BURN: An Energy Journal

The coal industry is struggling as cheaper and cleaner natural gas undercuts coal and environmental regulations push utilities to shut down their older coal-burning plants. Still, new coal mines are opening as others expand. In one Texas county on the Mexican border, local officials and residents seem nearly united in their opposition to a new coal strip mine, but the company that owns it says it will ship out the first load of coal by train in September. Ingrid Lobet filed this story for BURN and for the public radio show Marketplace.

Texas is oil country. Everyone knows that. But Texas generates 1/3 of its electricity from coal. And here’s the bigger surprise: Lots of the coal is mined right in Texas. The state is a major producer of coal. Ingrid Lobet produced this story for BURN and Marketplace.

You've heard of wind and solar. But what about harnessing other forces of nature for energy? Like, tornadoes. That's Louis Michaud's idea. He's an engineer who dreams of powering the world with tornado machines. Flora Lichtman of The Adaptors Podcast filed this story for the public radio show Marketplace. Hear more stories like this on The Adaptors Podcast: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-adaptors/id960840471?mt=2

You can raise tropical fish in Minnesota. But why would you want to? To feed the lettuce, of course. It’s called aquaponics. The veggies filter the water, and the fish fertilize the veggies. Lots of people are trying to figure out how to make it work on a commercial scale. In Minnesota, researchers at an indoor fish and vegetable farm say the future is bright for small aquaponics operations. Very small. Like, in the back yard. BURN's Chris Julin filed this story for Marketplace.

In the Mekong Delta, rice is suffering from greater exposure to salt water as sea levels rise because of climate change. Some farmers are looking to a different crop: shrimp. BURN's Christopher Johnson filed this story for Marketplace.

A big chunk of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is collapsing. Scientists announced in May that it's now inevitable -- though it will take decades or even centuries to happen. The collapse will cause a big rise in sea level. Eric Rignot is the lead author of one of the studies that reached that conclusion, and he's a glaciologist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and at UC-Irvine. He talked with Alex Chadwick.

Science writer Michelle Nijhuis spent 15 years living in a completely solar-powered house. Now she, her husband and their daughter are back on the grid. Nijhuis talks with BURN host Alex Chadwick about going back on the grid and how life has changed.