Published by the Natural Resources Defense Fund Philip Rozenski/iStock Deep in our hearts, we know that the global addiction to plastic is wholly unsustainable. It’s why so many of us make a real effort to significantly curtail our use of plastic bottles and bags, clamshell packaging, straws, disposable utensils, and the like. In addition, it’s […]
Published by the Natural Resources Defense Fund EPA’s latest annual assessment of new automobile fuel economy, the “Fuel Economy Trends” report, shows that automakers have made great progress building fuel-efficient vehicles from when standards were tightened in the 1970s and early 1980s and with the gains of the last five years. The report findings are […]
Published by Ocean Conservancy Some of my favorite early summer evenings were spent on the Puget Sound with the Olympic Mountains in view and the salty smell of the ocean nearby. My friends and I would get together at the local marina to grab beers and a bag of oysters from the dockside shop. Then at […]
Published by the Natural Resources Defense Fund Sachin Daluja/Flickr Last July, after Karen Feridun and Tracy Carluccio delivered a petition with more than 63,000 signatures in support of a fracking ban in the Delaware River watershed to the office of Pennsylvania governor Tom Wolf, they popped down to the cafeteria in the building. To their […]
Published by the Natural Resources Defense Fund I just attended the 2018 American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting, where the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced that 2017 shattered all records for the most costly extreme weather year in United States history. If you thought 2017 seemed like a monstrous year for extreme weather events—from […]
Published by the Natural Resources Defense Fund The House’s $81 billion hurricane disaster aid package includes some poison pills that would harm disaster mitigation programs and endangered species. Photo courtesy of NOAA, www.nnvl.noaa.gov The U.S. Senate must act on a supplemental disaster aid package for areas affected by Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria and the […]
Published by the Natural Resources Defense Fund Local residents and environmentalists in Chile are enjoying a prolonged New Year’s celebration, thanks to two major legal decisions that will protect the country’s free-flowing rivers. Chile’s justice system put a final stop to two controversial large hydroelectric dam developments in Chilean Patagonia: (1) Mediterráneo S.A.’s run-of-the-river project […]
Published by the World Wildlife Fund A new study reveals rising temperatures are turning green turtle populations almost completely female in the northern Great Barrier Reef. More than 200,000 nesting females—one of the largest populations in the world—call the northern Great Barrier Reef home. But this population could eventually crash without more males, according to the […]
Published by the Natural Resources Defense Fund What is the value of hurricane and wildfire survivors’ health? The Senate will grapple with that question this month as the federal government barrels toward another shutdown deadline and Americans slowly recover from recent disasters. Congressional action will affect how well immediate needs are met and how well […]
Published by the Environmental News Service GENEVA, Switzerland, January 6, 2017 (ENS) – The 2017 global land and ocean temperature will likely be among the three hottest years on record, and is expected to be the warmest year without an El Niño weather pattern in the tropical Pacific Ocean, according to the World Meteorological Organization. […]
Published by the Natural Resources Defense Fund Despite the Damage, Positive Trends Endure Calling 2017 crazy is an understatement of epic proportions. We saw attempts by a marginalized President and congressional Republicans to unravel decades of environmental protections and clean energy progress as fast as they could. If a policy has his predecessor’s imprint on […]
Published by Ocean Conservancy On January 4, Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke unveiled the Trump administration’s proposed new five-year offshore leasing program—and it’s not pretty. The proposed leasing program aims to open up almost all of America’s coastline to risky offshore drilling. Vast swaths of the Arctic—including areas in the Northern Bering Sea that haven’t […]
Published by the Natural Resources Defense Fund The Trump administration’s New Year gift to polluters: opening up nearly all of America’s coasts to oil and gas drilling, plus more ongoing attacks on our health and planet. iStock We’re closing in on a year since Donald J. Trump’s inauguration with little hope he’ll grow into the […]
Published by Ocean Conservancy Over the winter holidays, hundreds of thousands of foreign tourists flock to the beaches of Bali, eager to enjoy the Indonesian island’s breathtaking landscapes and iconic temples. This year, however, sightseers may have gotten more than they bargained for: mass amounts of marine debris. Last week, Bali declared a “garbage emergency” after […]
Published by the Natural Resources Defense Fund Welcome to our weekly Trump v. Earth column, in which onEarth reviews the environment-related shenanigans of President Trump and his allies. President Trump laying out a national security strategy that includes reversing Obama-era warnings on climate change, December 2017 Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP/REX/Shutterstock Ice-Cold Nonsense Donald Trump ended a year of […]
Published by the World Wildlife Fund The Arctic Ocean—the pristine home to bowhead whales, gray whales, polar bears, walruses, and other magnificent wildlife, along with many indigenous communities—could potentially lose crucial protections from risky offshore oil and gas drilling. Every five years, the US Department of Interior creates a plan that says where oil and gas […]
Published by the Natural Resources Defense Fund In December, I reported that the Trump administration was creating a new Five Year Offshore Oil and Gas Leasing Program plan—ignoring the huge amount of public input and time that went into the current plan which should have extended through 2022. It wasn’t a surprise that the administration […]
Published by the Natural Resources Defense Fund The administration’s new five-year offshore drilling plan puts polluter profits over the public good—and risks another BP oil spill–style disaster. iStock President Trump has launched the most sweeping industrial assault in history on our oceans, marine life, coasts and all they support, proposing to expose nearly all U.S. […]
Published by the Natural Resources Defense Fund Much of the country is in the grip of frigid weather, which is increasing demand for electricity (but still less than during hot summer months). Predictably, coal interests contend that because coal plants are running more to help meet higher demand, it proves America needs the ill-conceived Trump-Perry […]
Published by the Natural Resources Defense Fund The Interior Secretary plans to release a new five-year plan for offshore oil and gas drilling today. In late April, President Trump issued an executive order promoting oil and gas drilling off America’s coasts—and today, in response, U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke plans to unveil a […]