Biodiversity

"The House voted late on Wednesday to advance a 211-mile industrial road that would cut through pristine Alaskan wilderness to reach a proposed copper and zinc mine, handing a victory to the company behind the contentious mining venture."

"In the rush to put out wildfires, hundreds of millions of litres of fire retardant are dropped on forests across North America. New research shows the effects they can have on water and ecosystems — especially when accidents happen"

"For decades, the dry season in the Amazon rainforest has been getting drier. A new study, published on Tuesday, found that about 75 percent of the decrease in rainfall is directly linked to deforestation."

"Dr Ed Pyne snips a leaf from the Druids Oak, an 800-year-old tree that has watched over this woodland in Buckinghamshire for centuries, enduring droughts, storms, heatwaves and more. "We know that this tree is a survivor," he says, taking a leaf sample for DNA testing."

"The Trump administration will soon propose a new Clean Water Act rule that could eliminate federal protections for many wetlands across the U.S., according to an internal EPA presentation obtained by POLITICO’s E&E News."

"Bison once moved across North America in herds that blackened the landscape in all directions, in numbers estimated not in the hundreds but in the tens of thousands."

"BANJUL, Gambia — Kawsu Leigh writhed in pain on the fishing boat, his burned skin as mottled as the paint on the deck beneath him. Raw and slick, the burns covered large parts of his upper body."

"U.S. parks and museums are becoming the latest battleground in the nation’s culture wars as President Trump seeks changes to the way national parks and the Smithsonian tell the story of America."

"From space, NASA collects data that’s crucial for public health. Potential cuts could threaten that work."

"The president has pledged to combat transnational drug organizations. Yet these groups make vast sums from environmental crimes, and his administration has gutted personnel and programs that targeted them, a new report shows."