Katherine Bagley
katbagley.bsky.social
Katherine Bagley
@katbagley.bsky.social
Editor-in-chief at @grist.org‬. Climate journalist. Sleep-deprived mom. Mint chip ice cream enthusiast. Views expressed are my own.
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
luma.com
September 19, 2025 at 2:22 PM
Reposted by Katherine Bagley
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
May 20, 2025 at 9:20 PM
🧵 (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.
March 27, 2025 at 2:03 PM
🧵 (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...
grist.org
March 27, 2025 at 2:03 PM
🧵 (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.
grist.org
March 27, 2025 at 2:03 PM
🧵 (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.
grist.org
March 27, 2025 at 2:03 PM
🧵 (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.
grist.org
March 27, 2025 at 2:03 PM
🧵 (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.
grist.org
March 27, 2025 at 2:03 PM
🧵 (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.
grist.org
March 27, 2025 at 2:03 PM
🧵 (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.”
grist.org
March 27, 2025 at 2:03 PM
🧵 (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.
grist.org
March 27, 2025 at 2:03 PM
🧵 (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?
grist.org
March 27, 2025 at 2:03 PM
🧵 (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.
grist.org
March 27, 2025 at 2:03 PM