Latest News
The United States is suing Volkswagen over its emissions scandal. -
The Department of Justice filed a suit yesterday against the German automaker for installing “defeat devices,” which enable cars to cheat on emissions tests, in more than half a million vehicles sold in America. VW may have to pony up $6,500 per car, or $3 billion total. And criminal charges haven’t been ruled out... Mother Jones
Academic journals are beginning to withhold the locations of new species. -
Poachers have been using the geographical information found in peer-reviewed papers to collect newly discovered herpetological species from the wild. In the age of the sixth mass extinction, that’s a risk biologists can’t afford to take. The Guardian
Armed protestors are occupying a wildlife refuge in Oregon. -
The group is protesting the conviction of two ranchers for setting illegal fires on federal lands. Over the weekend, occupiers seized buildings at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge and have vowed to hunker down indefinitely. The standoff is the latest clash between officials and local landowners over public land management. New York Times
Climatarian
—one who practices a dietary regime that involves locally sourced meals, less meat, and little food waste—makes the New York Times list of top new food words for 2015.
The reality is that Antarctica is geopolitically contested.
-Political scholar Klaus Dodds, on how more and more countries are seeking footholds on the icy, resource-rich continent as treaties protecting Antarctica as a "scientific preserve" are set to expire in coming decades.
Winter weather (or lack thereof) has millennials worried about climate change. -
When last weekend’s Democratic presidential debate failed to address the topic, an outpouring of frustration on the social media app Yik Yak caught the developers’ attention. They polled 21,000 Yik Yak users and found 70 percent are concerned about global warming, with more than a quarter saying recent unseasonably warm temperatures contributed to their unease. The number of folks “yakking” about climate has also spiked. Reuters