"The world’s land and water resources are being exploited at “unprecedented rates,” a new United Nations report warns, which combined with climate change is putting dire pressure on the ability of humanity to feed itself."

"The Department of Agriculture may have exceeded its spending authority when it moved forward with plans to relocate two of its research agencies, an inspector general review said."

"A handful of US states – including New Mexico and California – are facing significant strains on their water supplies that will only intensify with global heating, according to new rankings."

"A top climate scientist quit USDA, following others who say Trump has politicized science." "One of the nation’s leading climate change scientists is quitting the Agriculture Department in protest over the Trump administration’s efforts to bury his groundbreaking study about how rice is losing nutrients because of rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere."

"About half a million acres of land in the rural Yazoo backwater area in Mississippi is underwater, a devastating blow for a poor region where agriculture is the economy’s lifeblood".

"Ricardo Galvao, the sacked head of Brazil’s space research agency, said on Saturday the trend of sharply rising deforestation was undeniable, a day after he was fired following a public spat with President Jair Bolsonaro over data published by the agency."

"MARICOPA, Calif. — Jon Reiter banked the four-seat Cessna aircraft hard to the right, angling to get a better look at the solar panels glinting in the afternoon sun far below."

"Record-breaking spring rains and historic flooding in the Midwest were poised to create one of the biggest dead zones on record in the Gulf of Mexico this summer, researchers had estimated. Instead, Hurricane Barry mixed up the waters, making the dead zone smaller than expected, scientists said during a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration press conference on Thursday."

"Plans for protecting sage grouse in five Western states are being changed in ways that will conserve habitat while allowing ranchers to maintain their livelihoods, federal officials said Thursday. ... Environmental groups blasted the plan based on the Forest Service’s three-bullet-point summary released Thursday ...."

"Severe droughts parched western North America hundreds of years ago. They may return, thanks to climate change."