Yale e360 · Page 55

Tens of thousands of large dams across the globe are reaching the end of their expected lifespans, leading to a dramatic rise in failures and collapses, a new UN study finds. These crumbling structures pose a serious threat to hundreds of millions of people…

Three major European banks — Credit Suisse, ING, and BNP Paribas — have announced they will no longer finance the trade of oil extracted from the Amazon Sacred Headwaters region in Ecuador. The decision is seen as a major victory for environmental and…

The world has lost an estimated 28 trillion metric tons of ice since the mid-1990s as rising global temperatures have sped up the melting of sea ice, ice sheets, and glaciers, according to a new study published in the journal The Cryosphere. The annual melt…

An old industrial site in Philadelphia is being converted into a vast e-commerce distribution center, a trend being seen in other U.S. cities. But the developers of these brownfields must confront a legacy of toxic pollution and neglect of surrounding…

California’s Central Valley and the Colorado River Delta host more than 82 million birds every year during the fall migration, according to a new study published in the journal Ornithological Applications. The findings highlight the regions as critical…

A group of the world’s top ecologists have issued a stark warning about the snowballing crisis caused by climate change, population growth, and unchecked development. Their assessment is grim, but big-picture societal changes on a global scale can still…

Scientists have developed a new technique for remotely surveying elephants and other wildlife that is quicker and has the same accuracy as human counts done on the ground or in low-flying airplanes. The system, which uses satellite images and deep learning,…

Joe Biden is set for a flurry of action to combat the climate crisis on his first day as U.S. president by immediately rejoining the Paris climate agreement and blocking the Keystone XL pipeline, although experts have warned lengthier, and harder,…

President Joe Biden has an ambitious public lands agenda, vowing to ban new oil and gas drilling on federal territory and restore protections for key areas. But because of rules changes and a conservative makeover of the courts, reversing the Trump legacy will…

The clean energy sector in the United States lost 429,000 jobs last year due to the economic impacts of Covid-19, with the industry hitting its lowest number of workers since 2015, according to a new analysis of federal unemployment filings. Based on the…

Scientists believe they have solved one of the biggest mysteries about desalination — exactly how reverse osmosis membranes work to remove salt and other chemicals from water — a breakthrough they say could help make the process more efficient and cheaper.…

With a landmark court ruling, the Naso people of Panama have won the rights to ancestral territory that includes two national reserves the tribe will now help manage. The victory comes as mounting evidence shows that Indigenous groups are often the best…

Although climate change is often blamed for coastal inundation in places like India’s Bay of Bengal, other factors such as dam building and urbanization play an important role. Scientists say that more sustainable development policies can help blunt the…

As ocean temperatures rise, baby sharks will be born prematurely, undernourished, and into harsh environments difficult for them to survive in, according to a new study of epaulette sharks — an egg-laying species found on the Great Barrier Reef — published…

The world may be barreling towards climate disaster but rapidly eliminating planet-heating emissions means global temperatures could stabilize within just a couple of decades, scientists say. Read more on E360 →

Local wind and solar cooperatives have been instrumental in fostering Europe’s renewable energy growth. Now, as multinational corporations play an ever-larger role in efforts to decarbonize Europe’s economy, the EU is looking to bolster these grassroots…

One in three large American rivers has changed color over the last 36 years, shifting from shades of blue to green and yellow, raising concerns about the health of U.S. waterways, according to an analysis of nearly 235,000 satellite images published in the…

As Arctic sea ice steadily disappears and temperatures rise across the region, the tundra has generally been greening, with shrubs and small trees growing more robustly. But a new study of growth rings in Arctic shrubs reveals a countervailing trend — the…

Despite Americans’ increased dependence on cell phones and other technology, the amount of electronic waste generated in the United States has shrunk 10 percent since 2015. The decline is due to the phasing out of bulky products, such as large cathode-ray…

Scientists are warning that wildfire smoke can carry microbes that cause infectious diseases, adding another public health concern to the worsening severity of wildfires across the globe. The analysis, published in the journal Science, said there while the…