As The Verge's resident disaster writer, I'm tired of this nonsense. So let's just get into it.

What is cloud seeding?

Cloud seeding is basically an attempt to make precipitation fall from clouds. It targets clouds that have water droplets that are essentially too light to fall. Scientists at MIT learned in the 1940s that if you inject a mineral into the cloud that's similar to the crystalline structure of ice - typically silver iodide or salt - those small water droplets start to freeze to the mineral. This creates heavier ice particles that can eventually fall down to the ground. These days, researchers can use radar and satellite image …

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Scorching hot days tend to hit certain neighborhoods harder than others, a problem that becomes more dangerous during record-breaking heat like swathes of the US experienced over the past week. A new online dashboard shows how Latino neighborhoods are disproportionately affected in California.

Developed by University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), the tool helps fill in gaps as the Trump administration takes a sledgehammer to federal climate, race, and ethnicity data resources. 

“We want to provide facts, reliable data sources. We don’t want this to be something that gets erased from the policy sphere,” says Arturo Vargas Bustamante, faculty research director at the UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute (LPPI).

The Latino Climate & Health Dashboard includes data on extreme heat and air pollution, as well as asthma rates and other health conditions — issues that are linked to each other. High temperatures can speed up the chemical reactions that create smog. Chronic exposure to fine particle pollution, or soot, can increase the risk of a child developing asthma. Having asthma or another respiratory illness can then make someone more vulnerable to poor air quality and heat stress. Burning fossil fuels — whether in nearby factories, power plants, or internal combustion vehicles — makes all of these problems worse. 

Latino neighborhoods have to cope with 23 more days of extreme heat a year compared to non-Latino white neighborhoods in California, the dashboard shows. LPPI defined extreme heat as days when temperatures climbed to 90 degrees Fahrenheit or higher. 

If you’ve ever heard about a phenomenon called the urban heat island effect, big differences in temperature from neighborhood to neighborhood probably wouldn’t come as a surprise. Areas with less greenery and more dark, paved surfaces and waste heat from industrial facilities or vehicles generally tend to trap heat. Around 1 in 10 Americans lives in a place where the built environment makes it feel at least 8 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than it would without that urban sprawl according to one study of 65 cities from last year. And after years of redlining that bolstered segregation and disinvestment in certain neighborhoods in the US, neighborhoods with more residents of color are often hotter than others.  

The dashboard includes fact sheets by county to show what factors might raise temperatures in certain areas. In Los Angeles County, for example, only four percent of land in majority-Latino neighborhoods is shaded by tree canopy compared to nine percent in non-Latino white neighborhoods. Conversely, impervious surfaces like asphalt and concrete that hold heat span 68 percent of land in Latino neighborhoods compared to 47 percent in majority non-Latino white areas in LA County. 

For this dashboard, LPPI defines a Latino neighborhood as a census tract where more than 70 percent of residents identify as Latino. It used the same 70 percent threshold to define non-Latino white neighborhoods. 

Latino neighborhoods in California are also exposed to twice as much air pollution and have twice as many asthma-related ER visits as non-latino white neighborhoods, according to the dashboard. It brings together data from the Census Bureau, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the state’s environmental health screening tool called CalEnviroScreen, and other publicly-available sources. 

The Trump administration has taken down the federal counterpart to CalEnviroScreen, called EJScreen, as part of its purge of diversity and equity research. Researchers have been working to track and archive datasets that might be targeted since before President Donald Trump stepped back into office. 

Efforts to keep these kinds of studies going are just as vital, so that people don’t have to rely on outdated information that no longer reflects current conditions on the ground. And other researchers have launched new initiatives to document the Trump administration’s environmental rollbacks. The Environmental Defense Fund and other advocacy groups, for instance, launched a mapping tool in April that shows 500 facilities across the US that the Environmental Protection Agency has recently invited to apply for exemptions to air pollution limits. 

UCLA’s dashboard adds to the patchwork of more locally-led research campaigns, although it can’t replace the breadth of data that federal agencies have historically collected. “Of course, we don’t have the resources that our federal government has,” Bustamante says. “But with what we are able to do, I think that one of the main aims is to keep this issue [at the top of] the agenda and provide reliable information that will be useful for community change.”

Data like this is a powerful tool for ending the kinds of disparities the dashboard exposes. It can inform efforts to plant trees where they’re needed most. Or it can show public health officials and community advocates where they need to check in with people to make sure they can find a safe place to cool down during the next heatwave.

Our water, health, and energy systems are increasingly vulnerable to cyberattack.

Now, when tensions escalate - like when the US bombed nuclear facilities in Iran this month - the safety of these systems becomes of paramount concern. If conflict erupts, we can expect it to be a "hybrid" battle, Joshua Corman, executive in residence for public safety & resilience at the Institute for Security and Technology (IST), tells The Verge.

Battlefields now extend into the digital world, which in turn makes critical infrastructure in the real world a target. I first reached out to IST for their expertise on this issue back in 2021, when a ransomware attack forced the Colonial Pipeline - a major artery transporting nearly half of the east coast's fuel supply - offline for nearly a week. Since then, The Verge has also covered an uptick in cyberattacks against community water systems in the US, and America's attempts to thwart assaults supported by other governments.

It's not time to panic, Corman reassures me. But it is important to reevaluate how we safeguard hospitals, water supplies, and other lifelines from cyberattack. There hap …

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EchoStar is skipping interest payments even as it commissions a new Dish TV satellite — citing “uncertainty” caused by a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) probe. 

The company just missed a $183 million interest payment, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. It missed another $326 million interest payment, Bloomberg reported on Friday. It’s potentially setting itself up for bankruptcy protection, SpaceNews reports.

While those payments are on hold, EchoStar, which Dish Network rejoined last year, is still investing in its TV business. It commissioned a new communications satellite for television, Maxar Space Systems announced yesterday. The satellite, EchoStar XXVI, is supposed to be completed by 2028 to support Dish TV coverage across 50 US states and Puerto Rico. 

The FCC is investigating whether EchoStar is hitting requirements to deploy 5G that it’s supposed to meet in order to keep its spectrum licenses. Dish Network merged back with EchoStar — which also owns Boost Mobile — to try to compete in 5G, with the goal of trying to become a competitor with AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile. The FCC probe has led EchoStar to “freeze its decision-making” for Boost Mobile, the Wall Street Journal reports.

SpaceX is also a rival vying with EchoStar for spectrum licenses in the 2 GHz band. Elon Musk’s company conducted its own analysis of Dish’s cellular signals and called EchoStar’s use of the gigahertz band “de minimis at best” in an April filing to the FCC. EchoStar accused SpaceX of a “land grab” for spectrum the Wall Street Journal reported last month. 

Neither Dish Network nor EchoStar responded immediately to a request for comment from The Verge.

Meta’s building a new AI data center so massive in Louisiana that the local utility company has plans to construct three new gas-fired power plants to provide it with enough electricity. Now, advocates and lawmakers are pressing Meta for answers about how it’ll clean up pollution stemming from the data center’s energy consumption.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, shot off a letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Wednesday demanding answers about how much energy the data center would use and the greenhouse gas emissions that would be generated. Powering the new data center with gas “flies in the face of Meta’s climate commitments,” the letter says.

Tech companies are rushing to build out data centers to train and run new AI tools, driving up electricity demand. In this case, power utility Entergy wants to meet that demand with new gas infrastructure, raising concerns about the impact Meta’s data center will have on the environment and local residents.

“Meta’s backslide from its own climate pledges risks triggering broader economic harm at a time when we urgently need corporate responsibility,” Sen. Whitehouse said in a statement emailed to The Verge.

In 2020, Meta pledged to reach net-zero emissions across its operations, supply chain, and consumer use of its products by the end of the decade. But the company’s carbon footprint is larger now than it was when it set that goal, according to its latest sustainability report, as it doubles down on AI. 

The company has tried to reduce its emissions by matching its electricity use with equal purchases of renewable energy. It’s a strategy Meta and other big companies often take: pay to support new clean energy projects to try to cancel out the environmental effects of your facilities plugging into a power grid that runs on dirty energy. Environmental advocates are increasingly concerned that this strategy still burdens communities with local pollution, and that the pressure to meet rising electricity demand from AI is boosting fossil fuel use rather than renewable energy. 

We’re seeing that tussle play out in Richland Parish, Louisiana, where Meta has plans to build its largest data center to date. It’s spending $10 billion on the project, the company announced in December. Once complete, the campus would span 4 million square feet, about as large as 70 football fields. But the project is moot unless Meta can ensure there will be enough electricity available for all those servers, a problem it’s working with Entergy to solve. Entergy proposed building three entirely new gas plants with a total capacity of 2,260 megawatts to support the data center, but it has to get regulatory approval first.

Some advocates contend that there hasn’t been enough transparency around Meta’s data center plans to help the public understand the potential impact on the local power grid. The New Orleans-based Alliance for Affordable Energy and the Union of Concerned Scientists filed a motion in March asking the Louisiana Public Service Commission to add Meta as an official party to proceedings over whether to approve construction of the new gas plants. Doing so would compel the company to disclose more information, and the commission is scheduled to consider the motion on Monday. 

“It’s hard to wrap your brain around [whether] a facility like this either might be good for your community or bad for your community without understanding the possible impact to your electrical system, your bills, and your water,” says Logan Burke, executive director of the Alliance for Affordable Energy.

There are already forecasts that rapidly growing data center electricity demand could raise electricity bills in the US. Meta said in December that it would contribute $1 million a year to an Entergy program that helps older adults and people with disabilities afford their bills. Data centers have also been notorious water-guzzlers, although Meta says it would invest in projects to restore more water than it would consume.

Sen. Whitehouse’s letter, meanwhile, asks Meta to answer a list of questions by May 28th. On top of questions about the data center’s electricity use and greenhouse gas emissions, Whitehouse wants to know what the justification is for building gas-fired power plants rather than renewable energy alternatives. And it presses Meta to explain how the proposal aligns with its 2030 climate goal.

Meta maintains that it’ll continue matching its electricity use with support for renewable energy, including a commitment to help fund 1,500 megawatts of new solar and battery resources in Louisiana. It also said it would help fund the cost of adding technology to at least one power plant that would capture carbon dioxide emissions. Whitehouse wants to know how much funding it will provide and how much carbon will be captured. Carbon capture tech has been prohibitively expensive to deploy and costs are often offset by using the captured CO2 to produce more fossil fuels through a process called enhanced oil recovery.

“We received the letter and look forward to providing a response,” Meta spokesperson Ashley Settle said in an email to The Verge. “We believe a diverse set of energy solutions are necessary to power our AI ambitions – and we continue to explore innovative technology solutions.”

Entergy didn’t immediately respond to inquiries from The Verge. It has a goal of making sure that 50 percent of its generating capacity is carbon pollution-free by 2030. But the utility said that gas “is the lowest reasonable cost option available that can support the 24/7 electrical demands of a large data center like Meta,” in a statement to Fast Company, which first reported on Whitehouse’s letter.

Donald Trump signed a presidential memorandum Friday afternoon directing the Department of Energy to “consider using all lawful authority to rescind” or weaken regulations for water and energy efficiency for dishwashers and washing machines. The action also includes water use standards for showers, faucets, toilets, and urinals.

It closes out a week of attacks on policies meant to save Americans money by incentivizing manufacturers to make products that save water and energy. Earlier in the week, CNN and E&E News reported that the Trump administration would shutter the Energy Star program as part of a “reorganization” planned at the Environmental Protection Agency.

Energy Star certifies products for energy efficiency, allowing consumers to choose the most energy-efficient home appliances by spotting the recognizable blue Energy Star label. The rules President Trump is targeting now are actually consumer protections, meant to ensure that any customer can purchase something that meets reasonable efficiency standards.

A White House fact sheet says the Secretary of Energy should work with the Office of Legislative Affairs to make recommendations to Congress on any water pressure “or related energy efficiency laws” that ought to change or be repealed altogether.

It also says the Secretary of Energy should pause enforcement of the rules mentioned in the memorandum until they’re rescinded or revised. “The Federal Government should not impose or enforce regulations that make taxpayers’ lives worse,” the presidential memorandum says.

“It’ll only raise costs for consumers to get rid of these standards, if they get rid of these standards,” says Andrew deLaski, executive director of the Appliance Standards Awareness Project. “Congress enacted these laws, the president can’t just decide that they’re going to go away.” deLaski also notes that while the White House says it wants to get rid of “useless water pressure standards,” the rules mentioned in the memorandum actually target efficiency standards since water pressure depends on the plumbing system connected to the device. 

Trump also signed four bills approved through the Congressional Review Act undoing Biden-era efficiency standards for water heaters, refrigerators, walk-in coolers, and more. In April, the president signed an executive order to purportedly make “America’s showers great again” by rescinding an Obama-era definition of showerheads that raised efficiency standards.  

Update, May 10th: This story has been updated with more information about water pressure from Andrew deLaski.

Donald Trump wants to mine the depths of the ocean for critical minerals ubiquitous in rechargeable batteries, signing an executive order on Thursday to try to expedite mining within US and international waters. 

It’s a brash move that critics say could create unknown havoc on sea life and coastal economies, and that bucks international agreements. Talks to develop rules for deep-sea mining are still ongoing through the International Seabed Authority (ISA), a process that missed an initial 2023 deadline and has continued to stymie efforts to start commercially mining the deep sea.

“Fast-tracking deep-sea mining by bypassing the ISA’s global regulatory processes would set a dangerous precedent and would be a violation of customary international law,” Duncan Currie, legal adviser for the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition that has advocated for a moratorium on deep sea mining, said in a press statement.

The ISA was established by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. More than 160 nations have ratified the convention, but the United States has not. Ignoring the convention, the executive order Trump signed directs federal agencies to expedite the process for issuing licenses to companies seeking to recover minerals “in areas beyond national jurisdiction” in accordance with the 1980 US Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Resources Act. A country’s territorial jurisdiction only extends roughly 200 nautical miles from shore.

The Trump administration wants to work with industry “to counter China’s growing influence over seabed mineral resources,” the executive order says. However, no country has yet to commercially mine the deep ocean where depths reach about 656 feet (200 meters) in international waters. There have already been efforts to explore parts of the ocean floor rich in nickel, copper, cobalt, iron, and manganese sought after for rechargeable batteries, though, and China is a leading refiner of many critical minerals.  

China responded on Friday: the BBC reported Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun as saying that Trump’s move “violates international law and harms the overall interests of the international community.”

The Metals Company announced in March that the Canadian company had already “met with officials in the White House” and planned to apply for permits under existing US mining code to begin extracting minerals from the high seas. 

California-based company Impossible Metals asked the Trump administration earlier this month to auction off mining leases for areas off the coast of American Samoa, which would be within US-controlled waters. Trump’s executive order also directs the Secretary of the Interior to expedite the process for leasing areas for mining within US waters.

Companies seeking to exploit offshore mineral resources argue that it would cause less harm than mining on land. Their opponents contend that there’s still too little research to even understand how widespread the effects of deep sea mining could be on marine ecosystems and the people who depend on them. Recent studies have warned of “irreversible” damage and loud noise affecting sea life, and one controversial study raises questions of whether the deep sea could be an important source of “dark oxygen” for the world. 

More than 30 countries — including Palau, Fiji, Costa Rica, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, New Zealand, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom — have called for a ban or moratorium on deep-sea mining until international rules are in place to minimize the potential damage.

“The harm caused by deep-sea mining isn’t restricted to the ocean floor: it will impact the entire water column, top to bottom, and everyone and everything relying on it,” Jeff Watters, vice president for external affairs at the nonprofit Ocean Conservancy said in a press release.