Can a city really sue an oil company for climate change?

PLUS: How the media helped legitimize extremism, what to think about before buying a used smartphone, and the crisis of invasive, earthworm-gobbling hammerhead flatworms. [View this email in your browser]( [logo]( [[WIRED Magazine]5.26.18]( The city of Richmond, California, is suing Chevron, its largest employer and its largest public-safety scourge. But while industrial accidents like refinery fires are commonplace in the low-lying industrial town, that's not what this lawsuit is about. Richmond and six other California cities are [suing oil companies]( for contributing to the changing climate, which threatens to inundate their shorelines. “In an era of federal deregulation and rising seas, these lawsuits feel increasingly urgent,” writes deputy editor [Adam Rogers](. “The question is whether the courts will even see them as plausible.” The lawsuits face two big legal hurdles: getting scientific proof that climate change (and specific companies causing climate change) are to blame for the cities' woes, along with overcoming oil companies' contention that cities can’t sue them at all, since at the federal level, they’re beholden to the Clean Air Act. But the urban plaintiffs have a plan for that. They are not asking for new regulations or bans; they’re asking for reparations for a problem they say oil companies willfully hid from them. “Oil and gas, like cigarettes, are products. The companies that sell them are liable for the damages they cause,” says Sharon Eubanks, an attorney at Bordas & Bordas who was lead counsel in the Justice Department's RICO case against the Philip Morris tobacco company. “They have misled the public about the product’s dangers.” PLUS: How the media helped [legitimize extremism]( what to think about before [buying a used smartphone]( and the ecological crisis of [invasive, earthworm-gobbling hammerhead flatworms](. coverage crisis How the Media Helped Legitimize Extremism By Miranda Katz A new study, by a respected scholar on internet culture, winds up a penetrating indictment of journalism's internal inconsistencies. FYI What to Think About Before Buying a Used Smartphone By Lauren Goode New isn’t always better, but there are three key things to consider before you take the pre-owned plunge. Biology Inconvenient Minifauna and the Invasion of the Hammerhead Flatworms By Matt Simon Based on the amount of media attention they’re getting, the worms might work to bring attention to the upending of ecosystems by invasive species. Disasters Can a City Really Sue an Oil Company for Climate Change? By Adam Rogers In a federal court in San Francisco, a judge heard a motion to dismiss from five fossil fuel companies, the defendants in the suit brought by San Francisco and Oakland. [advertisement]( [Powered by LiveIntent]( [Ad Choices]( [WIRED Magazine Subscription] Get Wired Memorial Day Sale! Unlimited access to WIRED.com + a free YubiKey. Save 50% - 1 year for just $5. Roundup This Week in the Future of Cars: Burn, Baby, Burn By Alex Davies Elon Musk's Twitter rage, new details on Uber's self-driving crash, and more car news from a wild week. Medicine Ingestible Sensors Electronically Monitor Your Guts By Megan Molteni Researchers are cooking up pill-sized sensors to detect medical molecules and possibly diagnose other gastrointestinal ailments. Product Review This Botvac Lets You Draw No-Go Lines With a Swipe By Adrienne So Neato's high-end botvac lets you program no-go lines and does a quick, thorough clean. Deals The Best Memorial Day Tech Sales, From Laptops to Robovacs By Jeffrey Van Camp Summer has begun, and so have sales on everything from TVs to laptops, even a robovac or two. Be Part Of the Discussion Join Our New Parenting Facebook Group Introducing ‘Parenting In a WIRED World,’ a new Facebook Group for parents to discuss how to preserve kids’ mental and physical well-being, while also encouraging a healthy relationship with technology. [advertisement]( [Powered by LiveIntent]( [AdChoices]( [WIRED Magazine]( [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Pinterest]( [Youtube]( [Instagram]( This e-mail was sent to you by WIRED. To ensure delivery to your inbox (not bulk or junk folders), please add our e-mail address, [wired@newsletters.wired.com]( to your address book. View our [Privacy Policy]( [Unsubscribe]( Copyright © Condé Nast 2018. One World Trade Center, New York, NY 10007. All rights reserved.