Our Neighborhood Earth - Environmental Impact

Our Neighborhood

Earth

Keeping It Green

(There's No Planet B)

Atmospheric CO2 Levels

(Monthly Averages)

May 26, 2026: 432.5 ppm
10 years ago: 396 ppm
Pre-industrial base: 280
Safe level: 350 ppm

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

Page Updated:
June 9, 2026

US Emissions by Sector Chart

Where is all that CO2 coming from? This graph breaks it down by economic sector.
Greenest U.S. Cities
Safe Water in Pictures
U.S. WEA Grassroots Accelerator
Safer Habitats

Environmental Impact News - Within the Past Month (Latest Dates First)
• Hail Larger Than a Quarter In Denver Area Monday Afternoon Afternoon Thunderstorms Brought Hail On Monday Afternoon, Larger Than a Quarter In Some Areas {FOX31} June 8, 2026 - A line of Monday storms with hail moved down from the Colorado foothills in the afternoon, then across the Front Range and out to the Eastern Plains. As of 5 p.m., the largest hail report was 2.75 inches in Simla, in Elbert County. Closer to Denver, Arvada and The Pinery both had reports of 1.5-inch hail. A Pinpoint Weather Alert Day was issued for Monday, and the National Weather Service issued a tornado watch until 9 p.m. for parts of northeast Colorado, including Denver. • Forests Once Dying Are Coming Back This Recovery Will Make Your Heart Soar {HEALTHY HAPPY NEWS} June 8, 2026 -Sometimes nature gives us exactly the good news we need to hear. After decades of watching precious coastal forests disappear, scientists have discovered something beautiful: mangrove forests are coming back stronger than ever. A groundbreaking study reveals that the destruction of these vital coastal ecosystems hasn’t just slowed—it’s actually reversed. The world now has more mangrove forest than it did at the turn of the century, and it’s thriving. But here’s where it gets even better: the mangroves that remain aren’t just surviving, they’re flourishing. Researchers found that “closed canopy” forests—the mature, dense, and healthy kind—are expanding across the globe. • The Fight to Break China’s Rare-Earth Dominance Moves to a New Front in Brazil Brazil Holds the World’s Second-Largest Reserves and Wants to Become a Processor of Critical Minerals, But It Refuses to Choose Sides Between Washington and Beijing {THE WALL STREET JOURNAL} June 8, 2026 -Western companies are pouring money into Brazil’s rare-earth industry, hoping the South American nation can help loosen China’s grip on the minerals used in electric vehicles, wind turbines and advanced weapons. Miners are racing to develop deposits across Brazil, which holds the world’s second-largest rare-earth reserves after China. But their ambitions extend beyond digging up ore. Companies and government officials say they want to build processing plants that can separate rare earths, produce metals and eventually manufacture magnets. • How to Stop a Killer Asteroid From Ending Civilization From High-Speed Battering Rams to Gravity Tractors, the Technology Exists to Protect the Planet... {ZME SCIENCE} June 8, 2026 -Late last month, in broad daylight, residents across Massachusetts and beyond saw a brilliant flash in the sky, followed by two sonic booms that rattled windows, shook houses, and prompted a flood of 911 calls. Some people thought they had just experienced an earthquake. Others thought it was thunder, an explosion, or a military flyover. But the true source of all the commotion was out of this world — literally. A small meteoroid, about five feet wide and as heavy as an elephant, had entered the atmosphere at a blinding 42,000 miles per hour before disintegrating dozens of miles above the ground. The midair explosion released a pressure wave equivalent to 230–300 tons of TNT, and any surviving fragments likely fell into Cape Cod Bay. • The World Cup is One Wildfire Away From an Air Quality Disaster FIFA Says It's Prepared For "Climate-Related Risks" But Doesn't Appear to Have a plan For Wildfire Smoke, Which Can Be Harmful to Players and Fans June 9, 2026 -Last month, nearly a dozen wildfires erupted across southern California, sending plumes of smoke and particulate matter into the air. Public health officials in Los Angeles issued a multiday air quality advisory for the county, warning of “potential direct smoke impact” and advising everyone who could see or smell smoke to “avoid unnecessary outdoor exposure and to limit physical exertion.” The red zone on the map included Los Angeles Stadium — also known as SoFi Stadium — one of the venues for the World Cup, soccer’s marquee event, which begins on Thursday. Between June 12 and July 10, Los Angeles will host eight games and is expected to draw tens of thousands of fans and scores of players. • Where Strong Tornadoes and Hail Could Hit Swaths of the Central U.S. This Week Each of the Next Five Days Features the Potential For Locally Higher-End Severe Weather In Parts of the Central United States June 9, 2026 -A multi-day stretch of significant severe weather, including the potential for destructive hurricane-force winds and a few tornadoes, kicked off Monday across the central United States, with storms Tuesday expected to be more widespread. Those will creep north into Canada, and by Wednesday storms will inch toward populous cities such as Minneapolis and Chicago. Storms on Monday afternoon battered eastern Colorado with hail up to the size of apples. Stones up to 3.4 inches in diameter were found near Cedar Point, Colorado. Teacup-sized hail, about 3 inches in diameter, was found 10 miles south of Burlington, Colorado. • Powerful Earthquake Kills at Least 35 in Southern Philippines 7.8-Magnitude Quake Struck Off Coast of Island of Mindanao, More Than 140 Injuredd {THE WALL STREET JOURNAL} June 8, 2026 -A powerful 7.8-magnitude earthquake killed at least 35 people and injured more than 140 in the southern Philippines on Monday as tremors collapsed buildings and ripped through roads. The quake struck off the coast of the island of Mindanao at 7:37 a.m. local time, just as children across the country were getting ready for their first day of school. Many of the deaths were in the coastal city of General Santos, which has a population of more than 700,000. • Cuba 6.1-Magnitude Earthquake Felt In Florida A 6.1-Magnitude Earthquake Was Reported Near Mantua, Cuba On Monday Afternoon {energy central} June 8, 2026 -A spokesperson for the USGS told FOX 35 that aftershocks – smaller earthquakes that happen after a large one in the same area – are likely after the Cuba earthquake due to its size. "Yes, we can confirm there was an earthquake in the region a little bit ago. There was a magnitude 6.1 earthquake off the coast of Cuba," said the USGS spokesperson. • What It’s Like to Chase a Tornado That’s Wrapped In Rain Suddenly, There Was a Razor-Sharp Divide Between White Curtains of Rain and Clear-Blue Sky June 8, 2026, By Matthew Cappucci -A storm chase in South Dakota last week featured a taste of everything — a rain-wrapped tornado, spinning supercell structure and a parade of photogenic microbursts. My Wednesday began in Walworth County, South Dakota. Overnight storms in central South Dakota had cooled the air, but bright sunshine was heating up the lower atmosphere once again. It was slightly warmer and more humid near the Nebraska border, so I headed in that direction. • States Are Hitting the Brakes On the Data Center Rollout S-c-r-e-e-c-h {energy central} June 7, 2026 -New York officials just passed what could become the country’s first state data center ban—but the bill still needs Gov. Kathy Hochul’s signature. This one-year pause would give lawmakers time to regulate data centers. The bill also orders the state environmental agency to measure how much electricity, water, and land these facilities gobble up. The move has broad support: Heatmap polling found that a majority of US voters—both Democrats and Republicans—back a national AI data center moratorium (which has been proposed by Senate Democrats). • The U.S. Fought the Flesh-Eating Screwworm For Decades Now It Must Begin Again {NBC NEWS} June 7, 2026 -The United States spent more than half a century and hundreds of millions of dollars driving the flesh-eating New World screwworm as far from its borders as possible. Now, it’s back. The species can eat the tissue of any warm-blooded animal, but it’s a particular threat to livestock and is often fatal for cattle. Some environmentally minded bioethicists have openly debated whether it would be moral to deliberately drive the screwworm into extinction. • Leaking Chemicals Found At Another WA Mill, Records Show WA Industrial Spill Leaves Hundreds More Fish Dead June 7, 2026 -Toxic and highly corrosive chemicals — similar to those spilled in the fatal disaster at the Nippon Dynawave Packaging mill late last month — are leaking out of another pulp mill some 90 miles to the northwest, federal records show. This second mill, Cosmo Specialty Fibers, has been closed and degrading for years, accumulating millions of dollars in fines from state and federal agencies. The mill has a longer and more severe history of environmental violations than the Nippon Dynawave facility. • Colorado River States Suggest Mediation As Water Supplies Near Crisis Federal and State Authorities Said There's Hope For New Supplies In the Future {Yahoo!News} June 6, 2026 -Negotiators for some of the seven states competing for dwindling Colorado River water supplies say they're disappointed in a federal plan to adopt only short-term fixes in coming years, and they think going to mediation could help reach a longer-lasting agreement. The Trump administration's Bureau of Reclamation has said that, lacking a seven-state agreement to guide operations and cutbacks to arrest the loss of reservoir storage, it intends to create a 10-year "framework" with new rules to be imposed every two years. The lead negotiators for Colorado and Nevada appeared on stage at a June 5 conference and both said such a plan lacks the certainty that their water users need when deciding on investments. • Ebola Spread In Central Africa Could Match 2014 Record Outbreak, US Health Officials Say Modelling From US CDC Shows Ebola Spread Could Be On ‘Dangerous Trajectory’ June 6, 2026 -Central Africa’s Ebola outbreak could spread to be similar in scale to the worst outbreak in history, west Africa’s 2014-2016 outbreak that killed more than 11,000 people, according to a new analysis by US health officials. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Friday published a range of scenarios generated by computer models, from 10,000 cases to more than 20,000. In the west Africa outbreak, more than 28,000 cases were reported. • River’s Miraculous Comeback Will Restore Your Faith in Nature’s Healing Power Mother Nature Proves She’s the Ultimate Comeback Queen With This Jaw-Dropping Recovery {HEALTHY HAPPY NEWS} June 6, 2026 -Sometimes nature gets knocked down, but she always gets back up — and this incredible transformation proves it. Breathtaking before-and-after photos from Herefordshire, England, show how the River Lugg has made a miraculous recovery after suffering devastating damage. A local farmer had used an 18-ton digger to dredge a section of the river near Leominster, stripping every tree from a mile-long stretch of one of Britain’s most important salmon rivers. The destruction left conservationists heartbroken. • 12 Boats Destroyed In Fire At Cottage Park Yacht Club In Winthrop, Massachusetts The Fire Started Just After 2:30 a.m. at the Cottage Park Yacht Club On Orlando Avenue Near Boston's Logan International Airport {WCVB5} June 6, 2026 -Winthrop Fire Department Chief Stephen Calandra said the fire spread from one boat to another from gasoline that was on top of the water. "Twelve boats were lost — very expensive boats," Calandra said. "The challenge (was) the amount of hose line we had to get from the street to the furthest point of the marina. A lot of manpower dragging that line out there." Two of the boats that were on fire broke free from the marina. • NASA Captures Typhoon Jangmi’s Massive Eye in Stunning Nighttime Image Typhoon Jangmi Dazzled From Space With a Giant Swirling Eye While Drenching Parts of Japan With Heavy Rain {SciTechDaily} June 5, 2026 -From late May into early June 2026, Typhoon Jangmi slowly tracked north-northwest across the Philippine Sea on a path toward southern Japan. Although the storm moved at a relatively slow pace, it spread intense rainfall across a large area, raising concerns about flooding in several locations. A dramatic nighttime image (above) captured by the VIIRS (Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite) instrument aboard the Suomi NPP satellite shows the typhoon on May 30 at approximately 16:40 Universal Time (1:40 a.m. Japan Standard Time on May 31). • A ‘Reforestation Pipeline’ in New Mexico Trains Seedlings to Survive in Burn Scars Can Seeds From the Toughest Trees Grown In Boot Camp Nurseries Better Endure? June 5, 2026 -Four years after the Calf Canyon/Hermits Peak Fire burned 341,471 acres in northern New Mexico, the massive burn scar from the most destructive blaze in state history still holds vast stretches of leafless, barren and charred trees. It’s one of many scorched landscapes across the state—the New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department (EMNRD) reports that wildland fires have burned more than 5.45 million acres over the past 20 years. • Ebola Outbreak Could Rival the Worst On Record Unless World Acts Heard on All Things Considered {NPR} June 5, 2026 -The Ebola outbreak that's raging in Africa could rival the outbreak that hit West Africa a decade ago, resulting in upwards of 20,000 cases and 4,000 deaths within the next three months alone. These projections appear in new analyses from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which modeled just how widespread the current outbreak could get. • UN Report Exposes Unfathomable Footprint of Data Centers as AI Booms 9.3 Trillion Liters of Water {EARTH.ORG} June 5, 2026 -Artificial intelligence (AI) is expanding at breakneck speed, used by hundreds of millions of users and processing billions of queries each day. AI is now one of the most significant drivers of that data center growth. But this growth comes at an unfathomable environmental toll that is at the center of a new eUnited Nations report. The report, compiled by the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health and published on Wednesday, used primary data from a range of sources to quantify the carbon, water and land footprints of AI’s electricity use across the globe. The numbers are staggering. • Polis Declares Statewide Drought Emergency as Colorado Enters Phase 3 Gov. Polis said Colorado is Facing One of the Most Severe Droughts In Its Recorded History {DENVER7} June 5, 2026 - Gov. Jared Polis on Thursday declared a statewide drought emergency as he activated Phase 3 of the state’s drought response plan. Colorado’s record-low snowpack and the extreme warmth have triggered water restrictions across the state, including most parts of the Denver metro area, and conditions are only going to get worse as we enter the summer months, officials said. • A Goldilocks Moment For RGGI? Pressure’s Off? {POLITICO} June 5, 2026 -The Northeast’s cap-and-trade system just posted a record-high price for power plants to pollute. But many of the program’s supporters breathed a sigh of relief: They had worried the price might be even higher. The latest auction of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which covers electricity-sector emissions for 10 East Coast states, cleared at $35 per ton of carbon. • UN Report Exposes Unfathomable Footprint of Data Centers as AI Booms 9.3 Trillion Liters of Water {EARTH.ORG} June 5, 2026 -Artificial intelligence (AI) is expanding at breakneck speed, used by hundreds of millions of users and processing billions of queries each day. AI is now one of the most significant drivers of that data center growth. But this growth comes at an unfathomable environmental toll that is at the center of a new United Nations report. The report, compiled by the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health and published on Wednesday, used primary data from a range of sources to quantify the carbon, water and land footprints of AI’s electricity use across the globe. The numbers are staggering. • The Next Solar Storm Could Knock Out Power and Internet Worldwide It Could Cause Trillions of Dollars Worth Of Damage and Untold Chaos {ZME SCIENCE} June 5, 2026 -Geomagnetic storms occur when a large bubble of superheated gas called plasma is ejected from the surface of the Sun and hits the Earth. This bubble is known as a coronal mass ejection. The plasma of a coronal mass ejection consists of a cloud of protons and electrons, which are electrically charged particles. When these particles reach the Earth, they interact with the magnetic field that surrounds the planet. This interaction causes the magnetic field to distort and weaken, which in turn leads to the strange behavior of the aurora borealis and other natural phenomena. The May 2024 storm, rated G5 on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s 1-to-5 Geomagnetic Storms scale, disrupted GPS communications enough to throw off tractor guidance, which requires centimeter-level precision. • 12 Boats Destroyed In Fire At Cottage Park Yacht Club In Winthrop, Massachusetts The Fire Started Just After 2:30 a.m. At the Cottage Park Yacht Club On Orlando Avenue Near Boston's Logan International Airport {WCVB5} June 5, 2026 -Winthrop Fire Department Chief Stephen Calandra said the fire spread from one boat to another from gasoline that was on top of the water. "Twelve boats were lost — very expensive boats," Calandra said. "The challenge (was) the amount of hose line we had to get from the street to the furthest point of the marina. A lot of manpower dragging that line out there." Two of the boats that were on fire broke free from the marina. • Tiny Island Nation Just Created Ocean Sanctuary Bigger Than England New Sanctuary Safeguards the Legendary Coral Triangle, Home to Earth’s Most Diverse Marine Life {HEALTHY HAPPY NEWS} June 4, 2026 -In a stunning victory for ocean conservation, Papua New Guinea has just established one of the world’s largest marine protected areas — a breathtaking 200,000 square kilometers of tropical seas now off-limits to fishing. That’s over 77,000 square miles, larger than the entire United Kingdom. The Western Manus Marine Protected Area sits in the legendary Coral Triangle, where the Pacific and Indian Oceans meet in a spectacular explosion of marine biodiversity. This region is home to more coral and fish species than anywhere else on Earth. • By 2030 AI Could Use 3% of All Global Electricity and More Water Than All Humans Need to Drink Every Year As AI models Become Cheaper and More Attractive, They Will Likely Encourage New Uses and Higher Volumes of Use {ZME SCIENCE} June 4, 2026 -One argument often used to quell concerns about the rising energy and resource demand of data centres is that artificial intelligence (AI) models will need less in the future as they improve and become more efficient. But this seemingly logical thinking is a trap, according to a new United Nations report that quantifies the environmental costs of AI. The report estimates that by 2030, AI’s energy use could double to consume 3% of the world’s electricity, produce emissions to equal the UK and deplete more water for cooling than the annual drinking water need of the global population. • Flesh-Eating Screwworm Found In Texas, Sparking Fears for U.S. Cattle The Parasite Was Found In a 3-Week-Old Calf Decades After It Was Largely Eradicated In the U.S. June 4, 2026 -A case of New World screwworm has been found in Texas six decades after the flesh-eating pest was largely eradicated in the United States, sparking an aggressive response amid fears about its potential impact on the livestock industry. The U.S. Agriculture Department confirmed the parasite was detected in the umbilical area of a 3-week-old calf in Zavala County. There have been no further cases detected, and efforts are underway to contain and eradicate it, the agency said in a statement Wednesday. • China’s CO2 Climbs 2% In Early 2026 Due to ‘Wasted’ Wind and Solar China Used More Coal and Gas to Generate Electricity Than In the Same Quarter a Year Earlier... {CarbonBrief} June 4, 2026 -Other key findings for the first quarter of 2026 include:There was a 23% year-on-year rise in wind-power capacity and 33% for solar, also a sharp rise in the amount of wind and solar output being “wasted”. As a result, emissions in the power sector increased by 4% year-on-year. Emissions in other sectors of the economy grew by 1%. • Bright City Lights Might Be Making Your Allergies Worse Light Pollution Prompts Plants to Shed Pollen Longer and Stronger, According to New Research June 4, 2026 -If you live in a big, brightly lit city and you feel like allergy season just never ends, you might be right: New research shows that light pollution prompts plants to shed pollen longer, increases the growth of notoriously allergenic ragweed and makes our bodies more prone to allergic reactions, from runny noses to asthma. The study, published in the journal PNAS Nexus, focused on the U.S. Northeast and found that trees in cities like New York and Philadelphia start producing pollen earlier in the spring and finish later in the fall compared with places in the same region with low light pollution. The difference could add up to 130 days per year to the allergy season, the researchers found. • In First, California City Overwhelmingly Votes to Permanently Ban Datacenters While Many US City Councils Have Passed Moratoriums, Monterey Park is first where Residents Have Voted On a Ban June 3, 2026 -Residents in Monterey Park, California, became the first in the US to vote on a permanent ban on datacenters on Tuesday, and early results indicate a resounding victory for the prohibition. While many cities and counties have already passed temporary or indefinite moratoriums via their local governments, Monterey Park would be the first to do so through a ballot initiative. • Fire Near Sammamish Destroys 2 Buildings, 15 Cars The Cause of the Fire Has Yet to Be Determined June 3, 2026 -A two-alarm fire near Sammamish destroyed two buildings and about 15 cars, and closed down a stretch of Highway 202 in both directions Wednesday morning on the Eastside, authorities. Redmond-Fall City Road, or Highway 202, has reopened to traffic, the Washington State Department of Transportation said on X shortly after 10:20 a.m. • Arizona and Nevada Agree to Trade for Desalinated Pacific Ocean Water A Decade-Old Treatment Plant In San Diego County, Calif., Could Leave More Water In the Colorado River For States Facing Severe Shortages June 3, 2026 -San Diego could sell some of its rights to Colorado River water to Arizona and Nevada under a deal struck Wednesday that could help parched inland states fill a widening gap between water supply and demand. The San Diego County Water Authority now has a water surplus thanks to a desalination plant the utility opened a decade ago after facing shortages of its own. Water wouldn’t physically move inland, but the utility wouldn’t draw as much from the river as it’s entitled to. • After Longview Implosion, Deal Restores Chemical Safety Board Funding U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez Speaks With Families Who Have Been Affected By the Blast After a Press Conference at the Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. June 3, 2026 -Members of Congress struck an eleventh-hour deal to preserve funding for the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, the independent agency charged with determining what caused the catastrophic implosion at the Longview paper mill. A House budget bill had proposed slashing the Chemical Safety Board’s funding by more than 40% — a cut that The Seattle Times reported would have severely limited the agency’s ability to probe last week’s disaster and future industrial catastrophes across the nation. • This Jaw-Dropping African Wildlife Haven Just Hit a Miraculous Milestone It Will Fill Your Heart With Hope {HEALTHY HAPPY NEWS} June 3, 2026 -On Sunday, South African authorities and nature lovers around the world came together to celebrate an absolutely heartwarming milestone—the centenary of Kruger National Park. This breathtaking 7,500-square-mile paradise has been safeguarding African wildlife for an entire century, standing as a shining example of what’s possible when we commit to protecting our planet’s most precious creatures. Minister of Forestry, Fisheries, and the Environment Willie Aucamp kicked off the joyful celebrations at Skukuza Rest Camp, right in the heart of this massive protected area. • Mining Triggers Extensive Additional Deforestation In Sub-Saharan Africa Demand For Minerals Sourced From Sub-Saharan Africa is Expanding Rapidly {nature} June 3, 2026 -If poorly managed, mining expansion poses a key threat to tropical forests across the continent6,7. Here we present a spatiotemporal assessment of mining-driven deforestation of dense forests across Africa, using continent-wide data on post-deforestation land uses and a robust difference-in-differences framework to assess 16,627 mines between 2001 and 2020. In total, we find 187,000 hectares of direct mining-driven deforestation, that is, deforestation due to features directly associated with mining operations, such as pits, tailing ponds and spoil heaps. We estimate that mining also triggers an additional 8.0 percentage points (pp; 95% confidence interval (CI): 7.2–8.9 pp) increase in deforestation within 1 km of a mine compared with unmined areas. Increased levels of deforestation (1.1 pp, 95% CI: 0.7–1.5) persist up to 20 km from mines even after ten years. • E.U. Steps Up Ocean Monitoring as Trump Administration Backs Away Days After the U.S. Said It Would Kill a Network of Ocean Monitors, European Officials Pledged to Invest More In Their Version, Calling It a “Necessity” June 3, 2026 -Days after the Trump administration vowed to dismantle a deep-ocean observation system, the European Union said it would bolster its own monitoring of the world’s oceans to improve climate forecasting and better anticipate changes to marine ecosystems. The European Union announcement was long in the works, and not a response to the U.S. pullback. Still, officials in Brussels highlighted the contrast. • Inside the Quest to Mine the Bottom of the Sea An Unusual Ship, the Hidden Gem, Set Sail In Late 2022 to Test a Daring Idea: How to Mine Valuable Minerals On the Ocean Floor June 3, 2026 -The Trump administration’s plan to issue mining permits in international waters is controversial. Most nations are cooperating on matters concerning international waters through a decades-old United Nations convention called the Law of the Sea. But the United States hasn’t ratified that treaty and says it has the right, under U.S. law, to issue mining permits outside of territorial waters. The United States has received more than a dozen applications from companies hoping to mine or explore the ocean for minerals. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration recently deemed The Metals Company’s application fit for consideration, paving the way for approval within a year. • Past Fire At Longview Mill Suggests Owner Cut Back On Maintenance Fire Officials Estimate That a 2023 Blaze at the Nippon Dynawave Packaging Pulp and Paper Mill Caused $3.5 Million In Damage June 3, 2026 -Three years before a deadly tank rupture at a Longview pulp and paper mill, a fire lasting several days raised concerns that the owner had scaled back maintenance at the decades-old facility. Crews battled the flames for three days as the fire burned through wood chips — pulp’s core ingredient — and spread from a conveyor belt to a barge, a dock and a maintenance building at the Nippon Dynawave Packaging plant in July 2023. • An Iowa Town Spent $800,000 On a New Well. It Pumps Undrinkable Water After Shuttering Two Wells For Recurring Nitrate Contamination, the Riverside Community of Princeton May Face Yet Another Costly Fix June 3, 2026 -Late in 2022, an overly powerful pump caused eight months of costly water main breaks in Princeton, a town of nearly 1,000 residents on the banks of the silty Mississippi River. Installing a smaller motor seemed to fix that issue, but revealed a different, all-too-familiar problem: nitrate contamination. In 2009, Princeton had capped their 40-year-old auxiliary well after several years of racking up state violations for high nitrate levels. • Inside America’s Most Dysfunctional Zoo Louisiana Facility Beset By Escapes, Health Hazards and Otters Biting Visitors is Trying to Put Its Checkered Past Behind It {The Wall STREET JOURNAL} June 2, 2026 -There is a Nile crocodile loose somewhere in central Louisiana. It’s in good company. A private zoo here has also misplaced a Marabou stork, a lynx, two Indian crested porcupines, a family of capybaras, a mob of kangaroos, a flock of flightless Rheas, a herd of water buffalo and an entire safari exhibit of bison, zebras and antelope. Now even the founder wants out. • It Has the Highest Levels of Toxic Pfas In Drinking Water In Scotland But How Did This Remote Island Become Awash With Forever Chemicals? June 2, 2026 -When the wind picks up on Fair Isle, Britain’s most remote inhabited island, puffs of seafoam start to drift across fields like tumbleweed. The pale yellow blobs are ubiquitous enough to hold their own place in the island’s mythology: known as the butter churned by a local troll, Lukki Minni. “When the Atlantic gets going, foam covers the whole island,” says Tommy Hyndman, an artist who moved to the Fair Isle from upstate New York two decades ago. “Your windows get caked and your plants all die from the salt.” • New 3D Algorithm Reveals That Massive Snowfall In Antarctica Is Driven by Invisible Atmospheric Rivers A New Study Shows That Atmospheric Rivers May Be Responsible For Up to 90% of Antarctica’s Annual Precipitation {ZME SCIENCE} June 2, 2026 -Atmospheric rivers act like “rivers in the sky,” shuttling intense bands of warm, heavy moisture from lower to higher latitudes. When an atmospheric river encounters cold air or mountainous terrain, the moisture it carries condenses and falls as heavy rain or snow. In Antarctica, the arrival of an atmospheric river can help build surface ice mass. Much of Antarctica is very dry; an atmospheric river can bring the moisture needed to potentially offset some ice loss. Antarctica’s varied topography and dry conditions have made detecting atmospheric rivers over the continent challenging. Previous efforts to do so have suggested that atmospheric rivers contribute up to 30% of Antarctica’s total annual precipitation, but these methods may not be capturing the full picture of atmospheric river activity. • Drought Task Force Pushes to Advance State to Highest Stage Phase 3 - Here We Come {FOX21} June 2, 2026 -The Colorado Drought Task Force is urging Gov. Jared Polis to elevate the state’s drought plan to Phase Three, its highest level. This action is requested to address severe dry conditions, widespread water shortages, and potential major crop losses across Colorado. The push for Phase Three comes as state water officials indicate that recent rainfall was insufficient to alleviate the severity of drought in many areas. Implementing this advanced stage of the drought plan would grant Gov. Polis the authority to issue executive orders and could facilitate access to additional state and federal funding, including potentially asking President Donald Trump for a federal disaster declaration. • U.S. Chemical Safety Board Faces Steep Cuts During Longview Probe The May 26 Implosion Caused a Spill of a Highly Caustic Chemical, Killing 11 Workers at the Pulp and Paper Mill June 2, 2026 -As federal investigators descend on Longview to make sense of the catastrophic implosion at a pulp and paper mill, Congress is weighing a proposal to cut the investigating agency’s budget by more than 40%. The May 26 disaster at Nippon Dynawave Packaging killed 11, tainted the Columbia River and rocked the tight-knit, industrial Southwest Washington community. Gov. Bob Ferguson called it the deadliest industrial incident in modern state history. Within a day, the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board launched an inquiry to determine what went wrong and whether similar tragedies could be prevented elsewhere. • Arizona and Nevada Agree to Trade for Desalinated Pacific Ocean Water A Decade-Old Treatment Plant In San Diego County, Calif., Could Leave More Water In the Colorado River For States Facing Severe Shortages June 2, 2026 -San Diego could sell some of its rights to Colorado River water to Arizona and Nevada under a deal struck Wednesday that could help parched inland states fill a widening gap between water supply and demand. The San Diego County Water Authority now has a water surplus thanks to a desalination plant the utility opened a decade ago after facing shortages of its own. Water wouldn’t physically move inland, but the utility wouldn’t draw as much from the river as it’s entitled to. • This Remote Island Nation Just Pulled Off a Miraculous 92% Drop in Malaria Deaths And It’ll Restore Your Faith in Public Health {HEALTHYHAPYNEWS} June 2, 2026 -In a stunning public health triumph that will warm your heart, Papua New Guinea has achieved what many thought impossible — reducing malaria deaths by an incredible 92% using only existing prevention, testing, and treatment methods. The remote Pacific island nation, which accounts for roughly 90% of all malaria cases in the entire Western Pacific region, has seen its malaria death rate plummet from 13 per 100,000 inhabitants to just 1. Lucy Dally, Papua New Guinea’s national malaria coordinator, presented this remarkable achievement that demonstrates how determined public health efforts can create miraculous, life-saving results even in the most challenging environments. The success story is particularly uplifting because it relied entirely on accessible, proven interventions rather than waiting for new vaccines or cutting-edge technology. Through dedicated use of mosquito nets, rapid testing, and timely treatment with existing medications, health workers across PNG’s remote villages and islands created a transformation that’s saving thousands of lives. • How England’s Largest Forest Went From Commodity to Conservation Haven Kielder in Northumberland is Balancing Commercial Production With Conserving Peatland and Rare Plants and Animals June 2, 2026 -Driving through part of Northumberland, you might look around at the tall Sitka spruce and imagine yourself in Canada’s evergreen forests, or perhaps, on a sunny day, in northern California. Instead, you are in England’s largest forest, Kielder, often heralded as a success story that balances commercial production with ambitious conservation. The first trees of this 60,000-hectare forest were planted 100 years ago with one aim: increasing Britain’s timber reserves. Much has changed since then. From a single-use plantation, Kielder Forest has been transformed into a haven for nature and an invaluable environmental asset. • Kenyan Court Extends Order Blocking U.S. Hospital For American Ebola Patients The Court Extended For Seven Days Its Order Stopping the Opening of the U.S. Field Hospital June 2, 2026 -Kenya’s High Court on Tuesday extended its order to halt a Trump administration plan to establish a field hospital for Americans exposed to or infected with Ebola. The facility, which was constructed by the U.S. military — with Kenyan government approval — on an air base on the outskirts of Nanyuki, a town in central Kenya, had been set to open on Friday but was blocked by an initial court decision. The facility, which was constructed by the U.S. military — with Kenyan government approval — on an air base on the outskirts of Nanyuki, a town in central Kenya, had been set to open on Friday but was blocked by an initial court decision. • Funnel Clouds Spotted Around Colorado During Severe Weather Monday One funnel Cloud Was Spotted in Douglas County Near Castle Rock Around 1:30 p.m. On Monday {energy central} June 1, 2026 -Monday has brought severe weather across Colorado, with golf-ball-sized hail hitting several areas, thunderstorms and strong winds all in play. Chief among the severe weather are funnel clouds, which have been spotted in different locations across the state, even leading to a tornado warning around Watkins, Strasburg and Bennett. • Emergency Fish Salvage In Place At Reservoir On Colorado's Eastern Plains Monday Marks the Start of an Emergency Fish Salvage Due to The Reservoir Drying Up {CBS NEWS} June 1, 2026 -Officials from Colorado Parks and Wildlife are encouraging everyone with a valid Colorado fishing license to come and catch fish at Nee Noshe Reservoir in Kiowa County. CPW says they're making the move due to the ongoing drought and reduced reservoir operations. Jim Ramsay, CPW Aquatic Biologist, said the "reservoir is unlikely to refill in the foreseeable future." • Tiny Wildflowers Cleaning Up Toxic Mining Sites Will Restore Your Faith in the Planet Nature’s Miracle Workers {HEALTHYHAPYNEWS} June 1, 2026 -In what can only be described as nature’s own cleanup crew, a remarkable group of wildflowers is performing an environmental miracle across Europe’s former mining landscapes. These incredible plants, known as metallophytes, are thriving in soil that would kill most vegetation—and they’re actually making it clean again. Across the rolling hills and semi-mountainous terrain of northern England and other European regions scarred by centuries of lead and zinc mining, something beautiful is happening. Where toxic soil once rendered the land barren and lifeless, vibrant carpets of wildflowers now bloom in stunning abundance. • A Chemical Production Loophole Could Delay the Recovery of Earth’s Ozone Layer By Up to 11 Years If Left Unchecked, Unaccounted-For Emissions of Ozone-Harming Substances Could Delay the Layer’s Full Recovery By Almost a Decade {ZME SCIENCE} June 1, 2026 -A hole in the Montreal Protocol could delay the recovery of Earth’s ozone layer by about 7 years. New research found that the use of ozone-depleting substances used as feedstocks—chemicals used in the making of other chemicals—has not waned over time. In fact, their use has increased since the treaty’s adoption in 1987. “The Montreal Protocol is such a success story that these ozone-harming sources are becoming relevant. A few decades ago, they were drowned out,” said Luke Western, who researches greenhouse gases and ozone-depleting substances at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Western is a coauthor of a new study on the findings published in Nature Communications. • Trump Administration to Dismantle Ocean Monitoring System The $368 Million Network of Instruments Collecting Data In Both the Atlantic and Pacific Has Been Critical to Climate and Ocean Research June 1, 2026 -The Trump administration is dismantling a $368 million deep-ocean observation system that was put in place a decade ago to monitor coastal environments, marine ecosystems and powerful currents that affect the global climate. The National Science Foundation said it would send ships in June to begin removing more than 900 deep-sea instruments anchored off Oregon, Washington State, Alaska, North Carolina, and an area between Greenland and Iceland known as the Irminger Sea. • Rocket Launches Are Turning the Upper Atmosphere Into an Accidental Climate Experiment Pollution From Satellite Megaconstellations Could Account For 42% of the Space Sector’s Climate Impact By 2029 {ZME SCIENCE} June 1, 2026 -For most of the space age, rocket launches were rare. Their environmental impact was also negligible. A plume here, a plume there, nothing too damaging. The pollution they left behind was incomparably small compared with cars, power plants and heavy industry. That is changing fast. New study led by researchers at University College London (UCL) finds that pollution from satellite “megaconstellations” (vast networks of internet satellites launched in batches) is accumulating in the upper atmosphere. By 2029, these systems could account for 42% of the total climate impact from space-sector pollution, even though the megaconstellation boom is only a few years old. • The Fight to Protect Pollinators and People From the ‘Pesticides That Are Everywhere’ Neonics Are Contaminating Ecosystems and Communities June 1, 2026 -Born and raised in Colorado, Cory Kreft began working on a honey farm at 15 years old. He returned to beekeeping after college, eventually buying the business from his former boss. But in 2021, his bees suddenly began dying. He lost 85 percent of his hives. The losses continued the next year, and the next. After extensive testing, he identified the culprit: a relatively new class of pesticides called neonicotinoids, often shortened to neonics. These chemicals are commonly used to coat crop seeds before planting, ostensibly to protect the plant from pests and insects during early growth. Thanks in part to a federal regulatory loophole, the use of neonic-treated seed has quietly exploded in recent years, with little regulation or oversight. Almost all conventional corn and more than half of soy seed in the U.S. is now treated with neonics. • Coral Reefs in French Polynesia Are Stuck Between Life and Death Scientists’ Discovery of Hollowed Coral Skeletons After a 2019 Bleaching Event Reveals a Reef That Isn’t Coming Back June 1, 2026 -On the island of Moorea, in French Polynesia, deep green volcanic mountains slope from high peaks down towards the sea. But they don’t stop at the shore. The ridgelines of ancient lava flows stretch underwater, providing the perfect rocky substrate for a coral reef. Between the ancient rock formations, blacktip reef sharks swish their tails over a sandy seabed. And on these underwater mountains, the reef once thrived. In the middle of the South Pacific, 2,700 miles south of Hawaii, Moorea is known within the coral science community as an incredibly resilient place. But a new study has uncovered a peculiar phenomenon never before seen in scientific literature: hollowed-out dead corals are being structurally maintained by an encrusting algae. • China Enters Its Flood Season; Heavy Rain Expected In the South China Has Officially Entered Its Flood Season, With the South of the Country Expected To See Heavy Rainfall in June June 1, 2026 -Rainfall in the northern part of north China, south China, and parts of southwest China is expected to be 10% to 20% above average, Xinhua said. However, southern parts of north China, parts of northwest China, and the basins of the Yellow, Yangtze, and Huai rivers will see 10% to 20% less rainfall than average. Rainfall in the rest of the country is expected ?to remain near normal, Xinhua said. Major rivers in the Dongting Lake and Poyang Lake systems in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, the Xi and Han rivers in the Pearl River basin, the Qiantang River in Zhejiang province, and the Minjiang River in Fujian province could see flooding exceeding warning levels, Xinhua reported, citing the ministry. • Iran War Forces Farmers to Seek Fertilizer Alternatives From Cow Dung to Compost Concerns Grow About Food Security May 31, 2026 -When Senegalese farmer Abou Sow first watched U.S. missiles strike Iran on social media, he had a sinking feeling it would soon affect agriculture in the West African nation. Since the war began on Feb. 28, fertilizer prices have risen by 40%. Sow was better prepared than most. Eight years ago, he gave up chemical fertilizers for organic compost and other natural sources. He now rallies farmers in Senegal to buy manure from local herders and gives advice on how to make a rich compost, picking out wriggling worms – a healthy sign. • 2025 Wildfires Were the Costliest Ever, Researchers Say Severe, Hard-To-Control Blazes In Densely Populated Areas Like Los Angeles Drove the Year’s Record Losses May 31, 2026 -Even though the total area burned was relatively small, 2025 was the most economically damaging wildfire year on record, according to a new analysis published on Sunday. The Los Angeles fires and a handful of severe blazes in other countries, including South Korea and Spain, drove up losses worldwide to at least $54 billion, the study estimates. It was the highest level of insured losses on record. • Longview Dead Fish Count Nears 2,000 After Pulp Mill Disaster The Numbers Have Steadily Increased Day to Day May 31, 2026 -Response crews in Longview saw a major jump in the number of dead fish days after an implosion at the Nippon Dynawave Packaging pulp and paper mill released many gallons of harmful chemicals into the environment. Authorities stressed that the city of Longview continues to have safe drinking water and clean air, and that efforts to dilute Columbia River contamination have succeeded. The industrial disaster killed 11 workers Tuesday. • Meteor Caused Boom Heard Across Massachusetts and Northeast Before the Confirmation From the American Meteor Society, StormTeam 5 Said a Meteor Was Possible {WCVB5} May 30, 2026 -A boom that rattled Massachusetts and other states in the Northeast Saturday afternoon was caused by a 3-foot wide meteor entering the atmosphere near the Massachusetts and New Hampshire border, the American Meteor Society said. Multiple witnesses shared video of the sudden boom. All were recorded at approximately 2:11 p.m. At approximately that same time, NOAA's GOES-19 weather satellite Geostationary Lightning Mapper shows a burst over the Massachusetts coast. • Southern Colorado Air Quality Health Advisory In Efect The Department Warns That This Increases the Likelihood of Respiratory Symptoms and Breathing Discomfort In Active Children and Adults {KRDO} May 30, 2026 -The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) has issued an Air Quality Health Advisory for Saturday afternoon. The advisory impacts Teller, El Paso, Pueblo and eastern Fremont Counties. Locations include, but are not limited to, Cripple Creek, Colorado Springs, Canon City and Pueblo, according to CDPHE. • Southern Colorado Cities Lift Burn Restrictions, But Continue Urging Caution ‘We’re Definitely In Better Shape Than We Were’ {KKTV11} May 30, 2026 -On Friday, both Colorado Springs and Manitou Springs lifted their burn restrictions. They both cited the recent rainfall, which created different conditions than what they had been prepared for. During winter, southern Colorado saw a warm and dry period, with experts predicting a warm and dry summer, setting the stage for skyrocketing fire danger. “And because of science, the fuel moisture, the weather lately, basically everybody has decided to move out of burn restrictions for now,” Lt. Michael Willie with the Manitou Springs Fire Department said. • Nobody Can Agree How to Keep the Sharks Out of South Africa’s New Club Med The Resort Opens In July, But Plans to Install a Net In the Indian Ocean Are In Limbo As Scientists Encourage Alternative Measures to Ease Fears {THE WALL STREET JOURNAL} May 30, 2026 -Club Med’s expansion into South Africa has run into a problem—and this one’s got teeth. The waters off the Indian Ocean coast where throngs of swimmers will soon congregate are home to the world’s three most-dangerous shark species. The local government has proposed an old tactic to keep high-paying guests at the luxury resort from becoming chum: Putting a shark net adjacent to the beach. • Cancer and CAFOS Large Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations, or CAFOs, Can Contain Thousands of Animals In Tight Quarters to Maximize Production {living on earth} May 30, 2026 -Many people know smoking tobacco or spraying certain pesticides can elevate the risk of cancer, but few of us know that living in a county with a lot of large Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations, or CAFOs may also raise cancer risk. But that perception may be changing, thanks to experts at Yale University reporting in Environmental Research who examined cancer prevalence in three states, comparing counties with more of these massive operations to counties with less. CAFOs pack thousands of animals together to produce meat, dairy, and eggs, and large ones have more than a thousand cows, 2,500 pigs or 30,000 chickens, and supply most of the meat you buy at the grocery store. Critics have long raised ethical questions about CAFOs, the unpleasant odors and the climate costs of related methane emissions. This research showing an association between CAFOs and cancer prevalence does not provide conclusive proof, but it does ask questions about possible mechanisms such as air and water pollution. • Air Monitors Used in California Tank Crisis Were Inadequate in the Past Leaving Returning Residents Uneasy May 30, 2026 -The day before his 41st birthday, Hernando Morales found himself hurrying his one-year-old into the backseat of his car when an industrial tank just over a mile away from his apartment threatened to explode and release toxic chemicals throughout the area. Five days later, local officials said it was safe and his family was allowed to return to Garden Grove. • All 11 Victims Recovered and Identified In Longview Implosion Eleven Employees of the Nippon Dynawave Packaging Mill Who Died When a Tank Imploded Tuesday Have Been Identified May 30, 2026 -At a news conference Saturday, Cowlitz County Coroner Dana Tucker confirmed nine victims had been recovered from the site of what she called “one of the most significant tragedies our community has experienced since the eruption of Mount St. Helens.” Two others had died after being rushed from the scene by ambulance. Of seven other workers who were injured, at least five had been discharged from hospitals. • Electrification Emerges as COP31 Priority The Turkish COP31 President Has Called For “a Truly Global Conversation” About Shifting the Global Energy System From Fossil Fuels to Electricity {CLIMATE HOME NEWS} May 20, 2026 -The Turkish and Australian COP31 host governments and the International Renewable Energy Agency have called for a stronger global push to run vehicles, industry and buildings on electricity rather than fossil fuels, ahead of this year's COP31 climate talks. COP31 President Murat Kurum told the Copenhagen Climate Ministerial on Wednesday that governments should be "decarbonising the way we generate electricity, but also expanding electrification into every sphere of life". • Rescuers Free 4 Men Who Had Been Trapped in a Flooded Laos Cave Searching For 2 Still Missing {WCVB5} May 30, 2026 -Rescue workers in Laos said Saturday they have safely evacuated four villagers trapped in a flooded cave for 10 days, the day after another one was successfully extracted. Two men remain missing. Lao and Thai rescue groups posted about the successful operation on social media, along with photos of the men lying on stretchers, wearing oxygen masks and being wrapped in foil blankets. The villagers had reportedly entered the cave last week to look for valuable minerals before being trapped by flash flooding that blocked their way out. One other villager escaped in time and alerted the authorities to the seven left behind. • Sea 'Lavender' Stores Carbon Sea ‘lavender,’That Grows Abundantly In Salt Marshes and Coasts Around the World, Appears to Be Excellent At Removing Planet-Warming Carbon From the Atmosphere {LOE.ORG} May 29, 2026 -East or West, the United States seaside is dotted with purple. The plant Sea Lavender grows abundantly in salt marshes. Which makes for a beautiful picture: mixing with the blue of the sea, soft green grass, and golden dunes. Beyond striking, sea lavender is also a powerful fighter against climate change. Researchers in Venice, Italy, where sea lavender also grows, recently found that the plant is excellent at storing carbon. The researchers from the University of Padova spent the summers of 2021 and 2023 knee-deep in salt marshes in Venice collecting data on different plots of vegetation. • Colorado's Drought Isn't Over: What a Record-Bad Winter Means For Rivers, Agriculture and Wildfire Risk {DENVER7} May 29, 2026 -Despite recent rainfall, severe drought is persisting across Colorado, and the state climatologist is warning that "the stage is set" for a dangerous wildfire season and a difficult year for agriculture and river flow. After a wet week for much of the state, Denver7 spoke with Colorado State Climatologist Russ Schumacher, also a Colorado State University professor to learn more. • Longview Mill Implosion Comes Amid Turnaround Effort By Foreign Owners Investigators Are Still Determining What Caused the Rupture of a 900,000-Gallon-Capacity Tank of “White Liquor,” a Highly Caustic Compound Used In Papermaking May 29, 2026 -In September 2016, officials with Tokyo-based Nippon Paper Industries gathered in Longview to christen a decades-old pulp and paper mill they’d recently purchased from Seattle-based Weyerhaeuser. Before a crowd of mill employees and politicians, b>Nippon executives planted a flowering cherry tree and introduced the renamed venture, Nippon Dynawave Packaging, “with a new identity and a renewed commitment to safely and responsibly providing world-class products,” according to a 2016 account in The (Longview) Daily News. • The Colorado Tornado Outbreak Produces 14 Twisters In 90 Minutes {CBS NEWS} May 29, 2026 -The National Weather Service in Boulder says preliminary data from Monday's Memorial Day tornado outbreak shows a total of 14 tornadoes touched down between 5:00 pm and 6:30 pm on Colorado's northeast plains. The tornado count includes 7 in Washington County, 3 in Kit Carson County, 2 in Morgan County and 2 in Weld County. • Blue Origin’s New Glenn Rocket Explodes on Launchpad Jeff Bezos’ Space Company Says All Personnel Are Safe and Accounted For {The Wall Street Journal} May 29, 2026 -A rocket being tested by Jeff Bezos’ space company exploded Thursday night, sending an enormous ball of fire into the sky. Blue Origin was preparing one of its New Glenn rockets for a coming mission at its launch complex near Cape Canaveral, Fla., when the incident occurred. Bezos, the company’s founder and owner, said in a social-media post that personnel were accounted for and safe. Blue Origin would rebuild after the incident, he said: “Very rough day.” • Scientists Turn Plastic Waste Into Faster-Degrading Packaging Material New Upcycling Process Could Help Food Packaging Manufacturers Convert Existing Plastics Into Materials That Break Down More Easily {New Food Magazine} May 29, 2026 -Scientists have developed a new method to convert plastic waste into faster-degrading materials, offering a potential new solution for food packaging sustainability challenges. Researchers from the University of Edinburgh and RPTU University Kaiserslautern-Landau in Germany say the scalable one-step process can transform commonly used plastics – including materials used in food packaging and 3D printing – into a more readily degradable alternative known as a polythionoester. The team published the findings in Chem Circularity, and received funding support from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), the Royal Society, the French National Research Agency and the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS). • Wildfire Smoke May Be Making People More Violent Even in Cities Far From the Flames Wildfire Smoke Does More Than Hurt Your Lungs. New Study Suggests It May Also Raise Risk of Violence {ZME SCIENCE} May 29, 2026 -In Seattle, a city often washed clean by Pacific air, even modest wildfire smoke was linked to more violence. On days when smoke drifted into the city between 2013 and 2023, reported assaults rose by an average of 3.6 percent, according to a new study. That amounts to roughly one additional assault a day in a city the size of Seattle. That’s not exactly a crime wave, but the result is significant. Over 11 years of data, the pattern appeared again and again, although the researchers are careful not to jump to conclusions. • Why Chemical Plant Disasters Could Become More Common In the U.S. A Near-Miss Incident and a Deadly Chemical Accident In a Single Week Have Affected Thousands and Drawn Scrutiny to Federal Rules Around Risk Management at Chemical Plants May 28, 2026 -As more than 50,000 residents of Garden Grove, Calif., returned home on Tuesday and Wednesday after a narrowly averted chemical crisis at an aerospace plant, a rupture at a separate chemical tank in Washington State claimed two lives and left nine people missing and presumed dead. The back-to-back incidents are among several high-profile disasters at chemical plants in the past year. And a Trump administration proposal to roll back federal regulations that are meant to guard against such accidents means they could become more frequent, threatening surrounding communities and on-site workers. • Diesel Fuel Spilled on National Mall During 250th Event Setup The Trump Administration Blamed the Two Spills On Vandalism, Though the U.S. Park Police is Still Investigating the Incidents May 28, 2026 -Diesel fuel has spilled onto the National Mall at least twice in the past two weeks during preparations for an event celebrating the country’s 250th birthday, according to a government document and a spokeswoman for the Interior Department. The first spill occurred on May 20 and contaminated a cistern that provides water for irrigating the grass on the Mall in the heart of Washington, according to the document and the spokeswoman. The second incident happened Wednesday night, and its environmental impact remains unclear. • Death Toll In Washington Tank Rupture Rises to Eight as Recovery Progresses Three More People Remain Missing and Are Presumed Dead, After Tank Containing Chemical Mixture Collapsed May 28, 2026 -The confirmed death toll in the chemical tank explosion at a Washington state paper mill rose to eight on Thursday after crews recovered the remains of six workers, officials said. Three more individuals remain missing and are presumed dead. Eight other people were injured, including a firefighter responding to the incident. • U.S. Says Deal Reached With Kenya On Ebola Quarantine Facility for Americans Agreement Comes Amid Local Outrage In Kenya {THE WALL STREET JOURNAL} May 28, 2026 -The Trump administration said Thursday it had reached a deal with Kenya to establish a quarantine facility for Americans exposed to Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo, an arrangement that has drawn fierce opposition from Kenyan medical groups. In a conference call with reporters, senior administration officials said more than 30 U.S. public-health officers were en route to staff the 50-bed unit, which will be located at the Laikipia Air Base outside the city of Nanyuki and operational beginning Friday. The deployed officers include physicians, nurses, therapists and technologists, one of the officials said, including those who have experience dealing with prior Ebola outbreaks. • US LNG Has a Capital Problem The US Could Miss a Golden Opportunity to Cement Its Grip On the Global Gas Market, The Godfather of US LNG Warns {SEMAFOR} May 28, 2026 -In just one decade, the US has gone from an LNG importer to the world’s top exporter. And while the market was starting to feel crowded with sellers prior to the war in Iran, now it’s facing a major shortfall because of the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz and heavy damage to Qatar’s Ras Laffan terminal. Between this year and 2034, the world will be short by at least 135 million metric tons of LNG, equal to nearly one-third of global pre-war production, according to a new forecast by S&P Global Energy. “We are not looking at a temporary bottleneck,” said Shankari Srinivasan, S&P’s vice president of global gas and LNG, but rather “a fundamental global supply shock.” • Scientists Discover a Massive Reservoir of Drinking Water Hiding Beneath the Atlantic Ocean Scientists Drill Off Cape Cod and Uncover Vast Undersea Aquifers That May Reshape Our Water Future {ZME SCIENCE} May 28, 2026 -In 1976, scientists searching for oil and gas off the U.S. East Coast stumbled across something stranger than hydrocarbons. Beneath the salty Atlantic, fresh water trickled out of the cores they pulled up. Nobody knew quite what to make of it. Was this a one-off fluke, or a sign of something much bigger? Half a century later, the mystery has exploded into the spotlight. This summer, an international team of scientists aboard a drilling ship off Cape Cod pulled up thousands of liters of fresh water from deep under the seafloor. Expedition 501, as the mission is called, may have confirmed the existence of one of the largest hidden aquifers on Earth — stretching from New Jersey to Maine. • Columbia River Tainted By Longview Implosion Missing Workers Feared Dead May 28, 2026 -As many as 11 people are dead, and a spill has contaminated the Columbia River in what Gov. Bob Ferguson called the “deadliest industrial tragedy in modern Washington history.” Two workers have been confirmed dead, while nine unaccounted workers are presumed dead after a major implosion Tuesday morning at the Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. facility, a pulp and paper mill in Longview. One person who was hospitalized Tuesday with injuries later died, bringing the known death toll to two. • What We Know About the Fatal Longview Chemical Implosion Here’s What We Know About the Major Industrial Incident So Far May 27, 2026 -One person was killed, nine were injured and nine remain missing after a major implosion Tuesday morning at a pulp and paper mill in Longview, in Southwest Washington. “There is no belief that there’s rescues that need to be made,” said Chief Scott Goldstein of Cowlitz 2 Fire and Rescue at a news conference Tuesday evening. • In Venezuela, Anxiety About Ramping Up Oil Production in the Heavily Polluted Lake Maracaibo Region Experts and Local Activists, Wary of Past Exploitation, Are Hoping It Will Be Different This Time—But... May 27, 2026 -There is a joke Mónica Godoy Molero likes to make with her family: if you swim in Venezuela’s Lake Maracaibo after an oil spill, you’ll sprout a third eye. It helps to have a twisted sense of humor when you live in a place exploited by oil companies for more than a century and is likely at the center of any effort to rebuild the country’s vast but crumbling oil infrastructure. • False Ebola Claims Run Wild As Congo Outbreak Worsens Distrust and violence flare in the Democratic Republic of Congo as Rumors Spread That the Outbreak — and the Disease Itself — is a Hoax May 27, 2026 -As a deadly outbreak of Ebola spreads through the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, one conspiracy theory is that nonprofit workers brought the disease to get more money. Another is that the outbreak has been fabricated to frighten the population and gain access to minerals, including gold. There are people who refuse to accept that preventing the spread of Ebola, which is transmitted through contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person, requires forgoing some traditional funeral rites. And there are others who do not believe Ebola exists at all — it is a fiction, they say, to steal aid money.		• US, Other Countries Restrict Travel From Ebola Outbreak’s Epicenter Still More Bad Ebola News {DAILY CALLER} May 27, 2026 -President Donald Trump’s administration has increased restrictions on non-citizens entering the U.S. after recently being in multiple African countries amid an Ebola outbreak. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) extended a ban Friday on non-citizens entering the country after visiting the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), South Sudan or Uganda to green card holders who have been in those countries in the past 21 days, according to Reuters. Canada will block residents from Congo, Uganda and South Sudan for 90 days beginning Wednesday and require its own citizens returning from those countries to quarantine for 21 days starting May 30. This comes nearly two weeks after health officials warned of an Ebola outbreak in the DRC, though U.S. and Canadian health officials have said there is low risk to their respective. • Millions of Salmon Deaths at Scottish Farms Disclosed After Watchdog’s Ruling Animal and Plant Health Agency Forced to Release Reports Showing Scale and Cause of Deaths On Some Fish Farms May 27, 2026 -Millions of fish deaths caused by accidental poisoning and suffocation on Scottish salmon farms have been revealed after the inspection agency was forced to share its reports. The UK government’s Animal and Plant Health Agency< (APHA) had refused to release inspection reports, claiming it would cause “significant detriment” to companies, including to their reputations. • Nature’s Comeback Story: Seabird Eggs Show Stunning 70% Drop in Harmful Chemicals This Will Restore Your Faith {HAPPY HEALTHY NEWS} May 27, 2026 -In a discovery that will absolutely warm your heart, scientists have found stunning evidence that our efforts to protect wildlife are actually working. A groundbreaking study tracking seabird eggs over more than half a century has revealed a jaw-dropping 70% reduction in dangerous “forever chemicals” — and it’s all thanks to regulatory action that put nature first. The research team examined eggs from seabird colonies spanning 55 years of environmental history. What they found was a story of hope: while these toxic substances known as PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) rose exponentially during the industrial boom of the 1960s, they peaked in the 1990s before beginning a steady, beautiful decline. • Anxiety About Ramping Up Oil Production in the Heavily Polluted Lake Maracaibo Region Experts and Local Activists, Wary of Past Exploitation, Are Hoping It Will Be Different This Time—But... May 27, 2026 -There is a joke Mónica Godoy Molero likes to make with her family: if you swim in Venezuela’s Lake Maracaibo after an oil spill, you’ll sprout a third eye. It helps to have a twisted sense of humor when you live in a place exploited by oil companies for more than a century and is likely at the center of any effort to rebuild the country’s vast but crumbling oil infrastructure. “All of the beaches … are very contaminated, and unfortunately, these beaches are mostly crowded by the poor population,” Molero said. • China's New Carbon Metrics 'Erased Half' of Emissions Growth Reported From 2020 to 2025 China Could Meet 2030 Climate Commitments With Change, Even If Emissions Increase May 27, 2026 -China's latest carbon data suggests it has changed the way it calculates carbon emissions, reducing by half the emissions growth the country previously reported from 2020 to 2025, climate researchers argue in a new report. The "dramatic" change by the world's biggest emitter of carbon dioxide has "erased half of the previously reported emissions growth from 2020 to 2025", said Lauri Myllyvirta, lead analyst at the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA). • Chemical Tank Rupture Kills Multiple People in the State of Washington Several Injured People Have Been Transported to Hospitals to Be Treated For Chemical Burns. {ALJAZEERA} May 26, 2026 -A chemical tank has imploded at a Nippon Dynawave Packaging facility in Washington state, killing several people and critically injuring others, authorities said. Emergency responders on Tuesday remained at the site in the city of Longview in Cowlitz County, about 70km (45 miles) north of Portland, Oregon, the Longview Fire Department said in a joint written statement with Nippon and the Cowlitz County Sheriff’s Department. • When Will Emissions From Air Travel Start to Fall? How the War in Iran is Affecting Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Air Travel May 26, 2026 -In this edition, we explain how the warnings about jet fuel shortages could affect emissions from air travel. But, first let’s get caught up: So, what happened to the worst-case climate scenario? Last week, an international team of researchers published a major revision of the emissions scenarios used to study global warming. Here’s why the worst-case scenario got revised down. • New York Leads in Controlling Heat-Trapping Methane That Could Change May 26, 2026 -The gaseous power duo that is heating up the planet consists of carbon dioxide, which is the largest contributor to global warming, and methane, its fast-acting, hot-tempered sibling. Carbon dioxide, which is mostly the result of burning fossil fuels, tends to get top-villain billing in climate policies. But in New York, methane — the stuff of cow burps, pipeline leaks and landfills — is getting its moment in the spotlight as legislators consider changing a metric for measuring greenhouse gases. It is part of an overhaul of the state’s 2019 climate law that Gov. Kathy Hochul has proposed. • Doctor Evacuated From Congo Feels ‘Helpless’ Watching Colleagues Die of Ebola As Patrick LaRochelle Waits in a Specialized Hospital Room in Prague to See Whether He Has Ebola, His Former Colleagues in Congo Are Beginning to Die of the Deadly Disease May 26, 2026 -Murmurs of a “casket disease” had already begun by mid-May, as patients began to die in waves. Patrick LaRochelle, an American missionary physician, was 20 minutes away from getting on a plane out of the Democratic Republic of Congo, part of his journey with his wife and three kids back home to the United States for a summer visit. Then he got a WhatsApp message: Ebola was here. • Search Continues For 7 Villagers Trapped In a Flooded Cave In Laos The Villagers Entered the Cave In Xaisomboun Province On May 19, But Heavy Rain Triggered Flash Flooding That Blocked the Exit May 26, 2026 - Rescuers tried to reach seven villagers trapped inside a flooded cave in Laos for the seventh day on Tuesday, with difficult terrain and weather impeding their efforts. There has been no contact with them since they became trapped. The villagers entered the cave in Xaisomboun province on May 19, but heavy rain triggered flash flooding that blocked their exit, according to Lao and Thai rescue teams involved in the operation. • Why It’s Been a Notably Quiet May for Tornadoes in the U.S. After a Busy April, Tornado Alley has Been Mostly Tranquil, With Relatively Weak Storms May 26, 2026 -After a busy April that featured multiple severe weather outbreaks across the United States, tornado activity has flatlined this month. The Great Plains Tornado Alley has been strangely quiet, and there are no obvious threats on the horizon. Even Oklahoma, typically ground zero this time of year, has been silent since the start of the month. Statistically speaking, May 24 is the peak of tornado season across the Lower 48, and the southern and central Plains have the biggest risk this time of year. And yet the Sooner State, which averages two dozen tornadoes in a typical May, hasn’t seen a single one. And Texas, which averages 44 tornadoes in May, has logged only a handful. • Hunting a ‘Frankenfish’ With a Bow and Arrow Invasive Snakeheads Are Proliferating in Waterways From New York to Florida.... May 27, 2026 -Bill Bates piloted his boat up and down the shallow tributaries of the Potomac River. It was night, and the river was buzzing. A beaver sliced across the murky water. Frogs croaked. Insects darted above the water’s surface. But Mr. Bates was focused on his prey: an invasive fish that can survive out of water and slither on land. The Northern snakehead, whose sharp teeth, eyes atop a flattened snout and patterned scales give it the look of a python, has appeared in a growing number of waterways, edging out native fish and causing chaos in local fisheries. • Cracked Chemical Tank Forces 40,000 From Their Homes in Orange County as Officials Brace For Failure A Cracked Storage Tank Holding Thousands of Gallons of a Highly Volatile Chemical At an Aerospace Facility in Garden Grove, California {AMERICAN ALMANAC} May 25, 2026 -Emergency crews worked through the night from Sunday into Monday to cool the tank and monitor pressure at the GKN Aerospace facility, located about 35 miles southeast of Los Angeles. Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency as evacuation orders spread across Garden Grove, Stanton, Anaheim, Cypress, Westminster, and Buena Park. The tank contains between 6,000 and 7,000 gallons of methyl methacrylate, a highly flammable substance used in plastics production. BBC News reported that Orange County Fire Authority officials confirmed Sunday evening that continuous atmospheric monitoring showed no active chemical leak at that time. But the underlying problem has not been solved. The tank developed a crack, and chemical reactions inside it have been generating dangerous heat buildup since Thursday. • A Terrible Winter for Snow Heads Into a Bleak Summer of Drought In the Desert and Mountain West, Towns Like Kearny, Ariz., Are Already Warning Residents They Could Soon Run Out of Water May 25, 2026 -Erik Fritchman, a farmer who grows apples and peaches on a sunny mesa in Cedaredge, Colo., should be tending his new saplings right now, but with so little water this spring, he is uprooting trees instead. Better that, he said, than watch them die of thirst. Hundreds of miles downstream, the mayor of the tiny desert town of Kearny, Ariz., is warning residents they will run out of water by July unless they take drastic measures now. He suggested showering together or wearing clothes three times before washing them. • How Wine, Truffles and Honey Could Help Europe Fight Wildfires Countries Are Learning That the Finer Things In Life Sometimes Have a Serendipitous Side Benefit May 25, 2026 -Flames engulfed a forest in Catalonia, Spain, ripping across a wooded expanse and heading straight for hundred of acres of pines and underbrush. But before it reached them, the inferno encountered Celler Abadal, an 800-year-old family vineyard that sprawls across the red-clay hills. As the fire approached the tidy rows of grapes, separated from the tree line by only a few yards of barren soil, a strange thing happened. The blaze stopped. • As a Sacred Tree Dies, Their Village Loses a Piece of Itself In a Forest in Madagascar, the Demise of a Centuries-Old Baobab Points to the Fraying of a Fragile Ecosystem May 25, 2026 -The first sign that the tree was in trouble was the scent — a musty odor that cut through the warm forest air. “It smelled like mushrooms but worse, like decomposition,” said Cyrille Cornu, a French researcher who visited the tree, an ancient baobab that locals call Tsitakakantsa, last October in southwest Madagascar. Approaching the massive trunk in the island nation’s Andombiry Forest, Mr. Cornu’s heart sank. A dark, foul-smelling liquid was seeping from the base of the tree. “I was surprised because I never saw this before,” said Mr. Cornu, who specializes in baobabs and has visited the tree several times over the last 15 years. He thought to himself: “Something is wrong.” • Feds to Replace 3 Turbines at Hoover Dam With Newly Released Funds Hoover Dam is Getting a Sorely Needed Facelift {energy central} May 25, 2026 -About dam time: The US Bureau of Reclamation is offering $52M to replace three aging turbines at the dam. It’s an urgent upgrade: Its reservoir Lake Mead is set to reach a record-low 1,020 feet above sea level in July 2027—and older turbines can’t operate below 1,035 feet. Not so fast: The new, wide-head turbines could restore over 160 MW of hydro capacity…but not until construction wraps up in Oct. 2028 (at the earliest). If the hydro-dependent West keeps seeing super dry winters, such dam upgrades could become increasingly urgent. • Proposed World’s Largest AI Data Center in Utah May Dump 23 Atomic Bombs Worth of Heat Each Day Kevin O’Leary’s Stratos Project Promises Power, Jobs and a Fierce Fight Over Water {ZME SCIENCE} May 25, 2026 -In a dry valley north of the Great Salt Lake, Kevin O’Leary of Shark Tank fame wants to build an AI data center covering more land than many American cities. The Stratos Project would sprawl across more than 16,000 hectares (40,000 acres) in Utah’s Box Elder County and demand about 9 gigawatts of power—much more electricity than the entire state currently uses. Its boosters call it a leap toward American AI supremacy. Its opponents see something more alarming: a fossil-fueled computing complex beside a shrinking lake, in a desert state already fighting over every acre-foot of water • One Killed and Many Feared Trapped Under Collapsed Building in Philippines Crews Raced Against the Clock to Save Those Trapped Under the Wreckage {sky news} May 25, 2026 -At least four people have died after an unfinished building collapsed in the Philippines, authorities in the country have said. Rescuers have been searching through the rubble of the nine-floor construction for another 17 people, mostly workers, who are missing after Sunday's disaster. • Mass. Removed 11 Dams Last Year Hundreds More Are Considered Hazardous {WBUR} May 25, 2026 -Bad weather hit Massachusetts on Sept. 8, 2023. A slow-moving, six-day storm became one of the most significant weather events the state had experienced in decades. After the first day alone, almost 200,000 people were left without power. Leominster, a city of about 44,000, was among the areas hardest hit. In just a few hours, nearly 11 inches of rain fell, sending water rushing down hillsides and overwhelming local waterways. • Hundreds of Homes in Kent and Sussex Left Without Water After Supply Outages Charing, Challock and Molash Worst Affected, as South East Water Says ‘Technical Failure at Pumping Station’ to Blame May 25, 2026 -Hundreds of homes in Kent and Sussex have been left without water by a company that MPs recently accused of incompetence. South East Water said the hot weather and extra demand for water meant it was having to pump more drinking water than usual to higher ground. The outages began on Saturday and peaked on Sunday when about 800 properties in the Kent villages of Charing, Challock and Molash were unable to get water. • World’s Biggest Miner BHP Backtracks On Climate Action With Key Projects Put On Ice Cache of Internal Documents Leaked to the Guardian and the ABC’s Four Corners Show Multinational has War-Gamed Ways to Massively Delay Decarbonisation May 24, 2026 -The world’s biggest miner has halted or delayed projects to cut vast amounts of emissions and has quietly war-gamed options to push major climate investments in its Western Australian iron ore operations into the next two decades, internal documents show. An exclusive investigation based on documents leaked to the Guardian and the ABC’s Four Corners can reveal that BHP, one of Australia’s biggest historic emitters, has dumped plans for a facility that could have significantly reduced emissions and has put on ice renewable projects designed to power its iron ore operations in the vast, resource-rich Pilbara region. • Sewage and Fuel Leaks Contaminate the Potomac River Source of Drinking Water for More Than 5 Million People May 24, 2026 -The warning signs were years in the making. And yet, regulators failed to heed the writing on the wall, according to Dean Naujoks. An investigator with the Potomac Riverkeeper Network, Naujoks spent three years documenting what he calls a systemic failure that culminated in dual environmental catastrophes now threatening the health of the entire Potomac River system, which is already stressed. • This Year’s Hurricane Season Forecast Will Have Coastal Communities Breathing a Sigh of Relief NOAA Forecasts a 55% Chance of a Below-Normal 2026 Atlantic Hurricane Season {HEALTHYHAPPYNEWS} May 24, 2026 -Summer is the season we all look forward to — warm sunshine, beach trips, and quality time with loved ones outdoors. But for families living near the coast, planning those perfect summer days also means keeping an eye on hurricane forecasts. The good news? This year’s predictions are looking remarkably promising. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season could bring a welcome reprieve from recent years of intense storm activity. • California Chemical Tank has Cracked, Causing State of Emergency Thousands to Evacuate {NPR} May 24, 2026 -Some 50,000 residents of Garden Grove, California remain under an evacuation order Sunday as emergency response teams struggle to deal with a potentially explosive situation at a nearby aerospace manufacturing plant. Here's the latest on what's happening at the plant, and what could yet come. Overnight, the chemical tank appeared to have cracked The tank, which is located in the southeastern corner of the GKN Aerospace facility in Garden Grove, California, holds somewhere around 7,000 gallons of methyl methacrylate, a highly toxic, highly flammable chemical used in the manufacturing of resins and plastics. • Doctors, Hospitals Struggle to Keep Up With Ebola’s Spread ‘Hospitals Are Fighting With No Tools At All,’ Says Director-General of Africa’s CDC as Fast-Spreading Congo Outbreak Overwhelms Resources {THE WALL STREET JOURNAL} May 24, 2026 -The fast-spreading Ebola virus is overwhelming creaking hospitals and clinics in the Democratic Republic of Congo, dimming hopes for quick containment of what is already the third-largest outbreak of the killer disease in history. With at least 750 suspected cases and an official death count of 177 as of this weekend—the actual toll is likely higher—patients are being treated in ordinary wards because of a lack of dedicated Ebola treatment centers in the hardest-hit areas, according to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. • Yakima River Farmers Accept Early Water Cuts as Drought Deepens The Massive Facilities Would Reshape Florida’s Rural Lands May 24, 2026 -For an unprecedented third year in a row, an irrigation district in the Yakima River basin will shut off its water for more than a week in the early growing season to conserve the resource before the looming summer drought settles in. This basin is one of Washington’s most fertile and a cornerstone of the apple, grape and hop industries. The region produces some $4.5 billion in annual agricultural value, more than a sixth of the state’s overall market. • 6 Rashes and Infections You Can Get From the Beach A Few Simple Precautions Can Minimize Your Chances of Bringing Them Home May 24, 2026 -Applying plenty of sunscreen and water safety are the primary health considerations most people think about at the beach. But it’s also possible to encounter various types of infectious organisms while wading in the ocean or walking barefoot on sand. One that’s been in the news lately is Vibrio vulnificus, a bacterium that can be found in coastal salt or brackish waters and causes an infection called vibriosis. If you eat contaminated seafood (such as oysters) or swallow vibrio while swimming, it can cause stomach cramps, diarrhea, vomiting and nausea. • How ‘Sentinel Gardens’ Help Spot Dangerous Bugs Abroad Scientists Hope is to Identify the Most Damaging Bugs Before They Cross the Ocean May 23, 2026 -The wriggling larva would one day metamorphose into the red coffee-borer moth, an invasive species that damages many plants. It hasn’t yet infested the United States — but here it was, on a cloudy morning in early 2023, burrowing into the trunk of an American oak tree. Fortunately, that particular oak tree was growing in China, in what scientists call a “sentinel garden.” • California Braces for Toxic Chemical Leak Efforts to Stabilize A Damaged Industrial Tank Have Made Little Headway and More Than 40,000 People Have Been Ordered to Leave Their Homes {THE WALL STREET JOURNAL} May 23, 2026 -California authorities were bracing Saturday for a leak or explosion that could send toxic vapors into the air after efforts to contain a damaged chemical tank made little headway. The emergency started Thursday, when the fire department responded to a vapor leak from a 34,000-gallon tank at a Garden Grove, Calif., plant belonging to GKN Aerospace, a British maker of jet parts. More than 40,000 people have been ordered to leave their homes, with officials warning they weren’t sure what could happen. • Six Months After Oil Spilled Into California Tributary, Families Worry the Cleanup Was Never Finished People in Ventura County Are Also Concerned That an Early Estimate—Which Noted That About 420 Gallons of Crude Oil Was Accidentally Released Into a Waterway Last Fall May 23, 2026 -As he slowly pulled his beige van into the driveway following a trip to the hardware store for garden supplies, Ethan Higbee didn’t suspect anything was wrong. Then he got out of his car. The unmistakable smell of gas subsumed him. “I heard rushing, gushing water. What I thought was water. But it wasn’t, it was oil,” Higbee said Monday, exactly six months after rivulets of crude oil ran into a waterway near his home. • As Communities Warn of Health Risks, New York Will Weaken Its Landmark Climate Law Gov. Kathy Hochul has Announced Revisions to the State’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions Targets That Will Push Off Its 2030 Deadline May 23, 2026 -As part of ongoing budget negotiations, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is pushing to delay emissions-reduction targets established in the state’s climate law. Over the past year, Hochul has hinted that she doesn’t think the state can hit the targets established in the 2019 Climate Act: a 40 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels by 2030, and an 85 percent reduction by 2050. If Hochul gets her way, the timeline will change. • Trump Administration Releases $40 Million For Historic Colorado River Water Rights Purchase A Western Slope Coalition has Been Working to Buy the $99 Million Water Rights at Shoshone Power Plant For Years... {THE COLORADO SUN} May 22, 2026 -In a major win for the Western Slope, the Trump administration released $40 million in funding for the purchase of powerful historic water rights on the Colorado River tied to the Shoshone Power Plant. The Colorado River Water Conservation District, which spans 15 counties in western Colorado, has been leading the charge since 2023 to purchase the water rights from the hydropower facility’s owner, a subsidiary of Xcel Energy, for $99 million. In early 2025, it seemed like they’d soon be ready to write the check when the federal government granted $40 million toward the purchase during former President Joe Biden’s final hours in office. • Smartphone Company’s Floating Robot Army Is Saving the Ocean And It’s Pure Genius {HEALTHYHAPYNEWS} May 22, 2026 -In a stunning act of corporate responsibility that will warm your heart, one of the world’s largest makers of smartphone cases has designed and built a seaborne drone carrier designed to clean up ocean-bound plastic waste. This is the kind of good news that restores faith in humanity and shows what’s possible when innovation meets environmental passion. Already deployed off the coast of Taiwan, the Circular Blue looks a little like an offshore oil or gas platform, but rather than pulling fossil fuels from the depths, it’s pulling something far more precious from the surface: our oceans’ future. The platform serves as a home base for autonomous drones that patrol the waters, collecting plastic debris before it can drift into the open sea. • Rainmaking With Trees as a Drought Solution Cuts Oregon Wildfire Burn Rate Through Strategic Forest Hydration Oregon’s Catastrophic Wildfire Burn Rate was Cut By Roughly 77% During the State’s Worst Fire Season in History... {HappyEchoNews} May 22, 2026 -Six highly improbable summer rains were brought to drought-stricken Pacific Northwest forests during peak fire season 2024 by slowly hydrating strategic tree groves with approximately 32,750 gallons of water. Oregon’s daily burn rate dropped from approximately 36,585 acres to 6,162 acres after the first correlatable rainfall arrived on August 17, interrupting what forecasters predicted would be months of intensifying drought and above-normal fire danger. Rainmaking with trees as a drought solution emerged from my 2020 discovery of research on biogenic moisture circulation. Notable scientists, including Makarieva, Ellison, Wright, Jasechko, and their colleagues, have documented how forests generate their own precipitation through transpiration, the release of water vapor from leaf stomata. This process accounts for 80% to 90% of terrestrial evapotranspiration over landscapes, moving moisture across continents independently of ocean sources. • Meta Data Center Allegedly Muddies Georgia Town's Drinking Water, Investigation Underway EPA Promises Immediate Investigation After Congresswoman Brings Dirty Jars of Water to Hearings {tom's HARDWARE} May 22, 2026 -A Meta data center project is reportedly causing issues in Morgan County, Georgia, where the community’s water supply has turned turbid right after it was constructed. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) showed the muddy water to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Assistant. Administrator for Water Jessica Kramer during a congressional subcommittee hearing, asking if the office is looking into how data centers affect water quality across the nation. You can see the exchange in the embedded post below. • Parking Lots Get Hot and Are Bad For Storm Runoff These Groups Are Testing Other Options May 22, 2026 -At the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission headquarters in Virginia, staff knew their crumbling asphalt parking lot was in desperate need of repair. But instead of replacing the lot with more dark blacktop, the group chose an alternative. The new parking lot, completed last year, includes porous concrete panels and areas with native plants and recycled materials to make the lot cooler and less prone to flooding. • Sharpe Fire is 100% Contained In Southeast Colorado 80% Contained In Oklahoma {DENVER7} May 22, 2026 -The portion of the Sharpe Fire that burned in Colorado is now 100% contained, officials announced Thursday, though parts are still active in Oklahoma. In total, the fire has burned about 29,200 acres across both states. According to the U.S. Forest Service, more than 16,000 of those acres were in Colorado, near the town of Campo in the southeast corner of the state. More than 12,000 acres burned in Oklahoma, where containment has reached 80% as of Thursday. • 1 Person Killed and Dozens of Firefighters Injured in Staten Island Blasts Two Explosions Rocked a Barge On the North Shore of Staten Island, Injuring 34 Firefighters and Emergency Medical Workers May 22, 2026 -A series of explosions on a barge at a commercial shipyard on Staten Island on Friday afternoon killed one person and injured 34 firefighters and emergency medical workers. The explosions led to a fire that was under control, but continued to burn on Friday night, said Mayor Zohran Mamdani. The first explosion happened on a barge at 3:25 p.m. in the Arlington neighborhood, along the North Shore of Staten Island, said Brad Weekes, a spokesman with the Police Department. Firefighters responded to find heavy smoke at the scene and reports of two workers trapped inside the barge, said Lillian Bonsignore, the fire commissioner, at a news conference with Mr. Mamdani. • Mesa County Begins Annual Japanese Beetle Treatments Mesa County is Beginning Its Annual Treatments This Week to Combat Japanese Beetles, an Invasive Species First Detected in 2022 {KJCT NEWS} May 22, 2026 -The county is offering free treatments to private landowners in designated zones to treat turf grass areas for grubs before they become a problem. Since the county’s initial efforts in 2023, the Japanese beetle population has decreased from 5,700 to 1,500 last year. Japanese beetles have been seen feeding on up to 300 different species of plants. • Nearly 30 Illegal Waste 'Super Sites Revealed in New Government Watchlist Included On the watchlist Are the Sites That Are Currently Being Cleared Up By the EA at Hoads Wood, in Kent, and Kidlington, in Oxfordshire {BBC NEWS} May 22, 2026 -Nearly 30 suspected illegal waste "super sites", each containing tens of thousands of tonnes of rubbish, have been identified in a new watchlist of dumps in England. The list of 117 "high priority" sites, published by the Environment Agency (EA) on Friday, includes 28 so-called "super sites" that contain more than 20,000 tonnes of waste. The largest is a 281,000-tonne heap of contaminated soil in Northwich, Cheshire, which is one of 11 such sites revealed by a BBC investigation in January. • Trump Eases Restrictions on Climate ‘Super Pollutants’ The Administration is Delaying a Phaseout of Hydrofluorocarbons, Potent Planet-Warming Chemicals Used In Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration May 21, 2026 -President Trump announced on Thursday that his administration is easing restrictions on the potent planet-warming chemicals used in air-conditioners and refrigerators — restrictions put in place because of a bipartisan law Mr. Trump signed during his first term. The move will slow plans to phase out hydrofluorocarbons, or chemical compounds sometimes called “super pollutants” because of their enormous effect in driving climate change. The administration framed it as an effort to lower grocery prices that are testing voters’ finances before November’s midterm elections. • Los Angeles-Area Wildfires Left Lead in Soil But How Much and Where Remains Contentious {NBC NEWS} May 21, 2026 -After testing soil from about 1% of the homes burned down in the Eaton Fire, the Environmental Protection Agency said residents should feel assured that most properties cleared by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers don’t have hazardous amounts of lead. At least one outside scientist is skeptical. The Eaton Fire destroyed 9,400 homes and structures in the Altadena area in January 2025 and sent smoke containing lead, arsenic and asbestos into the air and to settle nearby. Lead is a potent neurotoxin associated with developmental problems in children. • Congress Grills Officials About the Potomac River Sewage Spill Months After a Collapsed Pipe Pushed Nearly 250 Million Gallons of Raw Sewage Into the River, Residents Say the Area Still Smells May 21, 2026 -Members of a congressional subcommittee this week questioned utility leaders and state officials about their knowledge of preexisting problems with the sewage line that collapsed on Jan. 19 near the Potomac River. According to the University of Maryland’s School of Public Health, the incident was “one of the largest sewage spills in U.S. history.” More than 242 million gallons of untreated wastewater spilled into the Potomac River after a section of the 72-inch-diameter Potomac Interceptor sewer line collapsed. • Congo Crowd Sets Ebola Hospital Tents Ablaze At Epicenter Of Outbreak Angry Crowd Sets Ebola Hospital Tents On Fire in DR Congo {DAILY CALLER} May 21, 2026 -A crowd torched isolation tents at a hospital treating Ebola patients in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo on Thursday after officials refused to release the body of a young man believed to have died of the virus. After health workers refused to release the body, friends and family members at Rwampara General Hospital near Bunia in Ituri province allegedly hurled projectiles, the BBC reported. Two isolation tents and a body burned, Reuters reported. Police fired warning shots, and stone-throwing protesters injured a healthcare worker, a source at the hospital told the AFP, BBC reported. The medical charity announced in a Facebook statement that the six patients from the tents are now receiving care at the hospital. • Why Europe Wants to Tear Down Thousands of Its Dams The Continent Has a Growing Movement to Remove Old and Unnecessary Dams to Improve River Health and Save Species May 21, 2026 -Tore Sorebakken, a Norwegian fly fisherman, jokes that he has a new winter hobby: blowing up dams. It’s not that he’s a comic book villain, set on destroying infrastructure. He’s part of a growing European effort to remove defunct dams and other barriers from rivers, driven in part by a piece of legislation from the European Union that calls for 25,000 kilometers, or about 15,500 miles, of rivers to be flowing freely by 2030. Sorebakken’s latest target: A five-meter tall dam on a remote stretch of the Vinstra River, a tributary of the 127-mile long Gudbrandsdalslågen River that runs through the heart of Norway. The dam was constructed in the early 1900s to aid in timber transport and producing a pittance of hydropower, but it had been defunct for decades. And local authorities were unaware of its existence altogether. “They had forgotten and thought it was a natural waterfall,” Sorebakken says. • A Drainage Ditch and Tesla’s Lithium Refinery Reveal Texas’ Permissive Permitting for Industrial Wastewaters A Pipe Discharges Liquid Waste From Tesla’s Lithium Refinery Plant Into a Ditch On Feb. 13 in Robstown, Texas May 20, 2026 -Tesla opened the first North American lithium refinery in Robstown, Texas, in January 2026, in an effort to onshore the supply chain of electric vehicle batteries. Elon Musk, the company’s CEO and the richest man in the world, touted the facility near Corpus Christi in Nueces County as the cleanest operation of its kind. Within the first month of the plant operating, Nueces County drainage district workers found a pipe releasing black liquid from the refinery into a ditch. There was another surprise: Tesla was permitted by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to discharge its refinery wastewater into that ditch, which the drainage district manages. • Europe’s Green-Energy Future Has a Problem: Reindeer In Northern Norway, Sami People Fear a Copper Mine Will Disrupt Their Traditional Lifestyles May 20, 2026 -Each summer, Nils Mikkelsen Utsi guides his reindeer to highland pastures overlooking a fjord, known to locals as Repparfjord, in northern Norway. There, under the Arctic midnight sun, female reindeer give birth and Mr. Utsi marks the ears of the calves. His ancestors have done this for generations. “This is my reindeer district,” he said. “This is my life.” Nearby, workers are building out the Nussir copper mine, the site of one of Norway’s most contentious environmental disputes. If it’s fully developed, Mr. Utsi fears the mine will cast a shadow over his way of life. • A Rare Ebola Strain is Spreading Here's Why It's So Hard to Contain May 20, 2026 -The World Health Organization has declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern following an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and in neighboring Uganda. The declaration is the second-noisiest alarm the agency can ring on an outbreak, and a signal to other member states to activate their national response and preparedness systems. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus noted in remarks to press that he “determined that the situation was not a pandemic emergency,” the agency’s new and highest classification for outbreaks. As of May 20, officials say the outbreak has led to 139 deaths and nearly 600 suspected cases. Fifty-one cases have been confirmed in towns in the remote, densely forested northeastern Ituri province, and Uganda has confirmed two cases. • 115 Years Ago Today, This Groundbreaking Organization Changed Conservation Forever And You’ll Love What They’ve Protected Since {HEALTHY HAPPY NEWS} May 19, 2026 -On this day 115 years ago, history was made in the most beautiful way possible. Parks Canada officially became the world’s first national park department, setting a gold standard for conservation that would inspire nations around the globe. The groundbreaking agency launched five years before the United States established its own em>National Park Service, proving that good ideas truly do spread. What started as a bold vision has blossomed into something extraordinary. • Fire in the ‘Galapagos of North America’ Risks Species Found Nowhere Else The Channel Islands Are Home to Hundreds of Unique Species, and an Unchecked Blaze is Tearing Through One of the Archipelago’s Most Untouched Lands May 19, 2026 -An unrelenting wildfire has swallowed nearly a third of Santa Rosa Island, a small strip of land off the coast of California that is largely uninhabited by people but abundant with wildlife and plants, including several found nowhere else on Earth. The blaze, which started last Friday, is human-caused but its exact origin is still under investigation, according to the National Park Service, which manages the island as part of the Channel Islands National Park. However, news outlets report the original ignition was likely due to a flare set off by a stranded sailor, who spelled out an “SOS” on the ground amid the burnt vegetation. The sailor was saved, but the inferno has torn through more than 16,000 acres—the biggest fire in California so far this year. • She Was Finding Sources of Dangerous Water and Soil Pollution Melanie Malone Led a Research Project to Identify and Study Contamination Sites in Washington State. Then... May 19, 2026 -Melanie Malone: I’m an environmental scientist, and my specialty is contamination in soil and water. People are often given general advice, such as, “Don’t go into the river,” or “The air quality is bad.” But they don’t often have a lot of information on what the pollutants are, where they are coming from or how they can protect themselves. Near the end of 2022, I received a $1.2 million grant from the Environmental Protection Agency to study ways in which harm to people from pollution was being overlooked along the Lower Duwamish River in Seattle. • Why This Ebola Outbreak Will Be So Difficult to Contain There’s No Vaccine For This Strain of the Virus, Which is Rapidly Spreading... May 19, 2026 -Public health authorities and experts warn that the world is confronting a dangerous convergence of factors that could make the latest Ebola outbreak extraordinarily difficult to contain: a fast-moving epidemic in a conflict-ridden region, involving a strain with no approved vaccine, at a moment when the global health infrastructure built after past Ebola crises has been weakened by funding cuts and political upheaval. The concern comes as the United States on Monday tightened entry rules for some travelers and disclosed that an American infected with the deadly disease was flown to Germany for treatment. • Fast-Moving Wind-Driven Fire Explodes Outside Los Angeles Fire Crews Are Battling the region’s first major blaze of the Year May 19, 2026 -A rapidly growing brush fire outside Los Angeles County has grown to more than 1,300 acres, forcing the evacuation of more than 10,000 homes as Southern California firefighters battle the first major blaze of the year. The Sandy Fire started at 10:50 a.m. Monday near suburbs in Simi Valley, in the area of Ventura County that borders Los Angeles. Strong offshore winds drove flames across the brush-covered hillsides, threatening neighborhoods sprawled above them. A Simi Valley Police Chief told NBC LA that about 30 minutes before, at about 10:17 a.m., a resident called and reported accidentally hitting a rock with their tractor, which authorities believe started the blaze. • Home Builders Are Getting Buried in Claims of Shoddy Construction Legal Liabilities For Big Builders Have Surged. Industry Representatives Say Lawyers Encourage Homeowners to Pursue Dubious Allegations {EE NEWS} May 19, 2026 -The hurricane that felled Bonnie Lattimore’s family bungalow in the late summer of 2025, sending memories and splintered wood into the ocean, was not even that bad of a storm. But as Hurricane Erin churned 200 miles off the coast, it toppled more than a dozen houses along the beach — the worst single episode of home loss in the seashore’s history. All told, 31 houses have collapsed along this small strip of coast since 2020, most recently in February. • American Tests Positive For Ebola; U.S. to Screen Travelers At Airports Health Experts Are Growing Increasingly Alarmed About the Outbreak May 19, 2026 -An American has tested positive for Ebola while working in Congo and is being transported to Germany for treatment along with six other Americans who are high-risk contacts, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said. The CDC also is enhancing public health screening and traveler monitoring amid a growing Ebola outbreak, and non-U.S. passport holders face entry restrictions if they have been to Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo or South Sudan in the previous 21 days. • E.P.A. Clears a Weedkiller, Saying It Won’t Push Species to Extinction Paving the Way For Continued Use of Atrazine, a Widely Used Herbicide That Has Been Linked to Birth defects and Cancer in Humans May 19, 2026 -The Trump administration has determined that atrazine, a weedkiller used widely on corn and other crops, does not pose an extinction risk to threatened or endangered wildlife, effectively justifying its continued use, according to a federal review made public this week. The findings were the latest turn in a yearslong policy battle over a herbicide that has become a pillar of food production in America, but has been linked to hormonal disruptions in frogs and contamination of waterways across the country, along with cancer and other diseases in humans. • Fish and Wildlife Service Clears a Weedkiller, Saying It Won’t Cause Extinctions The finding Effectively Paves the Way For Continued Use of Atrazine May 19, 2026 -The Trump administration has determined that atrazine, a weedkiller used widely on corn and other crops, does not pose an extinction risk to threatened or endangered wildlife, effectively justifying its continued use, according to a federal review made public this week. The findings were the latest turn in a yearslong policy battle over a herbicide that has become a pillar of food production in America, but has been linked to hormonal disruptions in frogs and contamination of waterways across the country, along with cancer and other diseases in humans. • Small Earthquake Recorded Near Walsenburg in Southern Colorado Magnitude 3.0 Earthquakes Are Categorized as "Weak" and Typically Do Not Result in Any Damage {DENVER7} May 18, 2026 -A small earthquake was recorded about three miles southwest of Walsenburg early on Monday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). According to the USGS's review, it was estimated as a magnitude 3.0 earthquake. These are categorized as "weak" and typically do not result in any damage. • Home Builders Are Getting Buried in Claims of Shoddy Construction Legal Liabilities For Big Builders Have Surged. Industry Representatives Say Lawyers Encourage Homeowners to Pursue Dubious Allegations {THE WALL STREET JOURNAL} May 18, 2026 -Blake and Beth Horio bought a home in 2022 in a Henderson, Nev., community thinking it would be an ideal place to retire. But soon, cracks began spreading across the ceilings. Their sliding glass doors wouldn’t open. Their foundation sank several inches, leaving a gap underneath the house. When an engineer who examined the home dropped a marble on the kitchen floor, it sped off into the corner. “Your home is sinking,” he told them. • When Tornado Weather Hits, These Scientists Break Out the Colored Pencils With a Battery of Modern Technology At Their Fingertips, Meteorologists Often Turn First to an Old-Fashioned Tracking Technique May 18, 2026 -It began on a whim, and a little bit of pressure from their boss — two meteorologists in 1948 trying to do what no one had done before: accurately forecast a tornado. Five days earlier, one had destroyed an Oklahoma military base, and the Air Force was desperate to avoid a repeat. Using paper maps and pencils, they painstakingly plotted the conditions of the atmosphere, taking care to note where they might align to create the dangerous mix from which another tornado could spout. • Losing Wild Pollinators Strips Crucial Vitamins From the Diets of Vulnerable Communities When Insect Populations Decline, Some People Go Hungry {ZME SCIENCE} May 18, 2026 -Ecologists have warned for decades that the world’s insects are in trouble. For a while, that decline seemed distant — a problem for wild meadows, forests, and faraway ecosystems. But the fallout is now reaching the dinner table. Take the case of Nepal, for instance, where a new study showed that pollinator loss can lead directly to malnutrition. By mapping thousands of interactions between crops and insects, researchers found that wild pollinators provide more than 20% of the essential vitamin intake of local farming communities. In other words, protecting bees, hoverflies, and other pollinating insects isn’t just about saving nature, it’s about protecting our food. • WHO Declares Ebola Outbreak In Congo A Global Health Emergency Ebola is Transmitted Through Blood and Other Bodily Fluid as Well as Contaminated Surfaces {Society of ENVIRONMENTAL JOURNALISTS} May 18, 2026 -"The World Health Organization declared a new Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda to be a "public health emergency of international concern" on Sunday. However WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stressed in a statement it "does not meet the criteria of pandemic emergency" and advised countries against closing their borders. The outbreak was first reported in the DRC's eastern Ituri province on Friday and there are already hundreds of suspected cases, including one that crossed the border into Uganda. The latest strain of the virus has no vaccine either, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, or Africa CDC. • Earthquake Hits Southwest China; Thousands Evacuate, Buildings Collapse Rescue Workers Walk Past a Damaged Building Following the Earthquake at Taiyang Village in Liuzhou May 17, 2026 -A magnitude 5.2 earthquake in China's southwest region of Guangxi early on Monday killed two and forced more than 7,000 in the city of Liuzhou to evacuate as search and rescue operations continue and authorities warn of transport disruptions. There were two confirmed deaths with one still missing, and four people were sent to the hospital, although none of them had life-threatening injuries, According to CCTV and state news agencyXinhuav. • Evacuations Lifted For Colorado Town of Campo After Wildfire Spreads From Oklahoma Mandatory Evacuations Were Lifted Sunday For a Town Along Colorado's Southern Border After a Fast-Moving Wildfire Crossed Over the State Line {CBS NEWS} May 17, 2026 -Baca County Emergency Management issued an evacuation order for the Town of Campo and Rd 24 to Highway 287 south of Road J to the state line on Sunday before it was lifted. On Sunday night, Baca County authorities said the evacuations had been lifted for just the town of Campo, but not for rural residents near the town. "Check on neighbors. Follow Baca County Emergency Management Facebook for information. Call 911 only for life-threat emergencies," BCEM advised. • Platner’s Energy Plan Prioritizes Lowering Costs and Taking on Big Oil and More Senate Candidate Graham Platner’s Key Energy Goal is to Reduce Costs For Mainers May 17, 2026 -Graham Platner, the presumptive Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate from Maine, is known for a few things: his “more Bernie than Bernie” message of wresting back control from the rich and powerful; his biography as a Marine Corps veteran and oyster farmer with limited political experience; and his history of controversial and offensive online commentary and tattoos. Climate champion? Not so much. But in recent weeks, Platner, who has talked about finding peace from some of his post-combat demons and political disillusionment while working on the clear blue waters of the Gulf of Maine, has started to roll out a message of protecting both the planet and pocketbooks, including through an energy plan released last week. • High Fuel Costs Test Washington and Oregon's Fishing Industry Since the War in Iran Began in Late February, Another Factor is Compounding That Risk. Diesel Costs Have Surged, Cutting Thousands of Dollars From Already Thin Margins {KURW} May 15, 2026 -On a sunny morning in Garibaldi, Oregon, Jesse Coon offloads his catch. Men in waterproof fishing bibs pack salmon into ice and hose out the boat, named Steel Fin. Standing next to stacked coolers of freshly caught fish, Coon pulls out one of the Chinook salmon his crew just caught and explains how it senses bait in the water. “If you look at it really close, there's actually pores — holes right there — and that's their nervous system. And they can sense electricity that's put off by bait fish, and every living creature," he said. • Nooksack River Flood Recovery is Complicated As China rapidly builds out renewable energy, it’s using some of that clean energy to power industrial activities May 16, 2026 -As they race to protect themselves against the next catastrophic flood, communities along the Nooksack River are caught in a pressure cooker. Up the river that weaves through forests and farmlands from the foot of Mount Baker to Bellingham Bay in Puget Sound, Bruce Bosch has told many he fears he could be “the last mayor of Sumas,” as the border town regroups months after its second catastrophic flood in less than five years. Smaller cities like Sumas and its neighbor Everson want to increase the river’s capacity. • China Is Making Green Aluminum As China Rapidly Builds Out Renewable Energy, It’s Using Some of That Clean Energy to Power Industrial Activities... {living on earth} May 15, 2026 -During the recent summit meeting of US President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, the two leaders looked for common ground on trade, the war in Iran and more./p>< But when it comes to green tech, the US and China still seem to be moving farther and farther apart. While the US has opted out of reducing global warming emissions on the federal level, China has committed to reductions of at least seven percent by 2035 and is already greening its economy. An analysis from Carbon Brief showed that in 2025, solar power, electric vehicles and other clean-energy technologies powered more than a third of China’s GDP growth. And one field next in line for decarbonization is China's aluminum production, which accounts for around 60% of the world’s aluminum output, and smelting the metal uses notorious amounts of electricity • Huge, Hungry Whales Are San Francisco’s Latest Traffic Headache To Stop the Growing Number of Ships Colliding With Whales, Scientists Are Deploying a Network of AI-Powered Cameras in the San Francisco Bay {THE WALL STREET JOURNAL} May 15, 2026 -“Whale, 12 o’clock!” Kathi George called out from the bow of a yacht last week. Then, as if to caution the whale, she added: “Ferry! Be careful.” Migrating gray whales and ships are on a collision course in the San Francisco Bay, with at least seven whales dead so far this year—many from vessels—after 21 fatalities in 2025. To ease the deadly traffic jams, George, the director of whale conservation biology at the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, Calif., and other researchers are deploying whale-breath detectors powered by artificial intelligence. • California’s Growing Mushroom Poisoning Outbreak is the Biggest-Ever in U.S. Of the 47 Known Cases, Four People Have Died {NBC NEWS} May 15, 2026 -California’s monthslong spate of mushroom poisonings, in which four people have died and 43 others hospitalized, has become the largest known outbreak of its kind in U.S. history, experts say. Three cases were reported earlier this week, long after the typical growing season for the mushrooms behind the illnesses, leaving public health officials and mycologists puzzled about why the poisonings have been so widespread and what is causing the trend. • Scientists Stunned As Massive Volcano Eruption Destroyed Methane Around It for Over a Week After the 2022 Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai Eruption, Satellites Spotted a Strange Formaldehyde-Rich Plume Drifting Across the Stratosphere {ZME SCIENCE} May 15, 2026 -When the Tonga volcano erupted beneath the South Pacific, it did what this type of volcanoes do: it blasted seawater, ash, and gas into the sky with terrifying force. But then it did something that scientists didn’t expect at all. The drifting plume appears to have turned into a kind of high-altitude chemical reactor, breaking down methane for more than a week. This is all the more stunning because methane is a potent greenhouse gas, far more potent than carbon dioxide. • US Government Planning Dramatic Colorado River Water Cuts Due to Drought, Overuse Federal Plan Could Cut Arizona, California, Nevada Water Use By Up to 40% May 15, 2026 -The U.S. government has proposed a new water-sharing plan for the drought-stricken Colorado River that could cut up to 40% of current supplies to Arizona, California and Nevada, according to a senior Arizona official. With a 20-year-old plan expiring this year, and talks between seven states that share the river at an impasse, the federal government late last week intervened with a strategy to deal with severe water shortages, according to Tom Buschatzke, director of the Arizona Department of Water Resources. • Can Some Very Tiny Particles Cool the Planet? One Tech Company Says Yes May 14, 2026 -A company at the forefront of solar geoengineering — the notion that blocking radiation from the sun could cool a warming planet — has disclosed details of the materials it wants to sprinkle in the atmosphere. Stardust Solutions, led by former members of Israel’s nuclear energy program, is publishing research on Thursday that reveals the chemical properties of its particles, how they would affect the atmosphere and how high-flying aircraft would disperse the material. • Humans in the Andes Evolved a Defense Against Arsenic After Being Exposed to Poisoned Water for Thousands of Years Some Andean Communities Carry Genetic Variants That Help Detoxify Poisoned Water. {ZME SCIENCE} May 14, 2026 -For thousands of years, water in the high Andes carried a mortal hidden danger. The water gushing from streams and groundwater around the volcanic landscape looked clear enough. It came from streams and groundwater in a dry, volcanic landscape. But in places such as San Antonio de los Cobres, a town in northern Argentina, the water also carried arsenic — a toxic metal linked to cancer, heart disease, liver damage, diabetes, pregnancy complications, and early death. Yet people there raised families and built thriving communities. We now know that, over many generations, natural selection appears to have left a mark in their DNA. • The Toxic Aftermath of the L.A.-Area Fires Altadena Residents Have Found Hazardous Substances Such as Lead and Asbestos On Their Properties... {NBC NEWS} May 14, 2026 - A mother in Altadena started her son on chelation therapy to remove lead from his blood. A geochemist will not enter his home without a respirator and a full-body suit. A cinematographer spent thousands to get the lot where his home once stood tested for heavy metals and remediated — work the government cleanup program did not do. Sixteen months after the Eaton Fire, these are the extreme measures Altadena residents are taking to deal with a host of toxic compounds, including arsenic and asbestos, plaguing their families and properties. The contamination is a result of the unprecedented nature of this urban firestorm, in which thousands of houses and cars became the blaze’s fuel, releasing heavy metals into the smoke. • How 13,000 Acres of South African Wilderness Got a Second Chance at Life Nature Wins Again {HEAlthy HAPY NEWS} May 13, 2026 -In a heartwarming victory for Mother Nature, conservationists in South Africa have successfully reclaimed 13,000 acres of vital native habitat from the grip of invasive species. The restoration effort, spanning from 2017 to 2025, proves that when dedicated people come together, they can heal our planet one acre at a time. Conservationists removed invasive species from 13,000 acres of precious South African habitat over 8 years Native plants and animals are making a beautiful comeback in restored ecosystems International cooperation shows what’s possible when communities unite for nature. • Plants May Have Survived Earth’s Massive Extinctions by Doubling Their Genome This May Be an Emergency Strategy to Survive Extinctions {ZME SCIENCE} May 12, 2026 -When the world goes bad, some plants do something astonishing. They can’t run or hide, nor can they do much about changing their ecosystem. Instead, they copy themselves. We’re not just talking about a gene here or there; we’re talking about whole-genome duplication. A sweeping new analysis of 470 flowering plant genomes suggests that whole-genome duplication can work as an evolutionary gamble. Most of the time, it fizzles out. But during global crises, when life on Earth really is in trouble, these plants seem to have had a survival edge. • Scientists Create ‘Living Plastic’ That Can Self-Destruct On Command Living Plastics Could Turn Disposal From an Afterthought Into a Built-In Feature {ZME SCIENCE} May 12, 2026 -Plastic is useful because it is extremely durable. That is also the problem. The same polymer chains that give plastic its strength can linger for years, decades, or even centuries, breaking into smaller fragments rather than degrading completely into the natural environment. Now, researchers have built a plastic with a strange escape hatch: dormant microbes embedded inside it. When activated, the microbes wake up and help digest the polymer material from within. In a new study, researchers at the Shenzhen Institute of Synthetic Biology in China engineered two strains of acillus subtilis to work together inside a plastic film. • A New Rift Might Be Opening in Africa, and Helium Is Leaking From Below Helium Hints at a Young Rift Under Zambia {ZME SCIENCE} May 12, 2026 -For millions of years, eastern Africa has been slowly tearing itself apart. The process (called rifting) has left behind deep valleys, volcanoes and lakes that trace one of the planet’s great geological scars. Now, scientists say another part of Africa might also be splitting apart farther south. A new study of hot springs in Zambia’s Kafue Rift has found helium and carbon isotope signatures in the region. These isotopes suggest that mantle-derived fluids reaching the surface — in other words, a new rift system. • EPA Plan Would Let Work Start On Data Centers, Power Plants Before Air Permits Developers Could Start Building “Non-Emitting” Components Ahead of Air Permitting Under Administrator Lee Zeldin’s Proposal {E&E NEWS} May 11, 2026 -EPA on Monday proposed allowing data centers, power plants and other industrial facilities to begin certain construction work before obtaining required federal air permits. The proposal is the latest development in the Trump administration’s effort to juice new manufacturing and other industries, especially artificial intelligence. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said the change will cut through red tape to speed up projects. “Today’s proposal works to provide solutions to issues that have held up critical American infrastructure and advance the next great technological forefront,” he said in a statement. • 3 Simple Ways to Reduce Your Body’s Exposure to Plastic Chemicals Feel Like There’s Nothing You Can Do About Your Exposure to Plastic? A Study Suggests You Could Make a Difference in as Little as Seven Days May 11, 2026 -When it comes to plastic-related particles and chemicals, people often feel helpless and overwhelmed. Plastic contamination feels so pervasive, inevitable and frustrating, especially since the research is limited on how to reduce your exposure. That’s why a new randomized controlled trial published in Nature Medicine immediately caught my eye. Researchers at the University of Western Australia found that in just seven days, a few specific lifestyle changes — from consuming a low-plastic diet to using low-plastic personal care products — could reduce the amount of plastic-associated chemicals in urine by as much as 60 and 35 percent, respectively. • Do Houseplants Improve Air Quality? Air Purifiers Are More Effective and Easier to Maintain {The Economist} May 10, 2026 -Clean air is important for health, yet many homes are rife with pollutants. Household products such as cleaning solvents, waxes, paints and varnishes often contain volatile organic compounds like benzene and toluene, which can cause skin irritation, eye damage, neurological disorders and cancer. Furnishings and carpets, for their part, can slowly release formaldehyde, another carcinogenic molecule. The presence of these toxins is particularly problematic for children who spend much of their time indoors and have sensitive lungs. Air purifiers can help, but houseplants have in recent years been marketed as a more aesthetic alternative. Amazon, an e-commerce giant, sells plants described as being for “air purification” alongside more traditional categories such as “low-maintenance” and “pet-friendly”. But how good a job can plants actually do? • 6 Tick-Borne Diseases That Should Be on Your Radar With Tick Season In Full Force, Here Are the Most Common Diseases They Spread in the U.S. May 10, 2026 -Tick season has arrived, which means that between now and September in the United States, you’re more likely to discover a tick on your skin after spending time outdoors. In fact, emergency room visits for ticks are happening earlier, and hitting higher levels, than they have in the past. If you do spot a tick on yourself or a loved one, remove it immediately: Ticks can harbor different kinds of bacteria and viruses, and the longer it’s attached, the higher your chances of developing a tick-borne disease. • Water Restored in City of Victor, Goldfield After Multi-Day Outage As of Wednesday Morning, the City Remains Under a boil Advisory {KKTV11} May 10, 2026 - Wednesday night, the City of Victor said portions of the water system have been experiencing “higher than normal” water pressure as a result of the main water line repair. City officials said they are aware of the problem and are making adjustments in the system to stabilize the pressure. During this time, residents are asked to monitor plumbing systems and appliances, specifically water heaters, boilers, pressure regulators and any other water-connected equipment, for signs of leaks • WA Flood Victims’ Struggle Offers a Warning For Cities Behind Urban Levees Urban Levees Are Not as Good as You Think May 10, 2026 -The city assured everyone the levees remained stable, holding back the White River’s floodwaters. So Jessica Adams and Kevin Wik tucked into bed in the early morning hours of Dec. 16, their worries assuaged. The couple had just returned to their home on White River Drive after living for 2 ½ months in Seattle Children’s hospital for the premature birth of their twins, navigating a labyrinth of polished floors and fluorescent lights. While doctors had cleared their infant son, Jaxson, to come home, his sister, Maxine, remained hospitalized, connected to an assortment of tubes to help her breathe and eat.. • Why the Colorado River is Once Again Facing a Water Crisis A Stopgap Proposal From Arizona, California and Nevada is Unlikely to Break the Stalemate in Negotiations Over the Future of the River May 10, 2026 -The situation on the Colorado River has rarely been more dire than in this moment. The snowpacks that feed the river are the smallest on record. The reservoirs that hold the majority of its water are nearing historic lows. Neither a stopgap proposal aimed at stabilizing the nation’s largest reservoir, nor a late-season snowstorm are sufficient to avert a looming water crisis, experts say. But with Western states at an impasse in negotiations over the river’s future, recent short-term wins may at least temporarily hold off cuts to people’s water supply in the lower part of the basin.

The Issues: What We Need to Know
Lead Poisoning Details Help End Food Wast Global Sand Mining Carbon Offset Credits Air Pollution and PM2.5 Breaking Down Toxic PFAS Ethylene Oxide Exposure Chicago Urban Agriculture Clean Up Your Cleaning Act Arsenic In Our Babies’ Cereal Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) Paying Back Koch Industries Radon's Impact on Our Lungs The Guardian Climate Pledge About Those Toxic Chemicals A Cleaner Way to Remove CO2 Dos and Don’ts of Pesticide Use Danger: Seismic Airgun Blasting Confronting Ocean Acidification What Our Agencies Don’t Tell Us Avoid Hurricane Surge Flooding Map Showing the Lost Rainforests Toxic Release Inventory Program Fossil Fuel Facts You Should Know Pesticides and Farm Worker Safety What to Know About Ground Water The Mushroom That Can Eat Plastic Bali Fights For its Beautiful Beaches Your Car Needs a Professional Wash Can We Restore the Gulf of Mexico? The Fossil Fuels Behind Forest Fires The PFAs in Clark's Marsh, Michigan Know The Clean Drinking Water Facts Wipes Are Tearing Up Our Sewer Systems Green Ammonia fo a Sustainable Future Companies Reducing Their CO2 Footprint Derailed Train Ordered Pay Cleanup Costs Lifestyle Changes to Shrink Carbon Footprint	• What Will Power the A.I. Revolution? It Could End Up Increasing Emissions, at Least in the Short Term Jan. 7, 2025 - Last week, Microsoft announced that it would spend approximately $80 billion during this fiscal year to build data centers for its booming artificial intelligence business. That gargantuan sum is a testament to the opportunity that Microsoft and other tech giants see in A.I. It also has the makings of a climate conundrum. • ‘Forever Chemicals’ Reach Tap Water via Treated Sewage Wastewater, Even After Treatment to Make it Drinkable, Contains High PFAS Levels Jan. 6, 2025 - As the world grapples with climate change, population growth and dwindling supplies of fresh water, more people are set to rely on treated wastewater to sustain their daily lives. But wastewater, even after treatment, contains high levels of harmful “forever chemicals” that are already contaminating the drinking water of millions of Americans, researchers said in a study published on Monday that analyzed wastewater samples nationwide. • Heavy Snow and Ice Move From Midwest to Mid-Atlantic Hundreds of Thousands of Customers from Missouri to Virginia were Suffering Power Outages... Jan. 6, 2025 - A wide-reaching winter storm dropped more than a foot of snow and closed major highways in parts of the Midwest as it continued its trek eastward Monday. In parts of the Great Plains, snow totals exceeded anything that had been seen in decades. At least three fatalities were reported in two traffic incidents in the Midwest. Click now for more of the story. • Biden to Block Oil Drilling Across 625 Million Acres of U.S. Waters Affecting Future Oil and Gas Leasing Across Parts of the Atlantic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, the Eastern Gulf of Mexico and the Northern Bering Sea Jan. 4, 2025 - President Joe Biden will move Monday to block all future oil and gas drilling across more than 625 million acres of federal waters — equivalent to nearly a quarter of the total land area of the United States, according to two people briefed on the decision who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the announcement is not yet public. Click now for additional information. • ‘A Place For Kids to Play and a Place to Store Water’ The Stormwater Capture Zone that is Also a Playground Jan. 3, 2025 - For a city that is almost small enough to fit inside Manhattan’s Central Park just a few miles away, a lot of history has played out within the narrow borders of Hoboken, New Jersey. It was the site of the first organized baseball game in 1846, home of one of the US’s first breweries in the 17th century and the place where Oreo cookies were first sold in 1912. And, as any Hobokenite will tell you, the Mile Square City, as it is called, is also known for something else. • How an Antacid For the Ocean Could Cool the Earth A New Technology Promises to Remove Carbon From the Atmosphere and Prevent Ocean Acidification Jan. 3, 2025 - The world’s oceans stow vast amounts of carbon dioxide. Now, a growing group of scientists and companies say they’ve found a way to increase that storage capacity by tweaking ocean water chemistry. The technique, known as ocean alkalinity enhancement, usually involves dissolving acid-neutralizing rocks in the ocean, allowing it to absorb more carbon dioxide. • This Hidden Mineral is Crumbling Thousands of Home Foundations Across New England Pyrrhotite Causes Cracks in Concrete. But Research on How Widespread the Issue Might Be Has Only Scratched the Surface Jan. 3, 2025 - In 2020, Karen Bilotti and her husband, Sam, started to notice fine lines in their basement’s concrete walls. Ordinarily, they might not have given them a second thought. But the Bilottis had recently heard about a growing group of nearby homeowners in Massachusetts with larger cracks in their foundations, and Sam began to worry. “‘With our luck, our house is probably affected,’” Karen recalled him saying. “And I’m like, ‘You’re crazy. You’re absolutely ridiculous. There’s no way.’” Through core testing, scientists and engineers had determined the culprit behind fissures like those in their neighbors’ homes was pyrrhotite, a mineral made up of sulfur and iron found in some concrete aggregates. • Not a Happy New Years Eve For Puerto Rico Power is Restored to Nearly All of Puerto Rico After a Major Blackout Jan. 2, 2025 - Power was restored to nearly all electrical customers across Puerto Rico on Wednesday after a sweeping blackout plunged the U.S. territory into darkness on New Year’s Eve. By Wednesday afternoon, power was back up for 98% of Puerto Rico’s 1.47 million utility customers, said Luma Energy, the private company overseeing transmission and distribution of power in the archipelago. Lights returned to households as well as to Puerto Rico’s hospitals, water plants and sewage facilities after the massive outage that exposed the persistent electricity problems plaguing the island. • Underwater Volcano Off Oregon Coast Scientists Anticipate the Submarine Volcano Will Erupt Before the End of 2025 Jan. 2, 2025 - In the depths of the Pacific Ocean, 470 kilometers off the Oregon coast, a drama is unfolding. Axial Seamount, one of the most active underwater volcanoes in the world, is swelling with magma. Scientists believe it will erupt before the end of 2025—a bold prediction, but one based on decades of monitoring and a unique volcanic rhythm. Bill Chadwick, a geophysicist at Oregon State University, likens the situation to a pressure cooker nearing its limit... • Detecting Hidden Moisture in Your Walls This Radar System Can Do Just That Jan. 2, 2025 - Mold is one of the most significant challenges for homeowners, and once it takes hold, it can be incredibly difficult to eliminate. Preventing mold is the best approach, and the cornerstone of mold prevention is managing humidity. Now, researchers from Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have developed a method using microwave radar to monitor the moisture content in wood inside walls. “We know microwave radar shows great promise for this, because it’s well known that it can measure the moisture in wood samples,” ORNL’s Philip Boudreaux said. “But can it measure moisture in wood that is inside a wall to detect high-moisture issues before they become a big problem? That’s the challenge.” • Bird Flu Strikes Again Severe Case Confirmed in the US Jan. 2, 2025 - A patient in Louisiana has been hospitalized with a severe case of bird flu (H5N1). This is the first instance of serious illness from this virus in the United States. Although health officials emphasize that the risk to the general public remains low and the virus still isn’t transmitted from human to human, this as a stark reminder that avian influenza remains a persistent and pervase threat, especially to those in close contact with birds and other animals. Click now to read all about it. Louisiana Plastics Plant Put On Pause is a Win For Activists Parisians: Recovering a River Now Buried Under the City Cities Take Action to Limit Loud and Polluting Lawn Care Air Pollution Causes Over 1 Million Stillbirths Each Year Plastic Pellets Flow From the Mississippi Into the Gulf How About a Little Radio-activity in Your Fertilizer? Sustainable Concrete: Do What the Romans Did NY Fracked Gas Plant Rejections Set Precedent To Clear City Smog, Chile Pushes Electric Taxis • Moving Stockholm Toward an Emissions-Free Future Slaughterhouses Pollute Our Waterways Amazon and Others Destroy Unsold Products Plastic Pollution is in All Areas of the U.S. Tropicana Sued Over Malic Acid Presence Drinking Water With ‘Forever Chemicals’ Did We Really Need a Clean Water Rule? Solving the Global Cooling Problem Uranium Mining in the Grand Canyon Insects Could Vanish Within a Century Declining: The Dirt Beneath Our Feet Wiping Out the Boreal Forest - Literally Coal Ash: Hazardous to Human Health NRDC Warns of Up to 40% Food Waste Mangroves May Store More Much CO2 How Do I Reduce My CO2 Footprint? C’mon Congress - Get the Lead Out	Reinvent Cement World Oceans Day The Global Safety Net Tropical Deforestation NOAA Carbon Tracker Ocean Plastics Pollution Dirty Water = Dirty Fish The Real Cost of Carbon 16 Must-See Documentaries Going Green When You Go Your Car's Carbon Footprint Interactive Power Grid Maps Minimizing Pesticide Usage Asbestos Exposure Treatment Micro-plastics Raining Down Diesel School Buses & Health Singapore's Marina Barrage Drinking Water Report Card The Toll s Single-Use Plastics Compare Your City's Pollution What Is Amphibious Architecture? Costa Rica Reversed Deforestation Headed for the Last Roundup®? The Great Pacific Garbage Patch Head & Shoulders Above the Rest How Your State Makes Electricity Australia’s Ecosystems Collapsing The Goldman Environmental Prize Transportation Emissions in the U.S. How Fracking Threatens Our Water Air Pollution and Its Health Impacts Keeping Plastics Out of Our Oceans The World's Most Controversial Tree A Plant in Florida Emits Nitrous Oxide Who's Sueing Who Over Gulf Oil Spill? Coffee With a Side of Microplastics Affect of Abandoned Oil and Gas Wells Cancer Causing Radon in Your Home

India: Source of the Worst Pollution

The World Air Quality Report 2024 by AQI aims to highlight the global air quality trends in 2024 to support the progress on environmental actions globally. Thus, the report focuses on the PM2.5 concentrations and AQI (Air Quality Index) across countries and cities. To offer a comprehensive air pollution view, both real-time and historical data from AQI.in have been collected and utilized.

The report analyzes the AQI and PM2.5 levels in the air across 5,750 cities in 140 countries and regions. The data for this report was collected from more than 15,432 air quality monitoring stations operated by governmental bodies, research institutions, universities, and other organizations.

The data used in the following report was sourced from AQI.in, which monitors and collects real-time air quality. This report categorizes the data by countries, regions and cities and also includes city-wise and country-wise rankings. The Asia region has more extensive data coverage because of a higher number of air quality monitoring stations in the area. The report utilizes AQI and PM2.5 metrics to understand the air pollution risk globally. • AQI: Calculated based on the U.S. standardized measurement system. • PM2.5 Data: Reported in µg/m³ (micrograms per cubic meter), adhering to the latest World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines for PM2.5 levels. • Cigarette data is based on PM2.5 levels using Berkeley’s rule: 1 cigarette = 22 µg/m³ PM2.5.

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Oil Spill History

"Birds and Oil Don't Mix"
• The Oilspill That Never Quite Goes Away Signs of BP's Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Persist Over a Decade Later Aug. 10, 2022, -Though the leak was eventually capped (temporarily in July 2010 and permanently in September 2010), the spill damage and lingering effects didn’t end there. Even more than a decade later, some signs of the environmental catastrophe remain, according to a new study published in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science. • Massive Spill Hits Southern California’s Beaches About 3,000 Barrels of Oil Leaked from a Broken Pipeline Off the California Coast Oct. 3, 2021, (Bloomberg Green)-California beaches in Northern Orange County were closed and wetlands contaminated by a huge oil spill caused by a broken pipeline off the coast. About 3,000 barrels of oil leaked from the pipeline and washed up on beaches and wetlands in Huntington Beach, a popular spot for Southern California surfers and beach goers. The beach’s ocean and shoreline have been closed indefinitely, the city said in a statement Sunday. • Mystery: Origin of the Oil Killing Brazilian Sea Turtles? Oil Is Killing Brazil’s Turtles Where Is It From? Oct. 12, 2019 (TIME)- More than a month since oil started washing up on some of Brazil’s most touristic beaches, dotting sand with b lack patches, killing sea turtles and scaring off fishermen, the origin of the crude is still a mystery. “We don’t know the oil’s origin, where it came from or how it got here,” Energy Minister Bento Albuquerque said at an offshore exploration auction in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday Click now for more details • One Dead in Gulf of Mexico Rig Accident One dead in Gulf of Mexico Rig Accident - But No Pollution July 21, 2019 (UPI) -There is no pollution associated with an explosion on a drilling platform about 12 miles off the coast of New Orleans in the Gulf of Mexico, a regulator said. The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement said it was notified by oil and gas operator Fieldwood Energy of an explosion on its Echo Platform. Fieldwood said one contract worker was killed and three other employees were treated for injuries at an onshore medical facility. Click now for the whole story. • 14-Year-old Oil Leak in Gulf: Far Worse Than Taylor Energy Says New Estimate for an Oil Leak: 1,000x Worse Than Rig Owner Says June 25, 2020 (NY Times Climate Forward) -A new federal study has found that an oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico that began 14 years ago has been releasing as much as 4,500 gallons a day, not three or four gallons a day as the rig owner has claimed. The leak, about 12 miles off the Louisiana coast, began in 2004 when a Taylor Energy Company oil platform sank during Hurricane Ivan and a bundle of undersea pipes ruptured. Oil and gas have been seeping from the site ever since. Click now to read all about it. • It’s Been Nine Years Since the Deepwater Horizon Incident Nine Years After Deepwater Horizon April 16, 2017 (National Wildlife Federation) - It has been nine years since BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded off the coast of Louisiana, killing eleven men and unleashing an 87 day-long torrent of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico. National Wildlife Federation has taken an active role in Gulf recovery, advocating for science-based decision-making to benefit wildlife and their habitats as Gulf leaders invest recovery funds into restoration. While there are still decades of recovery ahead, significant strides have been made over the last eight years to restore the Gulf for coastal communities and wildlife. As we reflect on the lives lost and the damage wrought, we should also consider how we can prevent a similar disaster from happening in the future. Click now for the complete story • Torrey Canyon Oil Spill - Learning From History Torrey Canyon Disaster – the UK's Worst-Ever Oil Spill 50 Years On Mar. 18, 2017 (The Guardian) - “I saw this huge ship sailing and I thought he’s in rather close, I hope he knows what he’s doing,” recalled Gladys Perkins of the day 50 years ago, when Britain experienced its worst ever environmental disaster. The ship was the Torrey Canyon, one of the first generation of supertankers, and it was nearing the end of a journey from Kuwait to a refinery at Milford Haven in Wales. The BP-chartered vessel ran aground on a rock between the Isles of Scilly and Land’s End in Cornwall, splitting several of the tanks holding its vast cargo of crude oil. Click now for the complete story	• The Prospect of Cuba Drilling In The Gulf Concerns Tampa Bay Advocates of Gulf Oil-Drilling Ban Worried By Talks With Cuba Aug. 18, 2016 (Tampa Bay Times) - Progress in international talks over who owns a piece of the Gulf of Mexico has raised the specter of a Deepwater Horizon tragedy along local shores. A few hundred miles from the west coast of Florida is a 7,700-square-mile area of the Gulf of Mexico known as the Eastern Gap, thought to be rich with oil but with no clear owner. The U.S., Cuban and Mexican governments are now negotiating how to split the area among the three nations. Once that happens, each country can drill for oil in its allotted portion. • Shell Oil Mimics BP With 90,000 Gal. of Crude Shell Oil Spill Dumps Nearly 90,000 Gallons of Crude Into Gulf May 13, 2016 (EcoWatch) -An oil spill from Royal Dutch Shell’s offshore Brutus platform has released 2,100 barrels of crude into the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. The leak—roughly 88,200 gallons—created a visible 2 mile by 13 mile oil slick in the sea about 97 miles south of Port Fourchon, Louisiana, according to the U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement. Officials said that the accident occurred near Shell’s Glider field, an underwater pipe system that connects four subsea oil wells to the Brutus platform, which floats on top of the water with a depth of 2,900 feet. Click now for more (if you can bear it). • Blowout Highlights Gulf Drilling Dangers Blowout Highlights Gulf Drilling Dangers July 25, 2013 (Mother Nature Network) -Flames erupted from an offshore drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico, torching a natural gas plume that had been leaking since a blowout earlier in the day. All 44 rig workers were evacuated before the fire began, according to the U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, but the rig continued spewing gas until Thursday morning, when its scorched frame finally collapsed enough to cut off the leak. Click now for the whole story. • Obama White House Lifts Deepwater Drilling Ban Obama White House Lifts Deepwater Drilling Ban Oct. 12, 2010 (CBS News) -The Obama administration on Tuesday lifted the deep water oil drilling moratorium that the government imposed in the Gulf of Mexico in the wake of the disastrous BP oil spill. The administration has been under heavy pressure from the industry and others in the region to lift the six-month ban on grounds it has cost jobs and damaged the economy. A federal report said the moratorium likely caused a temporary loss of 8,000 to 12,000 jobs in the Gulf region. While the temporary ban on exploratory oil and gas drilling is lifted immediately, drilling is unlikely to resume immediately. Drilling companies must meet a host of new safety regulations before they can resume operations, officials said. Click now for more if you can bear it. • Enter the No-Spin Zone of the Deep: the BP Live Feed The No-Spin Zone of the Deep June 5, 2010 (Christian Science Monitor) - It was the last thing BP wanted: An open, high-definition live video feed – a "spillcam," if you will – showing in excruciating detail the massive oil geyser fouling the Gulf of Mexico, a situation admittedly caused by the giant extractive firm. But after a series of PR disasters – waffling, obfuscating, misplaced optimism, a gaffe-prone CEO – the decision by BP, under pressure from Congress, to put the live feed on the air reaped some unexpected plaudits for the company. Click now for the complete story from the archives. • Can We Restore the Gulf of Mexico? Gulf Oil Spill: Dispersants Have Potential to Cause More Harm Than Good May 11, 2010 (CISTON PR Newswire) -The chemical dispersants being used to break up the oil leaking into the gulf following the explosion of British Petroleum's Deepwater Horizon offshore oil rig have the potential to cause just as much, if not more, harm to the environment and the humans coming into contact with it than the oil possibly would if left untreated. That is the warning of toxicology experts, led by Dr. William Sawyer, addressing the Gulf Oil Disaster Recovery Group, a group of lawyers working to protect the rights and interests of environmental groups and persons affected by the Deepwater Horizon disaster. The group represents the United Fishermen's Association and the Louisiana Environmental Action Network (LEAN), among others. Click now to learn more. • Exxon Valdez: The Story That Never Goes Away 20 Years After Exxon Valdez Oil Spill, Alaskan Coastline Remains Contaminated Mar. 24, 2009 (Democracy Now) - Today marks the twentieth anniversary of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, one of the worst environmental disasters in history. The Exxon Valdez spilled between 11 and 38 million gallons of crude oil into the fishing waters of Prince William Sound. The spill contaminated more than 1,200 miles of Alaska’s shoreline and killed hundreds of thousands of seabirds and marine animals. It also dealt a staggering blow to the residents of local fishing towns, and the effects of the disaster are still being felt today. We speak with Riki Ott, a community activist, marine toxicologist, former commercial salmon fisherma’am and author of two books on the spill. Her latest is Not One Drop: Betrayal and Courage in the Wake of the Exxon Valdez Spill. Click now for the story deep in the archives.

America's Greenest Cities

Provided by Mother Nature Network
# 1 - Portland, Ore The city of microbrewery mania and home to megastore Powell's Books — one of the few remaining independent booksellers in the country — is No. 1 in sustainability. Declared the most bikeable city in the United States for its 200 miles of dedicated bike lanes, Portland certainly makes forgoing gas-powered travel easy. And for lessons in DIY sustainable food sources, classes are available for container gardening and cheese making, or beekeeping and chicken keeping.	# 2 - San Francisco, Cal. Declared by Mayor Gavin Newsom to be America's solar energy leader, this vibrant city of cultural tolerance was a 1960s icon and epicenter for the Summer of Love. But in addition to peace, love and solar power, there's also an innovative recycling program with an artist-in-residence at the recycling facility. The artist uses his work to inspire residents to recycle and conserve. San Francisco is also the first U.S. city to ban plastic grocery bags, a concept that supports its effort to divert 75 percent of landfill waste by 2010.
# 3 - Boston, Mass. It's hard to think of this city without also thinking of tea — as a commodity, not a drink. Boston ranks high among the urban green elite. Sustainability efforts include a "Green by 2015" goal to replace traditional taxi cabs with hybrid vehicles, recycle trash to power homes, use more solar panels, and use more electric motorbikes for transportation. The city's first annual Down2Earth conference was held in 2008. It's designed to educate residents about how to live the most sustainable lifestyle.	# 4 - Oakland, Calif. Residents of this port city have access to an abundance of fresh, organic food, much of which is locally sourced. It's also home to the nation's cleanest tap water, hydrogen-powered public transit and the country's oldest wildlife refuge. Oakland also plans to have zero waste and be oil-independent by 2020, and already gets 17 percent of its energy from renewable sources.
# 5 - Eugene, Ore. Known as the Emerald City for its natural green beauty, this baby boomer haven and second largest city in the state has been doing the "green" thing since the 1960s. In 2008, after only one year of service, the Emerald Express, a hybrid public transit system, won a Sustainable Transport award. Cycling is the preferred mode of transportation, made possible by the 30 miles of off-street bike paths and 29 dedicated bike routes, which total a whopping 150 miles of smog-free travel throughout the metro area.	# 6 - Cambridge, Mass. In 2008, Prevention Magazine named Cambridge "the best walking city." Thoreau's Walden Pond can be found in nearby Concord, and education powerhouses Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University are located here. In 2002, city officials implemented a major climate protection plan and today most city vehicles are fueled by B20 biodiesel or electricity. All new construction or major renovations must meet LEED standards. And a project called "Compost that Stuff" collects and processes organic waste from residents, restaurants, bars and hotels.
# 7 - Berkeley, Calif. A great place to find an abundance of organic and vegetarian restaurants is also on the cutting edge of sustainability. Berkeley is recognized as aleader in the incubation of clean technology for wind power, solar power, biofuels and hydropower.	# 8 - Seattle, Wash. The unofficial coffee klatch capitol of the country is also sustainable-living savvy. More than 20 public buildings in Seattle are LEED-certified or under construction for LEED certification. Through an incentive program, residents are encouraged to install solar panels on their homes for energy conservation. Sustainable Ballard, a green neighborhood group and sustainability festival host, offers ongoing workshops about how to live in harmony with the environment.
# 9 - Chicago, Ill. The Windy City has embraced land sustainability far longer than you may think. In 1909, pioneering city planner Daniel Hudson Burnham created a long-range plan for the lakefront that balanced urban growth, and created a permanent greenbelt around the metropolitan area. This greening of the city continues through the Chicago Green Roof Program. More than 2.5 million SQF city roofs support plant life — including Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower) and the city hall building. Also, about 500,000 new trees have been planted.	# 10 - Austin Tex. Carbon neutral by 2020 — it's an ambitious goal, but Austin Energy is the nation's top seller of renewable energy among 850 utility-sponsored programs, which makes its goal to power the city solely on clean energy within reach. As the gateway to the scenic Texas Hill Country, acreage in Austin devoted to green space includes 206 parks, 12 preserves, 26 greenbelts and more than 50 miles of trails.

Safer Habitats Table of Contents
(Click on a link below to get the full picture.)
Clean Air Council	Climate Emergency Network	Common Dreams	Earthworks
Env. Impact Assessment	Environmental Working Group	Florida Black Bears	Fly California
Gold Rush vs Salmon Habitat	Guardian Sustainable Business	Los Angeles Mass Transit	Mass.gov
Sierra Club	UNLV Recycling	Virginia Dept of Env. Quality	Your Cities, Yourselves

Organizations for Safer Habitats

(Click on an image for more of the story)
The Guardian Sustainable Business Read articles like "Famers Turn Tobacco into Airplane Fuel," Infographics on Air Pollution and Your Health, Cardboard Boxes You Sleep In, and much, much more. Florida Black Bears are in trouble, and they can't hire their own lawyers. -but we can help.	Gold Rush vs Salmon Habitat Five major mining projects have been proposed for the transboundary watershed – the waters shared by British Columbia and southeast Alaska. The region is home to important salmon producing rivers that originate in British Columbia and run through Alaska to the sea. A number of environmental groups, Alaskan Natives and commercial fishermen strongly oppose some of these mining developments across the border. They argue mining could have negative impacts on the salmon and water quality, and irrevocably alter the region's economy, environment and way of life
Environmental Working Group Two-thirds of produce samples in recent government tests had pesticide residues. Don't want to eat bug- and weed-killers? EWG's Shopper's Guide to Pesticides in Produce helps you shop smart. We highlight the cleanest and dirtiest conventionally-raised fruits and vegetables. If a conventionally grown food you want tests high for pesticides, go for the organic version instead. And remember - the health benefits of a diet rich in fruits and vegetables outweigh risks of pesticide exposure. Dirty Dozen™ Plus highlights hot peppers and leafy greens - kale and collard greens - often tainted with unusually hazardous pesticides.	Hydraulic Fracturing (AKA Fracking). Another assault to the environment for which we can thank Haliburton and others. Read all about this extreme method of natural gas extraction , and its impact on water quality and other serious health issues (human and other species). Click the Earthworks icon to learn more.
100 Coal Plants Unplugged. This Sierra Club milestone, 100 coal plants defeated, marks a significant shift in the way Americans are looking at our energy choices. Read on and/or view video.	What Massachusetts is doing about Climate Change?
Flooded Village Files Suit, Citing Corporate Link to Climate Change. The eroding village of Kivalina in the Northwest Arctic is suing Exxon Mobil and 23 other energy companies for damage related to global warming. Read all about it.	This is the web page for Climate Emergency Network news. Click now to get there.
Impact reports for the high speed rail system. You can fly California without leaving the ground, or the carbon footprint associated with air travel. Includes maps of the extensive rail system. ALL ABOARD! The Cape Wind Project will bring clean energy to Nantucket Sound. The project has been delayed by NIMBY (not in my back yard) issues by some who claim to be environmentalists.	An Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is an assessment of the likely positive and/or negative influence a project may have on the environment. “Environmental Impact Assessment can be defined as: The process of identifying, predicting, evaluating and mitigating the biophysical, social, and other relevant effects of development proposals prior to major decisions being taken and commitments made.”[1] The purpose of the assessment is to ensure that decision-makers consider environmental impacts before deciding whether to proceed with new projects.
EIR + Facts about the Los Angeles Metro - yes, L.A. has a mass transit system. Also read about the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA)	Your Cities, Yourselves Smart-growth advocates offer tips for changing your neck of the woods.
Virginia Dept. of Environmental Quality The Office of Environmental Impact Review coordinates the Commonwealth's response to environmental documents for proposed state and federal projects. The environmental impact review staff distributes documents to appropriate state agencies, planning districts and localities for their review and comment. Upon consideration of all comments, the staff prepares a single state response.	Discover how Networkfleet can help lower fleet fuel costs and greenhouse emissions with technology that combines GPS vehicle tracking with onboard engine diagnostics.
Monitoring the environmental impact of Pennsylvania's energy generation. A steward in validating the state's compliance with the Clean Air Act. What happens in Pennsylvania doesn't necessarily stay in Pennsylvania.	Between 2003 and 2006, the UNLV Rebel Recycling Program recycled 2,144.5 tons of materials. Paper/Fiber (cardboard, paper, books) recycled was 1,641.6 tons. The diversion of these materials from the Apex landfill to the manufacturing process resulted in a positive impact on the global environment. Click on the logo for more.

Companies Producing Cleaner Power

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1366 One Step Closer to
Opening US Solar PV Wafer Facility

Solar silicon wafer innovator 1366 Technologies has landed new funding led by newest partner Tokayama, and is ready to scale up to a 250-MW production line ahead of an anticipated upswing in demand.

Ten months ago 1366 moved into a new 25-MW pilot facility in Bedford, Massachusetts, to nail down process and tweak equipment for its solar silicon wafering technology to take the next step toward commercialization. In June of 2013 the firm inked a R&D deal with Japanese silicon producer Tokuyama with hints that it could expand to an equity investment.

What if a cost-effective air pollution control technology could actually increase energy efficiency? What if it were possible to prevent harmful emissions from the combustion of any fuel, including gas, biomass, coal — even tire-derived fuel and municipal solid waste — in the flame, before those pollutants were ever formed?

The executives at Fulton-based Redox Power Systems are making a bold bet: The homes and businesses of the future will be powered by an extraterrestrial-looking apparatus loaded with fuel cells that convert natural gas and air into electricity.

The technology promises to be more efficient and environmentally friendly than the systems that power many buildings today, but the company has to first overcome the economic and social barriers that often beset renewable energy ventures.

Mesothelioma is a Disease Brought
On By Exposure to Asbestos

Disclaimer: There are many sites that focus on treatment, but we lack the credentials to recommend the best ones*. We've provded a short list:

• Mesothelioma Justice Network • MesotheliomaLawyerCenter.org
• Mesothelioma Staging System • Treat Mesothelioma.org
• Mesothelioma Help Now

*Always consult with a professional
before making your choice.