"The Biden administration released its proposal Thursday to protect the greater sage grouse across the West, incorporating tough restrictions on oil and gas drilling and other land uses near the bird’s habitat."
"In the “lithium triangle” – a region spanning Argentina, Chile and Bolivia – native communities sit upon a treasure trove of the stuff: an estimated trillion dollars in lithium."
"As global warming nudges temperatures higher, memories of the past offer an informal account of how the seasons have changed. A formal account comes from the USA National Phenology Network — phenology is the study of seasonal change — which reports the annual appearance of spring’s first leaves in the contiguous United States since 1981."
"The EU Parliament on Tuesday gave its final approval to new rules to cut pollution from livestock farms, but only after agreeing with EU countries to make the law far weaker than initially planned."
"Restricting the sale of protein cultured from animal cells, developed as a way to raise meat without the climate impacts of livestock, has become a trendy right-wing legislative focus in states from Arizona to Florida."
"New legal action could put an end to the practice of spreading toxic sewage sludge on US cropland as a cheap alternative to fertilizer, and force America to rethink how it disposes of its industrial and human waste."
"The Florida legislature passed a bill on Friday that prevents any city, county, or municipality in the state from adopting legislation aimed at protecting outdoor workers from extreme heat, prompting many to call out lawmakers for being “cruel” to the “most vulnerable workers”."
Animal agriculture is a massive industry with a vast environmental footprint, so there are plenty of reporting opportunities for journalists on the “eat beat.” In the second of two parts, following last week’s examination of diet-related greenhouse gas emissions, food-and-climate journalist Jenny Splitter serves up a variety of story ideas and information sources, plus some thoughts on solutions journalism.
"New research sheds light on the scope of the livestock industry’s influence over prominent agricultural research centers at two public universities. In a paper recently published in the journal Climatic Change, researchers detail how the meat industry funds credentialed academics to “obstruct unfavorable policies,” especially those targeting the industry’s largely unregulated methane emissions."
