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Emma Merchant

Emma Foehringer Merchant

Contributor

Emma Foehringer Merchant is a journalist who has covered environmental issues ranging from disasters to wonky energy regulations to air pollution. She’s reported on the environment and energy for publications including The Boston Globe Magazine, The New Republic, Vice News, and Grist. Most recently, Emma covered clean energy as a staff writer for Greentech Media and helped alums of that organization form a new publication called Canary Media. She’s attending MIT’s Graduate Program in Science Writing and holds a bachelor’s degree in environmental analysis from Pomona College, where she lived through a California drought while studying how climate change is impacting the state’s environment and people.

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An aerial view shows the aftermath of flooding in the Pajaro Valley of Monterey County as atmospheric river storms hit California in March 2023. Credit: Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

In California, Farmers Test a Method to Sink More Water into Underground Stores

By Emma Foehringer Merchant

Scott Hensen, vice president of floor planning for KB Home, points to a battery display panel on a SunPower SunValut storage system inside the garage of a model home during a tour of KB Home microgrid communities in Menifee on Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2022. Credit: Watchara Phomicinda/MediaNews Group/The Press-Enterprise via Getty Images

Study: Microgrids Could Reduce California Power Shutoffs—to a Point

By Emma Foehringer Merchant

A residential grid-tied solar array in installed on a hillside in Malibu, California. Credit: Citizen of the Planet/Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images.

Noting a Mountain of Delays, California Lawmakers Advance Bills Designed to Speed Grid Connections

By Emma Foehringer Merchant

Long Island Power Authority power lines along Motor Lane in Bethpage, New York on March 8, 2019. Credit: Steve Pfost/Newsday RM via Getty Images

States Test an Unusual Idea: Tying Electric Utilities’ Profit to Performance

By Emma Foehringer Merchant

Two solar workers install solar panels on home in Oak View, Southern California. Credit: Joe Sohm/Visions of America/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Environmental Groups File Court Challenge on California Rooftop Solar Policy

By Emma Foehringer Merchant

High power electrical transmission lines seen on April 22, 2023, near McKittrick, California. Credit: George Rose/Getty Images

Frustrated by Outdated Grids, Consumers Are Lobbying for Control of Their Electricity

By Emma Foehringer Merchant

A woman and her children cross the street at the intersection of Fruitvale Avenue and MacArthur Boulevard in the Dimond District of Oakland, California, on Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2020. Credit: Jane Tyska/Digital First Media/East Bay Times via Getty Images

As Extreme Fires Multiply, California Scientists Zero In on How Smoke Affects Pregnancy and Children

By Emma Foehringer Merchant

Sunrun installers place solar panels on the roof of a home in Granada Hills, California. Credit: Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

California Denies Bid from Home Solar Company to Sell Power as a ‘Micro-Utility’

By Emma Foehringer Merchant

In Mammoth Lakes, California, snow covers roofs next to snowbanks in March piled up from new and past storms in the Sierra Nevada mountains, in the wake of an atmospheric river event. Credit: Mario Tama/Getty Images.

California Snowpack May Hold Record Amount of Water, With Significant Flooding Possible

By Emma Foehringer Merchant

Westlands Solar Park, near the town of Lemoore in the San Joaquin Valley of California, is the largest solar power plant in the United States and could become one of the largest in the world. Credit: Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images.

In California’s Central Valley, the Plan to Build More Solar Faces a Familiar Constraint: The Need for More Power Lines

By Emma Foehringer Merchant

This aerial picture taken from an airplane on July 27, 2021, shows the smoke rising from a forest fire outside the village of Berdigestyakh, in the republic of Sakha, Siberia. Credit: Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP via Getty Images

Wildfires in Northern Forests Broke Carbon Emissions Records in 2021

By Emma Foehringer Merchant

A road washed away on North Main Street of Santa Cruz during atmospheric river in California, United States on March 10, 2023. Credit: Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

In the Deluged Mountains of Santa Cruz, Residents Cope With Compounding Disasters

By Emma Foehringer Merchant

Smoke from Southern California wildfires moves towards the Pacific Ocean, creating spectacular dark skies as a local on Oxnard Shores Beach California captures the moment on Nov. 9, 2018. Credit: Paul Harris/Getty Images

Wildfire Smoke May Worsen Extreme Blazes Near Some Coasts, According to New Research

By Emma Foehringer Merchant

A boat dock sits on dry ground far from the water at Lake Mendocino on April 22, 2021 in Ukiah, California. Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

When the State Cut Their Water, These California Users Created a Collaborative Solution

By Emma Foehringer Merchant

Tim McKibben, left, a senior installer for the solar company, Sunrun, and installer Aaron Newsom install solar panels on the roof of a home in Granada Hills. Credit: Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

California Regulators Approve Reduced Solar Compensation for Homeowners

By Emma Foehringer Merchant

A firefighter works on putting out a hotspot from a wildfire on Friday May 13, 2022 in Mora, New Mexico as the Calf Canyon and Hermits Peak fires burn in the region. Credit: Matt McClain/The Washington Post via Getty Images

The US Forest Service Planned to Increase Burning to Prevent Wildfires. Will a Pause on Prescribed Fire Instead Bring More Delays?

By Emma Foehringer Merchant

A sign advocating water conservation in San Anselmo, California, is posted in a field of dry grass in April 2021. That summer, Gov. Gavin Newsom asked the state's residents to voluntarily cut water use by 15 percent. Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images.

Amid Punishing Drought, California Is Set to Adopt Rules to Reduce Water Leaks. The Process has Lagged

By Emma Foehringer Merchant

Dairy cows at Bar 20 line up in the feedlot. Credit: Grace van Deelen

Expansion of a Lucrative Dairy Digester Market is Sowing Environmental Worries in the U.S.

By Emma Foehringer Merchant, Grace van Deelen

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