Yale e360

Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rosselló signed into law a new climate change initiative that calls for the island to reduce its carbon emissions 50 percent in the next five years and transition to 100 percent renewable energy by 2050. The law also aims to cut…

An international treaty signed in 1987 officially halted production and use of chemicals that deplete the atmosphere’s critical ozone layer. But new research finds a troubling rise in emissions of a banned chemical that is being routinely used in factories…

The composition of the world’s plankton has changed significantly since before the Industrial Revolution, with zooplankton communities shifting poleward by an average 374 miles as a result of warming ocean temperatures. The findings, published in the journal…

A Texas family’s ranch has been found to be one of the most contaminated coal ash sites in the country. Environmental groups say the pollution — and the ranchers’ bitter legal battle to stop it — is a stark example of the nation’s ongoing coal ash…

One of the United States’ largest utilities, Xcel Energy Inc., announced it will close its remaining coal-fired power plants in the Upper Midwest a decade ahead of schedule and add 3,000 megawatts of new solar capacity by 2030, E&E News reported. It is the…

Rising temperatures have sped up the melting of West Antarctica’s ice fivefold in the past 25 years, resulting in a quarter of the region’s glaciers being classified as unstable, according to a new study published in the journal Geophysical Research…

The Cocos Keeling Islands, a remote archipelago in the Indian Ocean, are covered with an estimated 414 million pieces of plastic pollution, weighing 238 tons, according to a new study published in the journal Scientific Reports. The islands are home to fewer…

Researcher Tony Reames focuses his work on the growing energy divide between rich and poor Americans. In an interview with Yale Environment 360, he talks about why it is important to provide low-income communities with better access to affordable clean energy…

The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere hit 415.39 parts per million (ppm) over the weekend — the highest level seen in some 3 million years, before humans existed, according to scientists at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii. CO2 levels are…

Climate change is causing old trees in northern China’s permafrost forests to grow faster, likely thanks to warmer soil temperatures, according to recent research. Older larch trees grew more from 2005 to 2014 than in the preceding 40 years. And the oldest…

From 1962 to 1971, the American military sprayed vast areas of Vietnam with Agent Orange, leaving dioxin contamination that has severely affected the health of three generations of Vietnamese. Now, the U.S. and Vietnamese governments have joined together in a…

Britain has gone a week without using coal to generate electricity for the first time since Queen Victoria was on the throne, in a landmark moment in the transition away from the heavily polluting fuel. Read more on E360 →

An ambitious wetlands restoration project is underway on Delaware Bay, where scientists are using innovative methods to revive a badly damaged salt marsh. The project could be a model for other places seeking to make coastal wetlands more resilient to rising…

Some 85 percent of U.S. national parks have levels of air pollution that are hazardous to human health, according to a new report from the National Parks Conservation Association. Some of the country’s most popular parks — such as Sequoia, Kings Canyon,…

Recent court cases have focused on the possible effects of glyphosate, found in Monsanto’s Roundup, on humans. But researchers are now investigating whether this commonly used herbicide could also be having adverse effects on the health and behavior of…

Nature is declining at an “unprecedented” rate due to human activity, with 1 million plant and animal species at risk of extinction, many within the next few decades, according to a new comprehensive report from 145 of the world’s leading scientists.…

Volunteers have removed more than 3 tons of trash from Mount Everest in just two weeks, part of an ambitious project by the Nepalese government to clean up decades of garbage left by hikers and tourists that has recently been exposed by melting snow and ice,…

Intense rainfall is as damaging to the U.S. agricultural sector as heatwaves and excessive droughts, according to a new study published in the journal Global Change Biology that examined more than three decades of crop insurance, climate, soil, and corn yield…

The Indonesian island of Java has lost 70 percent of the mangroves that once protected its coast from erosion and flooding. Now villagers are using natural wooden barriers to try to restore the mangrove forests and save their lands and homes from being washed…

Bees exposed to a neonicotinoid pesticide are able to fly just a third of the distance that unexposed bees can and stay in the air for far less time, according to a new study published in the journal Ecology and Evolution. The findings indicate that the…

Scientists have found that a portion of the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica, the world’s largest ice shelf and an important contributor to future global sea level rise, is melting 10 times faster than the rest of the shelf, according to a new study published in…

The world has done little to tackle global warming since Bill McKibben’s landmark book on the subject was published in 1989. In an e360 interview, McKibben talks about the critical time lost and what can be done now to avoid the worst impacts of climate…

Solar power capacity has more than doubled in 45 of America’s 57 largest cities over the past six years, according to a recent report by the non-profit Environment America Research & Policy Center. And one-third of U.S. cities as much as quadrupled their…

Antarctica’s second-largest breeding colony of emperor penguins, located in the Weddell Sea, has experienced “catastrophic breeding failure” for the past three years, with nearly all of its chicks failing to survive due to the breakup of sea ice,…

Alarmed at steep declines in insects and wildlife, Bavarian voters backed a referendum aimed at changing destructive farming practices and repairing damaged ecosystems. Now, Bavaria’s initiatives are inspiring other German states to move to stem the loss of…

More than 141 million people in the United States — 43 percent of the population — live in places where they breathe unsafe air, according to a new report from the American Lung Association (ALA). That number is 7 million more than reported last year, and…

Kenya is pursuing a plan to build an extensive network of roads, power lines, dams, and renewable energy infrastructure. But many of these projects, including wind farms and geothermal facilities, are being constructed in the nation’s iconic parks and…

Police have arrested more than 1,000 climate activists in London over eight days of direct actions that have shut down major parts of the city, including Oxford Circus, Waterloo Bridge, and Parliament Square, Reuters reported. The rallies are the latest in a…

Electric vehicles will be cost-competitive with combustion-engine cars by 2022, according to a new report by transportation analysts at Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF). The trend is due to the plunging price of EV batteries. Batteries made up 57 percent of…

From Thailand to Bali, a huge increase in tourists, many from China and other rapidly developing economies, is straining sensitive ecosystems to the breaking point. Some countries are trying to control the boom, with a few closing popular destinations to allow…