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Keeping It Green

Atmospheric CO2 Levels

(Monthly Averages)

Jan 20, 2026: 428.6 ppm
10 years ago: 396 ppm
Pre-industrial base: 280
Safe level: 350 ppm

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

Page Updated:
Feb. 11, 2026

• The 2024 Clean 15 (Safe Foods)
• Get the Lead Out Toolkit
• Oil Spill History
• World Air Quality Report
• 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

• • Data Centers Are Scrambling to Power the AI Boom With Natural Gas

  As Tech Giants Find Creative Ways to Generate Electricity, They’re Building a Glut Of New Fossil Fuel Proje

  
  

  Feb. 10, 2026 -Boom Supersonic wants to build the world’s first commercial supersonic airliner. Founded in 2014, the company set out to make air travel dramatically faster — up to twice the speed of today’s passenger jets — while also aiming for a smaller environmental footprint. For years, Boom has focused on developing the high-performance engine technology needed to sustain supersonic fli

  Though the company has not yet debuted its revolutionary jet, last year it identified a new and potentially lucrative application for its novel technology: generating electricity for the data centers powering the artificial intelligence bo

• • How the Fracking Boom Put an Oil
  Field in the Guadalupe River Floodplain

  ‘A Disaster Waiting to Happen’

  
  

  Feb. 9, 2026 -More than 500 enormous oil tanks dot the floodplains of the Guadalupe River and its tributaries where they cross one of Texas’ leading oilfields, an Inside Climate News investigation has found, posing risk of an environmental disaster.

  Longtime residents of these historic ranchlands still remember the last time these plains filled up with water in a biblical inundation in 1998. That was before the fracking boom hit this region and the oil-rich geological formation that lies beneath it, known as the Eagle Ford Shale.

  Today, a repeat of the historic flood could wreak havoc, locals worry.

• • Economic Growth Is Still Heating the Planet. Is There Any Way Out?

  Rising GDP Continues to Mean More Carbon Emissions and Wider Planetary Damage. Can the Two Be Decoupled?

  
  

  Feb. 9, 2026 -During Cop30 negotiations in Brazil last year, delegates heard a familiar argument: rising emissions are unavoidable for countries pursuing growth.

  Since the first Cop in the 1990s, developing nations have had looser reduction targets to reflect the economic gap between them and richer countries, which emitted millions of tonnes of CO2 as they pulled ahead. The concession comes from the idea that an inevitable cost of prosperity is environmental harm.

• • US Chemical Giant to Stop Producing
  Herbicide Called ‘Toxic Cocktail’ By Critics

  Corteva Will Discontinue a Mixture of Agent Orange and Glyphosate, But...

  
  

  Feb. 9, 2026 -The chemical giant Corteva will stop producing Enlist Duo, a herbicide considered to be among the most dangerous still used in the US by environmentalists because it contains a mix of Agent Orange and glyphosate, which have both been linked to cancer and widespread ecological damage.

  The US military deployed Agent Orange, a chemical weapon, to destroy vegetation during the Vietnam war, causing serious health problems among soldiers and Vietnamese residents.

• • Georgia Power Gas Expansion Would
  Drive Significant Climate-Damaging Pollution

  It Could Add Millions of Tons of Carbon Pollution Annually While Polluting the Air Near Vulnerable Communities and Ecosystems.

  
  

  Feb. 7, 2026 -Georgia regulators have approved a massive expansion of natural gas power plants that could dramatically increase the state’s climate pollution, largely to support the rapid growth of data centers.

  The projects approved by Georgia’s Public Service Commission in December include additions to nine natural gas facilities owned or backed by Georgia Power. Since the plan was first announced, environmental groups have criticized it as an unnecessary fossil fuel expansion that could lock the state into decades of emissions.

• • ConocoPhillips Outlines Plans to Expand Arctic Drilling

  Company Officials Said the Willow Project is Nearly 50 Percent Complete
  
  {ENERGYWIRE}
  
  

  Feb 5, 2026 -ConocoPhillips touted its growing footprint in Alaska on Thursday, less than two weeks after an oil rig ultimately destined for the company’s Willow project crashed in the remote reaches of the state's North Slope.

  In an earnings call, company officials emphasized that the oil rig crash had not delayed plans for the $9 billion Willow Project, which they said was on schedule to produce oil in 2029. They also emphasized that further developing the company's Alaska assets is a top priority this year.

• • Ultra Processed Foods Use the Same Addictive Tactics As Cigarettes

  We Should Treat Them Similarly, Researchers Say

  
  

  Feb. 5, 2026 -For decades, public health officials treated cigarettes as a dangerous consumer product. We taxed them, reduced or banned advertising, and forced them to admit the harm they’re causing. It wasn’t easy, and the tobacco industry deployed an infamously effective lobbying effort, but it seems to be working.

  Researchers are now arguing we need to do the same with many ultra-processed foods, not necessarily because of what they contain, but because of how they are designed to be consumed.

• • Energy Poverty Is Forcing Millions of Families to
  Burn Toxic Plastic Waste Just to Cook Their Meals

  A Survey of 26 Countries Found That 16% of Respondents Admit to Burning Plastic Inside Their Own Homes to Manage Waste Or Heat Food

  
  

  Feb. 5, 2026 -Burning plastic waste for household fuel, or to manage household waste, may be far more prevalent in poor urban areas in developing countries than previously thought, raising serious environmental pollution and public health concerns for individuals, families and communities.

  That’s according to a new global study that surveyed more than 1,000 “key informants,” including researchers, government workers and community leaders, in 26 countries across the Global South. The researchers found that one-third of respondents are aware of households that are burning plastic, while 16% stated they’ve burned plastic in their own household.

• • Mapping Unequal Climate Risks in a Northern California County

  The UK Wants to Align More Closely With Regulations Issued By the EU

  
  

  Feb. 5, 2026 -The Bay Area Air District kicked off the new year with a warning for residents of the nine counties around San Francisco: if they lit a fireplace, wood stove or outdoor fire pit, they would have to either take a course on the health effects of wood smoke or pay a fine.

  By mid-January, the district had issued an extended spare-the-air alert to cope with a perennial Bay Area problem. The region’s air quality often plummets during the winter when dry, windless conditions concentrate tiny but harmful particles from residential wood fires, traffic and industrial sources into a thick, choking haze near the ground.

• • Malaysia Bans E-Waste Imports, Vows To End Illegal Dumping

  Malaysia Has Announced a Full Ban On Importing Electronic Waste
  
  {abc NEWS}
  
  

  Feb. 4, 2026 - Malaysia has announced an immediate and full ban on the importation of electronic waste, as the government vowed the country would not be a “dumping ground” for the world's waste.

  The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission said in a statement late Wednesday that all electronic waste, commonly known as e-waste, would be reclassified under the “absolute prohibition” category effective immediately. This removes the discretionary power previously given to the Department of Environment to grant exemptions for importation of certain e-waste.

• • UK Launches Plan to Tackle 'Forever
  Chemicals' Amid Growing Concerns

  The UK Wants to Align More Closely With Regulations Issued By the EU

  
  

  Feb. 2, 2026 -The UK is to increase testing for so-called "forever chemicals" in the environment as part of a national plan to tackle the substances, which have prompted environmental and health concerns.

  The group of chemicals, also known as PFAS, are used in many everyday products because of their oil resistant and waterproof properties.

  But scientists are concerned because their chemical structures mean they accumulate and remain in the environment, with a small number of PFAS known to be toxic.ted included Texas, Kentucky, Georgia, West Virginia and Alabama.

• • Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Facilities in Texas Emitted 1.6
  Million Pounds of Regulated Pollutants During Last Week’s Icy Weather

  A Former EPA Scientist Who Will Lead the Initiative, Said It Will Target Financial Conflicts of Interest And Scientific Bias

  
  

  Jan. 31, 2026 -As freezing temperatures swept over West Texas last week, leaky pipeline systems in the Permian Basin of West Texas began to suck in air, spoiling their products, risking an explosion and leading operators to release or burn off vast volumes of gas.

  Chevron, for example, reported 11 large gas releases as it sought to purge oxygen from its tanks, according to filings with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. Chevron estimated that it released more than 125,000 pounds of regulated pollutants in incidents during the storm. In some cases, Chevron’s tank hatches “remained frozen open,” allowing gas to vent freely for days at a time.

• • EPA Set to Reapprove Dicamba, an
  Herbicide Previously Banned By Courts

  Officials Have Delayed Finalizing the Repeal of the Agency’s “Endangerment Finding” Over Concerns the Proposal Is Too Weak to Withstand a Court Challenge

  
  

  Jan. 30, 2026 -The Environmental Protection Agency is slated to reapprove an herbicide for genetically modified soybean and cotton crops, even while acknowledging continued concerns from some growers about spillover effects, according to two EPA staffers and a draft statement obtained by The Washington Post.

  The EPA has approved dicamba twice before, and both times federal courts vacated those approvals, saying there was too much risk for the herbicide to drift and harm neighboring farms and gardens.

• • Wright Uses Deep Freeze to Unleash Data Center Generators

  A DOE Emergency Order Prioritizes Grid Reliability Over Air Pollution Rules, Potentially Exposing Communities to Dangerous Emissions
  
  {E&E NEWS}
  
  

  Jan 29, 2026 -As the eastern U.S. experiences severe cold in the wake of Winter Storm Fern, the Trump administration is taking a novel approach to prevent blackouts: Issuing orders that could force data centers to use backup diesel generators for power.

  The orders, which were sent Monday to PJM Interconnection and Duke Energy, stem from an idea Energy Secretary Chris Wright first floated publicly in December when he lamented that backup generators at data centers nationwide were sitting dormant as utilities struggle to keep up with power demand. The requirement affected about a dozen states.

  “We have 35 gigawatts of backup generators that are just sitting there today, and you can’t turn them on, that’s just nuts,” Wright said at the time, dismissing federal regulations for air pollution. “Emissions rules or whatever … people, come on.”

• • Stanford to Launch Toxics Research Program Eyeing Trump Policies

  A Former EPA Scientist Who Will Lead the Initiative, Said It Will Target Financial Conflicts of Interest And Scientific Bias

  
  

  Jan. 29, 2026 -A prominent ex-EPA scientist will be kick-starting a new program at Stanford University focused on environmental chemical research and policies under the Trump administration.

  "With the unprecedented attacks on science and the environment, I look forward to launching a new initiative to advance science, defend scientific integrity and protect health,” said Tracey Woodruff, who currently directs the University of California, San Francisco, Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment.

• • US Leads Record Global Surge In
  Gas-Fired Power Driven By AI Demands

  With Big Costs For the Climate

  
  

  Jan. 29, 2026, -The US is leading a huge global surge in new gas-fired power generation that will cause a major leap in planet-heating emissions, with this record boom driven by the expansion of energy-hungry datacenters to service artificial intelligence, according to a new forecast.

  This year is set to shatter the annual record for new gas power additions around the world, with projects in development expected to grow existing global gas capacity by nearly 50%, a report by Global Energy Monitor (GEM) found.

• • ‘Pesticide Cocktails’ Polluting Apples Across Europe

  Pan Europe Found Several Pesticide Residues in 85% of Apples, With Some Showing Traces of Up to Seven Chemicals

  
  

  Jan. 29, 2026, -Environmental groups have raised the alarm after finding toxic “pesticide cocktails” in apples sold across Europe. Pan Europe found several pesticide residues in 85% of apples, with some showing traces of up to seven chemicals.

  Pan Europe, a coalition of NGOs campaigning against pesticide use, had about 60 apples bought in 13 European countries – including France, Spain, Italy and Poland – analysed for chemical residues.

  Eighty-five percent of the samples contained several pesticide residues, the organisations said, with some apples showing traces of up to seven different chemicals.

• • One-Third of Pacific Island Fish Contaminated With Microplastics

  New Data Reveals the Contamination Rate of Fijian Fish Far Exceeds Worldwide Averages

  
  

  Jan. 29, 2026, -From the coral-covered coastlines of Tonga to the remote sandy atolls of Tuvalu, microscopic synthetic fibers are infiltrating the region’s species and food systems. One-third of fish living in Pacific island waters—like Fiji’s thumbprint emperor or Vanuatu’s dash-and-dot goatfish—are contaminated with microplastics, according to data published Wednesday by researchers at the University of the South Pacific.

  Commonly misperceived to be a remote wilderness insulated from global waste, this study establishes the first regional baseline of Pacific marine microplastic ingestion. Such pollution threatens delicate ecosystems and the coastal populations who rely on fish as a primary source of protein.

• • Search For 32 Missing in Indonesia Landslide Hampered By Rain

  Death Toll Rises to 34

  
  

  Jan. 28, 2026, - Rain is hampering the search for 32 people still missing five days after a landslide hit Indonesia's West Java province, the disaster mitigation agency said on Wednesday, as it raised the death toll to 34.

  The landslide struck Pasir Langu village in Bandung Barat region early on Saturday, triggered by heavy rains that started a day earlier.

• • Europe’s Supermarket Shelves Packed With
  ‘Misleading’ Claims About Recycled Plastic Packaging

  Manufacturers Use Method That Labels Plastic as ‘Circular’ and Climate-Friendly, Despite Being Mostly Fossil-Based

  
  

  Jan. 27, 2026, -Europe’s supermarket shelves are packed with brands billing their plastic packaging as sustainable, but often only a fraction of the materials are truly recovered from waste, with the rest made from petroleum.

  Brands using plastic packaging – from Kraft’s Heinz Beans to Mondel?z’s Philadelphia – use materials made by the plastic manufacturing arm of the oil company Saudi Aramco.

• • Why Freezing Rain Can Be So Much More Dangerous Than Snow

  It Can Cause Ice to Accumulate On Tree Branches and Power Lines

  
  

  Jan. 26, 2026 -This past weekend’s winter storm blanketed huge swaths of the country in snow, with up to two feet falling in some areas. But the widespread power outages that came with the storm—an estimated one million people from Texas to Kentucky had lost power by Sunday afternoon—had less to do with the snow and much more to do with the 0.5 to one inch of ice that built up as a result of freezing rain.

  Here’s why freezing rain can end up being so much more damaging to infrastructure than snow.

• • How Bad is Your Stove For Your Health?

  Look It Up

  
  

  Jan. 25, 2026, by Daniel Wolfe -I know my stove is killing me. The Post has covered the harmful effects of nitrogen dioxide, NO2, the toxic by-product of burning gas. My old place’s 1950s Wedgewood stove, with a pilot light strong enough to lift a hot-air balloon, contributed to a data analysis on the subject. And yet on New Year’s Eve, I reverse-seared a prime rib for six hours in our cramped apartment with our two kids and my wife — a public health professional — present.

  For home cooks, the love of cooking with gas is real. In the face of what we know about gas and health, it defies logic. Stanford University researchers recently made the most comprehensive model of indoor air pollution attributable to gas stoves. The results are — well, let’s look for ourselves.

• • 1 Million Customers Without Power

  More Ice Expected to Accumulate into Monday

  
  

  Jan. 25, 2026 -Dangerous icing across the Southeastern U.S. has left about 1 million customers without power as of Sunday evening — a problem that emergency agencies warned won’t go away just because the storm passes, with heavy ice expected to strain power lines in coming days. At least six people across the country have died since the storm began, The Washington Post has confirmed, all because of suspected hypothermia. And as the storm continued to trek through into the Northeast, many areas across the East Coast had received 6 to 16 inches of snow and sleet by early Sunday evening, as more powder and destructive amounts of ice are expected to accumulate into Monday. A mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain is set to lash the Mid-Atlantic, including the D.C. area, into Monday.

• • US Storm Leaves 1 Million Without Power

  Forces 10,000 Flight Cancellations

  
  

  Jan. 25, 2026 - More than 1 million customers in the U.S. as far west as New Mexico were without electricity and over 10,000 flights were canceled on Sunday during a monster winter storm that paralyzed eastern and southern states with heavy snow and ice.

  As snow, sleet, freezing rain and dangerously frigid temperatures swept into the eastern two-thirds of the nation on Sunday, the number of power outages continued to rise. As of 2:16 p.m. EST (1916 GMT) on Sunday, more than 1 million U.S. customers were without electricity, according to PowerOutage.us, with at least 330,000 in Tennessee and over 100,000 each in Mississippi and Louisiana. Other states affected included Texas, Kentucky, Georgia, West Virginia and Alabama.

• • Natural Gas Prices Spike as Winter Storm Approaches

  Putting Grid Reliability to the Test
  
  {E&E NEWS}
  
  

  Jan 22, 2026 -Days before below-freezing temperatures and icy rain were expected to begin bearing down on East Texas, Kountze City Administrator Tim Drake had already heard from his natural gas supplier.

  If the city’s tiny municipal gas utility uses more gas than its typical daily allotment starting on Thursday, Drake said, it will be charged “an exponentially higher rate” for natural gas on the spot market.

  The city is only a couple of years into a 15-year plan to pay off its natural gas bill from 2021, when gas sellers told Drake the cost of 1,000 cubic feet of gas had jumped from $3 to $200.

• • Top Business Leaders Issue an Expletive-
  Laced Message On the Green Backlash

  Top Business Leaders At Davos Aren’t Holding Back In Their Defense of Green Energy
  
  {energy central}
  
  

  Jan. 21, 2026 -CEO of mega-insurer Allianz Oliver Bäte called criticism of net-zero goals in Europe "bullsh*t," while founder of mining giant Fortescue Andrew Forrest called for “real zero,” a goal his company has to “simply stopping the burning of fossil fuel” by the end of the decade.

  Between the lines: The comments were a direct rebuttal to the mood at the World Economic Forum, where many businesses are retreating from climate action to avoid being labeled "woke,” as Forrest put it. See also: President Trump’s speech mocking wind energy and dismissing climate change as a hoax.

• • Scientists Just Calculated How Many
  Microplastics Are In Our Atmosphere

  The Number Is Absolutely Shocking

  
  

  Jan. 22, 2026 -Microplastics are pervasive, found everywhere on Earth, from the Sahara Desert to patches of Arctic sea ice. Yet despite these plastic particles’ ubiquity, scientists have struggled to determine exactly how many of them are in our atmosphere.

  Now a new estimate published in Nature suggests that land sources release about 600 quadrillion (600,000,000,000,000,000) microplastic particles into the atmosphere every year, about 20 times more than the number of particles contributed by oceans (about 26 quadrillion).

• • E.P.A. Promises a Ban on Animal Testing by 2035

  The E.P.A. Administrator, Revived a Plan Created During the First Trump Administration to End the Testing of Chemicals On Mammals

  
  

  Jan. 22, 2026 - The Environmental Protection Agency will stop using rabbits, mice, rats and other mammals to test the toxicity of chemicals by 2035, the agency said Thursday.

  Animal rights groups praised the move, while some environmental organizations said they worried that understanding the link between chemical exposure and cancer, or developmental or reproductive issues, would be harder to ascertain without animal testing.

• • Natural Gas Prices Soar As Cold Snap Blasts Across the U.S.

  Natural Gas Prices Skyrocket As an Arctic Blast Freezes the US
  
  {energy central}
  
  

  Jan. 21, 2026 -Prices jumped 26% to $3.91 per million BTUs on Tuesday, driven by fears that a massive winter storm moving from the Rockies to the East Coast will spike heating demand and trigger production freeze-offs.

  EBW Analytics warns of “severe market dislocation,” noting that the sudden freeze caught speculators with short positions at a 14-month high, forcing a scramble to buy back gas that could drive prices even higher.

• • Looming Water Supply 'Bankruptcy' Puts Billions At Risk

  UN Report Warning
  
  
  

  Jan. 20, 2026 -The world is facing irreversible water "bankruptcy", with billions of people struggling to cope with the consequences of decades of overuse as well as shrinking supplies from lakes, rivers, glaciers and wetlands, U.N. researchers said on Tuesday.

  Nearly three-quarters of the global population live in countries classified as "water insecure" or "critically water insecure", and 4 billion people face severe water scarcity at least one month per year, the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health warned in a report, opens new tab.

• • How Clean Energy Can Meet Rising Electricity Demand

  And Deliver Climate and Health Benefits
  
  {Union of Concerned Scientists}
  
  

  Jan. 21, 2026 -The US electricity sector is at an inflection point. After nearly two decades of flat demand, US electricity use is projected to surge over the next decade and beyond due primarily to the growth of data centers for artificial intelligence (AI).

  The emergence of large language models and other forms of generative AI has led to proposals for larger and larger "hyperscale" data centers, with some consuming more electricity than mid-sized cities (Marshall 2025). Over the longer term, greater electrification of transportation, buildings, and industry will drive up demand for electricity even further.

• • Half of Fossil Fuel Carbon Emissions in 2024 Came From 32 Companies

  Latest Carbon Majors Analysis Finds Global CO2 Emissions Are Traceable to an Increasingly Concentrated Set of Producers

  
  

  Jan. 21, 2026 -As fossil fuel-based carbon dioxide emissions continue to rise to record levels, a new analysis shows that a majority of these emissions can be traced back to a shrinking number of large corporate entities.

  Just 32 companies accounted for over half of global fossil carbon emissions in 2024, according to a report published Wednesday by the U.K.-based think tank InfluenceMap. That is down from 36 companies responsible for half the global CO2 emissions in 2023, and 38 companies five years ago.

• • Judi Dench Backs Campaign to Protect
  London’s Green Spaces From Developers

  Actor Says It's ‘More Important Than Ever’ to Safeguard City’s Parks As Report Finds More Than 50 Are At Risk

  
  

  Jan. 21, 2026 -Dame Judi Dench has called for greater protections for London’s parks and green spaces, as research finds more than 50 of the city’s parks are at risk from development.

  The Oscar-winning actor has long loved trees, and in 2017 fronted a BBC documentary about her love for them. She plants a tree every time a close friend or relative dies, including for her late husband, Michael Williams, who died in 2001, and the actor Natasha Richardson, who was killed in a skiing accident in 2009, and one for her brother Jeffery Dench, who died in 2014.

• • A Big Reason to Ditch Those Plastic Coffee Cups

  Those "Paper" Cups Actually Have Much Plastic That Doesn't Play Well With Heat
  
  
  

  Jan. 20, 2026 -To most of us, that cup feels harmless – just a convenient tool for caffeine delivery. However, if that cup is made of plastic, or has a thin plastic lining, there is a high chance it’s shedding thousands of tiny plastic fragments directly into your drink.

  In Australia alone, we use a staggering 1.45 billion single-use hot beverage cups every year, along with roughly 890 million plastic lids. Globally, that number swells to an estimated 500 billion cups annually.

• • Water Rule Rollback Stokes Affordability Concerns

  Trump Says the Regulation Will Ease Permitting Expenses. Utilities Say Costs Could Shift to Them and Their Customers
  
  {E&E NEWS}
  
  

  Jan. 20, 2026 -As President Donald Trump pledges to help lower costs for Americans, his administration’s plan to reduce protections under the Clean Water Act is fueling new concerns about water affordability.

  The administration is racing to finalize a rule that will chip away at federal oversight for millions of acres of streams and wetlands. Those resources play an important role in filtering pollutants out of drinking supplies and absorbing rainwater during floods — at no direct cost to consumers.

  Trump administration officials say their proposal will provide clarity for farmers and landowners and ease costs for businesses. Yet local officials who oversee sewer systems and water treatment plants say the changes could shift costs to them, putting pressure on water bills at a time when millions of Americans struggle to pay them.

• • Projected Electricity Usage Expected to Strain
  Kansas Grid Unless Transmission, Generation Added

  Kansas Regulators Are Warning of “Unbelievable” Load Growth and Blackout Risks
  
  {energy central}
  
  

  Jan. 21, 2026 -Projections show electricity load growth in the state surging as high as 99% by 2035. Without massive intervention, SPP estimates the region could face 114 days of load shedding annually by 2034—far exceeding the standard of 1 day per decade.

  A key part of the immediate solution—a 133-mile transmission line through 4 counties—is meeting heavy resistance from landowners, who argue the project will "carve a scar" across the state and imperil lucrative wind leases.

  Beyond transmission: Regulators warn that without generation to match the soaring demand, SPP's reserve margin will plummet from 20.7% today to -1.6% by 2030.

• • In Bangladesh, Thousands of Volunteers
  Battle Climate-Fueled Disease At Its Source

  As Mosquitoes Spread Dengue and Chikungunya, Bangladeshi Cleanup Crews Are Taking Public Health into Their Own Hands
  
  
  

  Jan. 20, 2026 - It is a cloudy, humid September morning near the end of monsoon season in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh and one of the world’s most densely populated cities. Streets normally bustling are quiet as residents of the Uttara neighborhood prepare for the weekly prayer.

  Suddenly, dozens of young volunteers emerge from the silence, gathering before heading to the shores of a small nearby lake. There, the stench of rotting waste hangs heavily in the air, burning the inside of their nostrils and stifling breaths. The volunteers begin to organize into different teams. Some pick litter off the ground. Others take a canoe and nets into the stagnant water. They collect plastic containers, banana peels, and anything else that has pooled in or near the lake over months and years. Some volunteers even dive into the murky water searching for waste.

• • Angeleno Group Buys Into Grid Tech Firm

  Century City-based Angeleno Group Invests in Australian Company IND Technology
  
  {Los Angeles Business Journal}
  
  

  Jan. 19, 2026 -Beverly Hills-based venture capital and growth equity firm Angeleno Groupand global energy investor Energy Impact Partners committed $50 million in Australian dollars to IND Technology, a leading provider of systems that detect grid failures.

  The pledge, worth roughly over $33 million U.S. dollars and announced Dec. 15, is an extension of the firm’s clean-energy and climate-focused investment strategy and will support product deployment and machine learning engineering development at IND.

• • The Science Behind the Winter Threat Hidden in Plain Sight

  It's Labeled as 'Black Ice'
  
  
  

  Jan. 19, 2026 - When the weather is calling for winter storms, drivers know to prepare for roads with slippery sleet and snow. But there is an invisible hazard that can appear even when skies are clear—black ice.

  "It can be present when there is no precipitation so it can sneak up on you,” says Michael Muccilli, a meteorologist with NOAA’s National Weather Service.

  Black ice creates a dangerously slippery surface where tires can no longer grip the pavement.

• • Chile Fires Kill At Least 18 As Firefighters Battle Extreme Heat, Winds

  And It’s Good News for Climate Change
  
  
  

  Jan. 19, 2026 - Chilean President Gabriel Boric declared a state of catastrophe in two regions in the south of the country on Sunday as raging wildfires forced at least 20,000 people to evacuate and left at least 18 people dead.

  According to Chile's CONAF forestry agency, firefighters were battling 24 active fires across the country as of Sunday morning, with the largest being in the regions of Ñuble and Bío Bío, where the government declared the emergency. The regions are about 500 km south of the capital, Santiago.

• • A Small Oil Company Polluted Midland’s Water Reserve

  The Cleanup Has Dragged on for Years
  
  
  

  Jan. 18, 2026 -The first sign of trouble appeared in 2003 when the water samples came back salty.

  This remote corner of West Texas, known as the T-Bar Ranch, had long served as the City of Midland’s insurance policy for water security. Midland purchased 20,000 acres spanning Winkler and Loving Counties in 1965, waiting for the day it would need to pump water from the property.

  Extra salts in the aquifer was not part of the plan.

  The city’s investigation soon landed on Heritage Standard Corporation as the prime suspect. The small Dallas-based company operated oil and gas wells and a disposal well near Midland’s water source.

• • Clean Energy Advocates Criticize ‘Glaring’ Omission in White
  House Plan to Fuel Data Centers in PJM Region

  Environmentalists Warn That the Proposal, Signed By a Bipartisan Group of 13 Governors, Could Increase Reliance on Fossil Fuels and More

  
  

  Jan. 16, 2026 -Rising electricity costs and the rapid build-out of energy-hungry data centers across the mid-Atlantic region brought a bipartisan group of governors to the White House Friday for an agreement on a joint action plan meant to “ensure data centers pay their fair share.” The proposal also would extend a wholesale price cap that is now in place, possibly shielding consumers from further increases.

  The Trump administration laced the announcement with jabs at the Biden administration, and the plan amounted to a nonbinding deal the parties are urging the region’s grid operator, PJM Interconnection, to adopt. Environmental advocates worry that the proposal will prioritize natural gas plants over renewable energy resources that have been stuck in a bottleneck waiting for PJM’s approval to be connected to the regional grid.

• • World’s First Treaty to Protect the High Seas Becomes Law

  The High Seas Treaty is Designed to Protect Biodiversity in International Waters By Enabling Conservation Zones
  
  
  

  Jan. 17, 2026 -An international agreement to safeguard marine life is now in effect. Known as the High Seas Treaty, it represents the first time that international waters, which lie outside of any country’s jurisdiction and cover nearly half the globe, can be protected.

  The United Nations discussed the treaty for more than two decades, and formal negotiations began in 2017. The final text makes it possible for countries to create environmentally protected zones in international waters and includes requirements for new ocean industries.

• • The Four Washington Measles Cases

  Leaving Health Officials Racing to Quell Outbreak
  
  
  

  Jan. 17, 2026 -Local public health teams are racing to verify vaccination records with families and students in two Washington counties, hoping to get ahead of the spread of measles amid the state’s first outbreak since 2023.

  Three Snohomish County children recently infected are recovering at home, after being exposed to a contagious family visiting from South Carolina, where an ongoing outbreak ballooned past 500 cases Friday. A student at Central Washington University, who also became infected after visiting South Carolina, is doing OK and recovering at home.

• • Why Some NYCHA Residents Are Getting Induction Stoves

  They Improve Air Quality and Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions

  
  

  Jan. 16, 2026 -Ever so slowly, New York’s public housing buildings are converting to energy-efficient electric stoves and heating and cooling systems. But it’s a complicated process that will take time.

  Most of the more than 2,400 buildings that are part of the New York City Housing Authority, the largest such agency in North America, were built in the middle of the last century. Maintaining this old housing stock, while making it more energy-efficient, is expensive and tends to be work-intensive.

• • Tesla Launches Its Own Solar Panel As Its EV Business Falters

  Tesla is Betting On a New Solar Panel to Offset Its EV Slump
  
  {energy central}
  
  

  Jan 16, 2026 -The Colorado River provides water to seven states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. But the river has been overtaxed for decades. And recently the federal government ordered the states to come up with a plan on how to share the river amid a worsening drought. Lakes Mead and Powell, the two largest reservoirs on the Colorado River, are less than a third full, threatening both energy generation and the critical water supply for the population in the West. The river is also a lifeline for the region’s farmers, who need about 80 percent of the diverted water to grow crops.

  Luke Runyon has covered issues in the Colorado River Basin for a decade. And he is co-director of The Water Desk at the University of Colorado-Boulder’s Center for Environmental Journalism and he joins me now. Luke, welcome back to Living on Earth.

  Click now for more of the conversation.

• • Western Water Crisis Boiling Over

  The Colorado River Snakes Through Desert Canyons in the American Southwest, Supplying Drinking Water and Irrigation For the Region’s Cities
  
  {living on earrh}
  
  

  Jan 16, 2026 -The Colorado River provides water to seven states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. But the river has been overtaxed for decades. And recently the federal government ordered the states to come up with a plan on how to share the river amid a worsening drought. Lakes Mead and Powell, the two largest reservoirs on the Colorado River, are less than a third full, threatening both energy generation and the critical water supply for the population in the West. The river is also a lifeline for the region’s farmers, who need about 80 percent of the diverted water to grow crops.

  Luke Runyon has covered issues in the Colorado River Basin for a decade. And he is co-director of The Water Desk at the University of Colorado-Boulder’s Center for Environmental Journalism and he joins me now. Luke, welcome back to Living on Earth.

  Click now for more of the conversation.

• • A Long-Lost Tectonic Fragment May Be Shaking Northern California

  Seismic Tremors Expose a Trapped Slab Linked to the 1992 Mendocino Quake

  
  

  Jan. 16, 2026, -An earthquake-generating chunk of tectonic plate has been discovered beneath Northern California. It’s attached to the bottom of the North American plate like gum stuck to a shoe.

  Using abundant, tiny, nearly imperceptible earthquakes that can help reveal complicated faults beneath Earth’s surface, researchers have identified this previously hidden hazard. The plate may have been the source of the 1992 magnitude 7.2 Mendocino earthquake, researchers report January 15 in Science.

• • Supreme Court to Decide if the Pesticide
  Roundup Is Shielded From Lawsuits

  The Case Could Affect Thousands of Claims That the Widely Used Weedkiller Causes Cancer
  
  

  Jan. 16, 2026 -AThe Supreme Court said on Friday that it would hear a case that asks whether federal law shields a pesticide manufacturer from lawsuits claiming that the weedkiller Roundup causes cancer.

  Developed by Monsanto in the 1970s, Roundup is one of the best-selling weedkillers in the world, but it has been dogged by controversy over its effects on human health. The company, which was acquired by the German conglomerate Bayer in 2018, has faced thousands of lawsuits, amounting to one of the largest waves of such litigation in U.S. history.

• • How Seaweed Farms Could Change
  the Arithmetic of Ocean Carbon Capture

  A Strong Yet Degradable Bioplastic Made From Avocado Peels and Stale Bread Tackles Two Global Challenges: Food Waste and Plastic Pollution
  
  
  

  Jan. 16, 2026 -Seaweed farms cover 3.5 million hectares of ocean and are busy locking away vast amounts more carbon than we realise, say researchers. In a new study they argue that in estimates of their blue carbon potential, we’ve been overlooking the unique way that seaweeds interact with seawater, which makes it absorb more CO2.

  “Most discussions about seaweed and climate focus on how seaweed captures carbon as it grows. The concern has been that much of that carbon might be released again when the seaweed decomposes,” says Mojtaba Fakhraee, assistant professor in the department of earth sciences at the University of Connecticut, and lead author on the study. This concern has undermined the idea that seaweed farms can double as carbon capture projects. But Fakhraee and colleague Noah Planavsky say this misses a crucial feature of seaweed farms which connects with the wider ocean chemistry.

• • The Strange Link Between Winter
  Earthquakes and Massive Summer Algae Blooms

  Seafloor Tremors Appear to Shape Summer Plankton Blooms and Carbon Uptake
  
  
  

  Jan. 15, 2026 -During the Antarctic winter, sea ice spreads and sunlight fades, leaving little visible change at the ocean surface. Deep below, however, earthquakes shake underwater ridges and stir mineral-rich fluids from the seafloor. New research suggests this wintertime activity helps shape how much marine life flourishes months later, when summer returns.

  A study published in Nature Geoscience links wintertime earthquakes in the Southern Ocean to the growth of massive phytoplankton blooms in summer. The finding connects geology, biology, and climate in a way scientists had not documented before—and suggests the ocean’s ability to absorb carbon dioxide may depend partly on the planet’s shifting crust.

• • Some of Trump’s Assaults On Air and Water Are Reversible

  Not These Two
  
  {THE HILL}
  
  

  Jan. 9, 2026 -Cyclobutrifluram and isocycloseram may never be household names. But they’re likely to contribute to chemical contamination in water and food consumed in many millions of households for generations to come.

  Announcing its approval of the two chemicals’ use — on everything from golf courses and ornamental plants to romaine lettuce, tomatoes and soybeans — the Environmental Protection Agency parroted industry claims about the pesticides’ safety.

• • Pipeline Safety Enforcement Cut In Half In Trump’s First Year

  The Enforcement Plunge is Part of a Deregulatory Push Across the Government As the Administration Seeks to Boost Fossil Fuels
  
  {E&E NEWS}
  
  

  Jan. 14, 2026 -The Trump administration slashed pipeline safety enforcement in 2025, bringing about half the average number of cases as in previous years.

  The change reduces pressure on an industry that includes some of President Donald Trump’s biggest financial supporters and sits at the center of his “energy dominance” agenda. It’s also part of a broader retreat across the federal government from policing companies’ environmental, safety and financial activities.

  “In an administration with a president who has emphasized, as this one has, that he thinks there is too much regulation, reducing enforcement activity is an easy and unreviewable way to lessen immediate regulatory burdens,” said Cary Coglianese, a law professor at the University of Pennsylvania who heads the Penn Program on Regulation.

• • U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions Are
  Rising for the First Time in Two Years

  They Could Climb Far Higher
  
  
  

  Jan. 13, 2026 -After more than two years of progress on reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the U.S. is on track to record an estimated 2.4 percent increase in 2025 compared with 2024, according to a new Rhodium Group report. The findings indicate the energy costs of the rapidly expanding artificial intelligence data center industry and cryptocurrencies, with emissions tied to the power sector rising by an estimated 3.8 percent in 2025.

  Last year’s colder-than-average winter months also drove up demand for heat in buildings, pushing up emissions by 6.8 percent compared with 2024.

• • America’s Air Is About to Get Dirtier

  And More Dangerous
  
  
  

  Jan. 14, 2026 - For more than five decades, the Clean Air Act has prevented millions of premature deaths, hospitalizations, and lost work and school days. By one official reckoning in 2011, the act’s limits on harmful pollution has benefited the U.S. economy to the tune of $2 trillion by 2020, in contrast with $65 billion in costs to implement regulations.

  But now the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is abruptly changing how it enforces at least parts of the Clean Air Act by not calculating the economic benefits of some regulations. The seemingly inevitable result is that Americans will soon breathe noticeably dirtier air and see worse health outcomes, experts say.

• • BP Flags $5 Billion Write-Down of Low-Carbon Business

  BP Officially Admits Its Green Pivot Was a Bust
  
  {energy central}
  
  

  Jan. 14, 2026 -The energy giant said it’ll write down the value of its gas and low-carbon energy division by up to $5B—the fallout of a poorly timed move into renewables that left it least profitable of all the majors.

  What comes next: The company is abandoning its transition goals to double down on traditional drilling in Brazil and the Gulf.

• • U.S. Carbon Pollution Rose Last Year

  Experts Blame a Cold Winter, Natural Gas Prices and Data Centers
  
  {NBC NEWS}
  
  

  Jan. 13, 2026 -In a reversal from previous years’ pollution reductions, the United States spewed 2.4% more heat-trapping gases from the burning of fossil fuels in 2025 than in the year before, researchers calculated in a study released Tuesday.

  The increase in greenhouse gas emissions is attributable to a combination of a cool winter, the explosive growth of data centers and cryptocurrency mining and higher natural gas prices, according to the Rhodium Group, an independent research firm. Environmental policy rollbacks by President Donald Trump’s administration were not significant factors in the increase because they were only put in place this year, the study authors said. Heat-trapping gases from the burning of coal, oil and natural gas are the major cause of worsening global warming, scientists say.

• • Here Are Three Climate Wins Airlines Could Unlock Tomorrow

  No New Technology Required
  
  
  

  Jan. 13, 2026 -Three strategies to improve airline fuel efficiency could reduce global aviation emissions by at least half, according to a new analysis.

  The aviation industry is responsible for about 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Discussions of how to reduce that often focus on emerging and uncertain technologies like electric aircraft, hydrogen, and sustainable aviation fuels. Others advocate that people should simply fly less.

  The new study shows how to substantially reduce emissions without waiting for new technologies or constraining people’s ability to fly.

• • Trump Proposes Opening Over 1 Million
  Acres of California Public Lands to Drilling, Fracking

  California Has Made Significant Moves to Curb Dangerous Oil and Gas Drilling

  
  

  Jan. 12, 2026 -The Trump administration today released plans to open more than 1 million acres of public lands and mineral rights to oil and gas drilling and fracking in Southern California and the Central Valley, Central Coast and Bay Area.

  The areas slated by Trump for drilling and fracking are near spectacular public lands, including state parks, national parks, forests, wildlife refuges, and the Carrizo Plain National Monument. Oil companies could target land around popular sites like Pinnacles National Park, Mount Diablo State Park, Henry W. Coe State Park and Black Diamond Mines Regional Preserve.

• • E.P.A. to Stop Considering Lives Saved
  When Setting Rules on Air Pollution

  It Plans to Calculate Only the Cost to Industry When Setting Pollution Limits, and Not the Monetary Value of Saving Human Lives
  
  
  

  Jan. 12, 2026 -For decades, the Environmental Protection Agency has calculated the health benefits of reducing air pollution, using the cost estimates of avoided asthma attacks and premature deaths to justify clean-air rules.

  Not anymore.

  Under President Trump, the E.P.A. plans to stop tallying gains from the health benefits caused by curbing two of the most widespread deadly air pollutants, fine particulate matter and ozone, when regulating industry, according to internal agency emails and documents reviewed by The New York Times.

• • Is Grass-Fed Beef Really Better for the Climate?

  We Asked Experts How Their Emissions Stack Up Compared to Factory Farms
  
  
  

  Jan. 12, 2026 -Whether making a spaghetti Bolognese or getting ready to grill some steaks, Americans buying beef might find themselves wondering if they should spend a few dollars more per pound for the grass-fed option.

  The image of cows grazing in a pasture is certainly picturesque. And, at first glance, it may seem like a more humane and planet-friendly alternative to factory-farmed beef.

• • One Family’s Battle With Trenton’s Lead Legacy

  A Routine Medical Checkup for a Trenton Toddler Uncovered Dangerous Lead Levels

  
  

  Jan. 15, 2026 -Amber DeLoney-Stewart brought her 2-year-old, Valencia, to the doctor’s office for an annual checkup in early September. Valencia was a happy girl with round cheeks, and the appointment was a routine physical exam, with vaccinations and some bloodwork. But the lab result proved to be anything but routine.

  “Her iron is fine,” the doctor said about Valencia’s test results. “But it’s showing that she has lead.”

• • The Army Corps of Engineers
  Wants to Dredge the Cape Fear River

  Environmentalists Tally the Costs

  
  

  Jan. 11, 2026 -On a sunny, brisk afternoon in mid-December, Kerri Allen peers from the deck of a ferry, crossing the Cape Fear River from Fort Fisher, on a coastal barrier island, to Southport, a small town on the mainland, near where the river meets the sea.

  Allen has lived near the water all of her 30-plus years. She competes in outrigger canoe races and calls herself an “East Coast mermaid.” She knows how to read a river, and at times her life has depended on that skill. She has paddled this rugged stretch of the Cape Fear River when winds were wailing and whitecaps were walloping her boat. She now works as coastal management program director for the N.C. Coastal Federation.

• • Road Washout Severs WA Tribe’s Link to Cemeteries

  It’s Also a Herculean Lift
  
  
  

  Jan. 11, 2026 -Fueled by torrential December rains, a nameless creek draining from Suiattle Mountain saw a landslide hurtle hip-high boulders, uproot trees and blow through a road.

  It carved a roughly 70-foot-deep ravine, creating a 130-foot-wide gap in this Forest Service road, severing the Sauk-Suiattle Indian Tribe’s connection to its cemeteries and ancestral homelands, and closing another door to a major recreation corridor in the North Cascades.