Climate change and myriad other environmental crises were not meaningfully addressed in 2025. But WhoWhatWhy and our Covering Climate Now partners remained dedicated to bringing you news on all of it.

From WhoWhatWhy

After the Fires in LA, What Comes Next?

While there are still climate-change deniers, the ongoing tragedy in Los Angeles makes the increasing threat hard to ignore. WhoWhatWhy’s William Dowell analyzed the difference the fires might make for future climate disasters. Read more.

California Wildfires: The Fire Still Rages

This was the first in a short series of photo essays by Jonathan Simon and DonkeyHotey about the California wildfires. This post focused on the fires themselves. Read more.

Nature Does Not Care What You Think About Climate Change (or How Rich You Are)

But Nature can’t teach what we refuse to learn. Read more.

Not Out of the Woods: Grizzly Bears Stay on Endangered List but Trouble Looms

The grizzly bear will continue to be protected under the Endangered Species Act, but the recovery of the species still remains at risk, writes WhoWhatWhy apprentice Srividya Maganti. Read more.

Plastic-Eating Fungi: A Glimmer of Hope in the Fight Against Plastic

A group of scientists are investigating the possibility that marine fungi could be used to break down polyurethane. Selina Coxon-Perez breaks down this research. Read more.

The New Scramble for Tanzania’s Savanna

The Maasai are being pushed aside for luxury safaris and carbon-credit deals that promise to save the planet, but threaten to erase a people. Théophile Simon reports from Tanzania. Read more.

From Our Covering Climate Now Partners

Her Body Was 126 Degrees After She Died; Medical Examiner Blamed Drugs

Jessica Witzel’s autopsy report raises an important question: How many heat-related deaths among the unhoused are being erased by the failure to collect and report accurate data on climate-related mortality? Marisol Cortez of Deceleration examines Witzel’s case and the heat crisis in San Antonio.  Read more.

Mapped: Donald Trump’s Transatlantic Anti-Green Network

Politicians, donors, think tanks, and media outlets in the UK and US are working increasingly closely to scupper climate policies and promote fossil fuel extraction. Adam Barnett sketches out this network for DeSmog. Read more.

A Silent Threat Underground: Deregulation Fuels the Spread of Forever Chemicals

The Trump administration has already rolled back planned limits on PFAS chemicals, which have been linked to cancer and other health problems. Paul Adepoju reveals the extent of the issue in The Revelator. Read more.

These Companies Are Backtracking on Climate in Bow to Conservatives

Social media platforms, energy companies, investment firms, airlines, big banks, and philanthropic organizations have backtracked on their environmental pledges to fall in line with the Trump administration’s anti-climate agenda. Martina Igini pulls back the curtain on those giving up their environmental responsibilities for Earth.org. Read more.

The Science Behind Texas’s Catastrophic Floods

At least 130 people died in the Texas Hill Country flash floods this year. The disaster has the fingerprints of climate change all over it. Matt Simon explains for Grist. Read more.

What You Need to Know About AI and Climate Change

Daisy Simmons takes a hard look at the good, the bad, and the whoa of AI in Yale Climate Communications. Read more.