"For nearly 80 years, recruits reporting to central California’s Fort Ord considered themselves the lucky ones, privileged to live and work amid sparkling seas, sandy dunes and sage-covered hills."

"The federal government said Wednesday it won’t deliver any water to California farmers because of a severe drought, a decision that will force many to plant fewer crops in a region that supplies a quarter of the nation’s food."

"Black carbon pollution from tourism and research activities in Antarctica is likely increasing snowmelt on the continent by an estimated 83 tonnes for each visitor, according to new research."

"Once nonexistent in northwest Alaska, beavers are both benefiting from and changing a warming tundra."

"Already diminished by drought and extreme heat, California’s water supply will face yet another peril as wildfires continue to incinerate ever larger areas of forested land, according to new research."

"Ethiopia began producing electricity on Sunday from its Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), a multi-billion-dollar hydropower plant on the River Nile that neighbours Sudan and Egypt have worried will cause water shortages downstream."

"Lawmakers from Massachusetts and New Jersey want to set up a new grant program to help develop technology that assists in saving a rare species of whale from extinction."

"Federal auditors announced an investigation Friday of how the government has dealt with lead contamination of drinking water in Benton Harbor, an impoverished, mostly Black city in southwest Michigan."