Environment

Water scarcity in Westlands Water District has caused some almond growers to tear out their older orchards.

Environment

Some of America's biggest vegetable growers fought for water. Then the water ran out

6:47pm December 15, 2022

by Dan Charles

For years, powerful farmers in California's Central Valley fought for more water from the state's rivers. Now some are changing course, because there's no more water to be found.

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Environment

Oregon Department of Justice reaches a settlement with Monsanto for PCB contamination

4:19pm December 15, 2022

by Cassandra Profita

Oregon's Department of Justice has reached a nearly $700 million settlement with Monsanto for PCB contamination. It's the largest environment-related settlement in the state's history.

Used tires stacked at a Goodyear auto service location in South San Francisco, Calif., on July, 2020.

Why the government fails to limit many dangerous chemicals in the workplace

1:31pm December 15, 2022

by Sharon Lerner

The U.S. agency that's supposed to protect workers' health has all but given up on setting limits on a dangerous chemical released in tire manufacturing. Meanwhile, workers are dying.

Calif. commission to decide whether to cut a key incentive for rooftop solar

5:16am December 15, 2022

by Julia Simon

California's public utilities commission will vote on whether to get rid of a program that allows homeowners with solar panels to sell their excess power back to the grid.

The multi-billion dollar National Ignition Facility has used 192 laser beams to create net energy from a tiny pellet of nuclear fuel.

U.S. reaches a fusion power milestone. Will it be enough to save the planet?

12:36pm December 13, 2022

by Geoff Brumfiel

A giant laser facility in Livermore, Calif., says it has created net energy from nuclear fusion. It's an important breakthrough, but fusion power remains a distant dream.

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The mountain lion known as P-22, photographed in November 2014 in the Griffith Park area near downtown Los Angeles, is undergoing health evaluations after being captured on Monday.

Hollywood's famous, aging mountain lion has been captured by authorities. Now what?

10:38am December 13, 2022

by Rachel Treisman

P-22 has lived in Griffith Park for a decade, earning nicknames like the "Hollywood Cat" and the "Brad Pitt of mountain lions." He is undergoing health evaluations after exhibiting signs of distress.

Monica Hudson said she has to be very careful pruning, since mistakes take longer to grow out for trees living in pots.

Potted Christmas trees are a rentable alternative to their fake and fresh-cut cousins

8:10am December 13, 2022

by Halisia Hubbard

For Christmas tree shoppers who want a real live tree that's reusable like an artificial one, there may be another option: rentable potted trees that are planted in the ground when they grow too big.

Environment

A British zoo welcomes the birth of a rare Malayan tapir

7:55am December 11, 2022

by Ayesha Rascoe

A British zoo has welcomed the birth of a rare Malayan tapir. Fewer than 2,500 of the animals are estimated to remain in their natural habitats in southeast Asia.

Yuriy Samoilenko stands for a portrait at the headquarters for Green World, an independent environmental advocacy group and the Ukrainian branch of Friends of the Earth International, in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Aug. 18.

Ukraine still fears another Chernobyl-size disaster at Europe's largest nuclear plant

6:00am December 11, 2022

by Julian Hayda

International atomic experts have warned of a potential nuclear disaster with Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia plant in the middle of a war zone, bringing back terrifying memories of Chernobyl.

Visitors, including Dead Sea researcher Yael Kiro from Israel's Weizmann Institute of Science (second from left), examine salt formations on the shore of the Dead Sea in Israel on Nov. 5.

The Dead Sea is dying. These beautiful, ominous photos show the impact

6:00am December 11, 2022

Its water level is dropping. Big sinkholes are swallowing up whole tracts of land around it. Here is why a disaster is unfolding at the Middle East's iconic salt lake.