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Katherine Bagley

@katbagley.bsky.social

3.4K followers 68 following 33 posts

Editor-in-chief at @grist.org‬. Climate journalist. Sleep-deprived mom. Mint chip ice cream enthusiast. Views expressed are my own.

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Katherine Bagley @katbagley.bsky.social · 14d

A year ago, Trump raised $8 million for Helene survivors through a GoFundMe campaign. But where did it all go?

In the latest installment of @grist.org's #DisasterEconomy series, @stopitkatie.bsky.social gives a really honest look at how hard it is to get the answer. grist.org/accountabili...

Trump raised $8 million for Hurricane Helene survivors. Where did it all go?

On a dusty, warm day last October, nearly a month after Hurricane Helene tore across the southeastern United States, Donald Trump stood behind a podium in Swannanoa, North Carolina, to pledge funding ...

Katherine Bagley @katbagley.bsky.social · 19d

If you live in NYC or will be in town for #ClimateWeek, please help us celebrate the launch on Thursday September 25: luma.com/oxru1kso

This special evening will feature:
🎤 Stories from Grist 50 Fixers past and present
🎉 A celebration of Grist’s 25th anniversary and the 10th edition of the Grist 50

Katherine Bagley @katbagley.bsky.social · 19d

This week, @grist.org published its 10th annual Grist 50 list of emerging leaders in the climate space.

At a time when regulatory rollbacks and funding cuts are decimating our ability to fight global warming, this collection is a welcome moment of positivity and progress. grist.org/fix/grist-50...

Introducing the 2025 Grist 50 list

Climate solutions are more important now than ever. Read about 50 leaders shaping the future of climate progress.

Katherine Bagley @katbagley.bsky.social · Aug 18

Hiring news! @grist.org is growing our Local News Initiative and looking for talented reporters in:
•Utah, in partnership with the @sltrib.com
•Nebraska, with @flatwaterfreep.bsky.social
•Northern Michigan, with @iprnews.bsky.social

To apply, please visit Grist.org/careers and grist.org/updates/

Grist is made up of 50 people in 14 different states with 1 shared focus… telling stories of climate solutions and a just future.

Reposted by Katherine Bagley

Clayton Page Aldern @compatibilism.bsky.social · Aug 12

ICYMI: @jbwinters.bsky.social is reporting from Geneva as the U.N. approaches a global plastics treaty. Here’s our chart-heavy look from last week on the state of the plastics crisis: grist.org/internationa...

The global plastics crisis explained in 6 charts

Research shows the extent of plastic pollution today — and why the U.N. is negotiating a treaty to keep it from getting worse.

Katherine Bagley @katbagley.bsky.social · Aug 12

Today, @grist.org is launching a new series, The Disaster Economy, looking at the chaotic, often lucrative world of disaster recovery. grist.org/series/the-d...

Read, share, and importantly, let us know what you're seeing on the ground in your communities that you want us to report on.

Katherine Bagley @katbagley.bsky.social · Jul 30

In a new guide, @grist.org examines the impact Trump's environmental rollbacks and funding cuts are having on the things we all do every day. Flipping on your lights. Turning on your faucet. Paying bills. Checking the weather forecast. Feeding yourself and your families. grist.org/politics/tru...

Trump's environmental policies are reshaping everyday life. Here's how.

The president’s rollbacks and funding cuts are affecting your food, water, and air — even if you don’t realize it.

Katherine Bagley @katbagley.bsky.social · Jul 24

@grist.org is thrilled to announce two new expansions to our Local News Initiative: Partnerships to place climate reporters at the @sltrib.com in Utah and @flatwaterfreep.bsky.social in Nebraska.

Applications are open for the two positions now. grist.org/updates/gris... & grist.org/updates/gris...

Grist and The Salt Lake Tribune partner to co-fund climate reporter

The journalist will cover climate impacts in Utah for local and national audiences.

Katherine Bagley @katbagley.bsky.social · Jul 15

“I don’t know if we’re living in climate denial anymore,” said one expert. “We have this new front of denial by erasure.”

@grist.org's Kate Yoder reports: grist.org/language/tru...

Why the federal government is making climate data disappear

Under Trump, climate denial has given way to something even more dangerous: climate erasure.

Katherine Bagley @katbagley.bsky.social · Jul 8

As we've unfortunately seen this week, natural disasters can hit at any time, in any place, and upend your life. @Grist has put together a comprehensive toolkit for navigating the recovery process, from how disaster relief works to finding housing and food. grist.org/disaster101

Disaster 101: Your guide to extreme weather preparation, relief, and recovery

From packing an emergency kit to navigating FEMA aid to finding legal services and mental health resources, this is a comprehensive guide to surviving and coping with natural disasters.

Reposted by Katherine Bagley

Miriam Wasser @miriamwasser.bsky.social · May 20

5/ Here's a list of all the Climate and Environment Events at the WBUR Festival

@moranwriter.bsky.social @katbagley.bsky.social @zteirstein.bsky.social

Katherine Bagley @katbagley.bsky.social · Apr 4

FEMA’s Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program shuttles billions of $ to U.S. towns, states, and tribes for natural disaster preparedness. The Trump admin is dismantling it.

Exclusive from @gristnews.bsky.social’s @zteirstein.bsky.social & Jake Bittle grist.org/politics/fem...

FEMA moves to end one of its biggest disaster adaptation programs

In an internal FEMA memorandum obtained by Grist, the Trump administration announced it plans to dismantle the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program.

Reposted by Katherine Bagley

Zoya Teirstein @zteirstein.bsky.social · Apr 4

Scoop from me and Jake: FEMA is ending BRIC. grist.org/politics/fem...

FEMA moves to end one of its biggest disaster adaptation programs

In an internal FEMA memorandum obtained by Grist, the Trump administration announced it plans to dismantle the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program.

Reposted by Katherine Bagley

Erin Douglas 📝 climate reporter @erinmdouglas23.bsky.social · Mar 27

Woods Hole has been a company town for #ocean and #climate science for 150 years. Now, it may be one of the most extreme examples of a community vulnerable to federal spending cuts.

The centers here rely heavily on government $$ to support research.

My latest: www.bostonglobe.com/2025/03/27/s...

This town on the Cape is a hub for climate scientists. Under Trump, its local economy is shaking. - The Boston Globe

The small upper Cape community has been a sort of company town for environmental scientists for more than a century.

www.bostonglobe.com

Katherine Bagley @katbagley.bsky.social · Mar 27

🧵 (14/ ) I am SO proud of the @gristnews.bsky.social team for this project. There are way too many people to tag that made this possible, but I'm so grateful to be at a newsroom willing to tackle big questions and do so in a thoughtful, audience-centric, and deeply reported way.

Katherine Bagley @katbagley.bsky.social · Mar 27

🧵 (13/ ) There are a million other stories that we could have done — and @gristnews.bsky.social will continue following this critically important issue in the months and years to come. But if you want an intro to the whole topic, Unearthed is a pretty great place to start: grist.org/series/unear...

Unearthed: The Mining Issue

The world needs massive amounts of critical minerals to power the transition to clean energy. Can all of this extraction be done without the same environmental and human costs associated with fossil f...

Katherine Bagley @katbagley.bsky.social · Mar 27

🧵 (12/ ) And lastly, unlike burning fossil fuels, the critical minerals in wind turbines, solar panels, and batteries have the potential to be recycled and reused over and over. So we looked at the companies working to establish robust recycling systems. grist.org/energy/minin...

Mining is an environmental and human rights nightmare. Battery recycling can ease that.

Battery recycling provides economic, national security, and environmental benefits. But the United States is playing catch-up to Asian countries, particularly China.

Katherine Bagley @katbagley.bsky.social · Mar 27

🧵 (11/ ) A video explores how the next "gold rush" might not be on land. Seawater contains immense amounts of lithium, cobalt, nickel, etc. But can we actually tap into this seemingly boundless resource? Scientists are trying. grist.org/video/seawat... @gristnews.bsky.social

In the race to find critical minerals, there’s a ‘gold mine’ literally at our shoreline

Instead of continuing to dig tunnels or pits, some scientists are looking to a promising yet challenging source of minerals: seawater.

Katherine Bagley @katbagley.bsky.social · Mar 27

🧵 (10/ ) And we also knew we couldn't produce a package on mining without offering some actual solutions.

We looked at the weirdest, innovative ways that researchers and companies are trying to obtain critical minerals without mining the earth, from wastewater to weeds. grist.org/energy/the-w...

The weirdest ways scientists are mining for critical minerals, from water to weeds

Not all critical minerals need to come from digging up the earth.

Katherine Bagley @katbagley.bsky.social · Mar 27

🧵 (9/ ) We examined whether countries and corporations will actually respect Indigenous rights to free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC) for projects on or near their lands — and what that process should look like in its best form. grist.org/indigenous/m... @gristnews.bsky.social

Most critical minerals are on Indigenous lands. Will miners respect tribal sovereignty?

Grist spoke with five experts to understand what free, prior, and informed consent should look like in this new era of extraction.

Katherine Bagley @katbagley.bsky.social · Mar 27

🧵 (8/ ) Closer to home here in the U.S., there is a federal project aimed at mapping underground deposits of critical minerals. And amazingly, in this moment of intense partisanship, it has the support of both Republicans and Democrats (albeit for different reasons). grist.org/energy/criti...

Why Biden and Trump both support this federal mineral mapping project

A U.S. Geological Survey effort to find underground deposits of clean energy metals has gotten bipartisan support.

Katherine Bagley @katbagley.bsky.social · Mar 27

🧵 (7/ ) The floor of the Pacific Ocean contains an incredible amount of the critical minerals the world needs for wind, solar, and EVs. But for the region's Indigenous communities, the ocean holds ancestral ties. It is now a $20 trillion fight over who controls the seabed: grist.org/energy/deep-...

Digging for minerals in the Pacific's graveyard: The $20 trillion fight over who controls the seabed

“The soul of our ancestors, when they leave this world, they go into the deep.”

Katherine Bagley @katbagley.bsky.social · Mar 27

🧵 (6/ ) Next, we head to Chile's Atacama Desert, which contains one of the largest deposits of lithium in the world. A boom in extraction is threatening already scarce water resources and the way of life for the 18 Indigenous communities that surround the salt flat. grist.org/energy/chile...

Chile’s lithium boom promises jobs and money — but threatens a critical water source

The Atacama Desert is a major source of lithium for EV batteries. As global demand ramps up, the local Lickanantay people are racing to protect already scarce water supplies and their way of life.

Katherine Bagley @katbagley.bsky.social · Mar 27

🧵 (5/ ) We then curated dispatches from communities on the front lines of mineral extraction. First up, Greenland, which President Trump is determined to gain control of for its military position and the rich deposits of critical minerals underneath its melting ice. grist.org/energy/green...

Beneath Greenland’s ice lies a climate solution — and a new geopolitical battleground

Modern society, and the clean energy revolution, depend on rare earth elements. Can Greenland help break China's stranglehold on the market?

Katherine Bagley @katbagley.bsky.social · Mar 27

🧵 (4/ ) Next, we address a fundamental question: Is extracting critical minerals for renewable energy and green technologies any better than the world's current reliance on fossil fuels? grist.org/energy/trade... @gristnews.bsky.social

Trade-offs of the green transition: Is mining critical minerals better than extracting fossil fuels?

Extracting resources from the Earth always comes with costs. As we race toward a cleaner, greener future, there is a risk of repeating the abuses of mining for coal and other fossil fuels.