News & Commentary

A Turning Point in the Fight to Protect New Mexico’s Greater Chaco Region

February 1, 2022 DispatchNew MexicoKeith Mulvihill

The Biden administration’s proposal to prohibit new oil and gas leasing and drilling in the area comes after years of exploitation that’s had devastating health and cultural impacts on Indigenous communities.

"We Are the Same as the Salmon": A Story of Suffering and Perseverance

December 17, 2020 DispatchWyoming, Idaho, Oregon, WashingtonNicole Greenfield

Thirty years ago, the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes led the effort to save Snake River sockeye salmon from extinction. Today, they’re still fighting for the fish’s survival—along with their own.

Mussels Help Keep Watch on Pollution in Puget Sound

August 20, 2020 DispatchWashingtonStarre Vartan

The humble bivalves, which concentrate everything from heavy metals to cancer drugs in their tissues, provide an ideal way for scientists to monitor nearshore water health.

These Tiny, Treetop-Living, Ewok-Looking Creatures May Be Getting Socially Distanced to Extinction

June 8, 2020 DispatchOregonJason Bittel

Red tree voles spend their whole lives in Oregon’s treetops, but deforestation has cut them off from the rest of their kind.

New Mexico Has a Methane Cloud Visible by Satellite. It Also Has Bold Climate Plans.

October 2, 2019 DispatchNew MexicoTim Vanderpool

As greenhouse gasses fill the sky, a progressive governor and worried residents take on oil and gas—the state’s most powerful industry.

Mining Oil Shale Would Be Disastrous to Utah’s Rivers, Climate, and Public Health—but the Trump Administration Wants to Do It Anyway

June 21, 2019 DispatchUtahStarre Vartan

NRDC and other environmental and public health groups are suing to stop an extraction project (the first of its kind in the United States) proposed by the Estonian company Enefit.

Hawaii Stands Up for Its Sharks With Fishing Ban

April 24, 2019 DispatchHawaiiStarre Vartan

The Aloha State is on track to become the first in the nation to ban shark fishing outright, creating a critical safe harbor for these threatened animals.

With Tahlequah’s Newborn and Scarlet Gone, Orca Advocates Race to Save Their Kin

February 11, 2019 DispatchWestLora Shinn

The plight of the Southern Resident orcas is bringing together a coalition of state and tribal leaders, scientists, and grassroots communities to avert a looming extinction.

The Festering Sanitation Crisis at Our Border

December 3, 2018 DispatchArizona, Mexico, CaliforniaTim Vanderpool

As the Trump administration ratchets up its rhetoric demanding billions for a wall, American communities along the Mexico border are in need of basic services, like reliable sewage treatment.

In the Pacific Northwest, Testing Out New Wildfire Defenses on the Front Lines

October 30, 2018 DispatchWest, Washington, OregonLora Shinn

Where quick-spreading fires are the “new normal,” some state officials and communities are willing to try whatever it takes to prevent—or better prepare for—the next big blaze.

In Utah, Industry Pounces on What Were, Not Long Ago, Our Public Lands

October 10, 2018 DispatchUtahStarre Vartan

Cobalt mining and other interests lay claim to Grand Staircase–Escalante and Bears Ears National Monuments, rankling local communities tied to these lands.

To Understand the Growing Wildfire Threat, Look to the Tree Rings

July 9, 2018 DispatchNew MexicoLarry O'Hanlon

As New Mexicans brace for a potentially catastrophic fire season, forest ecologists explain how we got here—and why the problem isn’t going away.

With Its New Sunscreen Law, Hawaii Aims to Set a Gold Standard for the World to Follow

July 5, 2018 DispatchHawaiiD. W. Gibson

On the heels of the longest coral bleaching event on record, Hawaii hopes that banning a chemical culprit in sunscreen will help save its reefs.

In California, a Rallying Cry Against Offshore Oil

May 14, 2018 DispatchCaliforniaCorey Binns

As Californians protest the Trump administration’s intent to expand drilling off the Pacific coast, some city and state officials consider new legislation to block it.

Something Fishy: The Trouble with Atlantic Salmon in the Pacific Northwest

January 3, 2018 DispatchWestLora Shinn

Fish farms boost the risks of sea lice infestations, chemicals in the water, and accidental spills that leave native fish floundering.

The Tree Whisperer

January 27, 2017 DispatchCaliforniaElizabeth Svoboda

A Berkeley scientist is studying how climate change is affecting California’s giant sequoias, long considered dependable forest stalwarts.

This Scientist Never Thought He’d Be Raiding Illegal Pot Farms for a Living

April 4, 2016 DispatchCaliforniaAlisa Opar

Crime, raids, destruction, and mounds of paperwork—it’s all part of the job.

Undersea Mining Spree: Scientists Race to Study the Southeastern Pacific Before it's Too Late

March 12, 2016 DispatchInternational, WestBrooke Jarvis

As mining interests deepen in the southeastern Pacific, researchers are racing the clock—and pushing the frontiers of science—to understand this unknown stretch of sea.

The Woman Who Loves Orcas

January 20, 2016 DispatchAlaska, WestTed Genoways

Scientist, poet, and cancer survivor Eva Saulitis says that orcas saved her life. If only she could return the favor.

No Photos, Please

October 23, 2015 DispatchWyomingAlisa Opar

New Wyoming laws stifle freedom of speech and make citizen science illegal.