Jonathan Mingle
@jmingle.bsky.social
climate/energy journalist
author of GASLIGHT and FIRE AND ICE
words in @nytimes.com @nybooks.com @yalee360.bsky.social
@undark.org and more
website: jonathanmingle.com
signal contact: jmingle.74
author of GASLIGHT and FIRE AND ICE
words in @nytimes.com @nybooks.com @yalee360.bsky.social
@undark.org and more
website: jonathanmingle.com
signal contact: jmingle.74
Useful summary of where things stand here from NYT, but hooboy... this glaring error jumped out at me before they fixed the headline.
Emissions are still going up!
Small detail that's, uh, somewhat important if you're trying to frame the climate story circa 2025.
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Emissions are still going up!
Small detail that's, uh, somewhat important if you're trying to frame the climate story circa 2025.
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
November 7, 2025 at 6:53 PM
Useful summary of where things stand here from NYT, but hooboy... this glaring error jumped out at me before they fixed the headline.
Emissions are still going up!
Small detail that's, uh, somewhat important if you're trying to frame the climate story circa 2025.
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Emissions are still going up!
Small detail that's, uh, somewhat important if you're trying to frame the climate story circa 2025.
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
You mean... let FERC rubber-stamp them?
With a 99.5% approval rate?
And tell opponents to go pound sand?
With a 99.5% approval rate?
And tell opponents to go pound sand?
November 6, 2025 at 8:11 PM
You mean... let FERC rubber-stamp them?
With a 99.5% approval rate?
And tell opponents to go pound sand?
With a 99.5% approval rate?
And tell opponents to go pound sand?
Here's what ~30 inches of rain that fell on mountainous Nelson County, VA in 1969 in the wake of Hurricane Camille did:
Liquefied entire mountainsides, sent debris flows down on people below while they slept, parked house-sized boulders in valley floors, ground the bark off trees.
Cataclysm.
Liquefied entire mountainsides, sent debris flows down on people below while they slept, parked house-sized boulders in valley floors, ground the bark off trees.
Cataclysm.
October 26, 2025 at 10:44 PM
Here's what ~30 inches of rain that fell on mountainous Nelson County, VA in 1969 in the wake of Hurricane Camille did:
Liquefied entire mountainsides, sent debris flows down on people below while they slept, parked house-sized boulders in valley floors, ground the bark off trees.
Cataclysm.
Liquefied entire mountainsides, sent debris flows down on people below while they slept, parked house-sized boulders in valley floors, ground the bark off trees.
Cataclysm.
Mountain glaciers are vanishing in the geological blink of an eye.
To illustrate that fact, the legendary mountaineer/photographer David Breashears (RIP) kindly let me use this 2007 photo of Everest's shrinking Rongbuk Glacier in my first book.
Today I'm sure its retreat is even more dramatic.
To illustrate that fact, the legendary mountaineer/photographer David Breashears (RIP) kindly let me use this 2007 photo of Everest's shrinking Rongbuk Glacier in my first book.
Today I'm sure its retreat is even more dramatic.
October 16, 2025 at 8:27 PM
Mountain glaciers are vanishing in the geological blink of an eye.
To illustrate that fact, the legendary mountaineer/photographer David Breashears (RIP) kindly let me use this 2007 photo of Everest's shrinking Rongbuk Glacier in my first book.
Today I'm sure its retreat is even more dramatic.
To illustrate that fact, the legendary mountaineer/photographer David Breashears (RIP) kindly let me use this 2007 photo of Everest's shrinking Rongbuk Glacier in my first book.
Today I'm sure its retreat is even more dramatic.
"Perhaps GOP lawmakers are betting that voters won’t connect the dots and punish them for spiking energy bills... But it would be foolish to assume that rolling blackouts and spiking electricity bills will fail to produce any political backlash."
www.nybooks.com/online/2025/...
www.nybooks.com/online/2025/...
September 26, 2025 at 1:29 PM
"Perhaps GOP lawmakers are betting that voters won’t connect the dots and punish them for spiking energy bills... But it would be foolish to assume that rolling blackouts and spiking electricity bills will fail to produce any political backlash."
www.nybooks.com/online/2025/...
www.nybooks.com/online/2025/...
Love this.
Roger Shattuck's old house is just a couple miles from my own here in rural VT. I drive almost every day past the field where he used a scythe to make hay. A SCYTHE. Dude even won the hand-mowing contest at our county fair. Legend.
Roger Shattuck's old house is just a couple miles from my own here in rural VT. I drive almost every day past the field where he used a scythe to make hay. A SCYTHE. Dude even won the hand-mowing contest at our county fair. Legend.
September 18, 2025 at 5:26 PM
Love this.
Roger Shattuck's old house is just a couple miles from my own here in rural VT. I drive almost every day past the field where he used a scythe to make hay. A SCYTHE. Dude even won the hand-mowing contest at our county fair. Legend.
Roger Shattuck's old house is just a couple miles from my own here in rural VT. I drive almost every day past the field where he used a scythe to make hay. A SCYTHE. Dude even won the hand-mowing contest at our county fair. Legend.
Widespread confusion about natural gas convinced me to, uh, write a book on the subject.
And to devote its first two pages to tackling that confusion head-on.
Most Americans don't think natural gas is a fossil fuel.
Most also don't know that it is primarily *methane.*
That's not an accident.
And to devote its first two pages to tackling that confusion head-on.
Most Americans don't think natural gas is a fossil fuel.
Most also don't know that it is primarily *methane.*
That's not an accident.
September 17, 2025 at 6:59 PM
Widespread confusion about natural gas convinced me to, uh, write a book on the subject.
And to devote its first two pages to tackling that confusion head-on.
Most Americans don't think natural gas is a fossil fuel.
Most also don't know that it is primarily *methane.*
That's not an accident.
And to devote its first two pages to tackling that confusion head-on.
Most Americans don't think natural gas is a fossil fuel.
Most also don't know that it is primarily *methane.*
That's not an accident.
wrote a book about how grassroots folks in rural Virginia defeated 2 huge energy firms' 600-mile fossil gas pipeline. won some awards but more importantly several friends+family who self-describe as 'not big readers' read the whole. damn. thing.
most importantly, I built this timber frame woodshed:
most importantly, I built this timber frame woodshed:
September 11, 2025 at 2:17 AM
wrote a book about how grassroots folks in rural Virginia defeated 2 huge energy firms' 600-mile fossil gas pipeline. won some awards but more importantly several friends+family who self-describe as 'not big readers' read the whole. damn. thing.
most importantly, I built this timber frame woodshed:
most importantly, I built this timber frame woodshed:
September 6, 2025 at 2:15 AM
Agreed: the issue of spiking power costs will only increase in political salience. Much like soaring insurance premiums, it will soon be impossible to ignore.
But much hinges on people's ability to connect the dots.
And on media and politicians helping them do so.
www.nybooks.com/online/2025/...
But much hinges on people's ability to connect the dots.
And on media and politicians helping them do so.
www.nybooks.com/online/2025/...
August 15, 2025 at 1:47 PM
Agreed: the issue of spiking power costs will only increase in political salience. Much like soaring insurance premiums, it will soon be impossible to ignore.
But much hinges on people's ability to connect the dots.
And on media and politicians helping them do so.
www.nybooks.com/online/2025/...
But much hinges on people's ability to connect the dots.
And on media and politicians helping them do so.
www.nybooks.com/online/2025/...
That expert was David Bookbinder, the lawyer who was the architect behind the 2007 Massachusetts v. EPA case that buttresses the EPA's endangerment finding.
His outlook was pretty grim when we spoke in April.
(And that was before the EPA fired or reassigned staff in its internal science arm.)
His outlook was pretty grim when we spoke in April.
(And that was before the EPA fired or reassigned staff in its internal science arm.)
July 23, 2025 at 3:05 PM
That expert was David Bookbinder, the lawyer who was the architect behind the 2007 Massachusetts v. EPA case that buttresses the EPA's endangerment finding.
His outlook was pretty grim when we spoke in April.
(And that was before the EPA fired or reassigned staff in its internal science arm.)
His outlook was pretty grim when we spoke in April.
(And that was before the EPA fired or reassigned staff in its internal science arm.)
The piece, like Colbert himself, has huge emotional range.
Dude contains multitudes. Lovell wonders what the Late Show tenure will reveal: "what kind of public figure will emerge over time and how much influence he'll have beyond the nightly delivery of great jokes?"
Maybe we're about to find out.
Dude contains multitudes. Lovell wonders what the Late Show tenure will reveal: "what kind of public figure will emerge over time and how much influence he'll have beyond the nightly delivery of great jokes?"
Maybe we're about to find out.
July 18, 2025 at 2:59 AM
The piece, like Colbert himself, has huge emotional range.
Dude contains multitudes. Lovell wonders what the Late Show tenure will reveal: "what kind of public figure will emerge over time and how much influence he'll have beyond the nightly delivery of great jokes?"
Maybe we're about to find out.
Dude contains multitudes. Lovell wonders what the Late Show tenure will reveal: "what kind of public figure will emerge over time and how much influence he'll have beyond the nightly delivery of great jokes?"
Maybe we're about to find out.
Getting tired of re-posting this but they just keep pulling the plugs. So...
www.nytimes.com/2025/03/17/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/03/17/o...
July 12, 2025 at 2:29 AM
Getting tired of re-posting this but they just keep pulling the plugs. So...
www.nytimes.com/2025/03/17/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/03/17/o...
And let's not forget EPA's shuttering its Office of Children's Health Protection and removing children's health coordinators across its 10 regional offices (along with unraveling myriad programs aimed at limiting damage to the climate those children will inherit).
www.nybooks.com/online/2025/...
www.nybooks.com/online/2025/...
July 3, 2025 at 4:31 PM
And let's not forget EPA's shuttering its Office of Children's Health Protection and removing children's health coordinators across its 10 regional offices (along with unraveling myriad programs aimed at limiting damage to the climate those children will inherit).
www.nybooks.com/online/2025/...
www.nybooks.com/online/2025/...
So... per Jim Justice, the Senate parliamentarian is currently reviewing "handwritten" last-minute changes to the bill.
All to meet Trump's arbitrary July 4th deadline.
Helluva way to run a country.
All to meet Trump's arbitrary July 4th deadline.
Helluva way to run a country.
July 1, 2025 at 3:37 PM
So... per Jim Justice, the Senate parliamentarian is currently reviewing "handwritten" last-minute changes to the bill.
All to meet Trump's arbitrary July 4th deadline.
Helluva way to run a country.
All to meet Trump's arbitrary July 4th deadline.
Helluva way to run a country.
June 30, 2025 at 12:49 PM
Harold Hamm and the 19 other oil and gas CEOs who gathered at Mar-a-lago in April 2024 are probably pretty pleased with the latest Senate language utterly gutting clean energy incentives.
www.nytimes.com/2024/10/21/o...
www.nytimes.com/2024/10/21/o...
June 28, 2025 at 8:41 PM
Harold Hamm and the 19 other oil and gas CEOs who gathered at Mar-a-lago in April 2024 are probably pretty pleased with the latest Senate language utterly gutting clean energy incentives.
www.nytimes.com/2024/10/21/o...
www.nytimes.com/2024/10/21/o...
All of this led to widespread confusion: most Americans don't know 'natural gas' is methane. Or that it's a fossil fuel.
As one energy analyst summed it up to me: "The greatest trick the natural gas industry ever pulled was convincing everyone* that it's 'clean.'"
(*ok not everyone, but enough)
As one energy analyst summed it up to me: "The greatest trick the natural gas industry ever pulled was convincing everyone* that it's 'clean.'"
(*ok not everyone, but enough)
June 24, 2025 at 7:25 PM
All of this led to widespread confusion: most Americans don't know 'natural gas' is methane. Or that it's a fossil fuel.
As one energy analyst summed it up to me: "The greatest trick the natural gas industry ever pulled was convincing everyone* that it's 'clean.'"
(*ok not everyone, but enough)
As one energy analyst summed it up to me: "The greatest trick the natural gas industry ever pulled was convincing everyone* that it's 'clean.'"
(*ok not everyone, but enough)
Not only did Carl Pope's Sierra Club take $26 million from fracking giant Chesapeake, he even went on a roadshow with its CEO Aubrey McClendon to promote gas.
As I wrote in GASLIGHT, Chesapeake earned big returns on this investment: the big greens helped it brand fossil methane as "clean" energy.
As I wrote in GASLIGHT, Chesapeake earned big returns on this investment: the big greens helped it brand fossil methane as "clean" energy.
June 24, 2025 at 6:18 PM
Not only did Carl Pope's Sierra Club take $26 million from fracking giant Chesapeake, he even went on a roadshow with its CEO Aubrey McClendon to promote gas.
As I wrote in GASLIGHT, Chesapeake earned big returns on this investment: the big greens helped it brand fossil methane as "clean" energy.
As I wrote in GASLIGHT, Chesapeake earned big returns on this investment: the big greens helped it brand fossil methane as "clean" energy.
From my recent Q&A for @nybooks.com newsletter:
"...the text of the message to Americans from their government is clear: You’re on your own. But the subtext is: You’re also in the dark. Because the cuts to climate programs are damaging our ability...to know what dangers will be coming our way."
"...the text of the message to Americans from their government is clear: You’re on your own. But the subtext is: You’re also in the dark. Because the cuts to climate programs are damaging our ability...to know what dangers will be coming our way."
May 28, 2025 at 8:06 PM
From my recent Q&A for @nybooks.com newsletter:
"...the text of the message to Americans from their government is clear: You’re on your own. But the subtext is: You’re also in the dark. Because the cuts to climate programs are damaging our ability...to know what dangers will be coming our way."
"...the text of the message to Americans from their government is clear: You’re on your own. But the subtext is: You’re also in the dark. Because the cuts to climate programs are damaging our ability...to know what dangers will be coming our way."
May 6, 2025 at 5:10 PM
April 24, 2025 at 3:17 PM
India putting an exclamation point on this energy tug-of-war (via @carbonbrief.org):
April 3, 2025 at 2:27 PM
India putting an exclamation point on this energy tug-of-war (via @carbonbrief.org):