Environment

The Carrolls, who once raised cattle, decided three decades ago to raise Christmas trees instead. The trees take seven to 12 years to mature.

Christmas Tree Farmers Invest Long-Term In The Holiday Spirit

8:09pm December 25, 2014

by Eleanor Klibanoff

Americans buy 25 million Christmas trees every year. They're slow-growing crops, but the trees can be a smart investment for small farmers like the Carroll family in Louisa, Va.

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Environment

Ecologists Take On Tiny Green Beetles That Infest Ash Trees

7:00am December 25, 2014

by Lewis Wallace

The emerald ash borer is spreading across the U.S. and destroying ash trees. The pests usually only bothered ash trees, but an Ohio scientist has made a distressing discovery.

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During the dry season, human waste makes the water putrid along the floating village of Prek Toal on Tonle Sap Lake.

Floating Toilets That Clean Themselves Grow On A Lake

11:03am December 24, 2014

by Nsikan Akpan

A new project places little kayaks filled with aquatic plants under latrines in floating homes on Southeast Asia's largest freshwater lake. So how do the toilets clean the wastewater?

Cage-free eggs for sale in 2008 in Knoxville, Tenn.

Farm Fresh? Natural? Eggs Not Always What They're Cracked Up To Be

3:49pm December 23, 2014

by Anders Kelto

Egg cartons these days are often plastered with an array of terms that can confuse and even mislead consumers. Here's a glossary of carton jargon for the wannabe informed egg buyer.

Congress To Nutritionists: Don't Talk About The Environment

1:38pm December 23, 2014

by Dan Charles

Should dietary guidelines consider the environmental effects of our food choices? The government-appointed Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee thinks they should. Congress, however, says no.

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Smoke rises from the Colstrip Steam Electric Station, a coal burning power plant in in Colstrip, Mont., in September. New EPA guidelines treat toxic coal ash from such plants much the same as common household garbage.

New EPA Standards Label Toxic Coal Ash Nonhazardous

11:58am December 22, 2014

by Scott Neuman

Environmental groups had sought to have coal ash, a byproduct of coal-fired power plants, regulated as hazardous waste.

An unmanned aerial vehicle films vineyards in France. Drones like this one are also being used in Califiornia, as part of a broader "precision farming" movement designed to lower greenhouse gas emissions.

In Wineries Vs. Weather, Drones To The Rescue?

1:43pm December 21, 2014

by Renee Morad

Rising temperatures have hastened harvest dates in Sonoma County — and they're changing grape-growing patterns around the world. Vineyards are responding with everything from sunscreen to sensors.

Staff Picks: An Evangelical Christian Believer In Climate Change

12:52pm December 21, 2014

Weekend Edition staff have been picking their favorite interviews from 2014. Editor Natalie Winston talks with NPR's Rachel Martin about an interview with an evangelical Christian climate scientist.

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Workers with the Pebble Mine project test-drill in July 2007 in the Bristol Bay region of Alaska near the village of Iliamma.

Advocacy Groups Tell Lawmakers To Back Off

4:00pm December 19, 2014

by Peter Overby

Three groups from across ideological lines say a congressional investigation into ties between the EPA and the Natural Resources Defense Council seems intended to intimidate.

Leslie Roeder of New York City cheers outside New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office on Wednesday after the state announced a ban on hydraulic fracturing.

No Fracking In New York? That's OK With Pennsylvania

11:23am December 19, 2014

by Marie Cusick

Environmental groups cheered New York's decision to ban the practice, and some in the industry say when it comes to good-paying jobs, New York's loss is Pennsylvania's gain.

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