Disasters

"It’s a good summer for the big cats who already have to deal with development, traffic, poisons and wildfires." "California mountain lions are in the middle of a baby boom."

"Veterinarians, farmers, and zookeepers could help prevent the next pandemic, but their expertise has been overlooked."

"The sight of a huge oil tanker that has taken on water and is leaning to one side off a remote stretch of Venezuela’s coast has triggered international calls for action."

"As the Amazon rainforest’s human-inflicted fire season advances — now counting nearly 700 major fires and half a million hectares  burned over the last three months — the risk to Indigenous territories is growing: 86% of major fires detected in Indigenous Territories this year happened in the last two weeks, according to satellite data analyzed by the Monitoring of the Andean Amazon Project (MAAP)."

"Insurers, facing huge losses, have been pulling back from fire-prone areas across California. “The marketplace has largely collapsed,” an advocate for counties in the state said."

"EPA's controversial coronavirus enforcement policy ends today as the pandemic continues to rage across the country. Critics blasted enforcement chief Susan Bodine when she issued the March 26 policy, which signaled laxer enforcement of pollution rules during the pandemic."

"Thousands of protesters demonstrated in the Mauritius capital Port Louis on Saturday to demand an investigation into an oil spill from a Japanese ship and the mysterious death of at least 40 dolphins that have been found near the site of the spill."

"The Food and Drug Administration’s chief spokeswoman, who has been in the job less than two weeks, was removed from her role as of noon Friday, part of continued fallout from a White House news conference featuring inaccurate claims that convalescent plasma dramatically reduced mortality for patients with covid-19."

"This summer volunteers are fanning out in 13 cities across the U.S. to — quite literally — take the temperature of their neighborhoods. It's part of a project to help protect people as the world warms, and in many places it's highlighting how the poorest areas suffer most from rising urban heat."

"Hurricane Laura rolled over a coast studded with refineries and chemical plants. Other storms have caused the release of toxic substances, often affecting poorer or minority communities."