NPR News - Environment

The Eastern hellbender salamander may not be a looker. But its sensitivity to pollution and changing water conditions makes the creature a useful indicator for water quality in rivers and streams.

(Image credit: Rick Callahan/AP)

Activists occupied four of London's landmarks and thoroughfares and, on Wednesday, targeted the city's rail service. The organizers want a zero-carbon Britain by 2025.

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Maria was the rainiest storm known to have hit Puerto Rico. Scientists say a storm of such severity is nearly five times more likely to occur today, with warmer air and ocean water, than in the '50s.

(Image credit: Carlos Giusti/AP)

Despite public health warnings about benzene contamination in the town's water supply, some Paradise residents say they have no choice but to return.

(Image credit: Kirk Siegler/NPR)

After years of tension over expanded oil and gas drilling, including a deadly explosion that galvanized critics, the state is moving to tighten regulations on the booming industry.

(Image credit: Grace Hood/CPR)

Tiny fragments broken down from larger pieces of plastic have already been found in rivers, lakes, oceans and in agricultural soil. But very few studies of wind-borne microplastic have ever been done.

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The Trump administration's revisions to the Waters of the U.S. rule will strip federal water protections from millions of miles of rivers. The impact will be even more pronounced in the arid Southwest.

Some environmentalists say food production needs a fundamental reboot, with crops that stay rooted in the soil for years, like Kernza, a prairie grass. Even General Mills says it likes the idea.

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A shakeup at the Department of Homeland Security has left some wondering about the direction of President Trump's immigration policy.

(Image credit: National Science Foundation via Getty Images)

An Alaska man and his co-conspirator took a fossilized tusk from a Bureau of Land Management museum. Then, they cut it up and sold off the pieces.

(Image credit: Bob Wick/BLM via Flickr)

The hazelnut business is in a bind. Demand is rising, supply is tight, and a deadly fungal disease is constraining production. But one man may have found a solution.

In Bethel, Alaska, record warm temperatures mean a frozen river that serves as an ice road is melting early. That's been deadly for some, and is leaving others unable to travel.

President Trump issues two executive orders that could make it harder for states to block companies from building oil and gas pipeline projects.

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In the long-running war between farmers and weeds, it's advantage, weeds. Scientists in Kansas have found examples of the dreaded pigweed that are immune to the newest weed-killing technologies.

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A private company wants to store high-level nuclear waste in a rural corner of New Mexico. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is considering the proposal, but local support may be a challenge.

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NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with Jonathan Blitzer of The New Yorker about how climate change is forcing farmers in Guatemala to leave their land and attempt to make it to the United States.

The companies belonging to the family of West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice owe millions for mine safety violations. Justice promised to pay the bill when he was running for governor in 2016, but hasn't.

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In the Gulf of Mexico, an oil spill triggered by a powerful hurricane has been leaking for more than 14 years with no solution in sight. The federal government is stepping in to try and contain it.

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Beachfront homeowner Laura Wing in Sandwich, Mass., says the sand in front of her house is eroding away. Her best option is to create man-made dunes by installing huge fiber rolls along the shore.

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A national movement to ban plastic bags is gaining steam, but these restrictions may actually hurt the environment more than help it.

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