Natural Resources

"I’m on a Zoom call with a team of researchers from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, their gridded video feeds a sort of Hollywood Squares of bird nerds, and we’re discussing the decline and fall of North America’s bird population — a staggering loss of 3 billion breeding adults, or nearly 30 percent of the population, in just a half century — when all of a sudden Gus Axelson picks up his binoculars and peers out the window."

"The Greenland ice cap is losing an average of 30m tonnes of ice an hour due to the climate crisis, a study has revealed, which is 20% more than was previously thought."

"Solar flares, eruptions on the sun’s surface and sunspots are expected to multiply and intensify throughout this year, as our yellow star enters its most active period in two decades. For Earthlings, that could lead to more beautiful dancing aurora far and wide, but also radio blackouts and satellite disruptions."

"The push for more nuclear energy and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has spiked uranium prices, leading mines for the element to begin operating again in the U.S. despite long-term environmental and health impacts."

"The United Nations estimates that 1.84 billion people worldwide, or nearly a quarter of humanity, were living under drought in 2022 and 2023, the vast majority in low- and middle-income countries." "The crisis, worsened partly by climate change, has been accompanied by soaring food prices and could have consequences for hunger, elections and migration worldwide."

"There’s still a long way to go, but oyster recovery efforts in Maryland’s portion of Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries continue to show promising results, state officials for the agency charged with monitoring the mollusk ecosystem said."

"Once common in the West, whitebark pine is being wiped out by a deadly fungus, ravaging beetles, and climate change. Scientists hope advances in gene sequencing and a recent federal listing as threatened will speed the hunt for trees that can be replanted and seed the future."

"Many of the policies enacted around the world to curb the mass killing of sharks have backfired, partly because well-intentioned rules against taking the predators solely for their fins have led to an increase in demand for shark meat, according to a study published on Thursday."

"The Biden administration showed up to last month’s global climate summit in Dubai with a radical new plan to replace coal and compete again with Russia and China over a technology American scientists pioneered."

"With Alaska's wildlife numbers declining, agencies are blaming — and culling — predators. The true threat is much more complex."