All Environment
- Climate change turning sacred land against Navajo
A 19-year drought in Navajo Nation is stretching an already struggling people. But the climate change is also highlighting their endurance and ingenuity.
- Pope Francis urges strong action on climate change
Pope Francis framed climate change as an urgent moral issue in his eagerly anticipated encyclical, blaming global warming on an unfair, fossil fuel-based industrial model that harms the poor most.
- North Korea drought is the country's worst in a century, officials say
A North Korea drought is the worst the country has experienced in a century, according to North Korean officials.
- Why US oil train traffic is falling
Booming US oil production in recent years encouraged producers to ship their crude by train, writes Charles Kennedy, but a slump in prices and increased pipeline capacity have made rail transport less appealing.
- NASA water data shows overstressed basins across the world
A third of global groundwater basins are overstressed, according to new satellite data from NASA.
- Oozing oil in lake: How to fix a decades-old leak?
The government is looking into solutions to a Michigan lake that has had oil oozing into it for more than two decades.
- Think US is world's top oil producer? Think again.
Media outlets appear to be taking dictation rather than asking questions about which countries produced the most oil in 2014, Cobb writes.
- With oil cheap, Saudis open stock market to foreign investment
Saudi Arabia is looking for an economic boost by opening its stock market to foreign direct investment. The OPEC mega-producer, which relies heavily on oil revenue, is weathering a low oil price environment.
- ADB: Asia must boost clean energy investment
Asian countries have come a long way on clean-energy development, the Asian Development Bank said Wednesday. But lower oil prices offers a chance to cut fuel subsidies and boost renewables.
- Texas city drops voter-approved fracking ban
Last November, voters in Denton, Texas approved a ban on hydraulic fracturing amid environmental concerns. Now, the Denton City Council has voted to drop the ban.
- Barack Obama's climate change initiative: $4 billion for clean energy
The White House unveiled Tuesday $4 billion in private-sector investment commitments to clean energy, doubling expectations.
- Renewables could dominate world electricity by 2030
Renewables could surpass coal, natural gas, and nuclear as the world's top electricity source in 15 years, according to an IEA report. Still, without bolder emissions cuts, the world is on track to blow past its global warming targets.
- Arctic drilling: Activists detained while protesting Shell oil rig
Two dozen protestors were temporarily detained by the US Coast Guard for violating the safety zone around a massive Arctic drilling rig operated by oil giant Shell.
- World could peak emissions by 2020, IEA says. But will it?
It's possible for world leaders to cut carbon and boost renewables enough that global emissions hit their upper limit in the next five years. The question is whether that goal is politically feasible through UN climate talks.
- Shell to pull workers from Gulf Coast platforms ahead of storm surge
Shell Oil Co., the leading oil producer in the Gulf of Mexico, has removed non-essential workers from offshore platforms due to the threat of a likely tropical cyclone.
- Vatican cardinal, Orthodox theologian, and atheist scientist to give papal presser
The document will be released Thursday at an news conference featuring a Vatican cardinal, a Greek Orthodox theologian and an atheist scientist.
- No injuries in South Texas blaze sparked by burst gas line
Emergency services said a massive fire caused by a ruptured natural gas pipeline near Lindenau, Texas on Sunday has been extinguished.
- Texas communities embrace 'toilet-to-tap' water: Will California follow suit?
As the historic drought that has gripped the state of California for four years drags on, Golden State officials are grasping for innovative solutions and eyeing Texas's foray into toilet-to-tap water with keen interest.
- China's surprising climate progress [Recharge]
China is ahead of schedule on climate change, a new study shows; G7 leaders call for global decarbonization; the US takes the lead on oil production. Catch up on global energy with the Monitor's Recharge.
- Cheap oil puts squeeze on US boomtowns
Cheap oil is good news for US motorists at the pump, but for North Dakota oil towns a slowdown in drilling is creating new challenges, writes Nick Cunningham