"Growing wildfires in the Sierra Nevada forced the closure of Sequoia National Park in California on Wednesday as blazes sparked by lightning strikes threaten the park’s groves of giant sequoias, home to some of the tallest and oldest trees in the world."

"The capture of wild animals for domestic consumption not only poses a threat to protected migratory species but also significantly increases the risk of zoonotic diseases like COVID-19, according to a United Nations report released Wednesday."

"The Biden administration said Wednesday that federal protections may need to be restored for gray wolves in the western U.S. after Republican-backed state laws made it much easier to kill the predators."

"Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed wide-ranging legislation overhauling Illinois’ energy sector on Wednesday, calling the bill a “giant leap forward” for the state as it works to address the effects of climate change and establish “aggressive” clean energy standards."

"Federal officials have cleared the way for construction of a dump in West Texas that could hold spent nuclear fuel for up to 40 years."

"The House Energy and Commerce Committee passed a historic suite of climate and environmental policies in a marathon two-day markup, kicking off a pressure campaign as Democrats look to move quickly on their $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation package."

"President Biden will virtually convene on Friday some of the leaders of the nations most responsible for climate change, urging them to do more to slash greenhouse gas emissions ahead of a critical United Nations summit in November."

"Using recovered DNA to "genetically resurrect" an extinct species — the central idea behind the Jurassic Park films — may be moving closer to reality with the creation this week of a new company that aims to bring back woolly mammoths thousands of years after the last of the giants disappeared from the Arctic tundra."

"Globally, tree-planting projects are becoming all the rage, but many are counting on old habits of planting monoculture plantations and calling them forests."