Latest News
West Virginia diesel spill leaves 12,000 without drinking water. -
The water treatment plant in the city of Lewisburg has been shut down for days after an overturned tanker truck leaked nearly 4,000 gallons of diesel fuel into a tributary of the Greenbriar River on Friday. Meanwhile, Montana residents are reporting black sludge coming from their faucets following last week’s oil pipeline rupture in the Yellowstone River. The Guardian
The seas are rising and so are we.
—Members of the United Houma Nation in the Louisiana bayou chanting during a traditional “unity clap.” As the tribe fights for federal recognition, its land is quickly disappearing into the Gulf of Mexico.
Ebola is decimating great apes. -
The deadly virus has wiped out a third of the remaining gorilla and chimpanzee populations in West Africa. While Ebola's human toll (an estimated 8,600 people have died so far) appears to be slowing, there's been no relief for our close relatives within Family Hominidae. Scientists say deforestation has contributed to Ebola's expansion in the region. Aljazeera America
Climate change pushes "Doomsday Clock" closer to doomsday. -
For the second time in three years, global warming helped advance the infamous, albeit symbolic, Doomsday Clock forward. At three minutes before midnight, this is the closest we've come to impending apocalypse since the height of the Cold War, in 1984. In regard to climate, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists notes, “world leaders have failed to act on a scale or at a speed to protect humanity from catastrophe.” What ding-dongs. The Guardian
President Obama makes moves to protect the Arctic. -
He issued an executive order yesterday to create an advisory panel on how federal agencies could better protect the Alaskan far north, which is warming twice as fast as the rest of the country. The committee will attempt to manage competing interests, such as tribal rights, energy development, conservation, and scientific research. Godspeed. The Hill
GOP edits climate change remarks from President Obama's speech. -
Congressional Republicans have posted to YouTube a doctored version of the State of the Union address—cutting out the president's criticism of Republican rhetoric on climate change. (Read all about it here.) Viewers of the speech at gop.gov will also miss remarks on torture and drone warfare. The Guardian