Why Using Natural Gas for Energy is an Obstacle to Climate Progress Share By Heising-Simons Foundation on 11/15/2023 on 11/15/2023 In our fight to avert a climate catastrophe, we must phase out every use of fossil fuels that significantly contributes to global warming pollution. While coal consumption in the United States is on its way out and more people are turning to electric vehicles, natural gas has remained stubbornly persistent. Approximately one-third of the country’s primary energy needs are supplied by natural gas, with most of that going to generating electricity, heating homes and buildings, and acting as a feedstock for industrial purposes.
Roland Hwang’s Op-Ed: Don’t Let Big Oil Stop Clean Transportation Share By Heising-Simons Foundation on 11/15/2023 on 11/15/2023 As more people turn to electric vehicles, the oil industry is using political power and disinformation to delay a shift to clean transportation.
Heising-Simons Foundation Joins the Democracy Frontlines Fund in Support of Racial Justice Groups Share By Heising-Simons Foundation on 11/13/2023 on 11/13/2023 Heising-Simons Foundation has joined the Democracy Frontlines Fund (DFF), an initiative of the Libra Foundation to support racial justice organizing. The initiative was launched in 2020, following the murder of George Floyd, in solidarity with the historic civil rights uprising. Heising-Simons joins 13 other funders who are collectively committing $35.5 million over three years.
Collaboration Meets Inspiration to Advance Planetary Science Share By Heising-Simons Foundation on 10/25/2023 on 10/25/2023 Hot Jupiters. Super-Earths. There is nothing like these types of exoplanets in our own solar system—which makes them an ideal focus for Dr. Songhu Wang’s research. His goal is to explore how our solar system fits into the grander scheme of the cosmos.
Rebecca Gomez Op-Ed Urges Congress to Invest in Child Care as $39 Billion in Federal Funding Expire Share By Heising-Simons Foundation on 9/26/2023 on 9/26/2023 A vast majority of voters believe it’s important for working parents to be able to find and afford quality child care for young children. When Congress lets $39 billion in federal child-care funds made available through the American Rescue Plan Act expire at the end of this month, the consequences for providers, educators, families, and workers will be catastrophic.
51 Pegasi b Fellow Dr. Samantha Trumbo Identifies Internal Carbon Source on Europa Share By Heising-Simons Foundation on 9/22/2023 on 9/22/2023 Jupiter’s moon Europa has a subsurface ocean thought to contain twice the amount of water of Earth’s oceans. But scientists had not been able to confirm if the ocean contains biologically essential chemicals for life as we know it, particularly carbon, until now.
Looking to Clouds in the Search for Habitable Exoplanets Share By Heising-Simons Foundation on 9/8/2023 on 9/8/2023 What can clouds on distant planets tell us in our search for habitable planets elsewhere? How could the next generation of telescopes amplify our understanding of exoplanet atmospheres?
Multi-Donor Initiative to Award More than $500 Million to Revitalize Local News Share By Heising-Simons Foundation on 9/7/2023 on 9/7/2023 The Heising-Simons Foundation is joining a coalition of 21 other donors to create Press Forward, a new national grantmaking initiative with the goal to strengthen local news and information with a combined more than a half-billion dollars over the next five years.
Imagery that Moves Planets and People Share By Heising-Simons Foundation on 8/21/2023 on 8/21/2023 A glowing dot passes behind a blackened circle and reappears on the other side. Four luminous pin pricks orbit a dark central body. These moving images are not models. They are real exoplanets: directly observed, recorded, and time-lapsed, inviting people around the world to glimpse distant solar systems and their dynamics over more than a decade—in just seconds.