"As the deadly war in Iran triggers what the International Energy Agency has described as the worst oil crisis in history, climate advocates are calling for a faster shift away from fossil fuels, but the conflict may also hamper that transition."

"It’s the best of times in recent memory for Chesapeake Bay oysters. It’s just the opposite, though, for the Maryland and Virginia watermen who make a living harvesting them."

"Home insurance is buckling under climate risk and construction trends. Find out how your state fares."

"Fungi create soil, sequester vast amounts of carbon, and contribute $55 trillion to the global economy, but knowledge about them is scarce. Now, mycologists are pushing to get the international scientific community to recognize fungi on the same level as plants and animals."

"Medicinal and aromatic plants in the Appalachian Mountains, which have stood for hundreds of millions of years and contributed to biodiversity across the region, are facing threats from poaching, climate change, and more. The multiple national parks dotting the region are often havens for these plants, though even the protections afforded by the parks cannot prevent all threats."

"Last month, the Trump administration announced Scott Socha as its new nominee to lead the National Park Service ...,  much diminished since it was gutted by DOGE ... . As with many of the political appointees at Trump’s Interior Department, Socha comes directly from a corporation with abundant business interests before the agency he is slated to lead. He has worked [at a]  hospitality and food services giant that controls lucrative concessions at national parks around the country."

"The Trump administration’s decision to lift restrictions on the sale of higher-ethanol fuel again this summer could help soften the blow of higher gas prices — but it’s not the big win the biofuels industry has been seeking."