"A federal judge has declined to act on an emergency request from an environmental group to stop the Trump administration from exploring an exemption to the Endangered Species Act for oil and gas drilling, setting the stage for an unusual government meeting to be held next week."

"Donald Trump has signalled a new flexibility in allowing oil into Cuba, hours before a Russian oil tanker under US sanctions arrived in the Caribbean island amid a de facto oil blockade imposed by Washington."

"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."

"Over the past two summers, a pair of remote and treeless volcanic islands in the eastern Bering Sea broadcast signals of climate change danger in the marine ecosystem that feeds Alaska residents and supports much of the state’s economy."