Environment

New York Attorney General Launches Investigation Into ExxonMobil

3:05pm November 06, 2015

NPR's Kelly McEvers talks to Neela Banerjee of Inside Climate News about the investigation into the allegations ExxonMobil knew more about climate change than it told investors and the public.

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The region where two mining dams failed in southeastern Brazil is seen in this satellite image. According to Yahoo, one of the dams that failed is at bottom right.

Mine Wastewater Floods Countryside In Brazil After 2 Dams Fail

12:16pm November 06, 2015

by Bill Chappell

The flooding overwhelmed houses, leaving a coating of mud — and in one case, setting a car atop a structure's walls. Rescue crews are still looking for survivors. At least one person has died.

An NPR team joined Brazil's environmental police, the Ministry of Defense and other government enforcement agencies as they carried out a joint operation in the Jacunda National Forest in western Brazil. They seized timber that had been cut down by illega

The Claims Are Rosy, But Brazil's Rain Forest Is Still Disappearing

9:58am November 06, 2015

by Lourdes Garcia-Navarro

Brazil says it has greatly reduced the rate of deforestation. That may be true, critics say, but they argue such figures are misleading because so much of the Amazon has already been degraded.

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Flares and electric lights on oil well pads illuminate low-hanging clouds near Watford City, North Dakota.

Oil Boom Means Sky Watchers Hoping for Starlight Just Get Stars, Lite

8:05pm November 05, 2015

by Emily Guerin

Light pollution has increased by 500 percent at Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota, thanks to nearby oil fields. Stargazers and oilmen are working together to find a solution.

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N.Y. Attorney General Investigates Whether Exxon Mobil Lied On Climate Change

6:10pm November 05, 2015

by Marilyn Geewax

Investigators want to know if the company deceived investors and the public about risks associated with climate change. The company protests that it has included those risks in its reports for years.

In the 1970s, the Brazilian government declared the Amazon open for settlement. Rondonia became like Oklahoma during the land rush. The poor and dispossessed of other Brazilian states were encouraged to move in. Quickly, trees gave way to farms and cattle

In The Amazon's Fire Season, 'You Either Burn Or You Starve'

6:56am November 05, 2015

by Lourdes Garcia-Navarro

This is the time of year subsistence farmers clear land by setting fires in the Amazon. They say it's the only way they can make a living, but it's delivering another blow to the rain forest.

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Alaskan fisherman David Fry and his baited hooks.

Episode 661: The Less Deadly Catch

7:24pm November 04, 2015

Today on the show, how an economic fix took the deadliest job in America and made it safer. And why a lot of people are mad about it.

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Elizeu Berçacola surveys the scene after he and his fellow rubber tappers set afire one of three illegal logging camps.

Deep In The Amazon, An Unseen Battle Over The Most Valuable Trees

3:07pm November 04, 2015

by Lourdes Garcia-Navarro

For generations, the rubber tappers of the Amazon have gone about their business in a way that preserves the rain forest. Today, they are increasingly in conflict with criminal logging gangs.

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A piece of cacao cut open to reveal its fruit. The seeds, in particular, hidden at the center of the fruit, are a key ingredient in chocolate production.

In The 'Cradle Of Cacao,' Chocolate Brigades Fight For A Bigger Harvest

2:40pm November 04, 2015

by Kirk Siegler

Ecuador's chocolate is famous, and a sweet spot in an otherwise souring economy. The government is paying a small army of pruners to trim back 120,000 acres of Amazonian cacao farms to boost yields.

Keystone XL Pipeline Company Asks U.S. To Pause Review Of Application

7:55pm November 03, 2015

by Jeff Brady

TransCanada has asked the State Department to suspend its review of its permit to build the Keystone XL Pipeline Monday until Nebraska decides on its route.

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