Enviro

Maps of the American West have featured ever darker shades of red over the past two decades. The colors illustrate the unprecedented drought blighting the region. In some areas, conditions have blown past severe and extreme drought into exceptional drought. But rather than add more superlatives to our descriptions, one group of scientists believes it’s […]

WASHINGTON, March 9, 2022 — The Democratic-controlled Congress today released the final appropriations bill to fund fiscal year 2022, which began five months earlier. Because of inflation, the bill’s modest increases to agency budgets are in fact a cut in real dollars from the previous year. The Environmental Protection Agency received an increase of just 3% — […]

Pet owners may unknowingly be feeding their pets with meat from endangered shark species, shows a new study published in Frontiers in Marine Science. The researchers used DNA barcoding to investigate the occurrence of shark in different pet food products purchased in Singapore, which revealed a considerable prevalence of ingredient mislabeling. They suggested implementing global […]

The Biden administration acknowledged there were legal errors with the subsistence and National Historical Preservation Act processes for the Ambler Road, but failed to acknowledge the full and long list of legal problems with the Interior Department’s approval process. The Biden administration also only agreed to suspend the right-of-way permits while fixing the limited number […]

WASHINGTON, February 22, 2022 — The Department of the Interior today announced that it will launch a new interagency working group on reforming hardrock mining laws, regulations and permitting policies in the United States. The group, which will inform potential rulemaking efforts on mining, will help support President Biden’s vision for a whole-of-government effort to […]

February 16, 2022 – A new study by Tel Aviv University researchers found that in a marine environment, microplastics absorb and concentrate toxic organic substances and thus increase their toxicity by a factor of 10, which may lead to a severe impact on human health. The study was conducted by Dr. Ines Zucker of the […]

Politics and society largely dictate climate policy ambitions and therefore the trajectory of greenhouse gas emissions, yet climate change models and projections rarely include political and social drivers. A study from the University of California, Davis, simulated 100,000 possible future policy and emissions trajectories to identify relevant variables within the climate-social system that could impact […]

Respiratory illness outbreaks among wild mountain gorillas in Volcanoes National Park have declined since the start of COVID-19, according to a “Correspondence” report in the journal Nature from Gorilla Doctors and the Rwanda Development Board. Mountain gorillas are susceptible to human-transmitted respiratory pathogens. Respiratory illness is the second leading cause of death in wild, human-habituated […]

The release of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas responsible for almost a quarter of global warming, is being studied around the world, from Arctic wetlands to livestock feedlots. A University of Washington team has discovered a source much closer to home: 349 plumes of methane gas bubbling up from the seafloor in Puget Sound. The columns of […]

January 31, 2022 – Hydroelectric turbines put fish at risk of severe injury during passage. To support an informed debate on the sustainability of hydropower, reliable data of turbine-induced fish mortality are pivotal. A team of researchers of the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB) has now provided a first global analysis […]

LISLE, Ill. (Jan. 31, 2022)—New research suggests that ancient trees possess far more than an awe-inspiring presence and a suite of ecological services to forests—they also sustain the entire population of trees’ ability to adapt to a rapidly changing environment. In the February edition of Nature Plants, Chuck Cannon, PhD, director of The Morton Arboretum’s Center for Tree […]

One of the many serious consequences of the climate crisis is that precious permafrost is thawing, and this is unleashing even more carbon to the atmosphere and further exacerbating climate change. However, it’s complicated. For example, sometimes permafrost can thaw rapidly and scientists are unsure why and what these abrupt thaws mean in terms of […]

SEATTLE, WA, January 26, 2022—A new study released today by Toxic-Free Future finds toxic chemicals in most products labeled stain- or water-resistant, with 72% testing positive for PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances). Items that were found to contain “forever chemicals” include rain jackets, hiking pants, mattress pads, comforters, napkins, and tablecloths. The report, called Toxic Convenience: The hidden […]

Washington, January 25, 2022 — Monday, more than 175,000 comments from throughout Alaska and across the country were submitted to the U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Forest Service calling for the restoration of Roadless Rule protections on the Tongass National Forest. ALASKA WILDERNESS LEAGUE * AUDUBON ALASKA * ENVIRONMENT AMERICA * EARTHJUSTICE * NATIONAL […]

DULUTH, Minn. January 25, 2022— Conservation groups sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers today, saying their approval of the PolyMet open-pit copper mine and land exchange in the Superior National Forest in northeastern Minnesota violates the Endangered Species Act. The 528-acre open-pit mine would destroy important habitat for […]

In July 2017, a giant iceberg, named A-68, snapped off Antarctica’s Larsen-C ice shelf and began an epic journey across the Southern Ocean. Three and a half years later, the main part of iceberg, A-68A, drifted worryingly close to South Georgia. Concerns were that the berg would run aground in the shallow waters offshore. This […]

New York, NY, January 18, 2022 – Pumas maintain relationships with an astounding 485 living species and play a critical role in holding ecosystems together throughout the Western Hemisphere, according to a new study entitled Pumas as ecological brokers: a review of their biotic relationships from Defenders of Wildlife and Panthera, the global wild cat conservation organization, […]

Near the Filchner Ice Shelf in the south of the Antarctic Weddell Sea, a research team has found the world’s largest fish breeding area known to date. A towed camera system photographed and filmed thousands of nests of icefish of the species Neopagetopsis ionah on the seabed. The density of the nests and the size of the […]

WASHINGTON (January 13, 2022)—Between now and 2065, climate change is projected to quadruple U.S. outdoor workers’ exposure to hazardous heat conditions, jeopardizing their health and placing up to $55.4 billion of their earnings at risk annually if no action is taken to reduce global warming emissions, according to an analysis by the Union of Concerned […]