Environment

This year saw more prescribed fires than ever before

4:46pm November 24, 2023

by Alice Fordham

A top strategy for preventing catastrophic wildfires is periodically burning forests under controlled conditions. The U.S. Forest Service conducted more "prescribed" fires than ever this year.

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This image provided by WTVQ and taken from video shows people sitting at a table at Rockcastle Middle School, an evacuation center in Mt. Vernon, Ky., on Wednesday. People were evacuated after a CSX train derailed near Livingston, a town of about 200 people in Rockcastle County. CSX says two of the 16 cars that derailed carried molten sulfur, which caught fire after the cars were breached.

Residents of Kentucky town can return home after crews put out derailment fire

5:47pm November 23, 2023

by The Associated Press

Evacuees were spending part Thanksgiving away from home after a CSX train derailed, catching fire and spilling chemicals near Livingston, a remote town with about 200 people.

Members of the Bengaluru Solidarity Group in Support of the Bhopal Struggle take part in a candlelight vigil to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Bhopal gas disaster in Bangalore on December 2, 2014.

The world's worst industrial disaster harmed people even before they were born

9:28am November 22, 2023

by Rhitu Chatterjee

The 1984 gas leak in Bhopal, India, killed thousands. New research finds babies born to mothers who were pregnant at the time have suffered long-term impacts worse than those directly exposed.

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How scientists are trying to save the insects that make life possible

6:12pm November 21, 2023

by Teresa Homsi

There are more than a million insect species, but entomologists say they're declining at alarming rates. Scientists are trying to determine how to save these tiny creatures that prop up life on Earth.

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Pope Francis is a staunch advocate for addressing climate change.

Pope Francis: Climate activist?

4:38pm November 21, 2023

by Manuela López Restrepo

The Pontifex has long used his platform to advocate for climate change awareness. Now he's attending one of the biggest conferences seeking to address it.

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A man picks through plastic waste at a garbage dump in Kenya.

Global talks to cut plastic waste stall as industry and environmental groups clash

12:59pm November 20, 2023

by Michael Copley

The United Nations wants to finish a plastics treaty by the end of 2024. Almost every piece of plastic is made from fossil fuels, and the industry wants a big say in how it's cleaned up.

A worker in a Bangladeshi lead mill, without safety protection. A new analysis finds the death toll from lead exposure is about six times higher than the previous estimate.

A new study says the global toll of lead exposure is even worse than we thought

11:35am November 20, 2023

by Nicole Estvanik Taylor

A new study finds that 5.5 million adults worldwide died in 2019 from cardiovascular disease attributable to lead exposure, more than six times higher than a previous estimate.

The USFS is proposing changing a rule that would allow the storage of carbon dioxide pollution under national forests and grasslands. It's controversial.

The U.S. has a controversial plan to store carbon dioxide under the nation's forests

6:02am November 20, 2023

by Julia Simon

A proposed rule change from the US Forest Service would allow storage of carbon dioxide pollution under national forests. The plan comes as communities resist such projects in their areas

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Children wade through floodwater on Nyangai Island, Sierra Leone. Most of the island has already been lost to the sea, and what remains is routinely flooded at high tide.

A disappearing island: 'The water is destroying us, one house at a time'

11:00am November 19, 2023

by Tommy Trenchard

The island of Nyangai off the coast of Sierra Leone is on the frontline of climate change. More frequent and intense weather has eroded Nyangai to a nubbin. Residents who remain fear for its future.

Environment

America's glaciers are disappearing

7:53am November 19, 2023

NPR's Ayesha Rascoe speaks to Professor Andrew Fountain from Portland State University about melting glaciers in the American West.