"The central California coast, with its rugged beaches and kelp forests, draws a lot of visitors for its scenic beauty. For the Chumash people, the coastline means a lot more.

"Almost all the places people like to go to are our sacred sites," says Violet Sage Walker, chairwoman of the Northern Chumash Tribal Council. "We've been going there and praying and doing ceremony there for 20,000 years."

"Severe thunderstorms in the first half of 2023 caused a record amount in insured losses, underscoring the impact of climate change on extreme weather events, according to new research for the Swiss Re Group."

"As the war in Ukraine disrupts the global grain market, a volatile climate leaves Kansas on track to harvest its smallest wheat crop in decades."

"Thousands of Hawaii residents raced to escape homes on Maui as blazes swept across the island, destroying parts of a centuries-old town and killing at least 36 people in one of the deadliest U.S. wildfires in recent years."

"As tortillas warm on the grill at Los Pookies – an Albuquerque, New Mexico-based food truck best known for its birria tacos – a swamp cooler blasts cool air and extractor fans try their best to suck the heat out of the metal trailer."

"A legal battle over the U.S. government’s ongoing capture of thousands of wild horses in Nevada where 31 mustangs have died in a weekslong roundup goes before a judge Wednesday as opponents try to prove it’s illegal and should be stopped."

"The number of counties with ordinances on wind turbines quadrupled from 2018 to 2022, a new federal study found."

"President Joe Biden on Tuesday [announced] plans to block expanded uranium mining around the Grand Canyon by declaring the area a new national monument."

"A beloved bookstore in Vermont’s small capital city moved across the street to a new spot farther from the Winooski River after an ice jam sent river water into the store in 1992. A nearby office supply and gift store did the same in 2011 because it liked a different space that came with a bonus: it was higher and farther from the river."

"After Tyndall Air Force Base was leveled by 2018's Hurricane Michael, those overseeing its reconstruction hope it becomes the ‘test bed’ for bases to defend against the perils posed by a warming atmosphere."