All Environment
- First LookNo more to-go cups? Starbucks to discontinue disposables by 2030.
Starbucks plans to discontinue disposable cups by 2030 to reach its environmental goals of decreasing waste. Its store at Arizona State University has been reusing plastic cups with success, but can those practices be replicated at stores worldwide?
- First LookNew environmental ruling shifts stewardship back to tribes and states
The Biden administration’s decision will give back power to states and tribes to review federally regulated projects that could potentially pollute waterways. Proponents of the ruling claim it will help end “regulatory chaos.”
- First LookNew England, already saturated by heavy rain, awaits Hurricane Lee
Coastal New England is under a tropical storm watch in anticipation of Hurricane Lee making landfall later this week. The region braces for another storm as it still deals with the aftermath of extreme weather, including recent flash flooding and sinkholes.
- If you map it, they will come: The effort to chart the seafloor
Journalist Laura Trethewey plunges into the intense race to map the oceans – and the potential for exploitation of one of the planet’s few remaining frontiers.
- Helping bays become ‘a better spot’ for oysters – and farmers
A partnership between conservationists and oyster farmers is expanding after a promising start.
- First LookStunned Libya reels from flash flood, with 10,000 reportedly missing
Mediterranean storm Daniel caused floodwaters to rise and break through dams in Libya’s eastern city of Derna, smashing through the city, and washing away entire neighborhoods. An estimated 700 people have been killed and 10,000 are reported missing.
- For community built atop former landfill, a long wait for justice
The Gordon Plaza community in New Orleans, built on a former landfill, symbolizes how the legal “burden of proof” is often stacked against people harmed by pollution.
- Points of ProgressSignaling what matters: Indigenous representation, free school lunch
Progress roundup: Brazil’s census finds more Indigenous people with new counting methods. And Africa’s largest school meals program aims to fight hunger.
- First LookBiden cancels remaining Alaska fossil fuel leases amid criticism
The remaining seven oil and gas leases in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge have been canceled. The move comes after the Biden administration drew criticism from environmental groups when it approved the Willow oil project in the petroleum reserve.
- In Pictures: Making a living on the world’s largest desert lake
Making a living has become increasingly difficult around Kenya’s Lake Turkana. Adapting and sharing, these pastoralists hold on.
- Sea ice is shrinking. These maps show by how much
Heat waves this summer from the U.S. to Europe and Asia have caught the world’s attention. But it’s also been unseasonably warm in the Antarctic winter – with visible effects.
- First LookGlobal thermometer soars: Summer 2023 sets unprecedented records
August 2023 has been by far the hottest month measured by scientists since the invention of modern equipment – it’s the second hottest month after July 2023, according to the World Meteorological Organization.
- Points of ProgressHotlines, foreign policy, and monkeys: Where empathy drives progress
Progress roundup: Chile makes gender a part of its foreign policy, and scientists in China are using butterfly-inspired nanofilms to cool objects.
- Letter from Moab, Utah: Where Colorado River is musical muse
The Colorado River is often viewed as a place of crisis. One Utah festival showcases the artistic creativity the river can inspire.
- Hurricane Idalia tests resilience of Florida’s Nature Coast
The coastal village of Cedar Key has an “Old Florida” identity. Now it adapts to new risks as hurricane season combines with rising sea levels.
- Points of ProgressSolar panels get a reputation boost, and a green container ship sails
Progress roundup: A cargo ship runs on biomethanol, and solar power lowers demand on a grid, allowing the third-largest power plant in New England to be safely retired.
- First LookHurricane Idalia reaches Florida's west coast as Cat 3 storm
Hurricane Idalia came ashore early Wednesday in the lightly populated Big Bend, Florida. Gov. Ron DeSantis said at a morning news conference, “This thing’s powerful. If you’re inside, just hunker down until it gets past you.”
- First LookGreece wildfire: EU firefighters join forces to battle historic blaze
A fleet of water-dropping aircraft and hundreds of firefighters from across the European Union are working to control a massive wildfire in northeastern Greece for the 11th day. Arson is suspected for a number of the 74 blazes being battled on Monday.
- A sinking community turns to oyster shells – and a tax – for safety
As hurricanes, human engineering, and climate change threaten to wash their land away, residents of coastal Louisiana have rallied their own money and labor to build resilience.
- First LookIs Florida prepared for Hurricane Idalia? Tropical storm picks up steam.
The National Hurricane Center says Tropical Storm Idalia is intensifying and expected to become a major hurricane before it reaches Florida’s Gulf Coast on Wednesday. Idalia would be the first storm to hit Florida this hurricane season.