. Because molten iron conducts electricity, and because it is in continuous motion in the outer core, it creates electrical currents. This acts as an electric generator for our planet, casting magnetic fields that combine into one all-encompassing field. The entirety of this process is known as the geodynamo.

Each week, award-winning climate journalist Miranda Green offers a look beneath the climate headlines—into how decisions are being made, why they matter, and what they reveal about this moment. Subscribe to The Understory to never miss an edition. It’s been a hard summer to bear, whether you’re climate-minded or not.

Offshore wind farms can pose risks to birds and marine life. But their foundations also serve as artificial reefs, providing essential habitat for oysters, lobsters, seals, and other species. Stepping through a sturdy metal hatch, technician Jelle Pennekamp entered the lowest level of an offshore wind turbine. He was now inside a huge, hollow tower supporting three 318-foot blades at Hollandse Kust Zuid, a 139-turbine wind farm a little more than 15 miles off the Dutch coast.

When faced with a mental health low, a lichenologist draws on her love for lichens to rediscover a sense of purpose, slow down, and reconnect with the world around her. There is a kaleidoscopic beauty to the rich, micro-landscapes of lichens. These organisms are like miniature ecosystems: partnerships between fungi and algae or cyanobacteria that create diverse structures on the surfaces where they grow.

“How wonderful that we have met with a paradox. Now we have some hope of making progress.” ―Niels Bohr We live in a universe of particles and waves. In classical physics, particles were believed to occupy specific places and follow definitive paths, while waves spread out and create distortions. These categories were thought to be mutually exclusive.

Each week, award-winning climate journalist Miranda Green offers a look beneath the climate headlines—into how decisions are being made, why they matter, and what they reveal about this moment. Subscribe to The Understory to never miss an edition.

In partnership with Textile Exchange Can clothing become a climate solution? High in the Andes mountains, a puma looks down upon the Patagonia plateau, eyeing a large herd of woolly sheep moving in lockstep. The threat of attack distresses the rancher below. These sheep are his livelihood, their thick wool destined to enter a supply chain before becoming a warm sweater hanging on a clothing rack with a hefty price tag.

In partnership with Davines By investing in regenerative organic agriculture, Davines Group is linking farming, scientific research, and ingredient transparency to rethink how beauty products are made. In the warm countryside of Northern Italy, Michele Aina leads me down a row of tall grass, motioning to plots of potato plants on our left and squash on our right.

From raccoons solving puzzle boxes in California to dogs leaving saliva samples in Morocco, scientists are experimenting with less invasive ways to study wildlife. The shift could make research more ethical and more accurate, but permission in the wild is anything but simple. Raccoons scouring the sun-baked hills of California’s East Bay got themselves into more than mischief in 2023.