Environment

Cattle graze in pasture formed by cleared rainforest land in Pará, Brazil. A new online tool makes it easier for food companies to detect this kind of land-clearing by their suppliers.

Environment

Don't Cut Those Trees — Big Food Might Be Watching

8:13pm July 31, 2019

by Dan Charles

Dozens of food companies have promised to stop their suppliers from clearing forests in order to grow crops or graze cattle. Now the companies have a tool to monitor those farmers from space.

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D.C. Officials Start To Rethink Swimming Ban In Rivers After Years Of Cleanup Efforts

4:28pm July 31, 2019

by Jacob Fenston

Swimming has been banned in some of the nation's urban rivers for decades because of pollution. Now, the waterways are becoming cleaner and D.C. may allow swimming in the Potomac and Anacostia.

Trucks churn up coal dust at the Tavan Tolgoi coal mine in the South Gobi desert. The Tavan Tolgoi deposit is estimated to possess 6.5 billion tons of coal, including high-grade coking coal — a product vital to the steel-making process.

Mongolia's Long Road To Mining Wealth

11:49am July 31, 2019

by Emily Kwong

Mongolia is undergoing a dramatic transformation from a pastoral society to one whose economy is based on mining, especially copper and coal. With the change has come opportunity — and loss.

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Ethiopians Plant 350 Million Trees As Part Of 'Green Legacy' Program

7:52am July 31, 2019

by Eyder Peralta

In one day, Ethiopians planted more than 350 million — that's million with an M — trees. It was an effort to combat climate change and deforestation. The program has been dubbed Green Legacy.

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A discarded plastic bottle lies on the beach at Sandy Hook, N.J. Packaging is the largest source of the plastic waste that now blankets our planet.

Plastics Or People? At Least 1 Of Them Has To Change To Clean Up Our Mess

9:27pm July 30, 2019

by Christopher Joyce

As consumers rebel against plastic waste, there's a growing question: Do we invent something people can toss without harming the environment or do we change people by giving them a chance to reuse?

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In Las Vegas, There Are Swarms Of Grasshoppers Big Enough To Show Up On Weather Radar

5:12pm July 30, 2019

Las Vegas has been invaded by grasshoppers due to unusually wet weather earlier this year. They have shown up in radar footage from the National Weather Service.

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The owner of Holiday Inn and InterContinental Hotels announced Tuesday that it will switch to bulk-size bathroom amenities across the hotel group.

So Long, Mini Shampoos: Holiday Inn's Owner Switching To Bulk Sizes To Cut Waste

4:01pm July 30, 2019

by Merrit Kennedy

InterContinental Hotels Group says its hotels use some 200 million little toiletries every year. It plans to switch from tiny plastic sample sizes to bulk-sized bathroom amenities by the end of 2021.

Rapid population growth in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, coupled with a household dependence on coal for heating and cooking has created perfect conditions for one of the most extreme cases of air pollution in the world.

Mongolia's Capital Banned Coal To Fix Its Pollution Problem. Will It Work?

3:10pm July 30, 2019

by Emily Kwong

Winter nights in Ulaanbaatar can drop to minus 20 degrees Fahrenheit. Many residents without electricity burn coal to heat their homes, leading to toxic air and health problems.

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Herders bury animal carcasses in 2010 in Mongolia's Dundgovi province. A decade ago, an extreme winter — known in Mongolia as a dzud — claimed the lives of 22% of the nation's livestock and sped up migration from rural areas to urban centers.

The Deadly Winters That Have Transformed Life For Herders In Mongolia

11:40pm July 29, 2019

by Emily Kwong

Mongolia's herders are accustomed to cold, but the extreme conditions of the country's terrible winters, known as dzuds, killed countless livestock and livelihoods. Herders have had to adapt.

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A Pipistrel Taurus Electro electric two-seat airplane flies above Ajdovscina, Slovenia.

With An Eye Toward Lower Emissions, Clean Air Travel Gets Off The Ground

8:05pm July 29, 2019

by Ari Shapiro

Air travel is set to grow dramatically. It will be a while before electric planes truly take off, but people are trying to reduce their carbon footprint now with offsets and "flight shaming."

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