environment

Wildfires are an increasingly big and increasingly costly reality.  The "severity and overall size" of wildfires has expanded considerably in recent decades, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. California's 2018 fire season, in particular, broke several dubious records, including... Read More

Experts say environmental education needs greater investment if future generations are to be able to fully respond to the climate emergency.   According to an article in Environmental Education Research, co-authored by Alan Reid, editor, and Justin Dillion, Jo-Anne Ferreira and... Read More

PHOENIX (AP) — Much of the American West has been blasted with sweltering heat this week as a high pressure dome combines with the worst drought in modern history to launch temperatures into the triple digits, toppling records even before... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Some of America’s best oceanographers made a plea to Congress Monday to protect the oceans from environmental disaster or risk devastating consequences for the human population. They said global warming was increasing floods and hurricanes, raising sea levels... Read More

WASHINGTON — Competing claims and diplomatic disputes over Antarctica resulted in 12 countries coming together to create an Antarctic Treaty that came into force in 1961. Now 60 years later, 54 countries are involved, and policies and management of the... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Department of the Interior on Tuesday canceled all oil and gas leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge pending a new environmental review. The sale of the leases was one of the final acts of the Trump... Read More

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Environmental groups and scientists with two universities want U.S. wildlife managers to consider reintroducing jaguars to the American Southwest. In a recently published paper, they say habitat destruction, highways and existing segments of the border wall... Read More

COLUMBIA, Md. (AP) — Sifting through a shovel load of dirt in a suburban backyard, Michael Raupp and Paula Shrewsbury find their quarry: a cicada nymph.  And then another. And another. And four more.  In maybe a third of a... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Senate voted Wednesday to reinstate an Obama-era regulation intended to reduce methane gas leaks from oil and gas facilities. In September, former President Donald Trump rolled back the regulation, which required facility operators to regularly monitor their... Read More

WASHINGTON — Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance are three central factors that shareholders are increasingly using to measure the sustainability and societal impact of their investments in companies or businesses. But there continues to be a range of opinions on... Read More

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service has entered into an interagency agreement with the Forest Service to add up to 600 of its dams to NRCS’s Nationwide DamWatch® system. DamWatch is a web-based application developed... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Wilson Center, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, on Wednesday morning hosted an event explaining the complexities of measuring the presence of marine debris in the environment, focusing on the need to collect more data.  Measuring the problem... Read More

Two new studies paint a clear picture of the long-lasting, corrosive effects of poor sleep on the brain by linking neighborhood conditions to memory loss and cognitive performance in adolescents.  The first study found that persistent loud noises and other... Read More

WASHINGTON —President-elect Joe Biden’s plan to address man-made climate change appears poised to benefit from a bicameral party majority. Biden’s plan, outlined on his campaign website, proposes $1.7 trillion in new “federal investments” over the next 10 years that would... Read More

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is rushing to issue permits, finalize major environmental regulations and even sell the rights to drill for oil in Alaskan wilderness before Inauguration Day in a push that could complicate Joe Biden's climate and conservation agenda. The eleventh-hour regulatory race... Read More

About Cunningham: Joe Cunningham and his wife, Amanda, live in West Ashley where they are raising their son, Boone.  Along for the ride is their five-year-old rescue dog, a terrier mutt named Teddy.   Cunningham spends about 100 days a year... Read More

WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., and U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., announced in a release that the U.S. House of Representatives passed a critically needed fix to the 2018 Water Resources Development Act that would... Read More

WASHINGTON - The amount of plastic entering the world’s oceans could nearly triple within the next two decades, according to a report by the Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan American think tank based in Washington, D.C., called “Breaking the Plastic... Read More

President Donald Trump announced he is loosening the National Environmental Policy Act in a bid to speed up permitting of federal infrastructure projects ranging from highway upgrades to the construction of oil and natural gas pipelines. The president announced the... Read More

WASHINGTON - Reps. Charlie Crist, D-Fla., and Bill Posey, R-Fla., have introduced legislation that would create Centers of Excellence on Harmful Algal Bloom research, prevention, response, and mitigation to aid in the fight against harmful outbreaks of red tide and... Read More

The Chesapeake Bay’s blue crab population is going strong despite shrinking significantly this year, according to a report issued last week by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. The environmental watchdog found no signs of overfishing in the bay in 2020, though... Read More

On the same day that the Center for American Progress and the League of Conservation Voters released an issue brief detailing how states have stepped up where the federal government has neglected to lead on climate change, CAP convened representatives... Read More

It’s a big year for the planet. April 22, 2020, marked the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, a celebration of the environmental movement that is honored around the world. But many are celebrating Earth Day indoors this year. The coronavirus... Read More

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has reached what conservationists are calling a historic deal to protect monarch butterflies, which pass through multiple states on their annual two-way migrations. “Completing this agreement is a huge boost for the... Read More

MINNEAPOLIS — It’s been more than 91 years since the last crop was pulled from the soil of an old farm field that, hidden away in a science reserve just north of the Twin Cities, has been left to grow... Read More

WASHINGTON - The House will vote next week on a trio of bills that would effectively block all new offshore oil and gas drilling in the waters around the United States. In a letter to House members, Democratic House Leader... Read More

WASHINGTON - Seven months from Super Tuesday, the race to win the California primary and presumably, a lock to be the Democratic presidential nominee, is a toss-up, according to new poll released by the Public Policy Institute of California. California... Read More