Environment

Young climate activists take on European nations in a landmark court case

Jean-Francois Badias / AP

Climate in Crisis

Young climate activists take on European nations in a landmark court case

Gentoo penguins on Petermann Island, Antarctica, in November 2022.

Sergio Pitamitz / VWPics via AP Images

Climate in Crisis

Antarctic winter sea ice hits 'extreme' record low

Mississippi River Water Crisis

Gerald Herbert / AP

Climate in Crisis

New Orleans braces for drinking water emergency from drought-stricken Mississippi River

A weather system over the Pacific Northwest on Sept. 25, 2023.

Climate in Crisis

Rain pelts Pacific Northwest — and may end wildfire season

A parkgoer cools himself with a cold bottle of water in Astoria, N.Y., on July 12, 2023.

Julius Constantine Motal / NBC News

Climate in Crisis

After summer's extreme weather, more Americans see climate change as a culprit, poll shows

Woodbridge firefighter Joe Zurilgen passes a burning home as the Kincade Fire rages in Healdsburg, Calif.,

Noah Berger / AP file

Climate in Crisis

Wildfire-prone California will allow property insurers to factor future climate risks into pricing

Iron Gate Dam

Gillian Flaccus / AP file

Climate in Crisis

California is engaged in the world’s largest dam removal project in hopes of letting nature rebound

A night-time aerial view of Muswell Hill in London.

Karl Hendon / Getty Images

Climate in Crisis

U.K. PM Sunak criticized for pushing back ban on new gas and diesel cars

GUNNISON, COLORADO - JULY 26: A plane drops retardant as smoke billows and flames rise from the Lowline fire on July 26, 2023 near Gunnison, Colorado. The US Forest Service said the fire was started by lightning and has forced evacuations in the area.

Don Emmert / VIEW press/Corbis via Getty Images file

Climate in Crisis

Wildfires are destroying decades of clean air efforts

WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 24 : A small group of volunteers work to clean trash from the Watts Branch Stream, where its slight flow of water crosses from Maryland into northeast DC where Southern and Eastern Avenues meet to form the right corner of the District's diamond shape on April 24, 2010, in Washington, DC. It took the falling of an old tree, its trunk skimming the stream's flow just enough to be a filter, to reveal what besides water and tree debris was surely headed toward the already poisoned Anacostia River. Styrofoam folding food trays and cups in all levels of disintegration, alcohol bottles from top shelf to bottom, potato chip bags and plastic motor oil containers. In an Earth Day 2010 effort organized by the Anacostia Watershed Society, volunteers participated in a massive trash cleanup along the shores of the polluted river and its tributaries in DC and Maryland. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reports that roughly 20,000 tons of trash enter the Anacostia River from local creeks and streams each year. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has officially declared the Anacostia to be Òimpaired by trash", only the second river in the nation to receive such a distinction, and it lists human beings as the chief source of the litter. It's only fitting that humans chip in to repair their damage. But, more importantly, we must develop the mentality that leads us to properly dispose of our waste in the first place. (Photo by Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Jahi Chikwendiu / The Washington Post via Getty Images file

Climate in Crisis

White House launches group to mobilize 20,000 Americans to combat climate change

The coastline in Tamakautoga, Niue

Nick Perry / AP file

Environment

Sponsor an ocean? Tiny island nation of Niue has a novel plan to protect its slice of the Pacific

In an aerial view, a 150-year-old Banyan tree is seen scorched on August 11, 2023 in Lahaina, Hawaii. Dozens of people were killed and thousands were displaced after a wind-driven wildfire devastated the town of Lahaina on Tuesday. Crews are continuing to search for missing people.

Justin Sullivan / Getty Images file

Maui wildfires

Lahaina’s historic banyan tree sprouts first new leaves since wildfires

Image: Exxon Mobil Oil Refinery Baton Rouge

Barry Lewis / In Pictures via Getty Images file

Climate in Crisis

California lawsuit says oil giants deceived public on climate, seeks funds for storm damage

Photo illustration of a man pouring a gallon of water over his head and a melting sun.

Chelsea Stahl / NBC News; Getty Images

Climate in Crisis

Days and days and days of heat, from the people who lived it

An oil terminal in Compton, Calif., on April 26, 2020.

David McNew / Getty Images file

Climate in Crisis

California bill would force large companies to disclose greenhouse gas emissions

Traffic moves along a stretch of roads near the Royal Dutch Shell and Valero Energy's Norco refineries in LaPlace, La., in 2021.

Luke Sharrett / Bloomberg via Getty Images file

Climate in Crisis

'Peak oil' could be on the horizon, but new fossil fuel projects are pushing ahead

A Sequoia National Forest firefighter uses a drip torch during prescribed pile burning near young giant sequoia trees on February 19, 2023 in Sequoia National Forest, California. According to the Forest Service, wildfires have destroyed nearly 20 percent of all giant sequoias in the past three years amid hazardous fuel (vegetation) buildup. The Forest Service began emergency action last year to reduce the fuels in 12 giant sequoia groves in the Sequoia National Forest, including prescribed pile burning to reduce wildfire risk. The massive trees can live for over 3,000 years and average between 180 to 250 feet in height.

Mario Tama / Getty Images file

Western Wildfires

House passes bill to improve wildfire prevention accountability after NBC News report

Low water levels on the Mississippi River in Memphis, Tenn., on Nov. 7, 2022.

Houston Cofield / Bloomberg via Getty Images file

Climate in Crisis

Dry states’ taking Mississippi River water isn’t a new idea, but some mayors want to kill it

Climate in Crisis

Puerto Rico schools cancel classes as they grapple with unceasing, excessive heat

Sports

Protester glues feet to floor, delaying U.S. Open match before Coco Gauff wins to seal place in final

A polar bear in the arctic national wildlife refuge in Kaktovik, Alaska, in 2013.

Sylvain Cordier / Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images file

Science News

U.S. to cancel Alaska oil and gas leases issued under Trump

A stop sign near the public safety training facility that activists have called "Cop City" in Atlanta on Feb. 6, 2023.

Megan Varner / Reuters file

NBCBLK

61 indicted on racketeering charges in Georgia in 'Stop Cop City' movement

Rebecca and Christine Vance.

Courtesy Desiree McDonald; via Facebook

U.S. news

Family who went 'off the grid' in Colorado wilderness died of malnutrition, autopsy finds

Floodwaters from Hurricane Idalia in Gulfport, Fla, on Aug. 30, 2023.

Juan Manuel Barrero / Bloomberg via Getty Images

Hurricane Idalia

How Hurricane Idalia went from Category 1 to Category 4 overnight

Snowy egrets stand in the marsh waters at Hunting Island State Park in St. Helena, S.C., on July 10, 2023.

Jim Watson / AFP via Getty Images file

Supreme Court

After Supreme Court curtails federal power, Biden administration weakens water protections

Local farmers plant pine saplings in an area that has been illegally cleared of trees in Mexico City

Marco Ugarte / AP file

Latino

Illegal logging takes big toll on Mexico City’s crucial forests

Image: Presidential Hopefuls Square Off In First GOP Debate

Win McNamee / Getty Images

Climate in Crisis

With boos, a pushback on climate denialism at the first GOP debate

Blue and white striped paper straws

Clare Carrier / Getty Images

Health news

Paper and bamboo straws contain PFAS chemicals more often than plastic straws do, study finds

An Emperor penguin couple with a chick in Antarctica on Oct. 20, 2010.

Wolfgang Kaehler / LightRocket via Getty Images file

Climate in Crisis

Some emperor penguin sites experienced 'total breeding failure' because of sea ice loss

China on August 24 banned all Japanese seafood imports over what it said was the "selfish" release of wastewater from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant.

Greg Baker / AFP - Getty Images

World

China bans seafood from Japan after Fukushima nuclear plant begins releasing wastewater

Image:

Darryl Dyck / The Canadian Press via AP

Climate in Crisis

Climate change made record-setting Canada wildfires likelier, scientists say

A ship navigates the Panama Canal in Panama City on June 12, 2023.

Luis Acosta / AFP via Getty Images file

Environment

Major shipping routes are struggling with water shortages. El Niño could make it worse.