Yale e360

A section of ice more than 100 square miles in size — four times as large as Manhattan — has broken off the Pine Island Glacier in West Antarctica. It is the fifth major calving, or ice loss, event on the glacier since 2000. Read more on E360 →

In the year after Flint, Michigan changed its water supply to the lead-tainted Flint River, there was decrease in fertility and an increase in fetal deaths among residents, according to an analysis of health statistics by a team of U.S. economists.Read more on…

Warming temperatures are fueling the expansion of pine and spruce beetle outbreaks across North America, Europe, and Siberia, ravaging tens of thousands of square miles of woodlands. Scientists warn that some forest ecosystems may never recover.    Read more…

A new study suggests that nations have a bit more time than previously thought if they want to cut greenhouse gas emissions and limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit). The research, published in the journal Nature Geoscience,…

Many of the cities in northern Japan damaged by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami are building back their electric grids with renewable energy and micro-grids — bucking the nation’s old, centralized utility system by making communities in the region…

The twin satellites that have been critical in measuring the world’s melting ice sheets for 15 years will soon shut down — months before their replacement is launched into orbit, NASA announced, creating a gap in the ice data record that has been…

Britain is phasing out its coal-burning power plants, with the last one slated to be shuttered by 2025, if not sooner. It is a startling development for the nation that founded an industrial revolution powered by coal. Read more on E360 →

Six of the most abundant species of ash trees in North America are on the brink of extinction, decimated by an invasive beetle, the emerald ash borer, according to the latest update of the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List of…

Virunga National Park, home to the world’s largest population of mountain gorillas, is plagued by deforestation linked to the production of charcoal for cooking fuel. But local and international groups are working on several fronts to find sustainable…

The Trump administration has announced that a federal goal to slash the cost of utility-scale solar energy to 6 cents per kilowatt-hour by 2020 has been met early. The goal, set by the Obama administration in 2011 and known as the SunShot Initiative,…

Studies have previously estimated that the amount of land worldwide suitable for growing coffee could shrink by an estimated 50 percent by 2050 as global temperatures rise, rain patterns change, and ecosystems shift due to climate change. But a new study in…

Climate change projections often focus on 2100. But the geological record shows that unless we rapidly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, we will be locking in drastic increases in temperatures and sea levels that will alter the earth not just for centuries, but…

Scientists have used detailed nautical maps created by British sailors in the 1700s to study more than two centuries of coral loss in the Florida Keys. They found that over the past 240 years, the region has lost more than half of its coral structures, with…

While Hurricane Irma moves through the Caribbean islands toward South Florida with sustained winds of 185 miles per hour, forecasters are warning that two other major named storms have formed in the Atlantic Basin — Hurricanes Katia and Jose. It is the first…

The rapid growth of digital data has been a boon to researchers and conservationists. But experts are warning of a dark side: Poachers can use computers and smartphones to pinpoint the locations of rare and endangered species and then go nab them.Read more on…

Trees in urban areas save megacities more than $500 million a year in public health costs, energy expenses, and environmental protection, according to a recent study in the journal Ecological Modeling.Read more on E360 →

Tropical Storm Harvey is the third major flood in southeast Texas in three years. In an interview with Yale Environment 360, flood expert Philip Bedient says the region will remain vulnerable to disasters if communities don’t rebuild with climate change in…

Scientists have discovered “massive impacts” on marine life in the Antarctic Ocean when waters are warmed by 1 degree Celsius, including a doubling in growth of some species and a drop in overall biodiversity, according to a new study in the journal…

The emerging U.S. rooftop solar industry is often portrayed as the victim in a struggle with fossil-fuel-friendly utilities. But the reality is more complex, as utilities in some states are beginning to adapt to a new renewable energy paradigm.Read more on…

Houston has been a hub of the petroleum and chemical industries for decades, leaving behind a landscape pocked with Superfund sites and other highly contaminated areas. Now, scientists are warning that these sites are likely leaking toxins into Tropical Storm…

In the coming decades, warming ocean temperatures could stunt the growth of fish by as much as 30 percent, according to a new study in the journal Global Change Biology.Read more on E360 →

Texas’ Gulf Coast was crippled over the weekend by catastrophic flooding from Tropical Storm Harvey, which dumped as much as 30 inches of rain on some parts of Houston and the surrounding region. Forecasters say the worst is yet to come, with an additional…

As the Trump administration keeps moving aggressively to roll back environmental protections, it has a potent legal weapon -- the scores of federal judges that President Trump will be appointing, most of whom are expected to hold anti-regulatory, pro-business…

The Brazilian government has dissolved an 18,000-square-mile protected reserve in the Amazon rainforest to open up portions of the area for commercial mining, according to Reuters. The reserve, which is twice the size of New Jersey, was created in 1984 and is…

In his latest book, David George Haskell focused on 12 individual trees across the globe, from the Amazon to the streets of Manhattan. It gave him, he says in a Yale e360 interview, a profound sense of the complex networks that sustain life.Read more on E360 →

An estimated 10 percent of Los Angeles is covered in asphalt thanks to the city’s sprawling network of roads and parking lots. On sunny days, the heat retained by these paved surfaces can make neighborhoods feel far hotter than those in more rural areas —…

The heaviest monsoon flooding in decades has wreaked havoc across south Asia in recent weeks, killing more than 800 people in India, Nepal, and Bangladesh, and displacing a million more, several news outlets reported. An estimated 24 million people in the…

The Trump administration announced it is disbanding a federal advisory panel aimed at helping policymakers and the private sector incorporate government climate change projections into long-term planning, The Washington Post reported. Read more on E360 →

Vast quantities of methane hydrates — frozen deposits of natural gas on the sea floor — exist worldwide. But as experimental drilling moves forward, many experts question the wisdom of exploiting a costly, environmentally risky trove of fossil fuels that…

The expansion of wind and solar energy, and the resulting avoided emissions from fossil fuels, helped prevent up to 12,700 premature deaths in the U.S. from 2007 to 2015, according a new study in the journal Nature Energy.Read more on E360 →