"The mass bleaching of coral reefs around the world since February 2023 is now the most extensive on record, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) told Reuters this week."

"Carbon emissions from forest fires increased more than 60 percent globally over the past two decades, according to a new study."

"Natural gas and oil prices are likely to decline in the second half of the decade, but unexpectedly high worldwide demand for electricity will complicate efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said Wednesday in its yearly World Energy Outlook."

"Scientists have found plastic pollution almost everywhere they have looked. In clouds. On Mount Everest. In Arctic snow. Now, for the first time, tiny plastic particles have been detected in the breath of dolphins."

"Rodrigue Mugaruka Katembo was watching television in his living room in May when a group of motorcyclists pulled up outside the gates of his home in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the riders fired nine bullets into the house."

"The world’s food supply is under threat because so much of what we eat is concentrated in so few countries, and many of those countries are increasingly facing a water shortage. That’s the conclusion of three independent studies published this week.'

"Since early 2023, the world has seen a steep rise in temperatures that scientists are struggling to explain. Our contributor Elizabeth Kolbert talked with Gavin Schmidt, NASA’s top climate scientist, about possible causes of the warming and why experts cannot account for the heat."

"Two years after reaching a historic biodiversity agreement, countries will gather next week to determine whether they are making progress on efforts to save Earth’s plant and animal life."

"Two giant pandas arrived at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday after a flight from China, officials said."