Environment

Hotter, drier conditions in the western United States have led to a rise in wildfire activity that has damaged or destroyed infrastructure, natural ecosystems and entire towns across the region. As fires grow larger and more destructive, the cost of managing them rises as well.

The Costa Rican Electricity Institute (Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad / ICE) has announced that it has now awarded the contract for the design, supply supervision, testing, and commissioning of the electromechanical generation equipment for the 55-MW Borinquen I geothermal power project in Costa Rica. The contract is expected to be signed by the second half of 2026 and construction work is projected to start by July 2027. The scope of the contract includes the generating unit, the cooli

Globally, humanity now produces a staggering 450 million tonnes of plastic every year. From food and drink containers to cosmetics packaging, sewage pipes, window frames and polyester clothing, we use plastics in almost every area of life. And nearly one-quarter of them end up in the environment, where they very slowly degrade into microscopic pieces.

The Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of Canada, the Honourable Tim Hodgson, has announced funding of approximately $468,000 to support the development of Canada’s first national roadmap for deep geothermal energy resources. The Canadian Deep Geothermal Roadmap project will be led by the Canadian Deep Geothermal Coalition (CDGC), which was founded in 2025. The CDGC will work with industry, researchers, Indigenous partners and governments to identify technology opportunities and rese

Millions of people around the world are having their lives upended by floods, storms and heatwaves worsened by the climate crisis. Those forced to flee their home countries, however, are finding that the door to the US is more firmly shut than ever. Neither US nor international law recognizes environmental hazards, such as climate-related displacement, as a valid cause to claim asylum or gain entry through other migration pathways, despite the mounting toll of disasters caused by an overheati

The phenomenon El Niño has arrived, the U.S. weather agency said Thursday, and scientists expect the pattern, synonymous with droughts, floods and soaring temperatures, will intensify through the end of the year, potentially to historic strength.

With limited resources and sanctions tightening, conservationists are forced to find new ways to protect the coral reefs of Ciénaga de Zapata national parkAt 8am, scuba divers gather to collect plastic and drinks cans from the sea at Cuba’s Ciénaga de Zapata national park. Amid a power crisis that has virtually paralysed the country’s economy, they use an electric trailer to move to a designated spot. In only a few hours, they have collected five sacks of cans and waste.Lack of environmental awa

This weekly round-up brings you key climate news from the past seven days, including protests in Albania against the construction of a luxury resort backed by investor Jared Kushner in a protected area and new, worrying data on the state of the global climate. — Listen to Earth.Org’s new podcast, Earth Radio. Join our host Rebekah Hendricks every week for a 5-minute, ad-free roundup of the world’s most important climate stories. New episodes available every Sunday. Subscribe he

The surge in satellites brings pollution and risks of repeating destructive colonial practices, experts warn.By Bob BerwynThe starry night sky has always anchored humanity’s sense of place in a vast universe. It’s a map guiding travelers, a calendar for migrations and harvests, a wellspring of stories. But a surge of commercial satellite launches into the upper fringes of Earth’s atmosphere threatens the relationship between people and the celestial commons by crowding the night sky and pollutin

Bowser, a 172-pound loggerhead sea turtle, was rescued from the Navarre Beach Fishing Pier Sunday. The operation was one of a growing number of rescues in areas where sea turtles and humans overlap.By Dennis Pillion“Pull! Pull!” shouts Scott Dexter, chanting the cadence for eight men gripping a rope. “Pull!” 

The author of “When Trees Testify” on the intertwined nature of America’s history, its trees and Black Americans.Interview by Steve Curwood, Living on EarthFrom our collaborating partner “Living on Earth,” public radio’s environmental news magazine, an interview by host Steve Curwood with botanist and author Beronda Montgomery.

Exclusive: Fighting Dirty taking legal action against government over proposal it says could import weaker standardsAn environmental campaign group is taking legal action against the government over proposals that it claims could fast-track chemical hazard classifications from other countries with lower standards into UK law.Fighting Dirty claims proposals to change the classification and labelling of potentially hazardous chemicals could result in the UK weakening standards on cancer-causing su

Wolsingham, Weardale: These stunning butterflies are here in incredible numbers this year, yet what’s most remarkable is their multigenerational migrationThere’s a painted lady basking on the footpath. Her orange, black-tipped, white-spotted wings, a little worn after her long journey, blend with shadows and sun-flecks on heatwave-baked mud, so she’s almost under our feet before she takes flight. And here’s another, nectaring on a dandelion; and another; then several more. I can’t recall ever se

Photosynthesis does not always result in wood growth, a key factor in carbon dioxide sequestrationTrees may not be able to store as much planet-heating carbon as hoped, a study suggests, with researchers finding photosynthesis does not always lead to wood growth.Scientists studied 137 sites across the US and found trees stopped growing months before the point in the year at which photosynthesis stopped. Continue reading...

At the mouth of the Carmel River, a teacher set up a spotting scope and let a boy look through it. The birds were the first thing he saw. The habit of looking came next. He saw that the world could be understood, though not quickly, and that its order did not reveal itself to those in a hurry. Later he would say he never recovered from that experience. The remark was light, but also true. A childhood near Monterey, with woods behind the house and the Pacific within walking distance, gave him the

When invasive rats are removed from islands, the ecological benefits can ripple across both land and sea more quickly than scientists expected, according to recent research. Scientists have long assumed that meaningful recovery after the predators are eradicated would take decades. However, researchers with the U.S.-based NGO Island Conservation conducted a rat-removal experiment on Ulong Island in Palau, which provides the first experimental evidence that ecosystems can rebound far more quickly

A new paper suggests that 15 percent of global warming comes from overlooked pollutants.By Nina SablanRecord-high global temperatures aren’t driven only by well-known greenhouse gas culprits.

The decision voided the EPA guidance to terminate the $2.8 billion grant program. But it stopped short of requiring the agency to resume administering it.By Lauren DalbanA federal judge in South Carolina ruled this week that the Trump administration’s termination of environmental justice grants was “illegal.” The decision dealt a setback to efforts to dismantle a Biden-era program that funded projects addressing environmental and public health challenges in underserved communities across the cou

Most people have experienced a heat wave on land. But heat waves can strike in the ocean too. And as the planet continues to warm, marine heat waves are growing longer and deadlier, hurting the seafood supply that billions of people worldwide rely on for their food and livelihoods.

The Bornean ferret badger is a small carnivore with the slinky body of a ferret and a face mask like a badger. A new study confirms that it lives only in the mountains of Sabah, a Malaysian state on the island of Borneo.  Ferret badgers are nocturnal carnivores, widespread across Southeast Asia, but the Bornean ferret badger (Melogale everetti) lives only in a narrow mountain range on the island of Borneo. A group of researchers from the Bornean Carnivore Programme, part of the University of Oxf