EartherEarth Science

Alaska’s Wildfire Season Is Exploding, Spreading Smoke Across the State

Historic, record-breaking heat isn’t the only environmental malaise that’s gripped Alaska this summer. So has wildfire smoke. An incredible satellite image taken on July 8 shows smoke spreading far and wide across Alaska as a spate of hot, dry weather causes the state’s wildfire season to kick into high gear. Dense smoke advisories and red … Continued

EartherEarth Science

New Orleans Faces Catastrophic Flooding Ahead of Possible Tropical Storm

Would-be Tropical Storm Barry is still a day or more away from forming, let alone making landfall. But the developing system’s impacts are already being felt on Wednesday morning in New Orleans. Residents of the Big Easy woke up to tornadoes and water spouts touching down in the city and on Lake Pontchartrain, and to … Continued

EartherClimate Change

AOC and Bernie Sanders Are Asking Congress to Declare a Climate Emergency

Governments declaring climate emergencies are all the rage these days. On Tuesday, a resolution slated to be introduced in Congress aims to get the U.S. as a whole to join the growing number of towns, states, and countries recognizing that yes, climate change is an emergency. Representative Earl Blumenauer introduced that resolution along with fellow Representative … Continued

EartherEarth Science

Wild Weather From the Midwest Could Spawn a Tropical Storm in the Gulf of Mexico This Week

The second tropical storm of the Atlantic hurricane season could arrive from an odd source: Missouri. Storms sweeping across the Midwest to start the week have now stalled out on the Gulf Coast, exploding into towering thunderstorms. The National Hurricane Center is forecasting they’re likely to spin further out into the Gulf of Mexico and … Continued

EartherConservation

‘Ghost’ Fishing Gear Is a Bigger Threat to Sharks Than We Realized

Not even the oceans’ top predators can escape the ruinous embrace of humanity’s plastic waste, suggests new research. The study indicates that over recent decades, many hundreds of sharks have been reported falling victim to entanglement in fishing gear and other marine plastic debris. Snarls of plastic waste adrift at sea are a menace for … Continued

EartherEarth Science

That Big California Earthquake Left a Scar That’s Visible From Space

Friday’s magnitude 7.1 earthquake near Ridgecrest, California, was nothing to sneeze at. The shake, which triggered gas leaks, power outages, and fires, was felt from San Diego to Sacramento. And it ripped open a new fissure in the Earth that didn’t escape the notice of humanity’s ever-growing satellite fleet. Before-and-after imagery captured by Planet Labs … Continued

EartherEnergy

China’s Solar Industry Could Get a Nearly $7 Billion Boost From Cleaning Up Air Pollution

Reducing air pollution is objectively good. In addition to providing huge public health benefits, new findings show it would also give China solar generating industry a big boost in productivity. The research published Monday in Nature Energy reveal that decades of increasing air pollution have decreased the potential amount of solar power generated in China … Continued

EartherEarth Science

Swimming Banned at All Mississippi Beaches After Huge Toxic Algae Bloom

An unusually large bloom of toxic blue-green algae has prompted the closure of all beaches along the Mississippi coastline. Officials are attributing the bloom to excessive rainfall and overuse of fertilizers. On Sunday, the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality, through its Beach Monitoring Program, announced the closure of two more Mississippi beaches, namely Pascagoula Beach … Continued

EartherEarth Science

It’s Raining Inside the Metro as Flash Floods Rage Across Washington, DC

Washington, D.C. commuters came back to work after the long weekend with a bang. Powerful storms swept across the nation’s capital, inundating roadways, unleashing flash floods, and creating at least two waterfalls in the Metro system. Even the White House experienced some flooding. Swamp status: full. The entire Washington, D.C. metro area is under some … Continued

EartherEnvironmental Justice

For the Second Time in Six Months, a Mining Ship Has Polluted This World-Famous Reef

Months after a cargo ship ran aground and began spilling heavy fuel near Rennell Island’s world-famous coral reef, another ship has reportedly spilled more than 5,500 tons of bauxite, the ore mined for aluminum, in the same location in the Solomon Islands. The spill occurred July 1, according to the Guardian, turning Kangava Bay’s typically … Continued

EartherEarth Science

Magnitude 7.1 Earthquake in Southern California Is Second Major Quake in Two Days

A magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck southern California on Friday night at around 8:19 p.m. local time, with a reported epicenter around 10 miles to the northeast of the town of Ridgecrest—the second major quake to hit the region in two days. Per the Washington Post, Kern County Fire Chief David Witt said that no deaths … Continued

EartherEarth Science

Baked Alaska: Anchorage Smashes Temperature Record as Thermometer Hits 90 Degrees

This year’s Independence Day in Anchorage, Alaska, is not one its residents will soon forget as the temperature got as high as 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius), establishing a new record for the northern city. In a tweet put out early this morning, the National Weather Service (NWS) for Anchorage said the record breaking … Continued

EartherEarth Science

Enormous 5,500-Mile-Long Patch of Atlantic Seaweed Might Be the ‘New Normal’

Scientists in Florida have detected the largest seaweed bloom in the world. Extending from the Gulf of Mexico to the African coast, the unusually large bloom is threatening marine life and coastal regions, with the researchers warning it’s likely a sign of things to come. New research published today in Science describes the Great Atlantic … Continued

EartherEarth Science

The Weather Machine Reveals How the Forecast Is Made—and Why It’s Now Threatened

The weather forecast is one of the most ubiquitous things in our daily lives. People talk about it when there’s nothing else to say, farmers from the Midwest to Mali use it to decide when to plant crops, and everyone loves to (wrongly) complain when it screws up. But as smartphones have put the forecast … Continued

EartherClimate Change

How to Keep Your Home Cool Without Wrecking the Planet

Summertime is officially here, baby. You know what that means: long days, beach tans, and wild ass energy bills. Keeping cool don’t come cheap—not for your pocket and definitely not for the planet. That doesn’t have to be the case, though. This summer can be your moment to flex your green muscle. You don’t have … Continued

EartherConservation

Calculation Shows We Could Add a U.S.-Sized Forest to the Planet to Fight Climate Change

Trees are good for all sorts of things, like providing shade for picnics and habitat for animals. But they’re also a huge part of the efforts to combat climate change by sucking carbon dioxide out of the air. New findings were published on Thursday in Science show just how important a role they could play … Continued

EartherEarth Science

More Than a Million Ordered to Evacuate as Southern Japan Braces for a Month of Rain in a Single Day

More than 1 million people are being ordered to evacuate from southern Japan as an onslaught of rain threatens their safety. Nearly 6 inches of rain that fell Wednesday is set to cause mudslides and deadly floods, reports the Japan Times. And that amount is set to increase big time in the coming days. As … Continued

Earther

Austria on the Verge of Becoming First EU Country to Ban Controversial Roundup Herbicide

A popular herbicide currently in use worldwide, but controversially linked to cancer, is on the verge of being outlawed in Austria—the first European Union country to attempt an outright ban. Citing what the leader of the country’s Social Democratic party, Pamela Rendi-Wagner, called increasing “scientific evidence,” Austria’s lower house of parliament on Tuesday passed a … Continued

EartherEarth Science

Extremely Rare Lava Lake Discovered on Remote British Island

Satellite images have confirmed the presence of a persistent lava lake within the crater of Mount Michael—an active volcano located on a remote island in the Southern Ocean. Despite frequently appearing in films and video games, lava lakes are actually quite rare as far as geological features go. Of the approximately 1,500 potentially active terrestrial … Continued

EartherClimate Change

The World’s Second-Largest Rainforest Is Losing the Carbon It’s Held for a Thousand Years

The Congo Basin is the second-largest rainforest on Earth, and like most tropical forests, it’s getting chewed up by humans. That’s a problem for the climate, and not just because trees are a natural sponge helping to mop up humanity’s ever-rising carbon emissions. New research suggests that as trees are replaced with fields for agriculture, … Continued