Mar. 24, 2026 -By late March, Nebraska was already in the throes of a historic wildfire event that had burned more than a half-million acres. In South Dakota and Wyoming, strong, dry winds are flaring up big blazes. Dozens of residents in two Colorado counties had to evacuate over the weekend as record hot temperatures and extremely low humidity fueled the rapid spread of fires in the parched brush. And until last week, it was still technically winter.

Wildfires are ripping across the Great Plains, and other flare-ups are popping up in Arizona and Colorado remarkably early in the season. Firefighters and experts are watching these giant red splotches of burning forest and grasslands with alarm, warning that the timing, ingredients fueling their startling growth, and what they signal about the fire season ahead is a recipe for concern — perhaps signaling an expanding frontier for fire risk in broader patches of the western half of the United States.

Mar. 23, 2026 -Illinois is in the midst of a public health crisis. Nearly 1.5 million service lines—the pipes that carry drinking water to homes and businesses—contain or are suspected to contain lead, a neurotoxin linked to cognitive, reproductive and cardiovascular problems.

Now, public health and workforce advocates want to turn the state’s long-overdue pipe replacement backlog into a statewide economic engine, creating up to 90,000 jobs over a decade.

1. 2025 on Track to Be
Second Warmest Year Ever

2. No Mention of Planet-Warming Fossil Fuels in COP30 Agreement

3. Global Plastic Treaty Negotiations End Without Deal Again

4. World’s Top Court Lays Out
Historic Protections For Climate

5. Scientists Confirm Largest Coral Bleaching Event on Record Affecting Nearly 84% of World’s Reefs

6. Climate Change ‘Supercharged’ Deadly Asian Storms That Killed More Than 1,800

7. Trump Signs Executive Orders to Blow to US Emissions Reduction Efforts

8. ‘Historic’ UN-Led High Seas Treaty to Take Effect in 2026

9. Green Sea Turtles No Longer Endangered Species in Major Conservation Win

10. Fossil Fuel Companies Intensified Hundreds of Heatwaves Worldwide This Century

Mar. 23, 2026 -In January, the Trump administration announced that it had completed its dismantling of yet another Biden-era climate program. This time, the target was the Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office, which Democrats had injected with almost $400 billion to support ambitious new clean energy projects.

The Biden administration pursued climate policy primarily by having Congress pass massive subsidies for solar power, wind energy, and electric vehicles. But much of the infrastructure needed to push the U.S. further away from fossil fuel dependence — like new nuclear power plants, high-voltage transmission lines, and battery factories — needed more than the tax credits at the core of Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act to get off the ground. The Loan Programs Office was meant to fill that gap by making prudent loans to ambitious projects that the private sector saw as too risky. With its $400 billion windfall, the once-obscure office became the largest energy lender in the world.