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Yale Environment 360
In North Macedonia, an Ancient Lake Faces Modern Threats
On a spring morning, the oldest freshwater lake in Europe lies flat and calm, its wide surface shining. Distant mountains rise in gauzy shades of rose and purple, while water as clear as glass laps against the stony beach. Not far away, a town whose history dates to Greek and Roman antiquity spreads itself along the shore, its white-walled houses gleaming.
It’s Not Just Fish — Some Gray Whales Are Shrinking Too
A group of gray whales that spends its summer on the Oregon coast is shrinking, with young whales on track to be around 5 feet shorter than their elders, a new study finds. In total, more than 14,000 gray whales roam the northeastern Pacific, which extends from Mexico to Alaska, and most spend their summers in the Arctic. The new study focused on just 200 whales that linger in the warm, shallow waters along the coast of Oregon and tend to be in worse shape than other gray whales.
Outrage Over Kidnapping of East African Pipeline Opponent
Campaigners are calling for an investigation into the kidnapping and beating of Stephen Kwikiriza, an opponent of a controversial drilling and pipeline project in Uganda. Kwikiriza was abducted on June 4 in Kampala by what appeared to be plainclothes officers from the Ugandan military. Five days later, he was dropped 150 miles away, by the side of a road in Kyenyoyo. Kwikiriza said he was stripped down to his underwear, given only minimal food, and a bucket for sanitation. He said he was severely beaten and knocked unconscious, enduring injuries that required hospital treatment.
In Brazil, a ‘Citizen Map’ Is Helping Prepare for the Next Big Flood
When Lucas George Wendt arrived in Lajeado in late May, the water had already started to recede. Just days before, the peaks of roofs and the tops of trees were some of the only things visible above the murky brown water that had covered his hometown. Located in the Taquari Valley, Lajeado, population 85,000, was one of the communities hit hardest by the historic flooding that tore through Brazil’s southernmost state, Rio Grande do Sul, between late April and mid-May, displacing more than 650,000 people, killing 173, and injuring 806.
A Key Court Ruling Could Weaken U.S. Environmental Protections
What will it mean for policymaking on environmental and other issues, practically speaking, if the U.S. Supreme Court jettisons the Chevron doctrine?. This question is on the minds of legal observers and environmental advocates as they wait for the justices to decide two consolidated cases in which the court has been asked to overrule the famous precedent that has stood for four decades. That ruling, in the 1984 case Chevron v. National Resources Defense Council, says that where Congress has not expressed itself clearly, leaving gaps or ambiguities in federal statutes, agencies should be allowed to adopt the interpretation they prefer, so long as that interpretation is reasonable.
Wildfire Smoke Killed More Than 50,000 Californians Over a Decade
A new study finds that more than 50,000 Californians died from exposure to wildfire smoke over a little more than a decade. Smoke contains tiny particles, small enough to enter the bloodstream when inhaled, that can raise the risk of dying from heart or lung disease. For the study, researchers modeled particulate pollution from wildfires across California from 2008 to 2018. They then compared their model with local mortality numbers to infer the number of deaths from wildfire smoke.
Elephants Have Names for Each Other, Study Finds
Elephants call each other by name and respond when they hear others call their name, according to new research. For the study, researchers analyzed hundreds of elephant calls recorded over more than a year in Kenya. Using machine learning, they identified the specific sounds that elephants made when calling each other. Researchers then played recorded calls, finding that elephants responded to the sound of their friends or family saying their name — they called back, or moved toward the speaker. Elephants responded less enthusiastically to the sound of other names.
Scientists Find Tire Chemicals in Leafy Vegetables
Scientists have found in leafy vegetables traces of several chemicals used to prevent the aging and corrosion of car tires. Through normal wear and tear, tires cast off countless tiny bits of rubber, which linger in the atmosphere or are washed down sewage drains and into waterways. In the air, these particles can affect the formation of clouds. In the water, they leach compounds that have been shown to be toxic to fish.
As ‘Zombie’ Deer Disease Spreads, Scientists Look for Answers
Late last year federal officials discovered the carcass of a mule deer buck near Yellowstone Lake in a remote region of Yellowstone National Park. Its cause of death was chronic wasting disease (CWD), experts said, making this the first confirmed death of an animal in the park from the disease.
Rich Countries Still Falling Short on Climate Aid, Analyses Find
Fifteen years ago, wealthy nations pledged to channel $100 billion in climate aid to poorer countries by 2020. New analyses find that not only were rich nations two years late in meeting this goal, but much of that money is existing aid that has been relabeled as climate assistance or takes the form of loans.
Despite Criticism, the Last of the Rattlesnake Roundups Hang On
In 1958, the Sweetwater Jaycees, of Nolan County, Texas, had trouble killing the 3,000 western diamondbacks captured for the group’s first Rattlesnake Roundup. When they pumped pickup-truck exhaust into enclosed pens, the animals refused to die. Next, they went to garden hoes, then lawn-edging blades. Today they use machetes.
U.S. Drillers Have Cut Methane Emissions by More Than a Third Since 2015
The U.S. oil and gas industry has made significant progress in curbing emissions of methane, a potent heat-trapping gas that leaks from wells and pipelines. Largely by plugging leaks in equipment, the industry managed to cut methane emissions by 37 percent between 2015 and 2022, according to a new report based on EPA data. The drop comes despite a 40 precent uptick in production.
Tiny Fern Found to Have Largest Genome on Earth
A rare fork fern found in the island nation of New Caledonia has become a world record holder. Scientists have discovered that the tiny plant, which grows in the trunks and branches of trees, has the largest genome of any living organism. If unraveled, the DNA contained in a single...
Relics of a Warm Era, Some Species May Be Suited to a Hotter Climate
Some species may be better able to withstand climate change than was previously thought. That’s because these species have changed little since the last warm period on Earth. By the end of this century, the planet is expected to be around as warm as it was 130,000 years ago....
Climate Change Added 26 Days of Extreme Heat on Average Over Last Year
Over the last 12 months, the world saw, on average, 26 additional days of extreme heat as a result of climate change, a new analysis finds. “Year after year, human-induced climate change manifests through more intense and frequent extreme weather events, with heat waves being the most dramatically affected,” wrote researchers from Climate Central, World Weather Attribution, and the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre.
Pollution Paradox: How Cleaning Up Smog Drives Ocean Warming
They call it “The Blob.” A vast expanse of ocean stretching from Alaska to California periodically warms by up to 4 degrees Celsius (7 degrees F), decimating fish stocks, starving seabirds, creating blooms of toxic algae, preventing salmon returns to rivers, displacing sea lions, and forcing whales into shipping lanes to find food.
Warming Brings Early Bloom to Bulgarian Rose Fields
In Bulgaria, a famed rose harvest has come nearly a month early this year. Bulgaria has been cultivating roses as a crop for more than a thousand years and is today a top producer globally of rose water and rose oil. To produce these goods, pickers must harvest the flowers early in the morning, when their petals are richest in oil. After a mild winter and warm spring, pickers in Rose Valley headed to the fields around three weeks earlier than normal, Reuters reports.
Can a California Oilfield Be Retrofitted to Store Solar Energy?
Down on the south end of California’s San Joaquin Valley, oil rigs have plumbed the earth like flocks of blackened drinking birds for more than a century. Now, they’re fast becoming vestiges of a bygone era. Kern County still produces nearly three-quarters of the state’s oil and gas, but California’s push to decarbonize its energy grid is putting these rigs and the people who operate them out of work. Their disappearance might come as a death knell to the communities that have long depended on bringing energy up to the surface; but now, those same oilfields could offer new life by sending energy back underground.
With Climate Change, Winter Storms Delivered 20 Percent More Rainfall to British Isles
A new analysis finds that climate change fueled excessive rainfall in the U.K. and Ireland this fall and winter. A particularly strong jet stream ushered Atlantic storms toward Europe, and warming ramped up the volume of rainfall, according to the World Weather Attribution group. The period from October to March was among the wettest ever in the British Isles, scientists say.
Report Reveals ‘Catastrophic Decline’ of Migratory Fish
Populations of salmon, trout, eel, sturgeon, and other migrating freshwater fish worldwide have dropped by 81 percent on average since 1970, a new report finds. “The catastrophic decline in migratory fish populations is a deafening wake-up call for the world,” said Herman Wanningen, founder of the World Fish Migration Foundation, one of the groups behind the report. “We cannot continue to let them slip silently away.”
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Yale Environment 360 is an online magazine offering opinion, analysis, reporting, and debate on global environmental issues.
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