The final report in the IPCC’s sixth assessment series says countries will have to cut their greenhouse gas emissions 60% in the next 12 years to keep global warming in check.
French lawmakers voted to require solar panel covers in most large parking lots.
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Invasive species cause billions of dollars in damage across the US every year. Hikers and backpackers can take simple steps to avoid spreading seeds and making the problem worse.
Several oil projects are active in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.
Bob Wick/Bureau of Land Management
Reservoirs and streams are in good shape in California and the Great Basin, but groundwater and ecosystems are another story. And then there’s the Colorado River Basin.
Bird flu is transmitted mainly by wild birds, like these snow geese in Ruthsberg, Md., in January 2023.
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Avian influenza viruses have evolved to infect birds, but the current H5N1 outbreak is also infecting a wide range of mammals. This suggests that it could mutate into forms that threaten humans.
The Clean Water Act was meant to keep pollution out of U.S. waters.
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A new study reveals wide disparities among state-issued Clean Water Act fines, and even among federal fines from regions to region. A law professor explains why it may be illegal.
A series of atmospheric rivers in early 2023 covered the Sierra Nevada in snow.
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Time-lapse animations that once took days to create are now easy to build with publicly available satellite images and free online tools.
Native wildflowers, such as these Dutchman’s breeches (Dicentra cucullaria) that bloom early in spring are losing access to sunlight as trees leaf out earlier.
Katja Schulz/Flickr
Many beloved wildflowers bloom in early spring, while trees are still bare and the flowers have access to sunlight. Climate change is throwing trees and wildflowers out of sync.
An old-growth tree that was cut in Alaska’s Tongass National Forest.
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Protecting old and mature trees is the simplest and least expensive way to pull carbon out of the atmosphere – but proposed logging projects threaten mature stands across the US.
Bradford pear trees in bloom along a driveway in Sussex County, Del.
Lee Cannon/Flickr
The Biden administration is finalizing the first federal limits on two compounds, PFOA and PFOS, in drinking water. These so-called ‘forever chemicals’ have been linked to numerous health effects.
Hotter-burning fires and a warming climate make it harder for seedlings to survive.
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Over 50 fire ecologists across the Western U.S. took an unprecedented look at how forests in thousands of locations are recovering from fire in a changing climate. The results were alarming.
A trash compactor rolls over an active dump site at Pioneer Crossing Landfill in Birdsboro, Pa.
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High-quality bus service is the fastest route to rapid, comprehensive public transit in the United States. This country was once a leader in bus transit, and with adequate funding, it could be again.
Pesticide use on school playing fields varies from state to state.
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Less than a century ago, Colorado hunted, trapped and poisoned all the wolves within its borders. Today it’s restoring them – a change that reflects a profound shift in human thinking.
Earthquakes, hurricanes and other disasters can cause a lot of personal upheaval.
Omer Alven/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Corporations restrict what farmers can do with their own seeds, as well as their farm equipment when it breaks down.
A trooper checks the tire of a truck carrying flammable contents during a random hazmat checkpoint in Colorado.
Andy Cross/The Denver Post via Getty Images
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is looking into new rules for trains. Trucks, however, are involved in thousands more hazmat incidents every year in the US.
Red-breasted geese breed mainly on Russia’s Taymyr Peninsula and migrate to areas adjacent to the Black Sea in Ukraine, Romania and Bulgaria.
Daniel Mitev
Russia has vast natural resources and is involved in many conservation efforts. Its diplomatic isolation as a result of the war in Ukraine is making it harder to protect many wild species and places.
People protest in Dhaka, Bangladesh, over daily power cuts, July 27, 2022.
Sony Ramany/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Russia tried to weaponize energy to keep European nations from opposing its war in Ukraine, but the real pain from Putin’s actions and Western sanctions has been felt far from Europe.
An illustration of a human liver with cirrhosis.
Kateryna Kon/Science Photo Library