The invisible downside to our online lives is the data stored at giant energy-guzzling datacentres

It’s been called “the largest coal-powered machine on Earth” – and most of us use it countless times a day.

The internet and its associated digital industry are estimated to produce about the same emissions annually as aviation. But we barely think about pollution while snapping 16 duplicate photos of our pets, which are immediately uploaded to the cloud.

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© Photograph: David Levene/The Guardian

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© Photograph: David Levene/The Guardian

Coal is more than a commodity. It is 300-million-year-old life matter transformed into carbon. It performs a vital function – storing carbon underground. It is rich with meaning and portent, and it deserves our attention. Human lives are ephemeral, yet our actions in the here-and-now shape an unseen future. Through its dynamic materiality, coal connects us to Deep Time and Nature. It reminds us of our own Earth origins and helps us re-vision how to live on a fragile and finite planet.

By digging into the geologic record, scientists are learning how wildfires shaped — and were shaped by — climate change long ago.

Asbestos, “forever” chemicals, E.V.s and endangered species. Here’s what 10 new rules cover, and why the administration has been churning them out.

© Tom Brenner for The New York Times

Around the world, grass-roots organizers and Indigenous communities are taking proposed coal, oil and gas projects to court — and winning.

© Rogan Ward/Reuters

The administration issued a major climate regulation aimed at virtually eliminating carbon emissions from coal, the dirtiest of the fossil fuels and a driver of global warming.

© Chris Carlson/Associated Press

For the first time since 1920, the government has raised the rates that companies pay. The fossil fuel industry says it will hurt the economy.

© Jae C. Hong/Associated Press

The country, along with India, is still building power stations that run on coal. Elsewhere, retirements of older plants have slowed.

© Agence France-Presse — Getty Images