Environment

California Works Out Details Of Mandatory Water Restrictions

7:34am April 09, 2015

by Kirk Siegler

State regulators will begin enforcing the new restrictions on a sliding scale. That means that some cities that have been slacking in water conservation will have to do a lot more than others.

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From Pet To Pest, Goldfish Tip Scales Of Survival In Lake's Ecosystem

6:23pm April 08, 2015

Colorado wildlife officials believe someone released four or five pet goldfish into Teller Lake #5 a few years ago. Now, the fish number in the thousands and threaten the lake's ecosystem.

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What Is The Mystery Goo That Killed Seabirds In The Bay Area?

4:10pm April 08, 2015

by Lindsey Hoshaw

More than 200 birds died earlier this year. Now, scientists and federal agencies are running forensic tests and looking for clues to the goo as part of a national investigation.

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Fields of carrots are watered March 29, 2015, in Kern County, Calif. Subsidized water flowing in federal and state canals down from the wet north to the arid south helped turn the dry, flat plain of the San Joaquin Valley into one of the world's most impo

California Farmers Gulp Most Of State's Water, But Say They've Cut Back

7:54pm April 07, 2015

by Kirk Siegler

Farms in California use as much as four times the water consumed by cities and towns. Now farmers are on defense after the governor decided to mostly exempt them from new, sweeping water cutbacks.

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Burden Of Proof Hurt State In N.J.-Exxon Settlement, Some Say

3:35pm April 07, 2015

by Joel Rose

Officials released the details of the state's proposed $225 million settlement with ExxonMobil, calling it a historically large payout. But environmentalists say the deal is worse than they feared.

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NASA Battles Rising Sea Levels To Protect Kennedy Space Center

7:48pm April 06, 2015

by Amy Green

Sea level rise is beginning to affect the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. A protective dune not too far from the launchpads has collapsed.

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Neil deGrasse Tyson with a Cambodian cricket rumaki canape, wrapped in bacon. "I have come to surmise, in the culinary universe, that anytime someone feels compelled to wrap something in bacon, it probably doesn't taste very good," he said skeptically bef

Even Neil DeGrasse Tyson Is Now Munching On Bugs

6:08pm April 06, 2015

by Carole Zimmer

At an event to honor the modern-day science hero, $15,000 worth of edible insects were on the menu. So Tyson was willing — if not exactly eager — to explore the delicacies on offer. For science.

Not so ugly, eh? Supposedly imperfect produce rescued and reclaimed for consumption by Bon Appetit and Better Harvests.

Think Nobody Wants To Buy Ugly Fruits And Veggies? Think Again

12:57pm April 06, 2015

by Maria Godoy

As much as a third of the produce grown on some farms is rejected because it doesn't meet beauty standards. But it's still tasty and healthy. One big firm is now telling growers: Give us your uglies.

When Did Humans Start Shaping Earth's Fate? An Epoch Debate

11:35am April 06, 2015

by Nell Greenfieldboyce

Some scientists suggest calling the era we live in the Anthropocene, to denote the time when humans came to dominate Earth's fate. But did it start with farming, the atom bomb or another event?

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Coping With California's Drought

6:25pm April 04, 2015

In a week when Governor Jerry Brown announced mandatory water restrictions, NPR's Arun Rath talks with reporter Kirk Siegler about his visit to the Sierra Nevada mountains, where the snowpack so vital to the state water supply is dramatically absent.

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