Environment

The Flame Refluxer is essentially a big copper blanket: think Brillo pad of wool sandwiched between mesh. Using it while burning off oil yields less air pollution and residue that harms marine life.

Researchers Test Hotter, Faster And Cleaner Way To Fight Oil Spills

9:06am March 22, 2017

by Debbie Elliott

The Flame Refluxer is essentially a big copper blanket: think Brillo pad of wool sandwiched between mesh. Using it while burning off oil yields less air pollution and residue that harms marine life.

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Farmer Arif Subandi surveys scorched peat lands near his house in the village of Punggur Kecil in West Kalimantan Province on Borneo.

Indonesia's Peat Fires Still Blaze, But Not As Much As They Used To

2:00pm March 19, 2017

by Anthony Kuhn

Clearing peat land by fire is illegal but remains widespread, since it's the cheapest way to clear land for farming and industry. Still, peat fires were down by more than 80 percent from 2015 to 2016.

Climate Change As An Issue Of National Security

7:52am March 19, 2017

Defense Secretary James Mattis called climate change a national security threat. Retired Brig. Gen. Gerald Galloway talks about how the Pentagon will manage challenges presented by climate change.

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Pipes for the Dakota Access Pipeline are stacked at a staging area in Worthing, S.D., in 2015.

Norwegian Pension Fund Divests From Companies Behind DAPL

7:42pm March 17, 2017

by Camila Domonoske

KLP is pulling millions of dollars it has invested in companies building and owning the Dakota Access Pipeline. The decision was reportedly driven by pressure from Norway's indigenous Sami peoples.

A boy from a tribe in Northern Kenya stands on a dried-up river bed.

#CuriousGoat: Ask Us About Climate Change And Global Well-being

3:41pm March 17, 2017

by NPR Staff

What questions do you have about the toll that climate change is taking — and about possible solutions?

Visitors have flocked from as far as Asia and Africa to see the rare floral bloom in the California desert.

California Deserts In 'Super Bloom' Thanks To A Wet Winter

2:32pm March 17, 2017

by Mandalit del Barco

A rainy winter has brought an early spring to Anza-Borrego Desert State Park in Southern California. Wildflowers are in bloom. How can seeds survive years of drought and then put on such a display?

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Green shoots of cereal rye, a popular cover crop, emerge in a field where corn was recently harvested in Iowa. The grass will go dormant in winter, then resume growing in the spring. Less than three percent of corn fields in the state have cover crops.

How To Make Farmers Love Cover Crops? Pay Them

6:39pm March 16, 2017

by Dan Charles

New satellite images reveal that few Midwestern farmers are planting pollution-preventing "cover crops." In Maryland, though, farmers are doing it, thanks to hefty subsidies.

Graveyard of Staghorn coral, Yonge reef, Northern Great Barrier Reef, October 2016.

Study: 'Urgent' Action Against Global Warming Needed To Save Coral Reefs

6:22pm March 16, 2017

by Merrit Kennedy

After another major coral bleaching event, a new study has concluded that securing a future for coral reefs "ultimately requires urgent and rapid action to reduce global warming."

Māori paddlers guide a boat down the Whanganui River in New Zealand, during a visit from Britain's Prince Harry in 2015.

A New Zealand River Now Has The Legal Rights Of A Human

6:08pm March 16, 2017

by Colin Dwyer

Lawmakers granted the Whanganui River the rights of legal representation on Wednesday. The vote caps over a century of struggle by the local Maori people, who see the waterway as a sacred ancestor.

NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 monitors how the climate is changing. Trump's budget would eliminate some satellites, including OCO-3, a next-generation carbon-monitoring spacecraft.

Trump's Budget Slashes Climate Change Funding

4:20pm March 16, 2017

by Nell Greenfieldboyce

The White House's proposed federal budget cuts everything from research to regulation, and makes clear that the administration doesn't view climate change as a priority.