Yessenia Funes
Gizmodo
New York, United States
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Past articles by Yessenia:
CBP Drones Conducted Flyovers Near Homes of Indigenous Pipeline Activists, Flight Records Show
Tom Goldtooth awoke on Feb. 21 expecting a pretty regular day ahead. And by all accounts, his day was normal. He was on the road by 11 a.m. to catch a flight. But unbeknownst to him, around the same time as he left, U.S. Customs and Border Protection was watching his home in Beltrami County, Minnesota, from 20,000 feet in the air. A CBP Reaper drone operated silently for more than an hour,… → Read More
Save the Schools, Save the Youth, Save the World
In another life, I may have been a teacher. I have a soft spot for the youth, especially the tiniest ones who don’t yet know what they’re in for. That’s probably what troubles me most about this world and all its problems: what, exactly, are we going to be handing over to them? → Read More
Hurricane Laura Shows Us the Injustice of the Climate Crisis
Hurricane Laura slammed into the Gulf Coast Wednesday night with winds making it nearly a Category 5 storm upon making landfall. With the storm came more than 9 feet of storm surge in parts of Louisiana. This level of water is incomprehensible. Hurricane Laura tied the strongest storm to hit Louisiana on record, making landfall eerily close to the 15-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. And as… → Read More
Hurricane Laura Is Heading for a City That Can’t Take Any More
Hurricane Laura is no joke. The National Hurricane Center isn’t holding back on its warnings, saying the storm will bring “unsurvivable storm surge” to the Gulf Coast. This is the weather of nightmares, folks, and it’s less than 12 hours away from making landfall. → Read More
Bill de Blasio’s Back-to-School Plan Ludicrously Relies on Global Warming to Ward off Coronavirus
On Tuesday, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced part of his vision to protect students from the coronavirus. Chiefly among them is proper air ventilation. Some researchers have found this can reduce the spread of the highly contagious virus. → Read More
Rihanna’s New Skincare Line Cuts Down on Waste—But Not Enough
Over the last year or so, I’ve been on a journey to make my beauty routine plastic-free. I’ve been trying a number of alternatives—from my shampoo to my make-up—to eliminate as much plastic as possible from my life. However, a new skincare line is having me reconsider all my efforts: Fenty Skin. → Read More
Fun Game Ruined by Reality
I love video games. The popular battle royale game Fortnite, however, is not one of them. That’s probably a good thing for the planet because new data shows that the game is really carbon-intensive. Sorry to my 11-year-old nephew and millions of others, though, who play. → Read More
Dammit, Two Hurricanes
A tropical depression and tropical storm are currently blowing through the Atlantic. They are creating the potential for one hell of a rare event by Tuesday: two storms in the Gulf of Mexico at the same time. Not only would this be historic weather-wise; it would stretch disaster response resources even more thin than usual, creating a terrifying situation for Gulf Coast communities. → Read More
California’s Prison Covid-19 Outbreak Isn’t Behind Its Firefighter Shortage
Wildfires are raging across California, but the state lacks critical firefighting resources to adequately address the severity of the crisis. In light of the coronavirus pandemic and a worse-than-usual wildfire season, wildland fighting agencies across the U.S. knew they’d be in for a challenging summer. However, California is dealing with an especially precarious situation due to its dependence… → Read More
Michigan Will Pay $600 Million to Flint Water Crisis Survivors
The people of Flint are finally getting some justice. The state of Michigan is dishing out $600 million in settlement dollars for victims of the water crisis that exposed the city of nearly 100,000 to unhealthy levels of lead in their drinking water. → Read More
Wildfires Explode Across California Amid Record Heat Wave
If you haven’t already heard, California is on fire. Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency on Tuesday for the disaster unfurling. The state is in the middle of a dramatic heat wave, which is fueling more than 30 wildfires burning across the state. The situation appears to be going from bad to worse. → Read More
Tinted Solar Panels Can Help Farms Generate Clean Energy While Growing Food
In a future world, leafy vegetables may not be grown in rows of crops under the sun. Instead, they may be grown indoors beneath tinted semi-transparent solar panels that will allow farmers to grow food and produce energy. That’s the future imagined in a recent study that shows how the use of this technology can benefit farmers and the climate. → Read More
The Climate Danger of Kamala Harris’ Prison Labor Legacy
We finally have a woman of color on a major party ticket. Joe Biden’s selection of Sen. Kamala Harris as his vice president is historic and something to celebrate, but she still deserves scrutiny. This coupling makes some important climate battles especially hard if Biden wins the White House. But Harris’ past treatment of incarcerated people, in particular, also raises troubling climate… → Read More
The Climate Danger of Kamala Harris’ Prison Labor Legacy
We finally have a woman of color on a major party ticket. Joe Biden’s selection of Sen. Kamala Harris as his vice president is historic and something to celebrate, but she still deserves scrutiny. This coupling makes some important climate battles especially hard if Biden wins the White House. But Harris’ past treatment of incarcerated people, in particular, also raises troubling climate… → Read More
Trump’s Border Wall Is the ‘Biggest Threat’ to Southwest Wildlife, Government Emails Reveal
We really don’t need another reason to hate President Donald Trump’s stupid border wall, but here a new one anyways. Documents the Center for Biological Diversity obtained from the Fish and Wildlife Service through public records requests reveal how the border wall construction is harming critical habitat for eight endangered species at Arizona’s San Bernardino National Wildlife Refuge. → Read More
These Satellite Images Show the Final Days of Canada's Last Ice Shelf
Canada lost its last ice shelf last week, but a set of new satellite images show the crack that pushed the shelf to its edge in macabre detail. → Read More
Farms Surpass Coal Plants as the Biggest Sulfur Polluters
Historically, sulfur emissions have come from coal-fired power plants. In the years since the Clean Air Act helped fossil fuel pollutants get their act together—along with the closures of many facilities—sulfur emissions have decreased significantly from this sector. However, a study reveals we have a new source to worry about: agriculture. → Read More
The Pandemic Could Wipe 20% of Exxon’s Oil and Gas Reserves Off the Books
The oil industry isn’t looking too great, folks. That’s especially true for Exxon, which has lost upward of $1 billion due to the economic crisis last quarter alone. Its downward spiral isn’t over, though. → Read More
Over 17 Million Cubic Feet of Ice Threaten Italian Tourist Town
Anything is possible when it comes to ice these warming days: disappearing ice caps, newly discovered penguin colonies, and now, crumbling glaciers threatening the lives of dozens of people. → Read More
Nuclear Fusion Will Not Save Us
Last week, construction kicked off on the world’s largest experimental nuclear fusion reactor. It marked the start of a new era in the energy sector: The fossil fuel industry has historically dominated this arena, but renewable energy is quickly taking over. Now, nuclear scientists are hoping that the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, or ITER, the experimental power plant under… → Read More