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Showing 57 of 57 articles ·~344 min total reading time
The heat dome baking the eastern U.S. this week is breaking temperature records from Washington to Boston. Here's what the data shows — and why one scorching week fits a much longer line.
TerraFutureJul 3
Forecasters are tracking a heat dome set to build over much of the country in the coming days. Heat is the deadliest weather hazard, and it lands hardest on the same neighborhoods every time.
TerraFutureJun 28
On June 25 the Supreme Court handed pesticide makers a major win, ruling that federal law preempts state failure-to-warn claims over glyphosate. Here is what it means downstream.
TerraFutureJun 26
This week is National Pollinator Week, and the headline number is hard to ignore: about one in every three bites of food we eat depends on a pollinator. Here's what the science says and how to help.
TerraFutureJun 23
June 17 is Desertification and Drought Day, and this year it's about rangelands. They may sound like someone else's landscape, but the way they hold soil, carbon, and water is a lesson for every watershed.
TerraFutureJun 17
Western Europe baked under an unusually early, intense heatwave in late May. The detail that matters isn't the temperature — it's the timing. Heat season is arriving sooner, and that changes how we prepare.
TerraFutureJun 16
The monthly climate reports for May are out, and the verdict is sobering but unsurprising: it was the second-warmest May ever measured. Here's what the data says and, more importantly, what the trend means.
TerraFutureJun 13
World Oceans Day falls on June 8, focused on marine protected areas and the roughly 8 million tons of plastic entering the sea each year. For an inland watershed like ours, the ocean's problems start upstream.
TerraFutureJun 8
World Environment Day lands today, June 5, under the theme "Inspired by Nature. For Climate. For Our Future." Here is what the global day is asking, and the concrete ways our community is answering it.
TerraFutureJun 5
Nature-based solutions get framed as a global climate play. The more persuasive case is local: a restored wetland or forest pays back in cleaner water, less flooding, cooler air, and jobs that stay in the community.
TerraFutureJun 2
School is out, which means our summer youth fellows are heading into the watershed. Here is the citizen-science work they will be doing this season — and why their data is genuinely good data, not a learning exercise.
TerraFutureMay 27
The past eleven years are now the eleven hottest on record. As the 2026 heat season opens, that statistic stops being abstract — and our neighborhood heat data is how we turn it into a response.
TerraFutureMay 21
The IUCN has moved two iconic Antarctic species, the emperor penguin and the Antarctic fur seal, into the Endangered category as sea ice collapses. The signal travels much farther than the ice does.
TerraFutureMay 15
Endangered Species Day is Friday. Three species in our region are worth a closer look right now. The data is more mixed and more interesting than the national headlines suggest.
TerraFutureMay 12
World Migratory Bird Day is today. The 2026 theme is Every Bird Counts. The broader story underneath that theme is community science increasingly carrying environmental monitoring work that used to be federal.
TerraFutureMay 9
World Migratory Bird Day is Saturday. We pulled together the spring 2026 observation data from our pollinator and bird-habitat monitoring programs. The picture is mixed and worth a careful read.
TerraFutureMay 6
The federal endangerment finding repeal in February reshaped the climate policy landscape. The interesting story since then has been at the state level, where the pace of legislation has accelerated noticeably.
TerraFutureMay 2
May is Mental Health Awareness Month. The intersection between youth mental health and climate is increasingly well-documented. Our fellows have a lot to say about what helps, and what does not.
TerraFutureApr 29
The Earth Week 2026 totals are in. Twenty-three events, more than a thousand volunteer hours, and a handful of numbers worth sharing. Here is what the community accomplished in seven days.
TerraFutureApr 25
Ten Earth Days. Forty-three thousand community scientists. More than nine million data points. On TerraFuture's decade of work, what held up, what surprised us, and what we are doing next.
TerraFutureApr 22
This week marked a milestone for our 2026 fellows: their first large-scale public programming. Three schools, more than 900 students, and a lot of real questions from their peers.
TerraFutureApr 21
The federal climate landscape shifted quickly after January. Here is what that means for our work, where we are doubling down, and where we are holding the line at the state level.
TerraFutureApr 17
Our Open Climate Data portal is updated quarterly. This refresh adds four new indicators, drills air quality down to the neighborhood level, and opens a new time-series dataset for download.
TerraFutureApr 13
Cascades snowpack closed March near the 30-year average in aggregate, but the seasonal pattern and elevation distribution tell a more complicated story. Here is what we are watching heading into summer.
TerraFutureApr 8
Seven resilience hubs open next month, each equipped with filtered air, backup power, and cooling. Here is what they are designed to do, why they exist, and how to plan around one in your neighborhood.
TerraFutureApr 3
Our watershed cleanup season runs April through early June. This year we are coordinating 14 events across seven watersheds, with a few new partners and a new protocol for tracking what we recover.
TerraFutureMar 30
Our network of 312 low-cost environmental sensors has been collecting hyperlocal temperature data across Portland for 18 months. The patterns we're seeing demand attention.
TerraFutureMar 22
When we talk about climate resilience, the conversation often centers on infrastructure. But our data shows that community gardens deliver measurable climate, health, and social benefits that infrastructure alone cannot.
TerraFutureMar 8
Our 2026 cohort includes eight extraordinary young people from across Oregon, each bringing unique skills and perspectives to the challenge of building climate-resilient communities.
TerraFutureFeb 20
2026 is shaping up to be a pivotal year for state-level climate policy. Here are the bills and regulatory actions that will have the greatest impact on communities like ours.
TerraFutureFeb 5
Environmental organizations that cannot rigorously measure their impact cannot credibly claim to be making one. Here is how TerraFuture approaches the challenge of quantifying environmental outcomes.
TerraFutureJan 25
Pollinator decline threatens one-third of our food supply. Our three-year monitoring study across 42 community gardens shows that even small urban green spaces can serve as critical refugia for native bee populations.
TerraFutureSep 10
Most communities know they need to adapt to climate change but lack the tools to assess their specific vulnerabilities and prioritize investments. Our open-source toolkit changes that, and it is free for anyone to use.
TerraFutureJul 15
Oregon DEQ operates 6 air quality monitors for all of Portland. Our network of 84 low-cost sensors reveals pollution variations of up to 340% within a single neighborhood — disparities that regulatory monitors cannot detect.
TerraFutureMay 20
Portland has 1,200 acres of vacant and underutilized land suitable for food production. Our analysis shows that activating just 30% of that land could supply fresh vegetables to 26,000 food-insecure households.
TerraFutureApr 5
When 42 high school students walked into the Oregon State Capitol, they brought data, personal stories, and specific policy asks. Three legislators have since committed to co-sponsoring the climate education bill our students championed.
TerraFutureFeb 25
Can Oregon's grid handle 80% renewable energy by 2035? Our modeling says yes — but only with 2.4 GW of battery storage, upgraded transmission corridors, and demand response programs reaching 15% of peak load.
TerraFutureJan 18
In 2024, TerraFuture reached 18,400 community members, published 6 peer-reviewed studies, trained 250 green workforce participants, and measurably reduced emissions by an estimated 2,840 metric tons of CO2 equivalent. Here is the full accounting.
TerraFutureDec 12
Food waste in landfills generates 14% of US methane emissions. Our community composting program kept 50 tons of organic waste out of the landfill this year, turning a climate problem into a community resource.
TerraFutureNov 8
Between 2020 and 2024, Oregon's net in-migration increased 23% from states experiencing severe climate impacts. Our analysis quantifies the climate signal in migration data and projects what it means for the region's future.
TerraFutureOct 3
We sampled 18 waterways over two years and processed 432 water samples. The results reveal microplastic concentrations of up to 847 particles per liter in urban streams — concentrations that raise serious questions about aquatic ecosystem health.
TerraFutureSep 10
Eight high school fellows spent six months analyzing TriMet ridership data and interviewing 200 transit-dependent residents. Their policy brief argues that fare-free transit would reduce transportation emissions by 4.2% while eliminating a regressive cost burden on low-income riders.
TerraFutureAug 15
Isolated habitat patches support 40-60% fewer species than connected ones of equivalent size. Our Urban Biodiversity Corridor project is stitching Portland's fragmented green spaces into a functional ecological network.
TerraFutureJul 22
The 2021 heat dome killed 96 people in Oregon. Climate projections show events of similar magnitude will occur every 6 to 10 years. Our analysis reveals that community-based preparedness, not just cooling centers, is the key to preventing future deaths.
TerraFutureJul 1
The clean energy transition will create an estimated 14,000 new jobs in Oregon by 2030. Our workforce training program is ensuring that those jobs are accessible to the communities that have been excluded from the fossil fuel economy.
TerraFutureJun 5
Oregon aims for 250,000 registered EVs by 2025, but our analysis reveals that charging infrastructure gaps and affordability barriers are concentrating EV adoption in affluent, predominantly white neighborhoods.
TerraFutureMay 12
Government agencies monitor water quality at just 12 sites across Portland's 34 named streams. Our volunteer network fills that gap, generating data that has already triggered two regulatory investigations and informed a $2.1 million stormwater upgrade.
TerraFutureApr 18
On March 23, 500 volunteers descended on 6 restoration sites across Portland and planted 2,000 native trees, shrubs, and groundcovers. Here is what we accomplished and why these numbers matter for long-term ecosystem health.
TerraFutureMar 25
Environmental burdens do not fall equally. Our new Environmental Justice Index maps 23 indicators across Portland's 95 neighborhoods, revealing that communities of color face pollution exposure rates 2.7 times higher than predominantly white neighborhoods.
TerraFutureMar 5
The top meter of Earth's soil holds more carbon than the atmosphere and all plant life combined. Our three-year study across 46 Willamette Valley sites quantifies just how much carbon healthy soil management can sequester.
TerraFutureFeb 15
When we asked 62 high school students to transform climate data into art, they produced work that communicates the urgency of the crisis more powerfully than any policy brief. Here are the highlights from our inaugural exhibition.
TerraFutureJan 28
Our winter energy audit program assessed 420 households and found that the average home was losing 34% of its heating energy through addressable inefficiencies. The fixes are simpler and cheaper than most people expect.
TerraFutureJan 8
COP28 produced the first-ever agreement to transition away from fossil fuels. But what does that language actually mean for organizations like TerraFuture working on climate action at the local level? We break down what matters.
TerraFutureDec 15
Western conservation has spent decades catching up to what Indigenous communities have practiced for millennia. Our partnership with the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde is producing measurable results that challenge conventional restoration approaches.
TerraFutureOct 30
Nearly 60% of Portland households are renters who cannot install their own solar panels. Our new community solar program changes that equation, bringing clean energy savings to neighborhoods that have been locked out of the solar revolution.
TerraFutureOct 10
Our new LiDAR-based analysis of Portland's urban tree canopy reveals that the neighborhoods most vulnerable to extreme heat have 62% less canopy coverage than affluent areas just miles away.
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