NPR News - Environment

First it was plastic bags, then plastic straws. Now environmental groups are urging a ban on balloons. The anti-balloon campaign is happening at Clemson University football games, and in a small Rhode Island community.

Tens of thousands of people have been rescued, but thousands more are still stranded after massive flooding and landslides in India's Kerala state.

(Image credit: Aijaz Rahi/AP)

Sunday's earthquake caused power outages and landslides as the island is still recovering from another quake earlier this month that killed more than 400 people.

(Image credit: Ulet Ifansasti/Getty Images)

A mountain in Wales has been downgraded to a hill after a new satellite survey.

A loophole in Pennsylvania law lets companies drill oil and gas wells in farms and fields where Native American and Colonial artifacts are buried.

California authorities say the behemoth killed a firefighter battling the Carr Fire last month. Larger than three football fields, the tornado was unlike anything they'd seen. Now, they have video.

(Image credit: Cal Fire via AP)

It might seem like the world is getting worse and worse. But psychologist Steven Pinker says that across the board, data suggests we've made a lot of progress. The question is — will it continue?

(Image credit: Ryan Lash /Ryan Lash/TED)

Environmental activist Paul Gilding says the world has been growing too fast for too long. And now...the Earth is full. The only solution, he says, is to radically change the way we consume.

(Image credit: James Duncan Davidson/TED)

When wildfire starts, a lot of people decide what areas should burn, and where a fire should be fought. One of those people is an archaeologist from the U.S. Forest Service.

The heavy rains hitting the popular tourist destination of Kerala have loosed deadly floods and landslides. "Never before had the State witnessed a calamity of this scale," says a local leader.

(Image credit: AFP/Getty Images)

As summer draws to a close, conservationists are getting ready for the annual Monarch butterfly migration. One scientist thinks the best way to help the migration is to create more Monarch habitats in big cities.

In Montana, the Howe Ridge Fire has burned nearly all the cabins at Kelly's Camp which is listed as a historic district on the National Register of Historic Places.

Somini Sengupta, international climate reporter for The New York Times, discusses the dire consequences of rising temperatures, such as drought, famine, disease, war and increased migration.

Climate change is causing more severe flooding around the country, and a disproportionate number of Native American communities are on the front lines.

(Image credit: Joe Proudman/UC Davis)

A toxic algae bloom is killing fish, turtles and dolphins and discouraging tourists from visiting Florida's Gulf Coast. It's not the first such event, but it is especially intense.

(Image credit: Greg Allen/NPR)

Research shows that 400 female blue orchard bees are as effective at pollinating almonds as the more than 10,000 bees in a honeybee hive. But they reproduce slowly and are prone to wandering.

(Image credit: Josh Cassidy/KQED)

As fires continue to rage in California, smoke is causing health problems for some residents. Public health officials warn against breathing polluted air.

(Image credit: Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Inside the Hoh Rain Forest in Washington state, acoustics experts have attempted to preserve a location free of human-made noise. They call it One Square Inch of Silence.

(Image credit: Samir S. Patel/Atlas Obscura)

Egg collecting was once a popular pastime. Now, the pristine specimens in one collection are a key resource for research on a range of topics, from the climate change to changes in bird populations.

(Image credit: Samir S. Patel/Atlas Obscura)

One controversial topic is whether utilities should have to pay for damage their equipment causes — even if the companies followed state safety regulations and laws.

(Image credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)