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Earth

Keeping It Green

Atmospheric CO2 Levels

(Monthly Averages)

May 26, 2026: 432.5 ppm
10 years ago: 396 ppm
Pre-industrial base: 280
Safe level: 350 ppm

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

Page Updated:
July 22, 2026

• The 2024 Clean 15 (Safe Foods)
• Get the Lead Out Toolkit
• Oil Spill History
• Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act

• US Emissions by Sector Chart

  
  

  Where is all that CO2 coming from? This graph breaks it down by economic sector.

• Greenest U.S. Cities
• Safe Water in Pictures
• U.S. WEA Grassroots Accelerator
• Safer Habitats

• • Oil Firms Knew for Decades of Methane’s Danger to Planet

  The Companies Knew They Were Releasing More of the Greenhouse Gas Than They Publicly Reported

  

  July 22, 2026 -The oil and gas industry has known for decades that its wells were releasing far more planet-warming methane than companies acknowledged, according to industry documents identified by an environmental group.

  In a report on the findings released on Monday, the Center for Climate Integrity cited, among other examples, a 1979 report commissioned by the research arm of the American Gas Association, an industry group. That report said that major gas fields in the United States could be releasing far more planet-warming gases than was being officially reported.

• • Historic West Virginia Flooding Washes
  Out Roads, Knocks Out 911 Service

  Rescues Continue
  
  {CNN Weather}

  July 22, 2026 - After a night of punishing rain and rising floodwaters, emergency crews in Buckhannon, West Virginia, are working to reach residents in need — but washed-out roads and impassable streets have cut off parts of the city, making the full extent of the damage difficult to assess.

  “Right now, that’s our problem,” the City of Buckhannon said in a Facebook post. “Our city is spliced up by the flood waters in such a way that there’s not a central place for everyone to access at this time.”

• • Tunnel Collapse in India Kills 14 Workers

  At Least 14 Workers Were Killed After a Portion of an Under-Construction Tunnel Collapsed Following a Gas Explosion in India's North-Eastern Sikkim State
  
  {yahoo!news}

  July 22, 2026 -Rescue operations are continuing to locate 11 others who are reported to be trapped in the tunnel since Monday's collapse.

  The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) said the incident happened about 1.5km (0.9 miles) inside the tunnel.

  The under-construction tunnel, designed to carry water from the nearby Teesta River to a hydropower plant's turbines, is part of a larger project in the Himalayan state being developed by the state-owned National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC).

• • Microplastics Found in 84% of Serious Heart Attack Patients

  Plastic Pollution May Be Reaching the Heart Through the Bloodstream, and People Suffering the Most Severe Form of Heart Attack Appear to Carry The Greatest Burden
  
  {SciTechDaily}

  July 21, 2026 -In a study published in the European Heart Journal, researchers detected microplastics and nanoplastics in the coronary blood of 84% of patients who had experienced a serious heart attack. That compared with 40% of patients with chronic ischemic heart disease and 32% of those whose coronary arteries appeared normal.

  The heart attack group also had a wider variety of plastics in their blood. Polyethylene, one of the world’s most widely used plastics and a common ingredient in packaging and consumer products, was the material found most often.

• • South Station Starbucks Remains Closed After
  Boston Health Inspectors Find More Rodent Activity

  Boston Suspends Starbucks Food License at South Station After Rodent Video Surfaces
  
  {WCVB5}

  July 21, 2026 -The food license for South Station's Starbucks remains suspended after additional rodent activity was documented during a follow-up sanitary inspection, according to Boston Inspectional Services Department Health Division.

  Last week, the 700 Atlantic Ave. eatery's license was suspended after a video of rodents crawling inside a food display case surfaced. An inspector's report also found evidence of rodent activity along the countertops and inside a counter display case.

• • Obeying the Speed Limit Would Save 57,000 Tons of Carbon a Day

  It Would Cost You Only 54 Seconds

  

  July 21, 2026 -If drivers of gasoline cars refrained from speeding, they would collectively save an average of 57,000 metric tons of carbon emissions every day in the United States—while spending less than a minute more behind the wheel, a new study reveals.

  “We are presenting a somewhat obvious, but impactful, way to reduce energy and emissions that doesn’t require a new vehicle or new technology, just backing off the accelerator pedal,” says study team member William Northrop, professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Minnesota.

• • WA Wildfire Survivors Return Home
  to ‘Black All the Way Around You’

  Okee Dokee Smokee Chokee

  

  July 21, 2026 -As the Kaiser Canyon fire erupted late last week, Tito Pakootas saw smoke in the distance and prepared for the worst.

  “There was no hand crew, no dozer line,” he said, standing outside his home Tuesday, surrounded by scorched earth. “We were stretching every hose we had out here for water.”

  Pakootas, 21, revved up his red gas-powered Super Bronco rototiller and made his own fire line around the house, then used a weed whacker to cut down grass farther out. At one point while he worked, fire retardant from an aircraft showered him in pink. As for the tiller, he said: “It ain’t very wide, but it did the job.”

• • Cyclospora Spreads Through Human Feces

  How Did It Get Into Our Food Supply?

  

  July 21, 2026 -The hard, and nauseating, truth about cyclospora is that it’s spread through human feces. Over decades of research, scientists have not found a single place aside from the human gut where the parasite grows. So now that we’re in the midst of the largest recorded outbreak in United States history, one has to ask: How did human excrement get into our food?

  As infections surge across much of the United States, public health investigators are working to figure out how this microscopic parasite contaminated the produce eaten by so many people.

• • Mudslides Close I-70 For More Than 24 Hours

  Disrupting Travel In Western Colorado
  
  {THE COLORADO SUN}

  July 21, 2026 -One lane of eastbound Interstate 70 reopened overnight but westbound lanes remain closed Wednesday afternoon in western Colorado after a landslide pushed mud, water and debris across more than 300 yards of the highway Monday, up to 3 feet deep in some parts.

  The interstate had been closed for more than 24 hours between exit 97, near Silt, and exit 105, near New Castle. A detour is taking drivers onto U.S. 6, the Colorado Department of Transportation said, warning of delays.

• • Magnitude 5.0 Quake Shakes Southwestern China

  Halts Trains

  

  July 21, 2026 -An earthquake of magnitude 5.0 struck the southwestern Chinese province of Yunnan at a depth of 6 km (3.7 miles) at 7:43 p.m. (11:43 GMT) on Tuesday, the China Earthquake Networks Centre said.

  Officials have not yet received reports of casualties or property damage, and ?the local power grid was operating normally, state-run Xinhua news agency said, citing preliminary verifications by local authorities.

  The quake's epicentre was in a village of around 1,300 residents in the mountainous Mojiang county, part of the city of Pu'er in the southwestern border province.The ?village is around 100 km (62 miles) from China's borders with Laos and Vietnam.

• • The U.S. Is Pulling Back on Energy Efficiency

  Just as Prices Are Rising

  

  July 21, 2026 -The Trump administration is dismantling a wide array of federal energy-efficiency programs at the same time that war in Iran is raising oil prices, climate change is fueling record heat that is driving up demand for air conditioning and new data centers are straining America’s electricity supply.

  “The turn away from efficiency has been oddly timed,” said Christine Egan, chief executive of CLASP, a nonprofit group that works on efficiency policies worldwide. “Energy prices are going up, demand is going up, and you’d think we would want our products to be as efficient as possible.”

• • At least 930 People Have Died In Congo's Ebola Outbreak

  The Deaths Were Recorded Out of the 2,344 Cases Confirmed as of Saturday
  
  {NPR}

  July 20, 2026 -At least 930 people have died in Congo's Ebola outbreak, the country's Ministry of Health said Monday, with 37 new deaths recorded in a 24-hour span Friday into Saturday, one of the highest totals.

  Women wearing plastic protective garments sift gold-bearing sediments at the Maidede mine in Mongbwalu, Ituri province, Democratic Republic of Congo, on June 16, 2026. Much of their clothing and bodies are covered in light brown sediment.

  The Ebola outbreak that was declared in eastern Congo on May 15 is the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak on record. The Bundibugyo virus responsible for the outbreak is less common than others that cause Ebola disease, and there is no approved vaccine or treatment.

• • The West’s Moment of Reckoning Is Here On the Colorado River

  With States Still Brawling Over How to Share Dwindling Flows, the Trump Administration Is About to Take Control
  
  {E&E NEWS}

  July 20, 2026 -For more than a century, Western states have fought to keep the federal government out of their business when it comes to water. Now, the Trump administration is about to seize control of the Colorado River, the region’s most important waterway.

  But it’s not the narrative you might think.

  Interior Secretary Doug Burgum — himself a former Western governor — has said repeatedly that he preferred to have the states work out the shrinking river’s problems. Far from a brash commandeering of the system, the plan his department is set to finalize as soon as Monday is effectively a kick-the-can exercise for managing the drought-riddled river that supplies water for 1 in 10 Americans.

• • FDA Retracts Test Result But Still Links
  Taylor Farms Lettuce to Cyclosporiasis

  The FDA Said There Was “Overwhelming Epidemiological Data” to Support the Voluntary Recall

  

  July 20, 2026 -The Food and Drug Administration said Sunday that a laboratory finding showing cyclospora contamination in a sample of shredded iceberg lettuce supplied by Taylor Farms de Mexico was a false positive.

  But the agency did not back away from its conclusion that the company remains linked to a multistate outbreak of closporiasis through its traceback investigation.

• • The Country’s Hydro Supply Chain is Drying Up

  A Report Worth Reading
  
  {energy central}

  July 20, 2026 -The details: It’s not just drought hindering hydro generation. It’s getting increasingly tricky to source the custom-built large-power transformers (LPTs) that help whizz water power from turbines to homes and businesses. A sobering stat: One LPT unit can cost up to $10M, according to a recent report from the National Laboratory of the Rockies.

  This report lays out the supply chain struggles, including 1) a shortage of manufacturing know-how 2) years-long equipment waitlists and 3) permitting and regulatory delays.

• • Japanese Beetle Advances Through Northern
  Italy’s Vineyards and Orchards

  Frustrating Farmers

  

  July 20, 2026 -The iridescent green beetles native to Japan have become a growing menace in Italy, swarming through orchards and vineyards and leaving behind devastating lattice patterns in leaves that weaken the plants and reduce production.

  The Popillia japonica, or Japanese beetle, is a familiar pest in the United States, where it arrived more than a century ago.

• • Cyclospora Outbreak Should Worried
  You About Public Health Cuts

  After the Collective Trauma of the COVID Pandemic, Hearing the Words “Outbreak” and “Epidemic” Pop Up Again is More Than a Bit Alarming

  

  July 20, 2026 -This time, though, it’s not a potentially deadly and highly contagious respiratory infection but cyclospora, a microscopic parasite that can cause miserable and debilitating gastrointestinal distress and explosive diarrhea for weeks.

  Federal health officials finally determined late last week that infected lettuce served at Taco Bell was the source of much of the outbreak, but already thousands had been sickened across 34 states. Over 100 people have been hospitalized by the illness in Michigan alone. Authorities warned there may be other sources of the parasite beyond the Taylor Foods lettuce at the fast food chain. So far, local health officials have not seen an increase in cyclosporiasis cases in our region.

• • Are You Making These Sunscreen Mistakes?

  Test Your Knowledge to See Whether You’re Making These Common Sunscreen Mistakes

  

  July 20, 2026 -We get it: Sunscreen can be annoying. Remembering to wear it — and being diligent about it — is sometimes a challenge.

  But with skin cancer being the most common cancer in the United States, affecting 1 in 5 Americans during their lifetimes, dermatologists say wearing the right kind of sunscreen daily is important.

  Test your knowledge to see whether you’re making these common sunscreen mistakes so you can be a bit safer in the sun.

• • Coloradans Begin Cleanup After Rainstorms
  Caused Western Slope Mudslides

  The Mudslides Stranded 21 People, Blocked Roads, Flooded Main Street, and More
  
  {THE COLORADO SUN}

  July 19, 2026 -Western Slope residents are cleaning up after recent mudslides, caused by a slow-moving storm system, blocked roads, stranded people and swamped classrooms and a local theater.

  The regular rain showers have been helpful relief for drought in western Colorado, but the slow pace of the storm elevated the risk of flash flooding and resulting debris flows and mudslides, especially in burn scar areas. The storm system will reach the Front Range and Eastern Plains this week, and with major fires still burning in the state, meteorologists are warning Coloradans to check the weather report before venturing out.

• • Kaiser Canyon Fire Scorches 60,000 Acres

  Surrounds Town of Nespelem

  

  July 19, 2026 -Standing just inside a high school’s entrance, not far from stacks of diapers and snacks for evacuees, Barbara Cox listed the toll of the Kaiser Canyon fire.

  “Third time that I watched it burn in the last eight years,” said Cox, adding: “All our wildlife, all our livestock are getting displaced.”

• • Rescuers in China Search the Rubble For Survivors of Landslide

  Killed 8 and Left 34 Missing

  

  July 19, 2026 - Rescue crews used excavators on Sunday to comb through the rubble in search of survivors from a landslide in the southwestern Chinese city of Chongqing that killed at least eight people and left another 34 missing.

  Massive amounts of rocks and soil roared down a slope and buried more than 10 residential buildings early Friday in Pengshui County on the outskirts of Chongqing.

• • Europe Seems Set to Ease Its Carbon Pricing

  Green Goals Are Running Into Fears About Competitiveness
  
  {energy central}

  July 19, 2026 -THE EUROPEAN UNION’s carbon price is an economist’s dream. The bloc’s emissions-trading scheme (ETS) distributes rights to emit greenhouse gases to firms in electricity generation, heavy industry and aviation. Then it lets the market do the rest. It was phased in gradually, with all kinds of cushioning such as free allowances (not all of them justified) to give emitters plenty of time to adjust. Now, however, the system is starting to bite, which makes it a perfect scapegoat for politicians struggling to contain soaring energy prices and to shield struggling industries from global competition.

• • The U.S. Saw an Investment Boom in Venezuela.
  Now It’s a $37 Billion Problem

  The Trump Administration Faces Daunting Task of Rebuilding After Devastating Earthquakes
  
  {THE WALL STREET JOURNAL}

  July 19, 2026 -July 19, 2026 -Since the start of this year, the U.S. was preparing to reap the benefits of its unlikely alliance with Venezuela as the world’s biggest oil reserves and vast mineral deposits opened up to American investors.

  Now, the Trump administration is facing a daunting multibillion-dollar cleanup after twin earthquakes last month tore open roads, downed power lines and flattened buildings.

  Venezuelans are looking for help from a U.S. administration that says it is running the country.

• • Family of Five Found Dead After Storms Flooded Utah Canyon

  A Provo Fire Captain, His Wife and Their Three Sons Were Found Dead Over the Weekend Near a Campground in Southern Utah

  

  July 19, 2026 -The Wayne County Sheriff’s Office said that it believed the deaths of the family, who likely arrived in the area at the end of last week to hike and canyoneer, were related to flooding caused by heavy rain.

  The sheriff’s office declined to provide the names of those who died. The Provo Fire and Rescue Department posted a message on social media over the weekend, though, noting the deaths of Captain Spencer Long and his family. A spa co-founded by Katrina Long, the wife of the fire captain, posted a similar message about the family’s tragedy.

• • 5 Mosquito-Fighting Methods That Work and 4 That Don’t

  A Mosquito Expert Shares the Bug Repellents and Solutions For Outdoor Spaces That She Relies On

  

  July 19, 2026 -Layering on the bug spray might be the first thing that comes to mind when you think about avoiding itchy mosquito bites and the diseases that can come with them. But that’s far from the only tactic that mosquito experts use to minimize bites.

  For starters, Eva Buckner, an assistant professor and state extension specialist at the UF/IFAS Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory, recommends taking a step back and considering the source of the bugs, especially if you live in a home with a yard, deck or other outdoor areas. Your No. 1 move, she said, is to clear the pockets of water that might be luring the bugs to your space in the first place.

• • Seattle Air Quality: Wildfire Smoke to Roll into Western WA

  Highs Over 90

  

  July 19, 2026 -Smoke from wildfires in British Columbia is expected to drift into Western Washington this week, when temperatures are likely to climb into the mid-80s and even the mid-90s in some areas.

  The smoke in the Puget Sound region won’t be as thick as it has been in Eastern Washington, where some communities have recorded unhealthy or hazardous air quality in recent days. Instead, expect the sky to “look a little hazy,” said Logan Howard, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service.

• • At Least Six Dead and 21 Injured
  After 2 Earthquakes in Peru

  The First Quake Struck at a Depth of 24 km (15 miles) and the Second at 18 km

  

  July 19, 2026 -At least six people were killed and 21 injured after two earthquakes struck a mountainous region of Peru, the country's civil defense chief said on Sunday.

  The quakes, measuring magnitudes 5.1 and 3.7, hit on Saturday night in Chupaca province in the Junín region, about 186 miles to the east ?of Lima, according to Peru's National Seismological Center post on X.

• • A Ferry Carrying 133 People Capsizes Off Guyana’s Coast

  Leaving Dozens Missing

  

  July 19, 2026 -A government ferry carrying 133 passengers and crew capsized in Guyana with 67 people rescued so far, authorities said Sunday, as a massive search and rescue operation tried to find the dozens of people still missing.

  MV Barima was sailing from the capital, Georgetown, along the North Atlantic coast to Port Kaituma, said Guyanese Prime Minister Mark Phillips, who is leading the government’s response.

• • World’s First Superconducting Quantum Heat
  Engine Could Transform Quantum Computing

  A Machine Smaller Than a Grain of Sand Has Turned Heat Into Useful Work Near Absolute Zero...
  
  {SCITECH DAILY}

  July 19, 2026 -Researchers at Aalto University have built the first cyclic quantum heat engine inside a superconducting circuit. The device uses a qubit, the basic unit of quantum information, as its working substance and repeatedly drives it through heating, cooling, and energy conversion.

  The study, led by Academy Professor Mikko Möttönen, was published in Nature Communications.

  The result brings a familiar technology into an unfamiliar world. Conventional heat engines power vehicles and electricity plants by moving energy between hot and cold environments. The Aalto device follows the same basic principle, but it operates on a microscopic scale where quantum mechanics determines how energy behaves.

• • Second Death Reported in Legionnaires’
  Disease Outbreak in New York City

  Legionnaires’ Disease is a Form of Severe Pneumonia Caused By a Type of Bacteria That Thrives in Warm, Stagnant Water

  

  July 19, 2026 -A second person has died in connection with an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease in New York, the New York City Health Department announced Saturday.

  The outbreak on Manhattan’s Upper East Side has infected 72 people, according to health officials. Two people have died. The first death was announced Friday, and the second was announced Saturday.

• • A Texas-Sized Water Crisis

  A Water Crisis in Corpus Christi, Texas, That’s Been Decades in the Making

  

  July 19, 2026 -Part of the problem has been Texas’ refusal to factor climate change into its water projections, which have consistently underestimated the severity of drought in the state.

  Part of the problem has been Corpus Christi’s penchant for economic development, promising too much of its water capacity to voracious industrial users in the petrochemical industry.

• • Mudslides Cause Flooding at Palm Theater, School in Telluride

  Multiple Mudslides On Friday Afternoon Caused Heavy Flooding at the Palm Theater and the Telluride Intermediate School
  
  {FOX31}

  July 18, 2026 -According to the Telluride Fire Protection District, crews responded to the Palm Theater around 5:30 p.m. after school officials requested it upon heading to investigate flood reports.

  Firefighters immediately found heavy water and mud surrounding multiple sides of the Palm Theater and Telluride Intermediate School, and began assessing for any safety concerns such as instability, leaks, electrical hazards and others posed by flooding.

• • As Natural Disasters Expand, a Disaster-Tracking App Is Booming

  Known for Tracking California Wildfires, Watch Duty is Moving Beyond That Mission

  

  July 18, 2026 -A sheriff in Southern Colorado posted a frightening map on social media this month. It depicted an angry red zone, dotted with flame icons, where wildfires were burning. And a blue zone nearby showed where floods threatened, too.

  The graphic wasn’t from the National Weather Service or Federal Emergency Management Agency. It came from a smartphone app.

• • China Planted Billions of Trees

  Scientists Just Found an Unexpected Advantage of These New Forests
  
  {ZME SCIENCE}

  July 18, 2026 -Humans have cleared forests for thousands of years. Modern deforestation, however, has pushed the world’s forests dramatically out of balance.

  About 10.9 million hectares of forest (an area roughly the size of Cuba) disappear each year. New and recovering forests expand across about 6.8 million hectares annually, but that growth does not fully replace what the world loses.

• • Aspen Acres Fire Surpasses 100,000 Acres

  Crews Increase Containment to More Than 60%
  
  {THE COLORADO SUN}

  July 18, 2026 -he Aspen Acres fire has passed the 100,000-acre mark, even as crews battling the massive blaze southwest of Pueblo continued to make strides in containing it.

  The 100,224-acre fire is now estimated at 61% contained, up from 48% on Friday morning, fire officials said Saturday. More than 1,600 people were assigned to the fire.

• • Helicopters Dump Water As Huge Norway Fire Destroys Homes

  It Was Not Immediately Clear Where Or How the Fire Had Started
  
  {BBC}

  July 18, 2026 -More than 100 homes have been destroyed by a massive fire burning through Drammen in southern Norway, rescue officials said.

  Hundreds of people have been evacuated from the area, around 30 miles west of Oslo. No casualties or missing people have been reported so far.

  Dozens of firefighters are working to extinguish the blaze, which has spread to a nearby forest. Local police said the fire was "still not under control".

• • Flash Flood Kills 4, Leaves 4 Others Missing in Vietnam

  At Least Four People Were Killed and Four Others Were Missing After a ?Flash Flood Swept Through a Mountainous Village in Vietnam’s Northern Province of Lai Chau

  

  July 18, 2026 -The flood in Muong Than village early on Friday after days of heavy rains in several parts of northern Vietnam also ?injured seven people, reported the Vietnam News Agency.

  Vietnam is prone to deadly storms and floods during the rainy season that peaks from July through September. Natural disasters, mostly floods, killed 489 people in the country last year, according to government data.

• • Trump Threatens Canada Over Wildfire Smoke Choking U.S. Cities

  Soot From Canadian Wildfires Blanketed a dozen U.S. States Friday
  
  {E&E NEWS}

  July 17, 2026 -A haze fell over the Capitol on Friday as smoke from Canadian wildfires stretched farther east, prompting the president and GOP lawmakers to level blame at Canada for forestry practices they said were wrecking U.S. air quality.

  Trump and congressional Republicans harangued the Canadian government for failing to remove excess timber and brush that fuels blazes like the ones now burning in northern Ontario. The Carney government, they said, is responsible for the toxic smoke causing dangerous air quality in cities like Chicago, New York and Washington that prompted warnings for millions of Americans to stay indoors.

• • Tracking Air Quality and Smoke From
  Wildfires in Canada and the U.S.

  Wildfires in Canada, the United States and Mexico Often Send Smoke Throughout the Continent

  

  July 17, 2026 -This is the current status of air quality across the United States and Canada. (Here’s a guide to understanding air quality readings.)

  Smoke and particulate matter can travel far from their origin. Much of the smoke that has affected the Midwest and Northeastern United States can be traced back to fires burning in Canada.

• • 7.3-Magnitude Earthquake Hits Off Mexico's Coast

  U.S.G.S. Data Earlier Reported That the Magnitude Was 7.4

  

  July 17, 2026 -A major, 7.3-magnitude earthquake struck in the North Pacific Ocean on Friday, according to the United States Geological Survey.

  The temblor happened at 8:48 a.m. Mexico Central time about 30 miles southwest of Aquiles Serdán, Mexico, data from the agency shows.

• • Two Dead and Scores Rescued as
  Flooding Engulfs Central Texas

  Flooding From Relentless Rain, Which Gov. Greg Abbott Said Was Likely to Break Records

  

  July 17, 2026 -As the Guadalupe River rose to treacherous levels in Comfort, Texas, on Thursday morning, emergency workers knocked on the door of Jodye Koopman’s recreational vehicle, not far from the muddy rushing waters, and told her it was time to go.

  Ms. Koopman, 53, a retired librarian, found shelter at a nearby high school with her husband, sister, two children and four pets. She said that it had been difficult to leave her camper and most of her possessions behind and at the mercy of the bloated river and the relentless rain.

• • Strong Quake Off Mexican Coast
  Rattles Guatemala and El Salvador

  Strong Quake Off Mexican Coast
  Rattles Guatemala and El Salvador

  

  July 17, 2026 -A powerfulmagnitude 7.3 earthquake struck off the coast of Mexico's southernmost state of Chiapas on Friday, shaking buildings as far away as Guatemala and El Salvador, though authorities said there were no immediate reports of casualties or major damage.

  Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said emergency protocols were activated but that neither Chiapas nor the neighboring state of Tabasco reported issues, and Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo said there were no deaths.

• • What to Know About the Cclosporiasis Outbreak

  And How to Stay Safe
  
  {THE WALL STREET JOURNAL}

  July 17, 2026 -The parasite behind an unusually large outbreak of gastrointestinal illness is one many people have never heard of.

  Cyclosporiasis is a food-borne illness characterized by explosive diarrhea that can last weeks. On Thursday, federal authorities linked shredded iceberg lettuce from a Mexican supplier for Taco Bell restaurants in five states to the outbreak infecting thousands of people. On Friday, Taylor Fresh Foods said it was removing all of its iceberg lettuce sourced from central Mexico from the U.S. market.

• • Wildfire Smoke Will Linger and Spread This Weekend

  See Which Cities Are Most Affected

  

  July 17, 2026 -Huge amounts of wildfire smoke continued to pour into the United States from Canada early Friday as Detroit, Chicago and D.C. topped the list of the world’s most polluted major cities.

  The smoky conditions drifted into Baltimore and D.C. overnight, creating very unhealthy air quality with index values of 281 and 247, respectively, as of 6 a.m. Eastern time.

• • Massive Water Leak Floods LA Streets And Opens Sink Hole

  Two Men Fall In
  
  {DAILY CALLER}

  July 16, 2026 -A massive water main break in West Hollywood Thursday morning caused severe flooding to rush through neighborhood streets, damage vehicles and create a large sinkhole that forced road closures.

  The break occurred around 3 a.m. local time near Palm Avenue and Haratt Street, and the water flooded the streets until 7 a.m., when the Los Angeles County Fire Department was able to shut it off, according to NBC4.

• • At Least 17 States Under Air Quality Alerts As Canadian
  Wildfire Smoke Spreads in the Midwest and Northeast

  Air Quality Index Readings in Parts of the Country On Thursday Were More Than Three Times the Level That's Considered Hazardous to Human Health
  
  {YAHOO!NEWS}

  July 16, 2026 -At least 17 states were under air quality alerts on Thursday as smoke from Canadian wildfires blanketed new portions of the Midwest and Northeast.

  The alerts expanded to several more states as the stream of smoke spread further east and south, affecting more than 125 million Americans from Minnesota all the way to Massachusetts, New York and other parts of the Northeast. Air quality is particularly bad in Minnesota and Michigan. At certain points on Thursday, parts of northern Minnesota surpassed an Air Quality Index reading of 1,000 — the highest in the country. An AQI above 100 is considered unhealthy, while a reading over 300 is considered hazardous.

• • Greens Embrace Data Center Fight

  ‘A Better Way to Be Relevant’
  
  {E&E NEWS}

  July 16, 2026 -The nation’s biggest green groups have joined the fray over data centers — and they’re starting to notch some victories after 18 months of stinging environmental setbacks under the Trump administration.

  Groups including the Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council, Earthjustice, and Food and Water Watch are ramping up national campaigns, activating volunteers in states and providing support for local fights against the massive artificial intelligence facilities that are spreading across the country.

• • High Temperatures Causing Pavement Buckling on US 36 Bikeway

  Boulder County: Government Says Reports of Bicycle Crashes Upon Encountering Trail Heaving
  
  {DENVER7}

  July 16, 2026 - The recent heatwave across Colorado has caused the US 36 Bikeway to buckle, according to the City of Boulder government.

  High temperatures are causing the pavement to heave, as seen in the picture below.

• • A Pristine Himalayan Trekking Destination
  Is Contaminated With Microplastics

  Nearly 5,000 Meters Above Sea Level
  
  {ZME SCIENCE}

  July 16, 2026 -From Antarctica’s frozen wilderness to the heights of Mount Everest, microplastics have been found in some of the most remote places on Earth. And their reach continues to expand.

  A recent study published in iScience found that one of Nepal’s highest snow-fed lakes, situated at an altitude of 4,917 meters (16,132 feet) in the Himalayas, contains a significant amount of microplastic pollution. Researchers detected an average of 42 microplastic particles per liter of water, highlighting how microscopic plastic contamination has reached even some of the world’s most remote environments

• • Burning Houses to Save Houses?

  We Visited Researchers Seeking Ways to Make Homes Safer. They Set a Many Fires

  

  July 16, 2026, by Mira Rojanasakul -Earlier this year, I found myself standing with scientists, students and firefighters in the South Carolina heat, waiting for the right conditions to burn down a house. It was part of an effort to help reimagine homes and communities to make them more resistant to wildfire.

  Climate change is intensifying wildfires in all kinds of ways. If you live in Central Canada, the Midwest or on the East Coast, you’re probably under a blanket of smoke today from blazes in Ontario and Northern Minnesota. And wildfires are driving record losses as they make the leap into dense urban neighborhoods, like the Eaton fire and the Palisades fire did last year in California.

• • Hundreds Rescued, 2 Killed As
  Flooding Sweeps Through Parts of Texas

  Flooding Was Ongoing in the Same Region That Experienced a Deadly Event in July 2025

  

  July 16, 2026 -Relentless rains were lashing Texas Hill Country on Thursday, with flash flood emergencies reported across the region, rescues ongoing and waters rising to deadly levels.

  Two people died as the region flooded, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said in a Thursday news conference. More than 200 people had been rescued, he said. A spokesperson for the governor said late Thursday the two fatalities were a 74-year-old man in Uvalde, and a man about 65 years old in Center Point. Abbott earlier said the deceased individual in Uvalde was a woman.

• • The Cyclosporiasis Outbreak is Ruining Peak Salad Season

  It’s Summer, and Suddenly We’re Afraid of What Dangers May Be Lurking in the Produce Drawer

  

  July 16, 2026 -Mid-July is when summer produce is in full swing. The temperatures are high, and I crave cool, crunchy, giant salads for dinner instead of anything that has seen the inside of an oven. The farmers market tables are chockablock with the season’s bounty. Like many people, I’m trying to cram more vegetables into my diet — and now is the time of year when that feels less like a chore and more like an invitation.

  These are supposed to be our salad days.

  But instead, with a nationwide outbreak of cyclosporiasis, a gastrointestinal illness caused by a microscopic parasite that spreads via tainted produce, I find myself in a state of salad anxiety.

• • The Serious Health Risks Posed By Wildfire Smoke

  Here's What You Need to Know

  

  July 16, 2026 -Massive wildfires are raging around the world during unprecedented heatwaves, blanketing millions of people under pungent haze caused by smoke carrying noxious gases and particulate matter that pose serious health risks.

  More toxic than normal air pollution, wildfire smoke can linger in the air for weeks and travel thousands of miles.

  Wildfires can burn not only vegetation but also vehicles and buildings as well as their contents. Along with particles of soil and biological materials, wildfire smoke often contains traces of chemicals, metals, plastics and other synthetic materials.

• • Michigan Issues Line 5 Permits Despite
  Conceding Its ‘Significant Impacts’

  The Project’s Future Remains Unclear

  

  July 16, 2026 -State agencies on Wednesday issued key permits for the controversial Line 5 tunnel in the Straits of Mackinac, concluding the project’s benefits outweigh drawbacks that include disruption to Native American burial sites and harm to wetlands and rare species.

  The permits issued by the departments of Natural Resources and Environment, Great Lakes and Energy also make way for the US Army Corps of Engineers to sign off on the project, which supporters and foes alike expect to happen soon.

• • Parasitic Outbreak Linked to Taylor
  Farms Lettuce Supplied to Taco Bell

  Thousands of People Have Been Sickened Across At Least Five States
  
  {THE WALL STREET JOURNAL}

  July 16, 2026 -Shredded iceberg lettuce supplied to Taco Bell restaurants has been linked to a parasitic outbreak that has infected thousands of people in five states, federal health authorities said Thursday.

  They have been investigating a range of produce items in a bid to trace the origins of a growing outbreak of cyclosporiasis, which can cause explosive diarrhea and vomiting.

• • Wildfire Smoke Will Worsen in the
  Northeast and Mid-Atlantic Through Friday

  More Than 115 Million People Could Be Exposed to Unhealthy Air Quality

  

  July 16, 2026 -Dangerous wildfire smoke is filling the skies from the Midwest to the Mid-Atlantic.

  And in some areas, conditions are expected to worsen.

  Through Friday, more than 115 million people are forecast to be exposed to air quality levels that are unhealthy or worse as winds funnel smoke south from out-of-control fires in Canada and Minnesota — and a heat dome traps that smoke near the ground.

• California County Begins Door-to-Door Search to Save Its Grapes

Officials in Santa Clara County Began Knocking On Doors On Monday to Collect Potentially Infested Plants Sold At Some Costco Stores



July 15, 2026 -Concern across California about an invasive insect has sent officials in one county in the northern part of the state on a door-to-door mission to collect potentially infested grapevines sold at some Costco stores.

The insect, the glassy-winged sharpshooter, was found on vines sold at select Costco locations in Santa Clara County, which includes the cities of Palo Alto, San Jose and Santa Clara, between April 21 and May 19, the county’s Division of Agriculture said in a news release. The vines and other potentially infested plants were also sold in other parts of the state.

• • More Health Workers Strike as Ebola Cases in Congo Exceed 2,000

  Including 754 Deaths

  

  July 15, 2026 -The number of confirmed cases of Ebola in Congo has reached 2,011, including 754 deaths, according to government data released overnight in what authorities say is the fastest-growing outbreak on record.

  Health workers at Bunia General Hospital, the region’s largest medical center, went on strike Wednesday and are the latest group to walk off the job at the epicenter over payment issues. Health professionals and other front-line workers barricaded the entrance to the hospital, claiming they have not received pay despite working under difficult conditions.

• • Fear and Hope in Utah in the Shadow of America's Largest Wildfire

  Heard on All Things Considered
  
  {NPR}

  July 15, 2026 - Since it started three weeks ago the Babylon Fire has consumed more than 106,000 acres of forest in the mountains outside the town of Monticello, Utah. People there remain ready to evacuate at a moment's notice.

  For the last week, dozens of Monticello residents have been gathering every evening on the west edge of town, to thank and support some of the hundreds of firefighters here when a long line of their trucks roll out of the Abajo Mountains.

• • Whitmer Pushes Data Center Pledge — Not a Moratorium

  Michigan's Democratic Governor is Touting State Protections and Urging Developers to Agree to Ratepayer and Environmental Safeguards
  
  {POLITICOPRO}

  July 15, 2026 -Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Wednesday called on data center developers angling to build in the Great Lakes state to sign a pledge vowing that residents won’t pay for energy or water.

  So far, a moratorium isn’t on the table.

  She unveiled the Michigan Affordability and Responsible Growth Pledge, a package of 10 commitments to ensure companies pay the full cost of construction, operation, power and water tied to new projects built to support the growth of artificial intelligence.

• • Death Toll in Thai Pub Fire Rises to 32

  Dozens Still in Hospital

  

  July 15, 2026 - The death toll from an explosive fire at a Bangkok live music pub has risen to 32 after two people died from their injuries, the Police Hospital said on Wednesday, as police investigate the possibility of negligence as a factor in the blaze.

  The fire, one of the deadliest in recent years in Thailand, tore through the Rong Beer Na Lat Phrao pub in the city's northern Chatuchak area close to midnight on Sunday, with witnesses describing an explosion, a horizontal burst of fire and smoke engulfing the single-storey venue.

• • Campaigners Oppose Dangote’s Planned Kenya
  Refinery Over Climate and Ecological Risks

  Plans to Build Africa’s Second Largest Oil Refinery in Ecologically Sensitive Region Criticised as “Environmental Recklessness”
  
  {CLIMATE HOME NEWS}

  July 15, 2026 -Climate and environment campaigners have urged the Kenyan government to halt plans for a proposed 700,000-barrel-per-day oil refinery backed by Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, warning the project threatens one of East Africa's most ecologically sensitive coastlines.

  The refinery, which is planned to be situated in Lamu County on Kenya's northern coast, will be East Africa's largest refining project and is expected to take up to three years to build. Once finished, it would supply refined petroleum products to Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda, among others, helping to reduce the region’s dependence on imported fuels.

• • Toronto Under an Orange Sky as Wildfire
  Smoke Pours Into the U.S. Northeast

  Air Quality in Canada’s Largest City Was At Times the Worst in the World on Wednesday...

  

  July 15, 2026 -Wildfires have swept across Ontario, prompting dozens of communities to evacuate and sending acrid smoke to New York City and across the U.S. northeast.

  Parts of Canada, including its most populous city, Toronto, woke Wednesday to a hazy, orange sky, the air smelling strongly of wood smoke. Air quality readings for the city triggered a warning from Environment Canada, a federal department, about the health risks of spending time outdoors.

• • Climate Change and Air Pollution Combo
  is a ‘Double Whammy’ for Health

  Days That Are Both Extremely Hot and Polluted Come With Higher Risks of Respiratory Ailments and Other Health Hazards

  

  July 15, 2026 -Soaring temperatures are expected to collide with wildfire smoke across parts of the United States this week, a combination that can pose health risks.

  As climate change drives up global temperatures past record levels, the frequency of days when it is both hot and polluted has also been increasing.

• • A Major Colorado River Decision Looms

  Here’s How It Will Affect Millions

  

  July 15, 2026 -The federal government is poised to announce a major decision about the fate of the shrinking Colorado River — a crucial water supply for 40 million people across two countries, seven states and 30 tribes.

  Over the past few decades, the worst drought in at least a millennium has parched the Western landscape and caused reservoirs to dwindle. A historically warm and snowless winter reduced this year’s flow to a trickle. Water levels behind two of the nation’s largest dams are in danger of dropping so low that the dams stop functioning.

• • Data Centers to Add Billions in Power Costs in 13 States

  A Power Auction Conducted By a Giant Grid Operator is Expected to Add $6.3 Billion in Additional Charges to Consumers and Businesses...

  

  July 14, 2026 -PJM, the nation’s largest electrical grid operator, on Tuesday released results of an electricity auction that would add $6.3 billion in costs to the bills of millions of households and businesses within the next three years, an increase driven by the power demands of data centers.

  During the annual auction, power companies supplied prices that they were willing to accept to supply electricity to PJM at times of peak demand. Those prices are then factored into the electricity rates that are eventually charged to the grid’s customers in 13 Eastern states and the District of Columbia.

• • Why Corn Isn’t Entirely to Blame For ‘Corn Sweat’

  Corn Has Taken the Heat For Recent Midwest Summer Humidity—Unjustly, According to Corn Experts

  

  July 14, 2026 -It’s boiling hot in the U.S. Midwest—which means it’s time for “corn sweat” to hit the headlines, drawing ire from millions sweltering under sky-high humidity and adding insult to heat wave injury. Cities that include Minneapolis, Des Moines and Indianapolis will wilt under heat index temperatures nearing or even exceeding 100 degrees Fahrenheit for most of the week.

  The phenomenon of corn sweat has only gone mainstream within the past decade, although farmers and meteorologists based in the so-called Corn Belt—centered around Nebraska, the Dakotas, Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois—have long recognized the increased humidity that can occur over farm fields. But agricultural scientists say it’s time for the slander to stop: corn doesn’t “sweat” any more than other major crops. Rather the issue is the sheer amount of acreage that has been carefully managed to maximize yields.

• • Who's ‘Stealing’ Bali’s Water?

  How Tourism Siphoned Off a Prized Resource

  

  July 14, 2026 -IPutu Partayasa pushes his fingers into the soil as he squats at the edge of a rice terrace. They come up dry. His field has water; his neighbour’s does not. “We have a big problem in the dry season,” he says. “Fifteen years ago, we have water every day. But today it’s getting less.”

  The 52-year-old, who goes by the name Parta, is lucky because his plot sits high enough in the irrigation system so that he still gets his share of water. He fears he knows where the rest is going. “Companies take our water,” he says, “and bring it to the tourism places.” He gestures at the terraces below, a patchwork of green and brown that was once all green. “The forest is getting smaller. The springs are drying.”

• • Trahan, Moulton Seek EPA Support in
  Wake of Haverhill Wastewater Spill

  Two Massachusetts Members of Congress Are Asking the U.S. EPA to Provide Federal Support After a Recent Sewer Main Failure in Haverhill
  
  {WCVB5}

  July 14, 2026 -The ruptured pipe in Haverhill was discovered during the night of June 26 following a storm, with a second break found about 100 yards farther along the pipe the next day. Before the overflow stopped, officials estimated that up to 10 million gallons of wastewater were entering the Merrimack River each day.

  State officials closed the fisheries and beaches across several North Shore communities because of the spill.

• • Denver Water Receives 3K Watering Violation Complaints

  Warnings, Fines Coming
  
  {FOX31}

  July 14, 2026 - Denver Water is warning that additional watering restrictions could be implemented if reservoir levels continue to decline.

  For now, the utility is urging customers to reduce water use and follow a twice-a-week watering schedule after receiving more than 3,000 complaints from customers about neighbors potentially over-watering.

• • The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is
  Becoming a Bizarre Floating Ecosystem

  Coastal Animals Are Creating an Unexpected New Community
  
  {ZME SCIENCE}

  July 14, 2026 -In the middle of the North Pacific, thousands of kilometers from the nearest continent, sea anemones, hydroids, crustaceans and other coastal animals are living on discarded fishing nets, plastic crates and bottles.

  Plastic and marine life usually make for a grim combination. Here, however, researchers have documented something more complicated.

• • Prepare For Dangerous Air Pollution in the Northeast

  Thanks to Minnesota and Canada Wildfires

  

  July 14, 2026 -Wildfires in Minnesota and Ontario are spewing dangerous smoke into the air that are posing a major air pollution threat to millions living in major cities such as Detroit, Milwaukee, Cleveland, Philadelphia and New York City. As of Wednesday morning, Toronto had the highest air pollution of any city in the world.

  The area of high pressure that is causing yet another heat dome over the central U.S. is resulting in a clockwise flow of air is pushing wildfire smoke down to ground level and toward the southeast over the next couple of days. People in its path could experience unhealthy to hazardous levels of PM2.5 pollution—small, dangerous particles in smoke that can be breathed deeply into the lungs. For context, in the color-coded Air Quality Index, red indicates “unhealthy,” while maroon indicates “hazardous.”

• • Six People Found Dead in Lift Shaft
  After Fire in Central Brussels Building

  The Cause of the Fire is Unclear
  
  {BBC}

  July 14, 2026 -Six people have died in a fire at a building under construction in Brussels on Tuesday, local authorities have said.

  The bodies were recovered from a lift blocked in a shaft at the Oxy tower in the centre of the city, in an operation that lasted several hours.

• • UW Researchers Make AI Tool to Help
  Measure Devices’ Carbon Footprints

  It’s Even Designed to Teach Us About Our Carbon Footprints

  

  July 14, 2026 -Artificial intelligence for sustainability? When you think about the energy and water these systems need, the idea might sound antithetical, but researchers at the University of Washingtonsay a new AI agent can produce accurate and lasting results with energy spared.

  For the past three years, researchers have been working on an AI tool that can quickly calculate the carbon footprints of digital devices, like your cellphone. They say consumers can use the tool to make more sustainable purchases and companies can use it to develop more sustainable technology.

• • Aspen Acres Fire in Colorado Destroys Over 800 Structures

  99,000 Acres Burned
  
  {9NEWS}

  July 14, 2026 -The Aspen Acres Fire in southern Colorado has burned more than 99,000 acres and destroyed more than 800 structures, according to fire officials.

  Operations Section Chief Brad Washa with the Alaska Incident Management Team said in an update Friday morning that 851 structures have been destroyed. At least 337 are homes.

  The fire, which started June 29, is the seventh-largest wildfire in Colorado history. Fire officials said on July 2 the fire is human-caused and remains under investigation.

• • Wildfire Raging South of Paris Could Have
  Been Set Deliberately, Says Minister

  The Fire Had Raced Across 800 Hectares in the Forest About 40 Miles (60Km) South-East of Paris
  
  {BBC}

  July 13, 2026 -The battle by firefighters in France to bring under control a large wildfire raging in forests south of the country's capital is entering its second day.

  The Fontainebleau forest blaze, described by officials as "virulent" and of "exceptional scale", partially closed the country's main north-south highway.

• • Mandatory Evacuations Issued After 2
  Wildfires Break Out Near Steamboat Springs

  Colorado Gov. Jared Polis Has Verbally Declared a Disaster Emergency in Response to the Green Ridge Fire...
  
  {DENVER7}

  July 13, 2026 -Mandatory evacuation orders have been issued after two wildfires broke out near Steamboat Springs in Routt County Sunday.

  Mandatory evacuations were earlier issued in Zones OC-522 and OC-523 in the Green Ridge Fire, before both zones were placed back under pre-evacuation notices, as of 7:20 p.m., Sunday. Residents in zones OC-521, OC-528, OC-529, OC-531, OC-536 are under pre-evacuation at this time. Click here for an interactive map of Routt County's evacuation zones. The county also issued an emergency incident map here.

• • Heavy Rains and Flash Floods in Bangladesh Leave 51 Dead

  The Water Has Reached Knee Level in Some Parts of Dhaka
  
  {BBC}

  July 12, 2026 -At least 51 people have died and more than a million affected by heavy rainfall in Bangladesh in recent days.

  Thousands have lost their homes as flash floods and landslides hit large parts of the country, including the capital Dhaka.

• • The Ebola Epidemic is Getting Out of Control

  It Has Spread to Five Provinces in Congo and May Soon Reach South Sudan
  
  {The Economist}

  July 12, 2026 -“WE KEEP ASKING and we still haven’t got anything,” says Moise Bulabantu, from a dingy clapboard clinic on the outskirts of Bunia, a city in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. The 38-year-old community nurse is the only public-health worker in his district of more than 40,000 people, where an outbreak of Ebola has been spreading. Every day he sees patients who are feverish or vomiting. But the government has yet to send protective equipment. “We’re pushing for the minimum,” says Mr Bulabantu, who has bags under his eyes. “We only have gloves.”

• • At Least 28 Killed, 25 Critically Injured
  After Fire Engulfs Bangkok Bar

  All Fired Up
  
  {BBC}

  July 12, 2026 -A huge fire tore through a bar in Thailand's capital Bangkok late on Sunday, killing at least 28 people and leaving 25 critically injured.

  The blaze started near the stage of the bar in the popular Chatuchak district, then spread rapidly, cutting power and engulfing the room with smoke, eyewitnesses say.

• • Scientists Discover Tiny Frog Holding
  the Secret to Wiping Out Cancer

  This Will Give You Hope
  
  {HEALTHY HAPPY NEWS}

  July 12, 2026 -In a discovery that sounds almost too good to be true, Japanese scientists have uncovered a natural cancer-fighting powerhouse hiding in the most unexpected place — inside the intestines of a tiny tree frog. The breakthrough is giving researchers and patients alike a reason to smile and hope for the future of cancer treatment.

  Led by Professor Eijiro Miyako at Japan’s Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, the team made a stunning discovery while studying the Japanese tree frog (Hyla japonica). They found that a naturally-occurring bacteria called Ewingella americana, which lives in the frog’s digestive system, possesses remarkably potent anticancer properties.

• • We Shouldn’t Give Up on Slowing Population Growth

  World Population Day
  
  {EARTH.ORG}

  July 11, 2026 -Just a few decades ago, slowing global population growth was an international policy priority. Nowadays, pundits and decision-makers are fretting about the fact that people are having smaller families – a development that, in the past, would have been heralded as welcome progress. But which side is right?

  July 11 marks World Population Day, a day singing a light “on the urgency and importance of population issues,” and established by the United Nations in 1989. Back then, it was widely understood that sustained human population growth has the potential to outstrip available resources, cause ecological devastation, exacerbate poverty, and trigger social unrest and armed conflict.

  Yet today, World Population Day largely goes unmarked, even by the UN.

• • Rapidly Growing Wildfire in Los Angeles County
  Prompts Evacuations in Remote High Desert

  A Fast-Spreading Blaze Prompted Evacuation Orders Friday Afternoon in a Sparsely Populated Area of Los Angeles County

  

  July 11, 2026 -The brush fire sparked around 1 p.m. under dry and scorching hot conditions in a remote high desert region about 45 miles (72 kilometers) northeast of LA, according to the LA County Fire Department. Temperatures in the area soared to nearly 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius).

  The fire reached about 2,700 acres (1,092 hectares) by evening, Angeles National Forest officials said on the social media platform X. It’s unclear how many buildings are threatened by the blaze.

• • Venezuela Quake Rescuers Believe Boy, 9,
  is Alive Under Rubble After 16 Days

  The Mexican Rescue Team Topos Azteca Said It Detected Signs Of Life From The Ruins Of A 13-Story Apartment Building on Friday

  

  July 11, 2026 -On Day 9 came the words that Francisco Bastardo had dreaded since the earthquakes brought down the home of his 9-year-old son, Fabio.

  No signs of life.

  For hours, rescue workers from Portugal and Spain had run sonar and ground-penetrating radar tests on the piled ruins of the 13-story apartment building where the boy lived with his mother.

• • Typhoon Bavi Makes Landfall in Eastern
  China's Taizhou After Nearly 2 Million Evacuated

  Bavi Sweeps Past Southern Japan's Sakishima Islands

  

  July 11, 2026 -Typhoon Bavi made landfall late on Saturday in the coastal city of Taizhou in eastern China, where nearly 2 million people were evacuated, having earlier pummelled Japan's southern Sakishima island chain and brushed past northern Taiwan.

  Even as Bavi continues to slow and weaken on its northwesterly path, the typhoon is still a potent risk due to the sheer volume of moisture it holds within its rain bands, about the size of France from end to end.

  Bavi had maximum sustained winds of about 144 km per hour (90 mph), equivalent to Category 1 on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, when it made landfall at around 11:20 p.m. local time (1520 GMT), according to the National Meteorological Center.

• • More Than 200 People At a Summer Camp
  Helicoptered to Safe As Missouri Faces Flooding

  Emergency Crews Rescued About 20 People After a Building Collapsed in a Campground Following Widespread Flooding

  

  July 11, 2026 -One person remains missing in Missouri after heavy rainfall battered parts of the state on Friday, forcing numerous emergency rescues and evacuations, including at a summer camp with more than 200 children.

  Several other states also face the potential for severe thunderstorms and flash flooding warning on Saturday as the slow moving storms move southward.

  The National Weather Service said the severe weather impacts a wide region stretching from the Ozark mountains in southern Missouri eastward into much of the Ohio and Tennessee river valleys.

• • He Wanted to Track Microplastics in the Sea

  The E.P.A. Fired Him

  

  July 10, 2026 -Last year, the Environmental Protection Agency was preparing to greenlight the first ever fish farm in federal waters, one that would supply a fish popular in Cajun and Creole restaurants. But the agency had a novel requirement.

  It wanted to require the company, Ocean Era, to monitor the farm for microplastics, the tiny particles that have become a rising environmental and health concern.

• • A New AI System Can Hear Earthquake Signals Other Methods Miss

  A New Study Shows the Pros and Cons of Different Model Training Methods
  
  {ZME SCIENCE}

  July 10, 2026 -One seismometer is often not enough to reliably detect earthquakes or human activity such as underground nuclear tests. Rather, researchers combine readings from seismometers distributed across a small geographic area to gain confidence in their analysis. Artificial intelligence (AI) can put together readings from multiple sensors more effectively than classic technology, enabling more reliable detection of weak seismic signals, a new study by Köhler et al. shows.

  The researchers leveraged 30 years of readings from seismic arrays operated by the Norwegian research foundation NORSAR and other operators, and they trained an AI model in three different ways to detect seismic signals.

• • Kia Launches New Recall For 463,000 Telluride SUVs Due to Fire Risk

  Urges Owners to Park Outside

  

  July 10, 2026 -Kia America has issued a new recall for nearly 463,000 of its Telluride SUVs, urging owners to again park their vehicles outside and away from buildings after several customers reported fires following previous repairs.

  The recall, announced this week by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, replaces a prior one Kia initiated in 2024. Certain Tellurides from the 2020-2024 model years are affected, with the NHTSA warning that the front power seat motor of these vehicles may overheat due to a stuck slide knob.

• • Deadly Chelan Hills Wildfire 100% Contained, Officials Say

  9,800-Acre Chelan Hills Fire That Killed 1 Investigated As ‘Human-Caused’

  

  July 10, 2026 -Central Washington’s deadly Chelan Hills wildfire was 100% contained by noon Friday, almost a week after investigators say a person started the roughly 15-square-mile blaze.

  The flames — fueled by strong winds, intense heat and dry vegetation — spread rapidly north and across the hillsides of Orondo, an unincorporated community in Douglas County. Hundreds of residents were ordered to evacuate immediately Saturday as state and local firefighters responded to the fire, which burned down at least 19 homes before it was contained, authorities said.

• • Arctic Peatlands Expanding

  Peat Comes in a Wide Range of Appearances, But All Types Are Formed From Dead Organic Plant Matter
  
  {LOE.ORG}

  July 10, 2026 -Millions of years before humans worried about climate change, the planet had already devised its own way of removing carbon from the atmosphere. In oxygen-deprived wetlands all over the world, dead plant material accumulates instead of fully decomposing, gradually forming peat that locks away its carbon. Over millions of years, peat eventually fossilizes to become coal.

  It’s how the planet has sequestered carbon to cool down since the much hotter times when dinosaurs roamed under palm trees near the North and South poles. So recent findings that peatlands are expanding northward as the Arctic warms might sound like good news. But it’s not that simple, and one problem is time, since it takes millennia for peat to sequester large amounts of carbon, while we are burning fossil fuels far more quickly than the Earth can absorb.

• • River Pollution May Be Confusing Fish
  Into Mating With the Wrong Species

  Damaged 'Noses' May Be Pushing Two Swordtail Species Toward One Single Hybrid Species
  
  {ZME SCIENCE}

  July 10, 2026 -A polluted river in Mexico may be scrambling the love lives of two small fish species — so much so that it may be erasing the line between them.

  Downstream of the town of Calnali, in central Mexico, two swordtail fish that are normally different species are starting to look like a genetic blur. A Stanford-led team found that polluted water there was linked to damaged smell organs in the fish. The study also found embryos whose genomes fell halfway between the two species.

• • A Chemical Plant Mishandled Hazardous Waste for Years

  Then Quietly Shuttered

  

  July 10, 2026 -The blank, beige building at 507 N. Industrial Drive, still emblazoned with the words “Braven Environmental,” looks benign from the street.

  But on a recent weekend, an interior alarm beeped nonstop, piercing the midday quiet. Around back, past the side doors with a designated smoking area and a sign that read “Caution Respirators Required,” an acrid whiff of old oil wafted from several concrete pits.

• • Global Oil Demand is Dropping, But...

  But US Drivers Keep Buying More Gas

  

  July 10, 2026 -Global oil demand is set to decline this year for the first time since the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, according to a report from the International Energy Agency.

  The drop, which the agency expects to amount to about 1 million barrels per day in 2026, is due to higher oil prices and disruptions to physical supply that weighed heavily, but unevenly, on various parts of the world, the report said.

• • Okanogan County Wildfire Prompts
  Immediate Evacuation Orders

  The B and O Fire in Okanogan Countyhas Scorched About 2,000 Acres

  

  July 10, 2026 -A wildfire in Okanogan County has destroyed homes and outbuildings and prompted immediate evacuation orders for residents in the surrounding area, including parts of the city of Okanogan.

  Anyone living on roads west on Conconully Highway from Kermal Road to Green Lake Road are under Level 3 evacuation orders and are being asked to leave the area immediately, according to the Okanogan County Department of Emergency Management.

• • Gold Mountain Fire: Air Resources Play Key Role in Firefight

  The Gold Mountain Fire Has Grown to More Than 32,000 Acres and Remains At 8% Containment
  
  {KJCT8NEWS}

  July 10, 2026 - Kristie Thompson, public information officer for the Gold Mountain Fire, said the response includes a range of resources on the ground.

  “We have about a thousand people that are assigned to this incident between heavy equipment operators so the bulldozers, masticators that are helping build line, firefighters from engines, and hot shot crews and everything in between,” Thompson said.

  Eight helicopters are operating out of two helibases, with one in Delta and another closer to the fire line, making dozens of trips to the fire. Allie Bender, a helitack squad leader, said air attack personnel coordinate flight operations from above to keep aircraft from interfering with one another.

• • Colorado Reports 90 Cases of Cyclospora This Year

  What Health Officials Want You to Know
  
  {MSN}

  July 10, 2026 -As health officials investigate a growing multistate cyclospora outbreak, Colorado public health leaders say there is no evidence of an increased risk from produce sold in Colorado.

  The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment has recorded about 90 cyclospora cases so far this year, according to State Epidemiologist Dr. Rachel Herlihy.

• • Legionnaires' Outbreak Hits New York
  As Officials Rush to Test Water Towers

  22 People Who Were Sick Had Gone to Hospital, Some Treated in the Intensive Care Unit
  
  {BBC}

  July 10, 2026 - For the past few days, Justine Kirby has been sporting an N95 mask every time she leaves her house to walk in her quiet Upper East Side neighbourhood.

  She is keeping her apartment windows closed, too, as an outbreak of Legionnaires' disease grows to 46 cases, which the city has linked to contaminated water cooling towers.

• • Typhoon Bavi Makes Landfall in Eastern China's
  Taizhou After Nearly 2 Million Evacuated

  Bavi Sweeps Past Southern Japan's Sakishima Islands

  

  July 10, 2026 -Typhoon Bavi made landfall late on Saturday in the coastal city of Taizhou in eastern China, where nearly 2 million people were evacuated, having earlier pummelled Japan's southern Sakishima island chain and brushed past northern Taiwan.

  Even as Bavi continues to slow and weaken on its northwesterly path, the typhoon is still a potent risk due to the sheer volume of moisture it holds within its rain bands, about the size of France from end to end.

• • East Asia Braces For Destructive Typhoon
  As Landslides Kill 15 in Philippines

  It's Expected to Dump Rain On Taiwan's North and East, and On a Chain of Remote Japanese Islands
  
  {BBC}

  July 10, 2026 - Landslides triggered by one of the strongest storms in decades have killed at least 15 people in the southern Philippines, as parts of East Asia brace themselves for the looming storm.

  Typhoon Bavi, which spans 1,000km (620 miles) at its widest point – roughly the width of France - is sweeping across the Pacific towards Taiwan.

• • River Pollution May Be Confusing Fish
  Into Mating With the Wrong Species

  Damaged 'Noses' May Be Pushing Two Swordtail Species Toward One Single Hybrid Species
  
  {ZME SCIENCE}

  July 10, 2026 -A polluted river in Mexico may be scrambling the love lives of two small fish species — so much so that it may be erasing the line between them.

  Downstream of the town of Calnali, in central Mexico, two swordtail fish that are normally different species are starting to look like a genetic blur. A Stanford-led team found that polluted water there was linked to damaged smell organs in the fish. The study also found embryos whose genomes fell halfway between the two species.

  Those two things are closely interlinked because these fish rely heavily on smell to identify mates of their own kind. The contaminants may make the fish unable to tell their species apart from others, causing them to mate with the wrong fish.

• • Why We Don’t Know What Food is
  Spreading the Parasite Sickening Thousands

  There’s a Lag Between When People Consume the Parasite and When Symptoms Appear...

  

  July 10, 2026 -More than 2,000 Americans have been sickened this summer by a microscopic parasite that contaminates fresh produce and can cause days of diarrhea, creating an unusually large outbreak that, paradoxically, may give investigators their best chance to identify its source, public health officials said.

  Cyclospora is one of the hardest foodborne pathogens to trace to its source. There’s a lag between when people consume the parasite that causes the illness and when symptoms appear, making it tough for those infected to remember what they ate to pinpoint the problem. Health officials are alarmed by the rapidly growing number of cases, which they say are likely undercounted because some people recover without medical care and are not tested.

• • This Surprising City Just Won the World’s Most Liveable Title

  The Top 10 Will Make You Want to Pack Your Bags
  
  {HEALTHY HAPPY NEWS}

  July 9, 2026 -Looking for a fresh start in a place where life just works better? The latest rankings of the world’s most liveable cities are in, and they’re brimming with inspiration for anyone dreaming of a better quality of life.

  Vienna, Austria has reclaimed the top spot as the globe’s most liveable city in 2026, a title it has earned repeatedly thanks to its winning combination of cultural richness, excellent public transportation, affordable housing, and pristine green spaces. This beautiful European gem proves that cities can prioritize people over profit — and thrive because of it.

• • This State Just Proved We Can Save the Bees

  And the Results Will Make You Smile
  
  {HEALTHY HAPPY NEWS}

  July 9, 2026 -Oregon has just delivered heartwarming news that proves when communities come together, amazing things happen. Scientists at Oregon State University released an inaugural report revealing that the state has recorded zero pesticide-related bee deaths since 2021 — a stunning five-year streak that’s restoring faith in our ability to protect nature.

  This isn’t just a statistic. It’s proof that ordinary people, when given the right tools and knowledge, can make an extraordinary difference for our planet’s precious pollinators.

• • Four Things to Know About the Deadly
  Counterfeit Air-Bag Parts in U.S. Cars

  Regulators Seek to Stop More Drivers From Being Killed Or Injured By Certain Air-Bag Parts From China
  
  {THE WALL STREET JOURNAL}

  July 9, 2026 -Since 2023, at least 10 deaths in the U.S. have been linked to air-bag parts with markings of a Chinese manufacturer called Jilin Province Detiannuo Safety Technology, also known as DTN Airbag.

  The air bags—sometimes labeled with the counterfeit logos of various carmakers—contain components called inflaters that are defective. In the event of a crash, those inflaters might send large metallic shards flying into the cabin, potentially wounding or killing someone inside. DTN has said it believes the inflaters identified are counterfeits of its own product.

• • E.P.A. Moves to Loosen Limits on Pollution From Trucks

  Trump Wants to Roll Back Some Biden-Era Restrictions On Smog-Causing Emissions From Heavy-Duty Vehicles

  

  July 9, 2026 -The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday proposed to loosen limits on smog-causing pollution from a variety of heavy-duty vehicles, including tractor-trailers, fire engines and delivery trucks.

  It was the latest effort by the Trump administration to encourage the use of vehicles that burn fossil fuels rather than running on electricity. The Biden administration, in contrast, had made a rapid transition to electric vehicles a centerpiece of its plans for tackling both climate change and hazardous air pollution.

• • Pressure Builds On Europe's Biggest Port to Be Greener

  Pressure is Building On the Port to Do Something
  
  {BBC}

  July 9, 2026, by Anna Holligan - Standing on a grassy verge in the Hook of Holland, I'm overlooking the Port of Rotterdam.

  At the delta of the Rhine and Meuse in the Netherlands, on land largely reclaimed from the North Sea, it's the biggest port for freight in Europe.

  By some measures, Rotterdam alone handles almost as much cargo as all UK ports combined.

• • NYC Invests in Air Quality, but the Bronx Still Can’t Breathe Easy

  Highways, Peaker Plants and Commercial and Industrial Activity Cluster in the Borough

  

  July 9, 2026 -When Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced that $20 million from the city’s congestion pricing revenue would be redirected to fight childhood asthma in the Bronx, Javier Marchand celebrated.

  But Marchand, the air quality advocate for the community advocacy group South Bronx Unite, knows the new funding will not be enough to fix the pollution problem in his neighborhood.

• • AI’s No-Win Choice: Using Huge Amounts of Water Or Energy

  Tech Companies Face a Fundamental Choice With No Winning Answer For Keeping Data Centers Cool
  
  {CLIMATEWIRE}

  July 9, 2026 -Artificial intelligence has a real heat problem.

  Cooling next-generation computer chips for AI requires either millions of gallons of water or huge amounts of electricity. Both have ignited sharp opposition from the public.

  The industry’s heat trade-off threatens to deepen its unpopularity in communities where concern is growing about the financial and environmental toll of data centers. If a company chooses to save water when cooling a facility, its power needs surge. If it reduces electricity, its water use climbs. One option increases carbon emissions and strains the electric grid; the other depletes a natural resource.

• • Outbreak of Diarrhea-Causing Parasite
  Grows to More Than 1,000 Cases

  Michigan Officials First Announced the Outbreak Last Week

  

  July 9, 2026 -Nearly 1,000 people in Michigan have been diagnosed with a parasitic infection that can cause weeks of watery diarrhea, making it the largest such outbreak in state history and one of the nation’s largest in years.

  No deaths have been reported and the source of the cyclospora infections hasn’t been identified. Meanwhile, investigations into similar illnesses have been going on in 28 other states, including in Ohio, where people just across the Michigan border are also becoming sick.

• • Super Typhoon Bavi Becomes ‘Gargantuan’
  As It Rolls Toward China, Taiwan

  Experts Expect Bavi to Continue Weakening
  
  {DAILY CALLER}

  July 9, 2026 -An eyewall replacement cycle has impacted Super Typhoon Bavi, expanding the wind field and growing the typhoon to a size the U.S. Joint Typhoon Warning Center described Thursday as “gargantuan.”

  The wind field of Bavi is in the top three percent of all typhoons in the Western Pacific in the last 10 years, according to the FOX Forecast Center, though the maximum sustained winds of the storm have gotten weaker since its expansion.

• • In the AI Race, Microsoft’s Emissions Jump

  Their Emissions Increased This Year, in Part Due to Its Expansion of Data Centers

  

  July 9, 2026 -Microsoft’s climate-warming emissions jumped last year as the company raced to build data centers powering artificial intelligence, increasing how far the company must go to meet its pledge to become carbon negative by 2030.

  The Redmond-based tech giant reported 21 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions in fiscal year 2025, up from about 17 million the previous year — a roughly 27% increase.

• • China Climate Plan Pushes Renewables in Factories, Data Centers

  China Plans to Integrate Its Renewable Power Fleet Into Factories, Data Centers and Transport
  
  {Bloomberg}

  July 9, 2026 -China, the world’s largest source of climate-warming greenhouse gases, plans to more deeply integrate its massive renewable power fleet into factories, data centers and transport in a new plan that lays out more detail of its emissions-cutting strategy through 2030.

  The five-year climate plan, published on Thursday after the broad direction was confirmed at the nation’s annual political meeting in March, signals that the country is moving away from an era of just building out clean energy capacity and toward a greater focus on ensuring it gets used through storage, transmission, electrification, green hydrogen and low-carbon industrial parks and data centers.

• • Factory Blaze in China’s ‘Shoe Capital’ Kills 28

  The Country’s Leader Called On the Authorities to Investigate the Fire

  

  July 9, 2026 -At least 28 people have died in a fire at a shoe factory in southeastern China on Thursday, according to Chinese state media. The latest in a string of deadly workplace accidents to rock the country this year, it prompted an immediate response from China’s leader.

  President Xi Jinping of China issued a statement urging “all-out efforts” to rescue trapped survivors, uncover the fire’s cause and “hold those responsible accountable,” according to China’s state broadcaster, CCTV.

• • Spain's 'Firefighting' Donkeys Have Helped Keep
  Doñana National Park Free of Wildfires for Nearly a Decade

  While Firefighters Race Toward Wildfires, a Team of 18 Unlikely Heroes Spends Every Day Making Sure Those Fires Never Start in the First Place
  
  {SUNNYSKYZ.COM}

  July 8, 2026 -July 19, 2026 -In southern Spain, a herd of rescued donkeys has quietly become one of nature's most effective wildfire prevention crews. By doing nothing more than grazing on dry grass and thick brush, the animals have helped reduce the vegetation that fuels dangerous fires in and around Doñana National Park, one of Europe's most important protected natural areas.

  The results have been remarkable. After the donkey brigade was introduced, the park went nine years without recording a single forest fire.

• • Dolphins In The Adriatic Are Chasing Trawlers
  for Scraps Because Their Sea Is Running Out Of Food

  Scientists Tracked More Than 17,700 Kilometers of Fishing Activity to Uncover a Dramatic Shift in Dolphin Behavior
  
  {ZME SCIENCE}

  July 8, 2026 -Bottlenose dolphins have been admired as some of the ocean’s most skilled predators. However, in parts of the Adriatic Sea, many of these animals are doing something very unusual. Rather than relying entirely on natural hunting, the dolphins are increasingly trailing commercial fishing boats in search of an easy meal.This may seem like a clever shortcut, but according to a new study, it’s a sign that something has gone badly wrong beneath the surface.

  This may seem like a clever shortcut, but according to a new study, it’s a sign that something has gone badly wrong beneath the surface.

• • CDC, CDPHE Report State Cases of Intestinal Illness,
  Caused By Parasite, Resulting Most Often in Diarrhea

  Between January and June of This Year, 90 Cyclosporiasis Cases Reported in Colorado
  
  {DENVER7}

  July 8, 2026 - The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) are reporting cases of an intestinal illness cropping up in the state, caused by a parasite, most commonly resulting in diarrhea and sometimes explosive bowel movements.

  The parasite — Cyclospora — is often found in raw produce, according to the CDPHE. Washing produce thoroughly can reduce dirt and germs but may not remove the parasite. Cooking the produce will kill the disease though, the CDPHE told Denver7.

• • Feds Grant Final Approval for Arizona Mine Situated
  in Critical Habitat for Jaguars and Mexican Spotted Owls

  The U.S. Forest Service’s Sign-Off Allows South32’S Hermosa Mine to Proceed Despite Vocal Opposition

  

  July 8, 2026 -The U.S. Forest Service Tuesday approved a proposed mine in southern Arizona that will extract up to five critical minerals and was the first added to a program designed to streamline federal permitting.

  Local environmental groups quickly condemned the decision, alleging the federal agency failed to address fundamental legal questions and environmental concerns before approving the project, such as permitting mining infrastructure through habitat for jaguars and Mexican spotted owls, both listed under the Endangered Species Act. The approval grants 31 exemptions under the Coronado National Forest Plan>, which were critical for the project’s proposed actions and which the environmental groups say conflicts with guidance for the area’s public lands, and defers analysis of long-term concerns like impacts to local water resources.

• • A Mountain of Rubbish in Indonesia Has
  Been On Fire For More Than a Week

  For Eight Days, a Fire Has Been Burning At a Waste Mountain in Indonesia
  
  {BBC}

  July 8, 2026 -The blaze at Jatiwaringin landfill, on the outskirts of the capital Jakarta, has spread across more than 15 hectares, smothering the area in thick, toxic smoke and displacing hundreds of local residents.

  Health authorities have reported a surge in respiratory illnesses due to air pollution, and firefighters have dispatched helicopters, water tankers, bulldozers and drones to extinguish the inferno.

• • Ancient Rocks Beneath Canada Are Producing
  Something Incredible That Could Change Everything

  Scientists Discover Ancient Rocks Naturally Producing Massive Amounts of Clean Hydrogen Gas Deep Underground
  
  {The BBC}

  July 8, 2026 -This “white hydrogen” could provide abundant, affordable clean energy without emissions.

  The discovery may be widespread across Canada and could revolutionize energy production.

  Deep beneath the surface of Canada, something extraordinary is happening that’s giving scientists hope for a cleaner, brighter energy future. Ancient underground rocks have been quietly producing hydrogen gas on their own—and they’re making a lot of it.

  This isn’t just any hydrogen. Scientists are calling it “white hydrogen,” a naturally occurring, emission-free energy source that’s been hidden beneath our feet all along, just waiting to be discovered.

• • Manhattan High-Rise Deemed Stable After Columns Buckled

  Some Evacuations Are Lifted

  

  July 8, 2026 -An under-construction Manhattan high-rise at risk of collapse was stabilized late Tuesday and some evacuations of nearby buildings were lifted.

  “We’ve been monitoring the building for many hours and have not seen any movement,” Ahmed Tigani, commissioner of the New York City Department of Buildings, said during a news conference Tuesday.

• • Evacuations Lifted, I-90 Reopened After Wildfire in Vantage

  The Vantage Highway Was Still Closed Wednesday Night Due to Downed Power Lines

  

  July 8, 2026 -Evacuation orders have been lifted and Interstate 90 has reopened after firefighters began to contain a “rapidly moving wildfire” in the area of Vantage, Kittitas County, according to county and state officials.

  The wildfire started burning Wednesday. It had burned 800 acres as of Thursday morning, according to the state Department of Natural Resources’ wildfire portal.

• • Ocean Floor Witnessed Splitting Apart
  For the First Time — Releasing Lava

  Scientists Observed a Mid-Ocean Ridge Widen kn Real Time
  
  {Nature}

  July 8, 2026 -Geophysicists have, for the first time, caught the ocean floor in the act of spreading apart at one of its seams. Using an array of more than 20 measuring stations laid across a 100-kilometre-long region of the Indian Ocean, they witnessed an event that released around 160 million cubic metres of lava onto the sea floor and shifted two sections of the oceanic crust apart by at least 2 metres in a matter of days.

  The scale of the event, which was described today in Nature1, was “a major surprise”, according to study co-author Jean-Yves Royer, a marine geophysicist at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) in Brest.

• • Climate Cash is About to Pour Into East Coast States

  The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative is Delivering a Windfall That States Can Use To Cut Planet-Warming Emissions...
  
  {CLIMATEWIRE}

  July 8, 2026 -East Coast states face a surprising opportunity in the midst of the fossil-fuel-focused Trump presidency: hundreds of millions of dollars in new climate funding.

  Money is pouring in from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), the cap-and-trade system for the electricity sector in 11 states. In the first half of 2026, RGGI auctions brought in about $1.3 billion by selling allowances for power plants to emit climate pollution. That's a 70 percent jump from the same period last year, thanks to soaring power demand, Virginia’s reentry into RGGI and a Trump-shaped bottleneck in renewable energy development.

• • Recycling That Rescues Dolphins

  Tying Plastic Bottles to Gillnets Cut Dolphin Deaths By Nearly 90% Without Reducing the Fish Catch

  

  July 8, 2026 -Whales, dolphins and porpoises are protected from hunting in most places these days. But that doesn’t mean they’re safe from fishing.

  Accidental entanglement and drowning, often called bycatch, is one of the greatest threats to cetaceans. The overwhelming majority of those incidents were tied to gillnets, curtains of virtually invisible nylon mesh dangled in the water, indiscriminately trapping anything that swims into them.

• • Typhoon Triggers Floods and Rare Tornadoes in China

  It Has Also Triggered Thunderstorms, and Even Tornadoes, in the Central Province of Hubei - Hundreds of Kilometres Away
  
  {BBC}

  July 8, 2026 -On Sunday, heavy rain began falling on Renhe village in the southern Chinese province of Guangxi.

  The villagers were used to it. But the rain didn't stop - and the water suddenly rose.

  By the early hours of Monday, the water had reached their knees. By dawn, it had completely submerged the first floor of their homes.

• • AI Governance Debate Silent On Risks to Nature, Campaigners Warn

  Global Efforts to Ensure Ai Does More Good Than Harm Must Consider How It Could Fuel Exploitation of Biodiversity And Ecosystems
  
  {CLIMATE HOME NEWS}

  July 8, 2026 -As countries gathered in Geneva this week for the first UN dialogue on the governance of artificial intelligence, campaigners said the debate around the fast-evolving technology has overlooked the potential harm it could cause to nature and biodiversity.

  Not only has nature been absent from discussions on the environmental impacts of AI data centres, which focus mainly on carbon emissions and water use, there has also been no consideration of how AI deployment by industry could gobble up more natural resources, activists warned.

• • Windsor Lake Temporarily Closed For Algae Toxic to Humans, Pets

  Toxic Algae Blooms Have Forced an Immediate Closure of Windsor Lake
  
  {FOX31}

  July 7, 2026 -According to the Town of Windsor, the temporary closure comes after toxic algae blooms were detected in the water.

  Toxic algae blooms, also called cyanobacteria, are caused by too much nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus in the water. The blooms can be toxic to humans, pets and the environment.

  “Our team takes the health and safety of our residents very seriously,” said Kendra Martin, Windsor’s Operations Manager. “In addition to our regular testing of the lake and after staff visually observed some blooms, we tested for harmful algae and moved to close the lake.”

• • Despite Decades of Warnings, British Fish Stocks Are Collapsing

  The Organization Responsible For the Science Behind U.K. Fishing Quotas is Calling For Several Total Fishing Bans

  

  July 7, 2026 -Regulations governing British fishing are supposed to keep it “environmentally sustainable in the long term.” But fish stocks in the United Kingdom are on the brink of collapse.

  For those watching the industry closely, this is not a surprise: For decades, U.K. and European Union governments have regularly ignored fishing quota research recommendations. Almost 60 percent of all U.K. fish quotas set last year flouted scientific advice. Rather than sustainable management, governments are effectively overseeing their fishing industries’ slow-motion decline.

• • The DOE Wants to Rewrite Appliance Efficiency Rules

  And Invest $150M in Oil and Gas
  
  {energy central}

  July 7, 2026 -More deregulation ahead: The agency is rethinking how it develops energy conservation standards for fridges, washing machines, and other home products. The goal? To “permanently end home appliance and equipment mandates that raise costs and disrupt consumer choice,” according to the DOE…but it’s uncertain whether the White House will actually end the appliance efficiency program as a whole.

  Digging deeper into fossil fuels: Separately, the DOE is offering up to $150M for fracking and unconventional oil and gas recovery, among other projects. This cash injection comes just over a month after President Trump announced $700M in funding for US coal production.

• • US Oil Execs Turn to Trump to Topple Europe's Climate Rules

  An Inside Look At How a Climate Regulation Became A Battleground Between the U.S. and Europe
  
  {HEALTHY HAPPY NEWS}

  July 7, 2026 -The U.S. oil and gas industry has succeeded in exporting massive amounts of natural gas to Europe. Now, with the help of White House officials, it looks like it might also succeed in exporting the Trump administration’s deregulatory agenda.

  Now the sector is attempting to strong-arm the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, into delaying the rollout of what the bloc intended to be a major rule to curb a potent climate pollution. It has prevailed in winning the backing of over half the bloc’s 27 member countries, who have joined U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright in calling for swift changes to the rules.

• • Multiple US States See Alarming Increase in Cases
  of Parasitic Illness That Causes ‘Explosive’ Diarrhea

  Almost 700 Cases Were Reported to Michigan Health Department By Monday, Up From 170 Six Days Earlier

  

  July 7, 2026 -Cases of cyclosporiasis – a parasitic illness that causes “explosive”, watery diarrhea – have grown exponentially in recent days, health officials said, with an abnormally large outbreak reported in Michigan.

  Almost 700 cases were reported to the state’s health department by Monday, ABC News said, up from 170 six days earlier, and almost 14 times Michigan’s average annual caseload of 50.

• • Unsafe Bacteria Levels Detected in
  Merrimack River After Sewage Leak

  Tests Conducted Saturday Night Showed Unsafe Bacteria Levels in Multiple Locations
  
  {WCVB5}

  July 7, 2026 -Unsafe bacteria levels are still being detected at several Merrimack River locations more than a week after a sewer main break in Haverhill, Massachusetts, caused raw sewage to leak into the water.

  Additionally, Tuesday's rain may trigger a combined sewer overflow which would add more bacteria to the affected stretch of river, the Merrimack River Watershed Council warned.

• • Dam Removal Efforts Lead to a Stunning
  Comeback for Maine’s Alewives

  Along Most of the Atlantic Coast, Alewives Are Struggling After Decades of Damming and Overfishing

  

  July 6, 2026 -For a few weeks each summer, the Sebasticook River in Benton, Maine, is paved with flashing silver scales, so thick it seems you could almost walk across. The alewives have returned for their annual migration.

  On a mid-May weekend, Benton held its annual Alewife Festival on the riverbank. With the tunes of a local steel drum band in the background, families made fish-themed crafts, sampled smoked alewives and watched the migration in progress. Below Benton Falls Dam, fishermen hauled alewives into their boats one full net at a time.

• • Building a Decarbonized U.S. Power Sector

  Federal Clean Energy Incentives Are (Mostly) Gone—But...
  
  {energy central}

  July 6, 2026 -A new MIT report modeled the US power sector under two scenarios through 2035: 1) the Trump administration's One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBBA) and 2) the Biden-era Inflation Reduction Act. The results paint a surprisingly rosy picture for renewables: More than two-thirds of the clean energy gains and emissions reductions from the original IRA survive attempts to roll them back under the OBBBA.

  The details: 74% of new clean energy capacity and 71% of new clean generation remain under the OBBBA. Fossil generation, though, jumps 19% higher—largely from running existing coal and gas plants more.

• • DC Experiences ‘Code Red’ Air Quality
  After Massive Fireworks Display

  The Meaning of Code Red
  
  {KARK.COM}

  July 6, 2026 -The Washington, D.C. area was under an air quality alert after a dazzling fireworks show lit up the nation’s capital to celebrate America’s 250th birthday on July Fourth.

  D.C. issued the “Code Red” air quality alert on Sunday morning, hours after the record-setting fireworks display on the National Mall had ended.

  Trump mixes patriotism with partisanship on America’s ‘joyous’ 250th anniversary.

  The “Code Red” alert indicated that outdoor air quality was recorded at “unhealthy” levels for “seniors, kids [and] people with medical conditions,” according to AlertDC. While the alert was in effect, officials recommended the general public in impacted areas limit time spent outside.

• • Nigerian Families Living in Shadow of
  Burning Oil Well Six Years After Blowout

  Smoke, Soot and Toxic Fumes

  

  July 6, 2026 -Perched on a narrow hospital cot across from her son, Bodunwa Orugbemi can hear the distant Atlantic Ocean and smell the stench of crude oil on the air drifting in from the shore. For days, her 21-year-old son has been lying in this hospital in the Niger Delta, swallowing small spoonfuls of food without being able to speak.

  Seventy-year-old Orugbemi says Ijadopin started coughing one evening in May, inside their small wooden home in Awoye on Nigeria’s Atlantic coastline. After a few days his cough intensified, then he developed a skin irritation, followed by difficulty breathing.

• • Two 4.0+ Magnitude Earthquakes Strike
  Near Colorado/New Mexico State Line

  People Across Southern Colorado and Northern New Mexico Felt Earthquakes On Monday Morning
  
  {KKTV11}

  July 6, 2026 - In quick succession, two earthquakes struck near the Colorado and New Mexico state line early Monday morning, however shock waves could be felt as far away as Pueblo and Monte Vista.

  According to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), around 3:21 a.m., a 4.2 magnitude earthquake struck about 20 miles south of Segundo, Colorado. The earthquake struck at a depth of 6.2 km.

• • New Evacuations Issued in Gunnison
  County as Fire Grows to 27K Acres

  Gold Mountain Fire Latest
  
  {DENVER7}

  July 6, 2026 -The nearly 30,000-acre Gold Mountain Fire burning near Ouray has forced new evacuations in Gunnison County on Monday morning as it continues to burn north.

  The fire entered southwest Gunnison County, triggering a mandatory evacuation and voluntary evacuation on Monday morning. Click here for the most up-to-date interactive map showing evacuations for this fire.

• • A Nobel Winning Chemist Is Trying to
  Pull Drinking Water from Desert Air

  Nobel Laureate Omar Yaghi is Testing a Material That Can Harvest Water From the Air
  
  {ZME SCIENCE}

  July 6, 2026 -Omar Yaghi has spent much of his life thinking about empty space.

  The Jordanian-born chemist at the University of California, Berkeley, shared the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for developing metal-organic frameworks, or MOFs. These are crystalline materials built from metal-containing nodes and organic linkers. But their real magic lies in what they leave out: microscopic pores, arranged with atomic precision.

  Those pores can be tuned to trap gases, capture carbon dioxide, separate chemicals, or even pull drinking water from the air.

• • The World’s Most, and Least, Liveable Cities in 2026

  How 173 Cities Compare in EIU’s Annual Ranking
  
  {The Economist}

  July 6, 2026 -FOR A CERTAIN type of person, Dubai had it all. Vast, air-conditioned shopping malls, good schools for the kids, low rainfall and even lower taxes. Before the Iran war, it was exceptionally safe too. But cities across the Gulf have recently become much less appealing for expats. In fact, no other region’s liveability has taken such a big hit this year, according to an annual index by EIU, our sister company.

• • Why U.S. Measles Outbreaks
  Have Grown Harder to Extinguish

  The Nation is Already Nearing Last Year’s Record Case Total...

  

  July 6, 2026 -The United States is on the brink of surpassing last year’s total measles cases, putting the country on track to set a new record before summer’s end.

  The impending milestone underscores how the country has entered a new phase in its battle with measles, with repeated new infections of the deadly disease igniting sustained outbreaks in multiple states rather than staying concentrated in a few undervaccinated communities.

• • Aspen Acres Fire Prompts New Evacs, More
  Than 91,000 Acres in Size, 12% Contained

  New Mandatory Evacuations Were Issued For Fremont County Sunday Evening
  
  {KOAA NEWS}

  July 6, 2026 -Several crews are working to contain the Aspen Acres Fire along Highway 165 near Rye. As of Monday morning, a week after the fire started, it has burned 91,523 acres and is 12% contained.

  New mandatory evacuations were ordered in Fremont County Sunday evening. 1,374 personnel continue to work the fire.

  A post on the Fremont County Sheriff's Office Facebook page said that all of the areas that were under pre-evacuation status in Fremont County are now under mandatory evacuation.

• • Evacuation Resource Described as 'Uber For Horses'
  Aims to Expand as Wildfires Continue to Burn Across State

  Denver7 Follows Up On HorseAlert as Those Behind the Website Try to Expand Assistance to people Impacted By Current Wildfires
  
  {DENVER7}

  July 5, 2026 -As several wildfires burn across Colorado, one non-profit’s evacuation tool is back in the spotlight as they attempt to bring assistance to people who may need help evacuating their animals.

  Denver7 shared the resource, HorseAlert, in 2024, when the website first launched and was put to use during the Stone Canyon and Alexander Mountain fires.

• • Day 7 of Aspen Acres Fire May Be Best Yet For Firefighters

  KRDO 13 Has a Crew in Southern Pueblo County to Provide an Update On the Aspen Acres Wildfire
  
  {KRDO 13}

  July 5, 2026 -For the first time, authorities report some containment — 6% late Saturday night, and up to 13% as of 7 a.m. Sunday.

  Fire crews made the first containment on the east side of the burn zone, near Highway 78.

  The checkpoint on Highway 165 has been moved east from Crow Cutoff and is now at the Interstate 25 interchange.

• • Weekend Weather Wreaks Havoc On the Grid

  Weekend Wind and Storms Pummeled the Northeast and Midwest—and Thousands Still Without Power
  
  {KARK.COM}

  July 5, 2026 -The numbers: 454K customers across PA, NY, NJ, CT, and MI were still without power Sunday night after severe weather took down trees and power lines this weekend. Thousands more in the midwest and southeast are facing power outages due to severe heat, bringing the total close to 1 million homes and businesses without power across the country.

  On Friday, PJM directed customers in emergency electricity-reduction programs to limit their power use amid generator outages, overloaded transmission lines, and surges in A/C usage as temps soared.

• • French Wildfires Force Officials to Ban
  Public From Tour De France's Third Stage

  French Wildfires Force Officials
  to Ban Public From Tour
  De France's Third Stage

  

  July 5, 2026 -The third stage of the Tour de France that will take place on Monday will be closed to the public due to risks posed by a forest fire raging in southwestern France, officials said on Sunday.

  The fire has ravaged more than 1,600 hectares (6.18 square miles) some 60 km (37 miles) from the finish line in Les Angles and is still spreading.

  Images of the fire show billowing black smoke, with eyewitnesses reporting scorching winds, hot ground, difficulty breathing in the vicinity and poor visibility ?beyond 2 metres (6.56 feet).

• • What’s Holding Back Britain’s Green Revolution?

  A Visual Story

  

  July 4, 2026 -Labour has a race on its hands if it is to lock in its promise to achieve a virtually zero-carbon electricity system by 2030.

  Britain’s next prime minister will have to move fast: the climate emergency is raging, high energy bills are driving up the cost of living and the reactionary right is threatening a fossil fuel push if it wins power.

  In the party’s first two years in office it approved new renewable energy projects at double the rate the Conservatives did in their last two years, a Guardian data analysis found.

• • New Gold Exploration Revives Old
  Fears for Montana’s Blackfoot River

  State Regulators Have Approved Exploratory Drilling Near the Headwaters of the Rugged Flow That Inspired “A River Runs Through It,”

  

  July 4, 2026 -More than half a century after one of Montana’s most destructive mining disasters poisoned the upper Blackfoot River, a new gold exploration project near the river’s headwaters is sparking concerns about whether its decades of environmental recovery could be at risk.

  Last month, the Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) approved an amended exploration license for Australia-based Sentinel Metals to conduct additional drilling at its Columbia Gold Project, located near Lincoln in western Montana. The approval allows the company, which does business in Montana as Great Plains Mining LLC, to drill up to 21 exploratory holes, some reaching depths of 2,300 feet, in a mountainous area with streams that eventually flow into the Blackfoot River.

• • A Boat Transporting Students From Exams Sinks in Congo

  Killing At Least 20

  

  July 4, 2026 -A wooden boat transporting students back from state exams sank in central Congo, killing at least 20 people, authorities said. The vessel was traveling in Kasai province when it sank while entering the confluence of the Sankuru and Kasai rivers, according to witnesses.

  Deadly boating tragedies are common in the central African country, where late-night travels and overcrowded vessels are often blamed. Poor safety standards and lack of infrastructure in remote parts of the country also contribute to the hundreds killed in boat disasters in recent years.

• • 6 Surprising Tips For How to Hydrate Better

  Experts Share The Latest Thinking On How to Make Sure You’re Consuming the Water Your Body Needs While Avoiding Health Risks

  

  July 4, 2026 -You probably already know how important it is to drink water during the summer heat to avoid dehydration. But some of the most common hydration advice — from how much water you should drink to whether you need to add electrolytes — may surprise you.

  We’ve pulled together the best tips from experts on how you can stay hydrated as you enjoy your summer activities.

• • Beyond Camp Mystic, Survivors of Texas
  Floods Struggle to Move Forward

  The Tragic Deaths At the Girls’ Camp Grabbed Headlines For Months. But...

  

  July 4, 2026 -After historic floods ravaged their RV park a year ago this weekend, Lorena Guillén and her husband had a difficult choice to make. Should they reopen the camp site, which they had once thought would fund their retirement?

  But that was before a family from Houston with two young boys who had been camping at Blue Oak RV park were swept away and killed. It was even worse at a nearby RV park where 37 people died in the rising waters, the largest loss of life in one place during the flood.

• • A New Mexico Town Is Running Dry

  An Immigration Detention Center Is Its Biggest Water Customer

  

  July 4, 2026 -Following years of drought, the wells in Estancia, N.M., are running dry.

  After declaring a water emergency last week, the small town in Torrance County is hauling in water to fill its pipes. Estancia has also reduced water sales to the Torrance County Detention Facility, a federal immigration detention center run by the private contractor CoreCivic. The detention facility, Estancia’s largest commercial water customer, has resorted to trucking in water.

  In the midst of the crisis, Estancia Mayor Runnel Riley has taken a leave of absence. During a Board of Trustees meeting Tuesday evening, Estancia’s elected leaders passed a vote of “no confidence” in the mayor. The state has provided funding to drill a new well, and Estancia will be opening the 30-day bidding process this month.

• • New Gold Exploration Revives Old
  Fears for Montana’s Blackfoot River

  State Regulators Have Approved Exploratory Drilling Near the Headwaters of the Rugged Flow That Inspired “A River Runs Through It

  

  July 4, 2026 -More than half a century after one of Montana’s most destructive mining disasters poisoned the upper Blackfoot River, a new gold exploration project near the river’s headwaters is sparking concerns about whether its decades of environmental recovery could be at risk.

  Last month, the Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) approved an amended exploration license for Australia-based Sentinel Metals to conduct additional drilling at its Columbia Gold Project, located near Lincoln in western Montana. The approval allows the company, which does business in Montana as Great Plains Mining LLC, to drill up to 21 exploratory holes, some reaching depths of 2,300 feet, in a mountainous area with streams that eventually flow into the Blackfoot River.

• • As Blazes Rage Out West, Federal
  Firefighters Describe a Mounting Strain

  A Collision of Risky Conditions Have Made Things Harder as Summer Begins

  

  July 4, 2026 -As wildfires rip across the parched American West, federal firefighters say they are facing immense pressure and grappling with a shortage of resources that has worsened following the Trump administration’s staffing cuts.

  A collision of risky conditions have made things harder as the summer gets underway: a warm, dry winter; prolonged drought; snowless mountains; thick fuels that have had time to cure — elements that have set the stage for what could be a hellish fire year. The scenario started rearing its head in March and intensified over the last few weeks, with about 50 large fires now burning across the United States, and Utah and Colorado experiencing particularly large or destructive blazes.

• • One Missing, Two Hospitalized After
  Boat Crashes Into Salisbury Jetty

  The Water Search Resumed Saturday Morning
  
  {energy central}

  July 4, 2026 -One person is missing after a boat crashed into a jetty along the Massachusetts North Shore overnight.

  Massachusetts State Police said troopers responded to the report of a crash along the jetty at Salisbury Beach Reservation at 10:35 p.m. Friday.

  Jeff Ramsay, who lives nearby and witnessed the search, said he saw "all kinds of flashing lights" out on the water overnight.

• • Wildfire Southwest of Denver Forces Thousands to Evacuate

  Destroys More Than 160 Structures
  
  {US NEWS}

  July 3, 2026 -A wildfire burning southwest of Denver forced the evacuation of thousands of residents and destroyed more than 160 structures by Friday as erratic winds pushed the blaze across two Colorado counties.

  The Aspen Acres fire is one of about 40 uncontained large blazes burning mostly in the West, fueled by months of dry weather and a record lack of snow this past winter in some places.

  Fire personnel were scooping water from the Pueblo Reservoir to fight the Aspen Acres fire, which had expanded to about 115 square miles (297 square kilometers) by Friday afternoon with zero containment.

• • This Remarkable Microbe Could
  Help Farmers Survive Rising Seas

  As Rising Seas Push Salt Water Inland, Scientists Have Found a Naturally Occurring Bacterium That Helps Soybeans and Other Crops Grow...

  

  July 3, 2026 -Within the soil, a group of unique microbes are working overtime to shield wild plants from salt stress. Now researchers have shown that those naturally-occurring microbes can be successfully transferred to a range of crops and, crucially, can boost their growth.

  The obliging microbe, a type of bacteria called Pseudomonas, was identified lurking around the roots of plants exposed to high salt levels, a situation expected to grow worse as climate change causes rising sea levels that push salty water further inland from the coast.

• • California’s First Carbon Capture Project Is Up and Running

  Environmentalists Are Still Trying To Stop It

  

  July 3, 2026 -California Resources Corporation, the state’s largest oil company, passed a long-targeted milestone in May: It had finally taken carbon dioxide that would otherwise warm the atmosphere and injected it deep underneath its own oil field. It’s the first such project to become operational in California. This week, the state finalized regulations that could support many more.

  The carbon CRC is sequestering at its storage site comes from its own natural gas-processing plant, which strips CO2 out of gas from wells at the nearby Elk Hills oil field. The plant will send up to 100,000 tons of CO2 each year to the so-called Carbon TerraVault I intended to lock up carbon dioxide for millennia.

• • Tropical Forest Protection Fund At Risk After Uk Stalls On Pledge

  The Brazil-Led TFFF Was Launched at COP30 As an Innovative Financial Model to Keep Rainforests Standing, But...
  
  {CLIMATE HOME NEWS}

  July 3, 2026 -A new global rainforest fund, unveiled by Brazil at COP30, will likely struggle to meet its initial funding target this year, after the UK failed to announce an expected pledge during London Climate Action Week and other donors have been slow to come on board.

  The Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF) was launched on the sidelines of last November's UN climate summit as an innovative mechanism to fund rainforest protection. Instead of relying on grants, it seeks to raise public and private money, invest it in financial markets, and then pay rainforest countries a share of the returns.

• • AI Data Centers Use Far More
  Water Than Most Tech Giants Report

  Water Used At Power Plants That Supply Their Electricity Can Be Many Times As Great As the Water Used in the Data Centers Themselves
  
  {THE WALL STREET JOURNAL}

  July 3, 2026 -Microsoft MSFT 1.62%increase; up pointing triangle, Google and Amazon AMZN 0.40%increase; up pointing triangle are among the tech companies spending an estimated $1 trillion on AI infrastructure this year and last. In some regions, they are using far more water than they report, depending on how data centers are powered. And their water consumption is projected to grow rapidly in coming years.

  These companies produce annual sustainability reports that include water use at their data centers. But among this group of titans, only Meta META -4.90%decrease; down pointing triangle tallies water used at the power stations that feed them electricity, in addition to the water used on-site.

• • Power Outage Across Mass.
  Town As Temps Reach 100 Degrees

  Power Expected to Be Restored By Midnight
  
  {WCVB5}

  July 3, 2026 -Power was restored early Friday to parts of Marblehead, Massachusetts, after an outage Thursday, the town's police department announced.

  The town suffered a power outage after sections of a primary conductor failed and required placement, the Marblehead Municipal Light Department (MMLD) said.

  "Repairs took longer than expected but all customers should now be restored. Most outages were due to high loads stressing weak points or design limits of system equipment, with heat being a contributing factor," MMLD posted.

• • Where Millions Lack Air Conditioning as U.S. Heat Dome Peaks

  A Post Analysis Found About 3 Million Households Without a Cooling System in Areas Where Temperatures Will Be Intense...

  

  July 3, 2026 -As temperatures soar to triple digits and record temperatures across a swath of the United States this week, a Washington Post analysis has found that about 3 million households in areas of major or extreme heat risk lack air conditioning.

  About 93 percent of homes have air conditioning nationwide, as do 96 percent of households in the areas with high heat risk this week, according to The Post’s analysis of data from the National Weather Service and the Census Bureau.

• • Creative Climate Advocate Finds Unexpected
  Way to Spread Environmental Hope

  And It’s Working
  
  {HEALTHY HAPPY NEWS}

  July 2, 2026 -In a world where environmental news often feels overwhelming, one creative advocate has discovered a surprising way to share uplifting climate solutions with audiences who might never encounter them otherwise. Jessica Riches, an environmental educator and content creator, is using unconventional platforms to spread messages of hope and practical action.

  Rather than focusing on doom and gloom, Riches emphasizes positive stories about renewable energy breakthroughs, community-led conservation projects, and everyday actions that make a real difference. Her approach centers on meeting people where they are and sharing content that inspires rather than intimidates.

• • Southeast Asia’s Malaria Rate Plummets 67%

  Lives Saved, Hope Restored
  
  {HEALTHY HAPPY NEWS}

  July 2, 2026 -In a heartwarming display of what human determination and collaboration can achieve, Southeast Asia is on the brink of eliminating malaria entirely from the region. The numbers tell an inspiring story: malaria transmission has plummeted by 67% over the past 15 years, transforming lives and communities across Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos.

  Early in June, international health experts and regional leaders convened for a historic summit in Vientiane, Laos, to discuss what they’re calling the “last mile” of malaria elimination. The atmosphere was filled with optimism as delegates celebrated the remarkable progress made by nations that have been experiencing economic growth for decades.

• • Forty Thousand Cubic Meters of Fresh Water
  Flow from the Congo into the Atlantic Every Second

  A New Study Traces Where It Goes from There
  
  {ZME SCIENCE}

  July 2, 2026 -The Congo River is the second largest river in the world, releasing an average of 40,000 cubic meters of water per second into the Atlantic Ocean. This huge discharge rate creates a large plume of fresh water that fans out 800 kilometers offshore.

  During the wet season, the plume shifts to the southwest, where it can be trapped by large, rotating currents called mesoscale eddies, with sizes on the order of 100 kilometers. These eddies transport fresh water hundreds of kilometers away from the coast. In work done at the Laboratory of Space Geophysical and Oceanographic Studies (LEGOS) and collaborating laboratories, Cardot et al. examined the swirling currents of mesoscale eddies through both modeling and recorded observations to better understand how fresh water moves from the Congo River into the Atlantic Ocean.

• • Whidbey Island Earthquake Near
  Oak Harbor Hits Magnitude of 3.8

  Whidbey Island is Vulnerable to the Cascadia Subduction Zone

  

  July 2, 2026 -A magnitude 3.8 earthquake shook outside of Oak Harbor on Whidbey Island on Wednesday night, according to the United States Geological Survey.

  The center of the earthquake was a little over a mile east off the shore of Oak Harbor, according to USGS. It happened around 11:35 p.m. at a depth of about 15.7 miles.

  Seismic instruments and submitted reports said the shaking levels were “weak.” Some residents reported they could feel the shaking in a Whidbey Island community page on social media.

• • Urban Trees Aren’t Just Nice,
  Scientists Say — They’re Mandatory

  Researchers Are Calling For Cities to Double Down On One of the Simplest Yet Most Powerful Solutions to Many Problems

  

  July 1, 2026 -They tower overhead and sway in the wind and often teem with squawking birds, yet trees are easy to ignore. Urbanites rush by them without noticing, and without appreciating all the work they do: Trees reduce temperatures, mitigate flooding, and provide habitat for animals.

  City leaders are no exception to this oversight. As mayors around the world pledge to reduce municipal greenhouse gas emissions, they’re missing the literal low-hanging fruit of bolstering urban forests, dozens of scientists argue in a new essay. “We have to elevate it from something that is nice to have to something that we require — like, mandatory,” said Manuel Esperon-Rodriguez, an ecologist at Bangor University in the United Kingdom and lead author of the piece, which published today in the journal PLOS Climate. “In the same way that we treat education, security, transportation, it has to be elevated to that level.”

• • Greece Hunts Toxic Wood-Biting Fish Invading Mediterranean Sea

  Greek Fishermen Struggle With Invasive Pufferfish
  
  {DAILY CALLER}

  July 1, 2026 -Greek fishermen can now collect cash for every toxic fish they drag from the water thanks to a government campaign targeting an invasive species that rips through nets and clamps its teeth onto wood and metal.

  The silver-cheeked toadfish (Lagocephalus sceleratus) carries tetrodotoxin, a neurotoxin able to stop a human heart if the fish is eaten, according to The Associated Press (AP). The species first turned up in Greek waters around 2005, having crossed the Suez Canal from its native Indo-Pacific range, The Telegraph reported. Warmer seas get much of the blame, though the fish has been pushing west for two decades — a slow march rather than a sudden arrival.

• • More Living Shorelines Could Come
  to States Bordering Chesapeake Bay

  If the Region’s
  Senators Get Their Way

  

  July 1, 2026 -Norfolk, Virginia, has remained the poster child for cities facing land subsidence and flooding in the country, struggling through an onslaught of storm surges and blue-sky flooding that become more frequent every year. But while a major storm has not hit the city directly since Hurricane Matthew in 2016, it is one of the many places looking to congressional funding as a way to fund preemptive land management projects to protect their shorelines and their residents.

  Although city leaders currently plan to rehabilitate their shorelines every seven years, the Norfolk Coastal Storm Risk Management program is now suggesting they change that schedule to every five years due to erosion trends.

• • Climate Activists Sue TotalEnergies

  demand Sale Details of Nigerian SPDC Oil Stake

  

  July 1, 2026 -Several nonprofits including Friends ?of the Earth France sued oil major TotalEnergies (TTEF.PA), opens new tab in a French civil court on Wednesday, seeking to obtain environmental documents related to an onshore Nigerian oil asset it is attempting to sell.

  Nigerian regulators have not yet approved the sale announced in January of Total's 10% stake in the asset, which was formerly known as SPDC, to local company Vaaris.

• • Amazon’s Rising Carbon Footprint ‘Not a One-Year Story

  The Scoop
  
  {SEMAFOR}

  July 1, 2026 -Amazon’s carbon footprint is rising because of its data center buildout, and will continue to do so for years to come, the company’s sustainability chief told Semafor.

  The tech giant’s global greenhouse gas emissions increased in 2025 for the second consecutive year, from 69.5 million metric tons in 2024 to 80.8 million, according to its latest sustainability report, published Wednesday. Its operations also became more carbon-intensive for the first time since it started to track this metric in 2019 — increasing to 113 grams per dollar of revenue, from 109 in 2024 — meaning the higher emissions are not the result of business growth alone.

• • People Near Data Centers Dread Heat Wave Pollution

  Extreme Temperatures Threaten to Strain the Grid as Data Centers Are Increasing Energy Demand
  
  {POLITICO}

  July 1, 2026 -Data Center Alley is facing a climate test.

  Searing temperatures this week could push energy demand to record levels on the mid-Atlantic’s electric grid, which fuels the country’s data center boom in Virginia.

  To relieve some of the pressure, the Department of Energy granted permission Tuesday to the region’s grid operator, PJM Interconnection, to potentially force data centers to use backup diesel generators.

• • Trump’s Record-Setting July 4 Fireworks
  Could Shower the City With Pollution

  Officials Acknowledge the Potential Health Risks
  
  {E&E NEWS}

  July 1, 2026 -The National Park Service on Saturday will launch over 850,000 fireworks into the skies of Washington, bathing the capital in patriotic blasts of light for the nation’s 250th birthday.

  Then comes the fallout.

  Scientists have well documented the soot and heavy metal pollution that can spike severely in the wake of pyrotechnic displays, and the world-record-setting number of fireworks lined up for July 4 will mean an equally large jump in pollution, according to experts and internal NPS documents reviewed by POLITICO.

• • Mesa County Rescuers Coordinate Largest-
  Ever Evacuation of 123 Campers

  As Snyder Fire Exploded Near the Colorado River
  
  {THE COLORADO SUN}

  July 1, 2026 -It was a small plume on the horizon as they hauled their rafts to the Loma boat ramp at the top of the Ruby-Horsethief Canyon stretch of the Colorado River on Saturday.

  A few hours later, as Caleb Weinberg and his crew of nine people on three rafts and four kayaks leaned into gusting winds and thick smoke as “it was raining ash on us,” he said.

• • India Warns of Below-Average July
  Monsoon Rains After Particularly Dry June

  Millions of Farmers Rely On Seasonal Monsoon Rains to Sow Their Crops

  

  June 30, 2026 - India is likely to see below-average monsoon rainfall in July after logging its fifth-driest June since records ?began in 1901, the weather department said on Tuesday, raising concerns over farm output and economic growth.

  The monsoon delivers about 70% of annual rains to replenish crucial water sources in the nearly $4-trillion economy, where almost half of farmland lacks irrigation and about half the population earns its livelihood from farming.

• • Why Is It So Expensive to Replace Lead Pipes in Chicago?

  Chicago Has More Lead Pipes Than Any Other City in the Country...

  

  June 30, 2026 -No city dealing with a lot of lead pipes spends as much as Chicago does to replace them.

  With more than 400,000 lead water service lines, Chicago has the largest known inventory of lead pipes of any city in the country. Officials say replacing each one costs about $31,000 on average—more than six times the Environmental Protection Agency’s national estimate of $4,700 a line.

• • Chemical Accidents Rise as Trump
  Administration Proposes Weakening Safety Rules

  Hazardous Chemical Releases From Industrial Accidents That Injured Or Killed People Increased By Nearly 50 Percent in Recent Years

  

  June 30, 2026 -Physicist Ronald Koopman appeared at a Southern California Air District meeting in 2018 to talk about what seemed like an arcane scientific topic: hydrofluoric acid dispersion and water mitigation testing.

  Hydrofluoric acid, also known as hydrogen fluoride or HF, is used to manufacture a range of materials, including refrigerants, gasoline, fluorine-based pesticides and fluoropolymers like those used to make Teflon. It’s also one of the most corrosive and dangerous chemicals known. Koopman conducted experiments with the chemical in the 1980s that warned about the potential of deadly accidents at facilities that use the hazardous materials.

• • Delhi Plans To Ban Petrol Rickshaws
  and Scooters in Effort To Cut Toxic Fumes

  Government Hopes For 30% of City’s Fleet to Be Electric by 2030

  

  June 30, 2026 -The unruly chaos of Delhi’s roads would be unrecognisable without the rickshaws and scooters that zip through India’s capital in their millions, emitting toxic fumes in their wake. But now, ambitious policies aim to give the city’s most recognisable vehicles an environmental makeover.

  On Monday, Delhi’s government announced plans to eventually ban petrol scooters, motorbikes and autorickshaws in favour of those running on electricity, in an attempt to bring down dangerously high pollution levels in the city by the end of the decade.

• • Ironically, Buying Green Can Quietly
  Erase Its Own Efficiency Gains

  Researchers Show How Consumer Eco-Consciousness Can Trigger Discounts On Inefficient Products, Canceling the Gains Shoppers Thought They'd Locked In

  

  June 30, 2026 -The introduction of environmentally friendly products sometimes winds up increasing overall environmental harm, according to a new study that upends the conventional wisdom about greening the marketplace.

  Businesses, policymakers, and environmental organizations often assume that if only more consumers can be convinced to care about the environment and buy eco-friendly products then the problem of ecological harm from consumer goods will be solved.

• • UN Plastics Pact Talks Restart Amid Fears
  Production Curbs Will Be Left Out

  Campaigners Fear the Agenda Risks Burying Tricky Discussions On Key Elements
  
  {CLIMATE HOME NEWS}

  June 30, 2026 -Governments are holding "critical" talks this week on a global treaty to curb plastic pollution, as some countries and activists warn that key issues - including measures to rein in soaring plastic production - are being sidelined.

  Diplomats are meeting in person in Nairobi for the first time since negotiations were suspended in chaos nearly a year ago, stymied by a long-running deadlock that pits petrostates against more ambitious nations over the reach of the UN pact.

• • Ocean Summit Stays Silent On New Wave
  of Offshore Oil and Gas Expansion

  Campaigners Warned That Ocean Protection Requires Governments to Halt New Offshore Fossil Fuel Projects
  
  {CLIMATE HOME NEWS}

  June 30, 2026 -As governments gathered at the Our Ocean Conference in Kenya's coastal city of Mombasa this month, pledging over $6 billion for marine protection, sustainable fisheries and offshore wind, one issue remained largely absent from the main stage: the continued expansion of offshore oil and gas.

  From Norway, Brazil and Guyana to South Africa, Angola and Kenya, countries are pushing ahead with offshore oil and gas projects even as they promise to protect marine ecosystems and tackle the climate change that is heating the ocean, raising sea levels and damaging coastal livelihoods.

• • U.S. Quake-Relief Efforts Collide With
  Anger at Venezuela’s Government

  Washington Works to Bolster Alliance With Interim Leader Delcy Rodríguez; Survivors Jeer Officials and Accuse Authorities of Hampering Rescue Work
  
  {THE WALL STREET JOURNAL }

  June 29, 2026 -With time running out, firefighters and paramedics from Virginia equipped with concrete-cutting saws, acoustic devices and precision-locating equipment gingerly pulled out a father and son trapped for four days.

  Laid out on makeshift stretchers, they were carried to a nearby ambulance. Residents who have seen little but death since twin earthquakes hit last Wednesday broke out in applause and shouted, “Gracias! Gracias!”

• • Offshore Oil and Gas Rush Threatens
  Whale Corridors and Coral Reefs

  Global Plans to Drill and Expand Fossil Fuel Projects Overlap With Marine Protected Areas and Important Fishing Grounds

  

  June 29, 2026 -From coral reefs in Kenya to Caribbean seagrass meadows and whale migration corridors in the Arctic, a surge in offshore oil, gas and liquefied natural gas development is spreading into some of the world’s most ecologically important marine habitats, according to a new analysis.

  In many cases, researchers from Earth Insight—a nonprofit that maps fossil fuel, mining and other industrial threats to ecosystems and local communities—found planned and active offshore oil and gas projects overlap with areas meant to safeguard critical ecosystems.

• • A Visual Guide to the Venezuela Earthquakes

  CNN is Tracking Developments, With Maps and Satellite Imagery
  
  {CNN World}

  June 29, 2026 -Two major back-to-back earthquakes struck Venezuela on Wednesday, June 24. At least 1,700 people have died and more than 5,000 were injured, National Assembly President Jorge Rodríguez said Monday.

  Nearly 59,000 buildings were likely damaged or destroyed across the country, according to an analysis by of satellite imagery by Oregon State University. La Guaira state, just north of Caracas, was declared a disaster zone. Among the hardest-hit regions in the state were the areas surrounding the international airport and the town of Caraballeda.

• • Offshore Oil and Gas Rush Threatens
  Whale Corridors and Coral Reefs

  Global Plans to Drill and Expand Fossil Fuel Projects Overlap With Marine Protected Areas and Important Fishing Grounds

  

  June 29, 2026 -From coral reefs in Kenya to Caribbean seagrass meadows and whale migration corridors in the Arctic, a surge in offshore oil, gas and liquefied natural gas development is spreading into some of the world’s most ecologically important marine habitats, according to a new analysis.

  In many cases, researchers from Earth Insight—a nonprofit that maps fossil fuel, mining and other industrial threats to ecosystems and local communities—found planned and active offshore oil and gas projects overlap with areas meant to safeguard critical ecosystems.

• • Big Oil’s Secretive Trading Arms
  Are Having an Extraordinary Year

  Meet the Corporate Gamblers Who Never Waste a Good Energy Crisis
  
  {The Economist}

  June 28, 2026 - Oil majors have two ways to make big money during an energy shock. One is to sell the hydrocarbons they pump and refine themselves. The other is to buy barrels that rival companies produce and flog them to whoever wants them the most. The third Gulf war has now demonstrated just how important the latter has become as a source of profit for the industry—particularly in Europe.

  Trading used to be the majors’ dirty little secret for topping up their returns. It is not little anymore. The volume of hydrocarbons traded by BP, Shell and TotalEnergies—the equivalent to 40-50m barrels of oil per day—is five to ten times what they produce. Nor is the contribution to their profitability a mere rounding error. Our calculations suggest that the trading arms of these three companies could be on course to increase their average return on capital by roughly a third or more this year.

• • 3 Firefighters Killed, 2 Injured While Tackling
  Wildfires On the Colorado-Utah Border

  The U.S. Wildland Fire Service Reported Sunday
  
  {WCVB55abc}

  June 28, 2026 - The agency — created earlier this year to streamline firefighting and fire reduction across public lands — said the firefighters had been part of an interagency response to the Knowles and Gore fires on Saturday.

  "The U.S. Wildland Fire Service stands united with the USDA Forest Service in grief and in our unwavering support for the loved ones left behind. Their bravery, dedication, and sacrifice will never be forgotten," it said in a statement on Facebook.

• • This Rare Tick-Borne Disease is On the Rise in the U.S.

  Cases of Powassan Virus Have Hit the News in Recent Months Because of the Potentially Life-Altering, Sometimes Fatal, Symptoms.

  

  June 28, 2026 - If a tick latches onto your skin — an increasingly common occurrence in much of the United States this time of year — your first concern might be Lyme disease, the most frequently transmitted tick-borne illness. But the same ticks that carry Lyme, deer ticks, are also vectors for other pathogens, one of which can pose an even more serious threat: Powassan virus.

  Cases of Powassan virus disease in New Jersey and New Hampshire have made national headlines in recent months because of the potential severity of the symptoms, which can include neurological problems such as memory loss, difficulty speaking and seizures. That’s because Powassan can enter the central nervous system and cause encephalitis, which is inflammation of the brain, or meningitis, which is inflammation of the tissues surrounding the brain...

• • Hidden Virus May Have Infected 9.4 Million People

  Scientists Say We’ve Missed Most Cases
  
  {SciTechDaily}

  June 27, 2026 -New research indicates the Oropouche virus has spread far more widely than reported, exposing major gaps in disease surveillance.

  Until recently, few people had heard of the Oropouche virus. But after a massive 2023 outbreak swept across Brazil, infecting tens of thousands of people, causing the country’s first confirmed death, and spreading far beyond its traditional Amazonian range, the virus quickly became an international concern.

• • 4 Are Dead in Kentucky Flooding, Governor Says

  Gov. Andy Beshear of Kentucky Said Emergency Crews Rescued People From Flooded Homes and Vehicles

  

  June 27, 2026 -Heavy rains in parts of Kentucky on Saturday caused flooding that left four people dead and prompted evacuations, the authorities said.

  Gov. Andy Beshear said that officials had received reports of three deaths in Madison County, near Lexington, and one death in Jackson County, including “at least one motorist swept away and killed by flash flooding.”

• • Nature’s Engineers Just Saved This Entire
  London Neighborhood From Flooding

  You’ll Never Guess How
  
  {HEALTHY HAPPY NEWS}

  June 26, 2026 -Wild beavers naturally solved a major flooding crisis in west London without any human intervention.

  The furry engineers built dams that now protect homes and wildlife habitats from water damage.

  This heartwarming success story proves nature knows best when we give it a chance.

  Sometimes the best solutions come from the most unexpected places. In west London, a neighborhood plagued by persistent flooding problems found their hero in the most adorable form imaginable: beavers.

  These industrious little engineers moved into the area and immediately got to work doing what beavers do best — building dams. What happened next has local residents and conservationists absolutely thrilled.

• • Italy Just Hit a Beautiful Green Milestone

  It Will Make You Smile
  
  {HEALTHY HAPPY NEWS}

  June 26, 2026 -Italy now has more forests than farmland for the first time in 800 years.

  Over 60,000 square miles of lush woodland now blanket the Italian Peninsula.

  Nature is reclaiming land in the most heartwarming way possible.

  In news that feels like a breath of fresh air, Italy has quietly achieved something remarkable. For the first time since the Middle Ages, the country’s forests now cover more territory than its agricultural land.

  Picture this: 60,000 square miles of beautiful woodland stretching across the Italian Peninsula. That’s nature making a stunning comeback, and it’s absolutely worth celebrating.

• • Swapping Beef For Salmon Once a
  Week Could Significantly Cut Emissions

  The Simplest Option Delivered Meaningful, Realistic Emissions Reductions

  

  June 26, 2026 -Making one simple change to the average UK diet—swapping a beef steak for a piece of salmon once weekly—could cut each person’s emissions by 7.3 kilograms of CO2 per week, adding up to enough to offset the emissions of an international return flight.

  Among several options examined in a new study to reduce personal dietary footprints in the UK, this was identified as a small, simple adjustment with outsized power to bring about real change.

• • Jellyfish Stings Spark Warnings at Curley Beach in South Boston

  Several People Were Stung by Jellyfish Wednesday at Curley Beach in South Boston
  
  {WCVB5}

  June 26, 2026 -Lifeguards are on duty at the beach, but visitors are reminded to enter at their own risk following the stings reported yesterday.

  Lion’s Mane jellyfish, commonly seen in New England during the summer, have been spotted at the edge of the shore. Lifeguards are scooping up and burying jellyfish that wash ashore, but some swimmers are still entering the water.

• • Sewage Spill Kills 44,000 Fish In Chattahoochee River

  The Dead Fish Are Being Valued at nearly $840,000 by the State
  
  {DAILY CALLER

  June 26, 2026 -Taking place in the Chattahoochee River, a fish kill was triggered by an oxygen-depleted water overflow from the combined sewer system in Atlanta, reads a Georgia Department of Natural Resources report.

  Approximately 44,500 fish were killed by low oxygen levels throughout a span of nearly 16 river miles, stretching from South Fulton to Peachtree Creek, read the agency’s Wildlife Resources Division report. The incident happened in the evening hours May 20, which was the exact day when metro Atlanta experienced three inches of rainfall in one hour’s time, per the Chattahoochee Riverkeeper.

• • Wildfire Incinerates a ‘Hidden Gem’ in Utah’s Mountains

  The Cottonwood Fire Has Grown to 92,000 Acres As of Saturday Morning...

  

  June 26, 2026 -Trent Owen, a home builder and volunteer firefighter in the mountains of southern Utah, was bracing for a brutal fire season. After a nearly snowless winter and a scorching spring, his six-person fire crew met every week to drill and discuss the wildfire threat looming over the tinder-dry Tushar Mountains.

  Then, on Monday afternoon, Mr. Owen, 42, knocked off work to take his 8-year-old daughter to a soccer game, and saw what he had been dreading: A cloud of wildfire smoke was billowing up the canyon — “coming straight toward us,” he said.

• • ‘Particularly Dangerous Situation’ In
  Utah, Forecasters Warn, As Fire Rages

  Elevated-to-critical fire weather risk extends across the West

  

  June 26, 2026 -Meteorologists have issued a rare and historic fire weather warning for parts of Utah as the state battles ones of the largest blazes in its history.

  A “particularly dangerous situation” red-flag warning is in effect for southern portions of the state through Friday, a result of fire weather risk levels that the National Weather Service in Salt Lake City described as extreme — the highest level on the scale.

• • Venezuela Is Desperately Searching for
  50,000 Missing After Earthquakes

  Four Days Later, Hope is Fading for Families and Teams Looking for Signs of Life
  
  {THE WALL STREET JOURNAL}

  June 26, 2026 -The government-built high-rise where Alberto Sánchez’s girlfriend lived toppled into a mass of concrete and steel when twin earthquakes hit this Caribbean coastal city last week. He spent four days digging through rubble for her and her family—and found no one.

  “Today I feel like I have no energy left,” Sánchez said on Sunday, his face weary as he took a break, blowing dust off his gloves and examining the holes in his sneakers.

• • Greece Bets On Space Technology to Contain Wildfires

  It's a Global First

  

  June 26, 2026 - In the searing Mediterranean summer, wildfires turn dangerous in minutes.

  Greece has learned that at a terrible cost. In 2018, a blaze east of Athens moved with ferocious speed, killing more than 100 people. Five years later, a massive fire tore through a remote nature reserve; it was the largest wildfire ever recorded in the European Union.

  Greece is looking to the heavens for help, with a dedicated satellite constellation that monitors for fires. It’s a model for the continent as Europe races toward broader independence in space technology.

• • French Guiana’s Stunning Rainforest Gets Lifesaving Protection

  Massive Victory for Mother Nature
  
  {HEALTHY HAPPY NEWS}

  June 26, 2026 -France just protected 370,000 acres of pristine rainforest and majestic granite peaks in French Guiana.

  The new Rocky Peaks of Armontabo reserve safeguards incredibly biodiverse ecosystems and wildlife habitats.

  Seven other beautiful landscapes also received protection under this inspiring conservation law.

  In a heartwarming win for our planet, the French Government has announced the creation of a spectacular new nature reserve in French Guiana that will protect 370,000 acres of pristine wilderness. This is the kind of environmental good news that restores faith in our collective ability to safeguard Earth’s treasures.

• • Fighting Fracking in Colombia

  This Year’s Winner From Latin America, Honored For Fighting Against Fracking in Colombia
  
  {LOE.ORG}

  June 26, 2026 -So Yuvelis Morales Blanco is from the Afro-Colombian community of Puerto Wilches.

  It’s one of the many fishing towns that rely on the Magdalena River which runs nearly 1,000 miles from the Andes to the Caribbean. The region is also home to oil and gas extraction as well as refining. And in 2018, as a teenager Yuvelis saw firsthand the risk of living near this industry when the Magdalena River was polluted by a massive oil spill at the Lizama 158 Well, operated by Colombian national company Ecopetrol.

  In 2019 Yuvelis found out that Ecopetrol was pursuing 2 fracking pilot projects in the central Magdalena region where she grew up. She worked with the Colombia Free of Fracking Alliance to raise awareness and stop the potential fracking projects through testimony and peaceful protests. And in 2022, with fracking raised as a national issue and in the face of a presidential fracking ban, Ecopetrol suspended its contracts for the pilot fracking projects.

• • Ocean Monitoring Restored

  The Senate Passed a Bipartisan Measure to Preserve the Vital Ocean Monitoring Network
  
  {LOE.ORG}

  June 26, 2026 -At the end of May, the National Science Foundation announced it was dismantling the Ocean Observatories Initiative. For more than a decade this project has used roughly 900 instruments on the Atlantic and Pacific oceans to measure currents, temperature, carbon dioxide levels, and more.

  But in the face of widespread public criticism, the NSF recently reversed its decision, saying it would keep keeping tabs on the oceans after all.

• • Ebola Has Put Africa’s Fragile Health Systems in the Spotlight

  Emergencies and Aid Cuts Are Accelerating A Push For Self-Reliance
  
  {The Economist}

  June 25, 2026 -Last year Celestine Mugambi, a Kenyan health expert, watched in horror as America abruptly paused and slashed health funding for Africa. Until February 2025 America had contributed more than 60% of all external funding for public health in Kenya; the support it gave the country’s HIV programme, which Ms Mugambi helped run, was especially critical.

  Suddenly, workers were being laid off, life-saving services were shrinking and contraceptives and anti-retroviral drugs were disappearing from hospital shelves. “There was a lot of instability, a lot of anxiety,” she recalls. But there was a silver lining: “It gave Kenya the opportunity to shape our own programmes.”

• • Hail Batters Colorado's Eastern Plains

  Leaving Damage to Cars and Homes
  
  {DENVER7}

  June 25, 2026 -Residents on Colorado's eastern plains are cleaning up after monster hailstorms left a trail of damage across the region, battering cars and homes with baseball-sized hail.

  Hilary Hancock, who has lived in Wiggins since 2019, described the storm that hit Tuesday night as sounding like someone throwing baseballs at her house. The hail shattered her minivan's windshield, blew out her home's windows and punched holes through her kids' backyard slide.

• • Colorado's Eastern Plains Hit With More Severe Weather

  Also, Damage From Hail
  
  {CBS NEWS}

  June 25, 2026 -Colorado's Eastern Plains were once again hit by severe weather overnight Wednesday into Thursday. For the second night in a row, severe storms targeted the northeast corner of the state, hitting Morgan County especially hard.

  Residents in Fort Morgan spent Thursday cleaning up after a powerful hailstorm swept through the community, damaging homes, vehicles, and public property.

• • Delayed Rains Bring Water Shortages to
  Cities and Uncertainty to Farms Across India

  A Cause For Worry

  

  June 25, 2026 - The late arrival of India’s monsoon season and below-average rainfall have caused problems ranging from planting delays for farmers to water restrictions for construction sites in its largest business hub, Mumbai.

  Water shortages have been reported around the country due to the late start of the rainy season, which typically begins in June but has grown erratic in recent years. Climate experts said the El Nino, a warming of the Pacific that affects weather around the globe, combined with an already heating planet, will likely result in weak, scattered rainfall across the country.

• • North Carolina Assails Administration’s PFAS Pollution Deal

  The Settlement Addresses the Dumping of PFAS “Forever Chemicals,”

  

  June 25, 2026 -The Trump administration is moving to settle a landmark case with the chemical giant Chemours over its yearslong illegal dumping of PFAS “forever chemicals” across three states. The $480 million settlement would be the first by the federal government to resolve pollution claims against a maker of the chemicals, which have been linked to cancer and other health risks.

  The proposed deal, released Wednesday, immediately came under attack from North Carolina, which said it did nothing to clean up water contaminated by the chemicals. Several environmental groups also called the deal inadequate.

• • A Pipeline Company Says It Will Protect
  the Environment in North Carolina

  Its Record in Tennessee Says Otherwise

  

  June 25, 2026 - An 85-year-old widow stood before a panel of Enbridge Gas representatives perched above her on a stage at the Chatham County Agriculture & Conference Center. She had fire in her eyes.

  “I’m usually a courteous person but you bring out the worst in me,” she said. “I’m going to fight you to the death.”

• • US Funding Uncertainties Threaten to Sink
  Key Global Oceanography Projects

  The U.S. Has Led the World in Observing the Oceans — But Cuts and Threats of Cuts Have Researchers Worried It is No Longer a Reliable Partner
  
  {nature}

  June 25, 2026 -As the RV Marcus G. Langseth sails across the Pacific Ocean this month, researchers are dropping robotic ‘floats’ into the sea to measure chlorophyll levels and other biogeochemical properties of the water. With a powerful El Niño weather system set to unfold later this year, such observations are crucial for understanding how the ocean will change. But these high-tech floats face an uncertain fate.

  The devices, which are part of a global flotilla called Argo, were paid for by the US National Science Foundation (NSF). Their funding expires in four months, and NSF officials have so far been silent about future support to keep the devices up and running.

• • At Least 164 People Dead
  After Twin Quakes in Venezuela

  More than 900 People Have Been Injured, But the Complete Death Toll is Feared to Be Much Higher
  
  {CNN Weather}

  June 25, 2026 -Deadly quakes: At least 164 people have been killed and 971 injured after Venezuela’s most powerful earthquake in more than a century, according to the country’s acting President Delcy Rodríguez. The 7.5 magnitude quake struck 39 seconds after a 7.2 magnitude foreshock. Track what we know in maps and charts.

  • Capital in crisis: A resident who survived a quake that hit Caracas in 1967 said the disaster was unlike anything he had experienced. Another resident who escaped a damaged building said “the scene was like a horror movie.”

• • Inside the Gold-Mining Town Where
  the Ebola Outbreak Likely Started

  Heard on All Things Considered
  
  {NPR}

  June 24, 2026 -MONGBWALU, Democratic Republic of Congo — Joseph Mute witnessed a string of mysterious deaths in Mongbwalu long before the Congolese government declared an Ebola outbreak.

  A neighborhood leader in the town, Mute said that the characteristic feature of these deaths was the presence of blood.

• • EU, UK Lead Push for Electrification as
  “Powerful Weapon” Against Fossil Fuels

  A Group of Dozens of Countries Seeks to Build Momentum for a COP31 Pledge to Electrify 35% of Global Energy Use By 2035
  
  {CLIMATE HOME NEWS}

  June 24, 2026 -Dozens of governments led by the EU and the UK have pledged to throw their political weight behind a rapid electrification of the world's economy, billed as a "powerful weapon" for cutting reliance on planet-heating fossil fuels.

  At a high-level summit in London's Mansion House on Tuesday, energy ministers and business leaders were joined by UN secretary-general António Guterres in calling for faster action to curb demand for oil, coal and gas by powering homes, industry and transport with clean electricity.

• • CDC Ends Hantavirus Response as U.S. Outbreak Risk Diminishes

  Move Comes After End of 42-day Quarantine at Nebraska Facility for Exposed American Cruise-Ship Passengers
  
  {THE WALL STREET JOURNAL}

  June 24, 2026 -The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday formally ended its hantavirus response, nearly two months after an outbreak aboard a cruise ship in the Atlantic triggered an international effort to contain a rare strain that left three people dead and infected several others.

  “Protecting Americans is our highest responsibility. CDC’s hantavirus response officially concludes June 24, 2026,” acting CDC Director Jay Bhattacharya said in a statement.

• • EPA Announce $9 Million in Grants to Clean
  Up, Redevelop Polluted Sites Across Colorado

  The EPA Announced Over $9 Million in Brownfields Multipurpose, Assessment and Cleanup Grants
  
  {KTV11}

  June 24, 2026 -The US Environmental Agency (EPA) announced over $9 million in Brownfields Multipurpose, Assessment and Cleanup grants to clean up polluted sites across Colorado, including local communities in southern Colorado.

  EPA officials said that with these funds, they are investing directly in communities to clean up and redevelop ruined properties.

  A cleanup grant will go to La Puente Home, Inc. in Alamosa, according to officials. A $1.8 million cleanup grant will be used to clean up arsenic and lead in soils at the Railroad Plaza. Once it is cleaned up, the proposed redevelopment will create a multi-use commercial space and indoor and outdoor public gathering spaces.

• • Highway 6 Back Open in Colorado's
  Clear Creek Canyon After Rockslide

  The Biggest Rockslide Stretched 175 Feet Long and Three Feet Deep West of Tunnel 3
  
  {CBS NEWS}

  June 24, 2026 -Multiple rockslides closed both directions of Highway 6 in Clear Creek Canyon early Thursday morning. The highway was closed all through the morning from Highway 58 in Golden to Highway 119 at the Clear Creek County junction and began reopening in the early afternoon.

  The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office said there were multiple rockslides blocking the road. The highway partially opened with alternating lanes and was fully opened later in the day.

• • Pentagon Restores Mandatory Flu Shots For All
  Recruits As Boot Camp Outbreak Sickens Nearly 300

  Pete Hegseth Gave the Order

  

  June 24, 2026 -The Pentagon said Wednesday that boot camps for all the military services are once again requiring the flu vaccination for all recruits after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made the shot optional for the military at the end of April.

  The development, confirmed to The Associated Press by a Pentagon official, comes amid a growing, weekslong, flu outbreak at the U.S. Air Force’s boot camp at Lackland Air Force Base that has sickened nearly 300 people. However, the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details not cleared for public release, maintained that the permission to mandate the vaccinations was unrelated to the outbreak

• • Wind-Driven Wildfire Burns Two Structures in Rifle Colorado

  Forces Evacuations
  
  {THGE COLORADO SUN}

  June 24, 2026 -Awind-driven wildfire near Rifle along the Western Slope has destroyed two structures and forced people to leave their homes as firefighters continue to battle the flames Wednesday.

  The Dry Creek fire has burned about 315 acres, after igniting Tuesday afternoon south of Rifle, fire officials with the Colorado River Fire Rescue said. Crews worked through the night to protect threatened structures after a home and an outbuilding were lost in the fire Tuesday.

• • Why You Should Actually Turn Off Fans When It Gets Too Hot

  But When Do They Start Making Heat Worse?
  
  {ZME SCIENCE}

  June 24, 2026 -During a hot summer day, it’s very tempting to turn on a fan. After all, it’s so simple: you plug it in, feel the air move, and the heat becomes tolerable. But that’s not always true. If it’s too hot outside, a fan can make things much worse, effectively making you feel hotter.

  Such may be the case during the kind of heat now gripping Europe. As western Europe sweats through a record-breaking “Omega” heatwave, France has recorded 44.3°C in Pissos, Italy has put major cities under maximum heat alerts, Britain has issued a rare extreme-heat warning, and many deaths from heatstroke have already been reported, according to Reuters. In France, dozens of people have drowned while trying to escape the heat in water.

• • Western Wildfire Risk This Week is
  the Highest It’s Been So Far This Year

  Critical Conditions Are Expected Through the Weekend Across Utah, Arizona, Nevada and Elsewhere

  

  June 24, 2026 -Large parts of the Western United States are expected to face their most critical wildfire risk so far this season over the next few days.

  Utah, where multiple fires were already burning on Wednesday and filling skies with smoke, was at the center of an area where forecasters were most concerned about the potential for large wildfires to expand. But the threat is widespread, extending into Arizona, Nevada, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico, with fire watches and red flag warnings in place to alert people that fires could spark more easily than usual and spread more quickly once they start.

• • Scientists Turn Wet Coffee Grounds Into
  Coal-Like Fuel in Just 90 Seconds

  A New Process Skips Energy-Intensive Drying For Recycling Coffee Waste
  
  {ZME SCIENCE}

  June 24, 2026 -Each year, the world discards more than 10 million tons of spent coffee grounds, and most go to landfills or incinerators, even though they still contain usable energy.

  Now, researchers in South Korea have found a way to transform those soggy leftovers into high-quality biochar—a carbon-rich solid fuel—in just 90 seconds. The technique works without drying the coffee grounds first, overcoming one of the biggest obstacles that has long made recycling this waste expensive and energy-intensive.

• • Why Trump’s Algae Problem is Much
  Bigger Than the Reflecting Pool

  In His Battle to Clear Algae from the Water by the Lincoln Memorial, Trump Has Overlooked the Real Causes of Unsightly — and Often Dangerous — Algal Blooms

  

  June 24, 2026 -In his battle to clean the murky waters of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, President Trump has tried draining, painting, hydrogen peroxide and what the <Interior Department describes as “high-tech nanobubble ozone technology.” But he has seemingly overlooked two of the most important factors that experts say are driving unsightly — and sometimes dangerous — profusions of algae: pollution and climate change.

  Algae thrive in warm, still waters, causing populations to explode as global temperatures rise, said environmental engineer Steve Chapra, an emeritus professor at Tufts University.

• • Thunderstorm Triggers Two Major Sewer Line Breaks in Haverhill

  Residents Advised to Avoid Contact With Merrimack River; Drinking Water Unaffected
  
  {WCVB5}

  June 24, 2026 -A 42-inch break ruptured in a sewer force in Haverhill, Massachusetts, during a Friday evening thunderstorm, the city's mayor announced.

  The break happened near the city's main pumping station Friday at around 9 p.m. after a storm moved through the area.

  "This force main transports wastewater from the main pumping station to the wastewater treatment plant. During the storm, exceptionally heavy rainfall caused wastewater flows to increase rapidly, placing significantly greater demand on this critical pipeline," Haverhill mayor Melinda Barrett said.

• • Multiple Agencies Respond to Reeder Mesa Fire

  Evacuation Ordered
  
  {WesternSlopeNowc}

  June 23, 2026 -The Grand Junction Fire Department (GJPD), alongside multiple other agencies, is responding to an active fire at 7803 Reeder Mesa Road near Whitewater, which has involved several structures and is reportedly spreading

  According to a social media post by the GJPD at 1:16 p.m. on Tuesday, an evacuation notice was sent to residents within a one-mile radius of the address. Those in the evacuation area are asked to leave immediately and follow instructions given by emergency personnel.

• • The 5 Mosquito-Borne Diseases You’re
  Most Likely to Get in the U.S.

  These Diseases Usually Cause Mild Symptoms (Or None At All), But They Can Have More Serious Complications in Certain People

  

  June 23, 2026 -Mosquito bites are usually an itchy, swollen nuisance before healing within a few days (longer if you scratch). But occasionally, they can cause bigger problems. Certain mosquito species in the United States can spread infectious organisms when feeding on humans, and those viruses or parasites may make you sick.

  These diseases usually cause mild symptoms (or none at all), but they can have more serious complications in certain people. Worldwide, vector-borne diseases, such as those spread by mosquitos and ticks, are responsible for 700,000 deaths a year, according to the World Health Organization.

• • What to Know About a Cold
  Storage Warehouse Fire in Los Angeles

  Firefighters Fight a Warehouse Fire in the Boyle Heights Neighborhood of Los Angeles
  
  {NPR}

  June 23, 2026 -Six days into a firefight at a massive frozen-food storage facility near downtown Los Angeles, firefighters have yet to enter the building and have begun moving parts of the exterior walls to try to gain access.

  Smoke is billowing from the warehouse, which is roughly 500,000-square-foot (46,451-square-meter), covered in solar panels and insulated like a freezer. It's located across the street from homes in Boyle Heights, a working-class neighborhood east of downtown, and city officials on Monday warned people to stay inside or wear masks due to smoke pollution.