"Maritime nations agreed Friday to slash emissions from the shipping industry to net zero by about 2050 in a deal that several experts and nations say falls short of what’s needed to curb warming to agreed temperature limits."
The U.S. air quality alert scale is showing a lot of unhealthy colors this season, from oranges up to unhealthy reds and purples or worse, as smoke from wildfires in Canada periodically drifts across various U.S. regions. The latest Reporter’s Toolbox explores a key database and other resources to help journalists report on the spread of smoky air.
A new book takes readers around the planet to better understand the world’s eight bear species and our relationships with them, including not just how we’ve popularized some but also the many ways we’ve mistreated or pushed others to the brink of extinction. In the new BookShelf, Frances Backhouse reviews Gloria Dickie’s just-published volume, “Eight Bears.” Plus, Freelance Files interviews Dickie.
"The Justice Department’s new plan to crack down on environmental crimes in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands is badly needed to combat corruption and shore up threadbare local agencies, according to Puerto Rico’s former top environmental official."
"In a clubby mid-rise on the River Thames, its lobby filled with models of container ships and oil tankers, a rather obscure United Nations group is gathering this week to make a momentous decision that will influence whether the world can meet its promise to limit perilous global warming."
"Pierson, Fla., calls itself the fern capital of the world, because of its many vast ferneries, where the feathery greens that end up tucked into bouquets of roses are grown. Those ferns are cut by workers like Severa and Felipa Cruz, sisters from Mexico. It is strenuous and increasingly hot work — so hot it can be life-threatening."
"Virginia, Illinois, Ohio and Indiana have the most to gain in jobs and new investment if PJM, the country’s largest grid operator, can fix some of the problems now leading to long delays in clean energy projects, a new report says."
"In lawsuits targeting the coal operator Arch, residents contend that mining activity has disrupted their lives and emitted a gas that threatens their safety and the planet."
"The Chemehuevi’s reservation fronts about 30 miles of the Colorado River, yet 97% of the tribe’s water stays in the river, much of it used by Southern California cities. The tribe isn’t paid for it."
"Lawmakers in Michigan have long fought tough pollution controls. But the toll of flooding, lost crops and damage to the Great Lakes appears to be changing minds."
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