Environment
Alabama’s new state climatologist takes the reins
The controversial John Christy is retiring as Alabama’s state climatologist. Lee Ellenburg now assumes the role and is already making a few changes, including declaring that climate change is real and caused by humans.
These major issues have brought together Democrats and Republicans in states
Across the country, Republicans and Democrats have found bipartisan agreement on regulating artificial intelligence and data centers. But it's not just big tech aligning the two parties.
Why farmers in California are backing a giant solar farm
Many farmers have had to fallow land as a state law comes into effect limiting their access to water. There's now a push to develop some of that land… into solar farms.
Scientists worry about lasting damage from Potomac sewage spill
Drinking water around the District of Columbia hasn't been contaminated. But scientists say the environmental damage could be severe.
Following Trump’s lead, Alabama seeks to limit environmental regulations
The Alabama Legislature on Tuesday approved legislation backed by business groups that would prevent state agencies from setting restrictions on pollutants and hazardous substances exceeding those set by the federal government. In areas where no federal standard exists, the state could adopt new rules only if there is a “direct causal link” between exposure to harmful emissions and “manifest bodily harm” to humans.
Surprise shark caught on camera for first time in Antarctica’s near-freezing deep
Many experts had thought sharks didn't exist in the frigid waters of Antarctica.
Citing national security, Trump has abandoned fenceline monitoring at coke ovens
The administration ended a program that documented excessive levels of a carcinogen at industrial facilities across the country. Environmental groups who say the move leaves polluted communities behind have filed suit.
What we know about the massive sewage leak in the Potomac River
A collapsed sewer line, about 8 miles from the White House, pumped 368 Olympic-sized swimming pools worth of wastewater into the Potomac. Repairs could take longer than previously expected.
The Winter Olympics in Italy were meant to be sustainable. Are they?
Italy's Winter Olympics promised sustainability. But in Cortina, environmentalists warn the Games could scar these mountains for decades.
The Trump Administration exempts new nuclear reactors from environmental review
The announcement comes just days after NPR revealed the administration had secretly rewritten safety and environmental standards.
This Small Alabama Town Was Part of the Manhattan Project. Now It May Host a Hyperscale Data Center.
A town of less than 5,000 could be the site of a $6 billion data center project, its mayor says. Would the project be a boon or a burden?
Scientists call another near-record hot year a ‘warning shot’ from a shifting climate
Scientists calculate that last year was one of the three hottest on record, along with 2024 and 2023. The trend indicates that warming could be speeding up, climate monitoring teams reported.
The EPA is changing how it considers the costs and benefits of air pollution rules
The EPA won't consider the economic costs of harms to human health, at least for now. Legal and health experts are concerned that the change could make it easier for the agency to roll back rules.
California fire victims say fighting with insurance companies has delayed rebuilding
Wildfires last January destroyed communities around Los Angeles. Homeowners say recovery has been slowed by fights with insurers to get their claims paid.
Offshore wind developer prevails in U.S. court as Trump calls wind farms ‘losers’
A federal judge ruled Monday that work on a major offshore wind farm can resume, handing the industry at least a temporary victory as President Trump seeks to shut it down.
‘Everything I knew burned down around me’: A journalist looks back on LA’s fires
Jacob Soboroff was raised in the Pacific Palisades and reported live from the area as it was devastated by fire in 2025. In Firestorm, Soboroff offers a minute-by-minute account of the catastrophe.
How Alabama Power has left the ‘American Amazon’ at risk
As its polluting coal ash ponds remain in groundwater, Alabama Power has doubled down on fossil fuel energy investments.
Christmas is over. Here’s what to do with your holiday trash
Household waste increases by 25% between Thanksgiving and New Years. Rules vary by municipality on what you can recycle and what needs to go into the trash.
20 years later, Waveland’s letters to Santa tell stories of recovery from Hurricane Katrina
More than a thousand letters were written and answered after the hurricane. They’re now housed in an exhibit at the Ground Zero Hurricane Katrina Museum.
New report finds the Arctic continues to warm faster than the planet as a whole
This year's Arctic Report Card from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration finds that the northernmost part of the Earth is warming faster than the global average, leading to melting glaciers, shifting fish populations, and rivers running orange.
What to know about death cap mushrooms, blamed for poisonings in California
Death cap mushrooms look harmless, but are responsible for the majority of the world's mushroom-related deaths. California officials say 21 people have been sickened in recent weeks, one fatally.
Scorching Saturdays: The rising heat threat inside football stadiums
Excessive heat and more frequent medical incidents in Southern college football stadiums could be a warning sign for universities across the country.
A proposed Bessemer data center faces new hurdles: a ‘road to nowhere’ and the Birmingham darter
With the City Council in Bessemer scheduled to vote Tuesday on a “hyperscale” data center, challenges from an environmental group and the Alabama Department of Transportation present potential obstacles for the wildly unpopular project.
In a ‘disheartening’ era, the nation’s former top mining regulator speaks out
Joe Pizarchik, who led the federal Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement from 2009 to 2017, says Alabama’s move in the wake of a fatal 2024 home explosion increases risks to residents living atop “gassy” coal mines.
Trump administration finalizes plan to open pristine Alaska wildlife refuge to oil and gas drilling
The Trump administration has finalized a plan to open the coastal plain of Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling, renewing long-simmering debate over whether to drill in one of the nation's most sensitive wilderness areas.
What we know about the devastating storm in Western Alaska
The remnant of Typhoon Halong slammed the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, an area in Western Alaska hundreds of miles from the U.S. road system. More than a thousand people are displaced.
As hundreds of millions of birds head south, the invisible danger is glass
It's the peak of the fall migration season. This is when bird deaths from window collisions tend to spike, even though simple solutions can prevent this.
Greetings from the Rhône Glacier, where a gash of pink highlights how it’s melting
Far-Flung Postcards is a weekly series in which NPR's international team shares moments from their lives and work around the world.
Data centers are booming. But there are big energy and environmental risks
How tech companies and government officials handle local impacts will shape the industry's future in the U.S.
Renewable energy outpaces coal for electricity generation in historic first, report says
For the first time on record, renewable energy generated more electricity for the planet than coal, a new report says.
A tribe in Arizona planned to connect 600 homes to electricity. Then the funding was cut
The Hopi Tribe received a multimillion-dollar federal grant to install solar panels and battery storage systems for hundreds of homes. But the Trump administration has canceled the funding.
The mother of Colombian corals
Known as the mother of Colombian corals, at 70, marine biologist Elvira Alvarado is still diving — and pioneering "coral IVF" to help save endangered reefs.
