Gardens and small farms can create a food system that’s more resilient, less wasteful and better for the climate and communities while complementing the massive productivity made possible by conventional agriculture. We have a few of the top tips from expert gardeners about how to get started.
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Jonathan Yacko and Natalie Gilliard are among a growing group of homeowners who are sick of lawns and made a change with their own yards.
Growing a wildflower meadow can use fewer resources, foster community relationships and help reverse the loss of insects.
Baby’s breath sprouted in 2021 and was soon followed by yellow coreopsis, orange cosmos, red poppies, purple foxgloves and blue forget-me-nots, Gilliard said. Their colorful new field also attracted songbirds and bees.
Over the next several months, they said people they’d never met started dropping by. Neighbors and strangers thanked them for planting the meadow. Many of them brought baked goods, left thank you notes and even small bouquets, Gilliard said.
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With the World Cup kicking off next month during the height of North American summer, scientists warn the tournament could also be one of history’s hottest.
Rising global temperatures have dramatically increased the risk of dangerous heat and humidity during this year’s games, according to a new analysis — making conditions during the event less safe for players and spectators alike.
The analysis found that roughly a quarter of the scheduled matches this year are likely to be played amid heat and humidity levels that make it harder for the body to stay cool. Using state-of-the-art climate models, the researchers evaluated the chance the weather in each host city would exceed temperature thresholds set by the global soccer player’s union, FIFPRO, at the time of a match.
The World Cup Final, scheduled for July 19 at the open-air MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, has a 1-in-37 chance of happening during heat so severe that the player’s union guidelines say matches should be postponed.
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Public opposition to data centers is hardening as overwhelming majorities of Americans now oppose construction of the facilities in their communities, according to a new Gallup survey.
The poll found that seven out of 10 Americans said they would oppose a data center being built near them, including nearly half who say they strongly oppose the projects. Opposition is so intense, the poll found, that more Americans would rather live near a nuclear power plant than a data center, which are designed to fuel demand for artificial intelligence.
The poll found that both Republicans and Democrats are uncomfortable living near a data center, but opposition is especially intense among Democrats. Fifty-six percent of Democrats strongly oppose a data center in their community compared with 39 percent of Republicans. Nearly half of independents also said they were strongly opposed to the projects.
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Most of the plastic waste in California is about to lose the recycling symbol.
The “chasing arrows” symbol, created in 1970 by a college student inspired by the burgeoning environmental movement, has been stamped indiscriminately on plastic bottles, clamshell takeout containers, chip bags and more for decades.
California lawmakers say they want to end the charade: A new law will ban companies from using the symbol if their products aren’t commonly recycled. Advocates of the law counter that corporations deliberately misled the public by turning the recycling symbol into a marketing device that masks the fact that only a small fraction of plastic packaging is ultimately recycled.
The mark was originally intended to inform waste processors what polymers a plastic item was made from. But the public reasonably assumed anything stamped with the symbol was recyclable. Millions of tons of worthless plastic trash have since poured into recycling facilities, unable to process it.
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The situation on the Colorado River has rarely been more dire than in this moment. The snowpacks that feed the river are the smallest on record. The reservoirs that hold the majority of its water are nearing historic lows.
Neither a stopgap proposal from Arizona, California and Nevada aimed at stabilizing the nation’s largest reservoir, nor a late-season snowstorm are sufficient to avert a looming water crisis, experts say.
States in the Lower Basin (Arizona, California and Nevada) and Upper Basin (Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming) failed for years to agree on how to share the river’s water supply. The situation has grown increasingly dire as the regional climate shifts hotter and drier. Human consumption routinely outstrips inflows, drawing down the water stored in reservoirs.
With Western states at an impasse in negotiations over the river’s future, recent short-term wins may at least temporarily hold off cuts to people’s water supply in the lower part of the basin.
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Plastic contamination feels so pervasive, inevitable and frustrating, especially since the research is limited on how to reduce your exposure.
In a new randomized controlled trial, researchers found that in just seven days, a few specific lifestyle changes — from consuming a low-plastic diet to using low-plastic personal care products — could reduce the amount of plastic-associated chemicals in urine by as much as 60 and 35 percent, respectively.
While a single week of exposure to these chemicals is unlikely to have a measurable impact on health, according to Matthew Campen, a toxicologist, the implications of the study matter.
“Sustained behavioral changes and improvements in dietary quality would lead to long-term reductions in exposure and therefore health risks,” he said. Ultimately, the study found that the biggest source of plastic chemicals comes from your diet. There are also harmful plastic chemicals in personal care products.
The study adds yet another compelling reason to cut back on ultra-processed foods and to reconsider a few specific factors in our groceries such as plastic packaging or canned items when alternatives are accessible.
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Temperatures are forecast to top 90 degrees for around 50 million people and 100 degrees for 11 million more this week.
Near Death Valley, California, the temperature could soar to a summer-like 117 degrees on Monday. In Phoenix, 109 degrees is forecast Monday — heat more typical of July.
Later in the week, from Thursday to Saturday, record heat is expected to shift into the Plains, including across Nebraska, Oklahoma and Kansas.
The pattern of heat this week is being driven by a transient heat dome, forming because of weaker jet stream winds.
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In Northern California, the Hoopa Valley Tribe’s wildfire prevention efforts have been stalled due to delayed FEMA grants — part of a broader slowdown in hazard mitigation funding under the Trump administration.
California and Colorado, facing high wildfire risks, have received little aid. FEMA’s backlog, attributed to policy changes, has left many projects in limbo and affected communities’ ability to prepare for disasters.
“There’s a pattern — a state like Colorado is repeatedly being denied FEMA aid and others like California are waiting on FEMA money that’s already been approved,” said Debbra Goh, a research assistant at Carnegie Endowment’s Sustainability, Climate and Geopolitics program. “Hazard-mitigation funding is designed to help communities prepare for the next disaster. Without it, communities are rebuilding into the same risk.”
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Shera, a female African lion, died Thursday at the National Zoo in Washington after suffering a decline in mobility and being euthanized by keepers at the facility.
At 21, she was the oldest lion at the D.C. facility and one of the two oldest lions at accredited zoos in the United States, according to officials.
The average lifespan for African lions in human care is 17 years, zoo officials said. Jennifer Zoon, a zoo spokesperson, said Shera was considered “geriatric” and lived “well beyond the life expectancy for her species.”
Her age was the equivalent of more than 100 in human years, Zoon said.
Shera had developed liver and kidney issues, which zookeepers said are common medical conditions in elderly lions. She had osteoarthritis and muscle loss as well. Officials at the zoo said even though her arthritis was “pretty severe,” staff were “able to keep her pain levels low.” Staff assessed her comfort, in part, based on her willingness to move around her habitat.
Zoo officials said that in recent weeks, Shera had become weaker and slower in her movements and less “sure-footed” in her enclosure. Keepers became worried about her ability to navigate the stairs and boulders in her area. “Knowing her condition would continue to deteriorate over time,” veterinary teams decided to euthanize Shera “before she experienced debilitating pain” and had “trouble enjoying life,” officials said.
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An onlooker recorded footage of uprooted trees on Interstate 55 between Bogue Chitto and Brookhaven, Mississippi, after severe storms damaged homes and injured at least 17 on May 6.
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Twenty percent of the world’s oil and gas production remains bottled up behind the Strait of Hormuz. In Asia, schools are closing. In Europe, flights are being canceled. In the United States, the pain is mainly felt at the gas pump.
As of Monday, the national average price hit $4.46, according to AAA, up from less than $3 before the war. The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas projects that the cost of a barrel of crude oil could top $167, equivalent to at least $5 per gallon based on historical trends, if the Strait remains closed through September.
The middle of a global energy crisis is a good time to ask yourself: Should I break up with the gas pump for good? The surge in oil prices is shifting the math for EVs in ways that may change the next car you buy.
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