Judge voids oil and gas leases on almost 1 million acres of public lands

A federal judge on Thursday voided five oil and gas leases on public lands that amounted to nearly a million acres, arguing that the Trump administration wrongly excluded public input. 

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Major news networks devoted less than 4 hours to climate change in 2019. Total.

Global warming garnered well under 1 percent of overall broadcast news coverage in 2019, according to a new study.

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Virtual reality can bring ancient cities back to life and improve conservation

New modelling techniques shed light on the ancient city of Ugarit and can help plan effective conservation.

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More Than 9 Million People Are Freecycling Instead of Buying New

Freecycle plans to add a lending and borrowing tool to encourage people to share with friends and neighbors.

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Tesla "big battery" in Australia is becoming a bigger nightmare for fossil fuel power generators

Tesla’s “big battery” utility-scale Powerpack system at the Hornsdale Power Reserve in South Australia has yielded more than doubled the savings to consumers in 2019 than the year prior as it dominates fossil fuel generators on quicker demand response for the grid. Hornsdale Power Reserve saved consumers AUD116 million ($75.78 million) in 2019, a big jump from AUD40 million ($26.14 million) savings in 2018.

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For Decades, Cartographers Have Been Hiding Covert Illustrations Inside of Switzerland’s Official Maps

The first three dimensions—length, height, and depth—are included on all topographical maps. The “fourth dimension,” or time, is also available on the website of the Swiss Federal Office of Topography (Swisstopo). In the “Journey Through Time,” a timeline displays 175 years of the country’s cartographic history, advancing in increments of 5-10 years.

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How a seasonal snarl-up in the mid-1500s gave us our strange rules for leap years

Leap years were devised in Julius Caesar's time, to fix the pesky problem that Earth's year isn't exactly 365 days. But 15 centuries later, our calendars were still slightly askew.

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The war on food waste is a waste of time

Efforts to reduce the amount of food in landfills produce a lot of pretty infographics but very little change to a deeply flawed food system.

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Coke and Pepsi sued for creating a plastic pollution ‘nuisance’

Coke, Pepsi, Nestle and other large companies are being sued by a California environmental group for creating a plastic pollution “nuisance” and misleading consumers about the recyclability of plastic. The suit, filed in San Mateo county superior court on Wednesday, argues that companies that sell plastic bottles and bags that end up polluting the ocean should be held accountable for damaging the environment.

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Earth has acquired a brand new moon that's about the size of a car

Astronomers have spotted an asteroid that has been captured by Earth's gravity, making it a temporary mini-moon. It will probably fly away again in April

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Underwater Photographer of the Year 2020

The winners of the Underwater Photographer of the Year competition 2020.

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Missouri hunters donated nearly 350,000 pounds of deer meat to food banks this season

Missouri deer hunters donated nearly 350,000 pounds of venison to food banks and pantries across the state this season, the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) said in a news release. The hunters donated the meat to Missouri's Share the Harvest program, which provides "lean, healthy" venison to help feed hungry Missourians.

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People survived the Toba supervolcano’s global winter after all

Previous studies suggest volcanic winter caused a population bottleneck 74,000 years ago.

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Pizza Hut Wants To Replace All Cheese With Vegan Alternative To Cut Emissions

Pizza Hut has revealed that it would like to replace all its dairy cheese with a vegan alternative one day as part of its plans to become more sustainable. While the chain says its does not envision taking dairy products off the menu in the 'near future', it is 'dedicated to evolving our practices and processes with the aim of making a more positive impact'.

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A Billionaire Who Funds Climate Denial Is No Longer on American Museum of Natural History Board

Billionaire Rebekah Mercer, who with her father Robert Mercer has poured millions of dollars into climate-denying organizations, candidates, and media, is off the board of the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH).

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Natural gas is a much ‘dirtier’ energy source than we thought

Coal, oil, and gas are responsible for much more atmospheric methane, the super-potent warming gas, than previously known.

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Study dates Victorian volcano that buried a human-made axe 34,000 years ago

Fresh evidence shows two prominent south-west Victorian volcanoes, Budj Bim and Tower Hill, erupted at least 34,000 years ago and that people were in the area before those eruptions.

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Arctic 'doomsday' food vault welcomes millionth seed variety

A vault in the Arctic built to preserve seeds for rice, wheat and other food

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Greta Thunberg’s mother reveals teenager’s troubled childhood

Swedish opera singer Malena Ernman gives emotional account of daughter’s battles with autism and an eating disorder

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Bacteria Engineered to Protect Bees from Pests and Pathogens

AUSTIN, Texas — Scientists from The University of Texas at Austin report in the journal Science that they have developed a new strategy to protect honey bees from a deadly trend known as colony collapse: genetically engineered strains of bacteria.

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Genetically Engineered Bacteria Protect Honey Bees Against Parasites

In a new study published in the journal Science, researchers from The University of Texas at Austin outline their novel approach to protecting honey bees at risk of colony collapse – genetically engineered bacteria.

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Fusion startup claims breakthrough will provide "unlimited" energy

"I don't want to be a laughing stock by promising we can deliver something in 10 years, and then not getting there."

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Wood waste makes recycled concrete stronger than ever

Production of the cement used in concrete is a huge source of CO2 emissions, so the more that we can recycle existing concrete, the better. That's where a new study comes in, which indicates that discarded concrete becomes even stronger than it was before, when wood waste is added to it.

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The World's Tiniest Nuclear Plant Is Coming to Idaho

The demonstration represents a new-generation of micro-reactors.

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Colorado River flow shrinks from climate crisis, risking ‘severe water shortages’

Millions of people rely on the 1,450-mile waterway as increasing periods of drought and rising temperatures reduce flow of river

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Inside Adidas’s ambitious plan to end plastic waste by 2030

It’s a road map that the rest of the fashion industry should follow.

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Hungary's eight-point climate plan unveiled

The details of Hungarian government's eight-point climate strategy, initially announced by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán this past Sunday in his State of the Nation address, were released by the Hungarian Minister of Information and Technology on Wednesday. "To put it bluntly, protecting the climate and nature is truly our Christian and patriotic duty," Orbán said in that speech.

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Alcohol flowing freely from your taps might sound funny. But the reality is anything but in this town

Residents in an Indian apartment block were shocked when a mixture of beer and rum flowed from their kitchen taps. It will take at least a month to fix their water supply.

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Oil and gas firms 'have had far worse climate impact than thought'

The oil and gas industry has had a far worse impact on the climate than previously believed, according to a study indicating that human emissions of fossil methane have been underestimated by up to 40%. Although the research will add to pressure on fossil fuel companies, scientists said there was cause for hope because it showed a big extra benefit could come from tighter regulation of the industry and a faster shift towards renewable energy.

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Neuroscientists discover 'engine of consciousness' hiding in monkeys' brains

You probably need this engine running to stay awake.

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Renewable energy could power the world by 2050

Virtually all the world’s demand for electricity to run transport and to heat and cool homes and offices, as well as to provide the power demanded by industry, could be met by renewable energy by mid-century.

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Bees may struggle in winds caused by global warming, study finds

A hardworking honey bee might feel aggrieved to be tricked into a garden shed to feed from a fake flower. Worse, she is blasted by a cheap household fan. And then timed to see how many fake flowers she can visit in 90 seconds.

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Amazon's Jeff Bezos pledges $10 billion to launch Earth Fund for combating climate change

Bezos's fund will pen grants to scientists, activists and other organizations in their efforts to "preserve and protect the natural world."

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The carbon cost of home delivery and how to avoid it

Delivering online shopping to people's homes is a huge source of greenhouse gas emissions, particularly when deliveries fail and the journey needs to be repeated. Researchers are now re-thinking home deliveries to see if there is a better way of doing things, with ideas including robot couriers, jointly owned parcel lockers and an "Uber' for parcels.

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The breakthrough material that can turn any surface into a solar cell

University of Queensland researchers have made a breakthrough on next-generation solar technology that could potentially turn any flat surface into a solar generator. The team, led by Professor Lianzhou Wang, have been working on harnessing the power of "quantum dots" - tiny particles that can pass electrons to each other and generate electrical current.

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Wild beavers reduce flood risk and boost wildlife, study finds

Findings are culmination of five-year study of first licensed release of beavers into wild in England in more than 400 years

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211m gallons of sewage spilled into Fort Lauderdale waterways, officials say

Fort Lauderdale officials say 211.6m gallons of sewage has spilled into Fort Lauderdale waterways in the past few months. The Sun-Sentinel reports that’s enough to fill 320 Olympic-sized pools. The city’s aging sewer pipes broke six times in December and spewed 126.9m gallons of sewage – ranking as one of South Florida’s biggest spills ever. The spills fouled the Tarpon River, the Himmarshee Canal and streets in three neighborhoods.

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Human activity contaminated this glacier before anyone stepped foot on it

New research suggests that contamination from the Industrial Revolution traveled over 6,000 miles from London to a Himalayan mountain. Researchers studied an ice sample that was extracted from a glacier on the highest peak ever drilled. The site on Mount Shishapangma sits at 23,600 feet above sea level.

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The Sunrise Movement is taking the fight to Big Oil’s home turf

This piece was originally published in HuffPost and appears here as part of our Climate Desk Partnership. Sunrise Movement, the youth campaign behind the Green New Deal, called 25,000 Iowans and persuaded 7,000 to sign pledges to vote for the candidate who advocated the most ambitious plan for rapidly lowering planet-heating emissions along with guaranteeing federal jobs to displaced workers.

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Can Wolves Play Fetch? Yes, But Researchers Don't Know Why

It might seem like your new puppy is too scatterbrained to play fetch, but their instinct for the game might lie deep in their canine past. A new study published today in iScience found that wolf pups will pick up and retrieve balls thrown by humans with whom they are unfamiliar — indicating a willingness to play with people, a trait that could be older than domestic dogs themselves.

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Tropical Snakes Suffer as a Fungus Kills the Frogs They Prey On

Surveys of reptiles in central Panama show the ripple effects of an ecological crisis

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Morgan Freeman Converted His 124-Acre Ranch Into A Giant Honeybee Sanctuary To Save The Bees

The beloved Morgan Freeman is film director, philanthropist, and one of the greatest actors of our time, and he now has another title being attributed to his name; Beekeeper.

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The false promise of "renewable natural gas"

It’s no substitute for shifting to clean electricity.

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Antarctic temperature rises above 20C for first time on record

The Antarctic has registered a temperature of more than 20C (68F) for the first time on record, prompting fears of climate instability in the world’s greatest repository of ice. The 20.75C logged by Brazilian scientists at Seymour Island on 9 February was almost a full degree higher than the previous record of 19.8C, taken on Signy Island in January 1982.

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The Science Behind Snow Rollers, Ice Circles and Other Winter Phenomena

Last year at this time, Westbrook, Maine, made headlines when a 100-yard-wide ice circle appeared on the surface of the Presumpscot River, drawing thousands of people to see the phenomenon for themselves. Its popularity on social media and its resemblance to the moon helped make it the poster child for ice circles, and even now, a year later, locals wait with anticipation in hopes that it will form again.

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Half of U.S. deaths related to air pollution are linked to out-of-state emissions

Study tracks pollution from state to state in the 48 contiguous United States.

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Orb-weaver spiders’ yellow and black pattern helps them lure prey

Being inconspicuous might seem the best strategy for spiders to catch potential prey in their webs, but many orb-web spiders, which hunt in this way, are brightly coloured. New research finds their distinct yellow and black pattern is actually essential in luring prey. The findings are published in the British Ecological Society journal: Functional Ecology.

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Plan to expand Bristol airport rejected after climate protests

A scheme to expand Bristol airport has been rejected following protests that it would exacerbate the climate emergency, damage the health of local people, and harm flora and fauna. Officers had recommended that North Somerset council approve the expansion and warned that the authority could face a costly public inquiry if it turned it down.

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Environmentalists say B.C. falling behind on pledge to protect Great Bear Rainforest

B.C. environmental groups say a plan to formally protect about half of the forest covered by a landmark deal is two years behind schedule.

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The T. Rex may be the King of Lizards, but its new cousin is the "Reaper of Death"

The "Reaper of Death" is Canada's first new tyrannosaurus species in 50 years.

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