"Brazil intended this year’s United Nations climate talks now underway in the Amazon rainforest, to be the capstone of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s effort to establish the country as a global environmental leader. Instead, Brazil’s own domestic environmental policy is in disarray, as the summit known as COP30 struggles to offer a counterpoint to the Trump administration’s aggressive efforts to promote fossil fuels."

"A PFAS contamination crisis is continuing to plague a Maryland community as a plume of contaminated groundwater moves through the area, residents and their attorneys said this week."

"A committee of expert advisers is calling for stronger environmental regulations to protect children from plastics and other harmful chemicals, despite a dissenting industry position claiming there is little evidence that plastic is toxic to children."

"New York just slammed the brakes on rules that would’ve prohibited fossil fuels in new homes and businesses."

"BHP is liable for the 2015 collapse of a dam in southeastern Brazil, London's High Court ruled on Friday, in a lawsuit the claimants' lawyers previously valued at up to 36 billion pounds ($48 billion)."

"By now, we are accustomed to thinking of climate change in terms of human rights. What if we were to think as much about the rights of nature itself – of pets and backyard birds, coyotes and spruce trees, mountains and rivers, ecosystems and the climate, the air that surrounds us?"

"Bird flu has wiped out half of South Georgia’s breeding elephant seals, according to a study that warns of “serious implications” for the future of the species."

"A leaking tanker truck spewed dangerous ammonia gas outside a hotel overnight, filling its hallways with fumes and forcing hundreds of nearby residents of a small Oklahoma city to evacuate, authorities said Thursday. Several dozen people were treated at hospitals."

"A group of Illinois congressional delegates is calling for the release of $3 billion in withheld federal funding that’s meant to help replace toxic lead service lines that supply drinking water to homes across the country."

"Caribbean nations face an increasing threat from super hurricanes, which can cost a significant fraction of their GDP. Climate change is expected to make the strongest hurricanes stronger."