Environment

How agencies will decide who gets funds for those facing pollution and health issues

6:05pm August 30, 2023

by Seyma Bayram

The White House wants to direct more funding communities dealing with high levels of pollution and health problems. But how agencies determine who qualifies for the money has some researchers worried.

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More than half of wetlands no longer have EPA protections after Supreme Court ruling

5:42pm August 30, 2023

NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with Marla Stelk, executive director of the National Association of Wetland Managers, about the EPA's new rules that comply with a ruling limiting the Clean Water Act's scope.

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Makatla Ritchter and her mother, Keiphra Line, wade through flood waters after evacuating their home in Tarpon Springs, Florida. Flood waters from Hurricane Idalia inundated it on August 30, 2023. Climate change is making storm surge and intense rainfall during hurricanes like Idalia more dangerous.

What's the connection between climate change and hurricanes?

4:43pm August 30, 2023

by Alejandra Borunda

Hurricane Idalia made landfall in Florida. Here are some ways climate change is reshaping tropical cyclones like it

Towering smoke plumes overshadowed California's town of Paradise as the Camp Fire raced through in 2018. More than 18,000 acres burned in a matter of hours.

Climate change makes wildfires in California more explosive

3:44pm August 30, 2023

by Alejandra Borunda

A new study pins about 25% of the extra risk on human-caused climate change.

Students from the Yupiit School District learn how to prepare freshly caught salmon.

An Alaska district aligns its school year with traditional subsistence harvests

4:59am August 30, 2023

by Evan Erickson

Three Alaska Native Villages have changed their school calendar so that students now can take part in things like the fall moose hunt and the spring migratory bird harvest.

A snowy egret stands within the salt marsh at Station Creek Landing in St Helena, S.C., on July 10, 2023.

The EPA removes federal protections for most of the country's wetlands

7:41pm August 29, 2023

by James Doubek

The amended EPA rule is to comply with a Supreme Court ruling this year that narrowed the scope of the Clean Water Act and the agency's power to regulate waterways and wetlands.

The extreme wildfire that hit Lahaina burned all the way to the coast. As the cleanup continues, rainstorms could wash toxic runoff into the ocean.

Environment

Another struggle after the Maui fires: keeping toxic runoff out of the ocean

1:55pm August 29, 2023

by Lauren Sommer

There's little that separates the ocean from the 2,200 burned buildings in Lahaina. Officials are working to block runoff that could harm the coral reefs offshore.

Environment

A historic drought is causing a huge traffic jam at the Panama Canal

8:08am August 27, 2023

by Ayesha Rascoe

NPR's Ayesha Rascoe talks to Adil Ashiq from the maritime intelligence firm MarineTraffic {sic} about how a historic drought is causing huge delays at the Panama Canal.

In Arizona, paleontologists are shifting their focus to microfossils

8:08am August 27, 2023

by Melissa Sevigny

Your whole idea of the Triassic period is about to be disrupted. Paleontologists are shifting their focus from dinosaurs to fossils so small they have to be reassembled under microscopes.

Many worry ash and rubble from Lahaina could wash into the ocean

2:12pm August 25, 2023

by Lauren Sommer

The coast guard and local officials have put up barriers to help avoid runoff from rain. Even though Lahaina is a dry place, what are the continuing threats to ocean health from the burn zone?

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