Environment

Questions As U.S. Wood Pellet Makers Expand Production

4:42pm January 01, 2018

by Jacqueline Froelich

The wood pellet fuel industry is growing in the United States. The largest chip mills across the South are gobbling up hardwood forests to meet demand for overseas customers.

Trump Re-Examines Regulations Regarding Fracking, Oil Drilling

7:40am January 01, 2018

The Trump administration rescinds rules on fracking and proposes rolling back safety measures on offshore oil drilling. Ailsa Chang talks to Alisa Barba, executive editor of Inside Energy.

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Environment

Helpful Ideas To Keep Your Christmas Tree Out Of A Landfill

6:21am January 01, 2018

With Christmas over, some 35 million holiday trees will be coming down. Where do they go? Bill Ulfelder of the Nature Conservancy in New York has suggestions of how to avoid sending them to landfills.

China's Crackdown On Polluters

8:02am December 30, 2017

by Rob Schmitz

You've seen the pictures of smog-filled skies over Chinese cities, pedestrians venturing out only in gas masks. But 2017 was the year China finally began to crack down on big polluters.

2017 Was The Year Of Extreme Weather

8:02am December 30, 2017

by Christopher Joyce

This year will go down in history for its extreme weather. Researchers have now definitively attributed three major extreme weather events to climate change.

Manliness And Green Living

8:02am December 30, 2017

NPR's Linda Wertheimer talks with marketing professor Aaron Brough about his finding that men are less likely to recycle than women because eco-friendly behaviors don't seem manly.

The Salton Sea in 2000, when rising water flooded nearby brush. The water is red with micro-organisms.

'Farm To City' Deal To Dry Out Stretches Of California's Legendary Salton Sea

9:02am December 29, 2017

by John Nielsen

Critics say the state's mitigation plan falls far short of what's needed to protect this former tourist mecca from the impact of the coming water transfer.

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Federal Appeals Court Gives EPA 90 Days To Propose Long-Awaited Lead Standards

5:28pm December 28, 2017

A federal appeals court has ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to propose a new standard for lead inside homes within 90 days. NPR's Robert Siegel speaks with Eve Gartner, who litigated on behalf of groups suing the EPA to update the standards.

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Lawyers say the city of Flint is violating the terms of a major settlement agreement reached in March to improve the quality of the city's water.

Flint Accused Of Violating Agreement To Replace Lead Service Lines

5:08pm December 28, 2017

by Merrit Kennedy

Advocacy groups say Flint isn't sharing information about efforts to remove lead service lines. They're asking a judge to force the city to comply.

Thomas Fire Evacuees Return Home To Find What's Left

4:39pm December 28, 2017

by Stephanie O'Neill

The massive Thomas Fire in Southern California is now 89 percent contained and evacuees are starting to return home. The Upper Ojai Valley was especially hard-hit. About a quarter of the homes there were destroyed.