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NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with Bahamian Prime Minister Hubert Minnis about what is known about the extent of the destruction from Hurricane Dorian in the Bahamas, and next steps for his country.

President Trump is doubling down on his claim that Hurricane Dorian was heading to Alabama before it headed up the Atlantic Coast.

Some areas of the Bahamas are still only reachable by helicopter or small watercraft, like jet skis. The official death toll is 30, but it's expected to rise as search efforts continue.

(Image credit: Gonzalo Gaudenzi/AP)

Billions of lightbulbs will remain far more inefficient than their main alternative, costing Americans more in energy bills

The Trump administration has come up with its latest bright idea – scrapping rules that require energy efficiency standards in lightbulbs.

The Department of Energy is eliminating stricter efficiency standards on about half of bulbs sold in the US. The repealed rule, enacted during Barack Obama’s presidency, was aimed at phasing out older-style inefficient incandescent and halogen lightbulbs by 2020.

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Corporate watchdog urges clean-up of supply chains as analysis finds weak regulation and enforcement has led to lack of scrutiny

Most of the world’s top companies extracting key minerals for electric vehicles, solar panels and wind turbines have been linked with human rights abuses in their mines, research has found.

Analysis published by the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre (BHRRC), an international corporate watchdog, revealed that 87% of the 23 largest companies mining cobalt, copper, lithium, manganese, nickel and zinc – the six minerals essential to the renewable energy industry – have faced allegations of abuse including land rights infringements, corruption, violence or death over the past 10 years.

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Candidates warn of ‘irreparable damage’ in marathon town hall but can’t agree on how aggressively to tackle problem

Democrats vying for president revealed a fundamental split over how aggressively the US should tackle climate change in a seven-hour town hall meeting on Wednesday.

Bernie Sanders painted an apocalyptic future wreaked by the climate crisis and pledged to wage war on the fossil fuel industry. A high-energy Elizabeth Warren urged optimism for building a better America and the former vice-president Joe Biden, who has a pitched a more moderate proposal, said he would push other nations to recommit to stronger action.

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So I have been watching a lot of model rocket videos lately.  Most are pretty lame - some are just OK - and only a very few are what I consider to be pretty darn good.  One thing I haven't seen is some close up video of the chute deploying.  My goal is to get some really good video with my drone of the rocket deploying the chute at apogee.  Model rockets ascend rapidly during powered flight - continue ascending while coasting after the propellant is finished - and reach the point of maximum altitude (apogee) before falling back to earth.  It's a bit tricky just getting the right motor with the correct delay to fire off the chute at apogee.  Larger, more sophisticated (and expensive) model rockets have an electronics bay with an altimeter that fires deployment charges at apogee and/or specific altitudes.  With these cheaper models, it is going to require a bunch of flights and a bit of luck to capture apogee and chute deployment close up with the drone (without hitting the drone of course).  I just got another inexpensive rocket and some spare parachutes and shock cords so I can work toward my goal.  86,93,65,0,B

Trust says hillsides turning from purple to brown after loss of 75% of plant on some slopes

Hillsides across Britain have turned from glorious purple to muddy brown because of a worrying loss of heather, conservationists have warned.

The National Trust has flagged up that 75% of the plant has been lost or is struggling on some slopes that it manages in the west of England and blames the climate emergency for the problem.

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A Trump appointee who was a vocal advocate for "energy dominance" will now work with an oil company pitching a major project on Alaska's North Slope.

Republican Henry McMaster says there is still time for people to leave at-risk areas but residents should do so immediately – get the latest now

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10.11pm BST

•Governors of southern states warned residents to leave immediately on Wednesday, as Hurricane Dorian crept up the south east coast of the US. Millions of people have been ordered to evacuate coastal areas, with the storm projected to impact Georgia and South Carolina on Thursday.

•Dorian was moving along Florida’s northeastern coast at 9 mph Wednesday afternoon. Forecasters said it had maximum sustained winds of 105 mph (169 kph) and was centered about 180 miles (290 kilometers) south of Charleston, South Carolina.

9.52pm BST

Dorian threatens to bring record flooding to Charleston, South Carolina and could swamp low-lying regions from Georgia to southeastern Virginia, Associated Press reports:

Dorian appeared likely to get dangerously near Charleston, which is particularly vulnerable since it is located on a peninsula. A flood chart posted by the National Weather Service projected a combined high tide and storm surge around Charleston Harbor of 10.3 feet (3.1 meters); the record, 12.5 feet (4 meters), was set by Hugo in 1989.

Stores and restaurants were boarded up with wood and corrugated metal in the city’s historic downtown, and about 830,000 people were under mandatory evacuation orders on the South Carolina coast. More than 400 people were in state-operated shelters statewide, and more were expected.

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Trump erroneously insisted that Alabama was in the storm's path, and Wednesday he showed a weather service map clearly altered to include the state.

(Image credit: Evan Vucci/AP)

Despite the hurricane, local residents question scientists’ conclusions. But those in power are showing signs of acceptance

Doreen Auciello, 63, was finishing a continental breakfast in a hotel in Daytona Beach, Florida – home of the famous speedway races.

As she sat with her good friend Gene, who recently lost her husband, their conversation and that of everyone else in the room revolved around Hurricane Dorian, just offshore.

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Plastic pollution has entered the fossil record, research shows

Plastic pollution is being deposited into the fossil record, research has found, with contamination increasing exponentially since 1945.

Scientists suggest the plastic layers could be used to mark the start of the Anthropocene, the proposed geological epoch in which human activities have come to dominate the planet. They say after the bronze and iron ages, the current period may become known as the plastic age.

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How well have we helped Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands after storms in the past? How can we do better in the future?

Former diesel vehicles to be powered by the rubbish they collect in drive to cut pollution

Electric bin lorries powered by energy from the household rubbish they collect are being piloted in Sheffield and Westminster, London, in what the councils are calling a world first for a local authority.

The scheme recycles diesel lorries destined for the scrapyard, fitting them with electric engines and transforming them into 26-tonne bin wagons powered by the waste they collect. The idea is that any surplus energy can be fed back into the system to power people’s homes.

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Environmental groups rate Democrats’ plans and records ahead of CNN’s town hall focusing on the climate crisis

Democrats will pit their climate plans against each other on Wednesday at a seven-hour CNN town hall, as world scientists warn the window is narrowing to prevent catastrophe.

With the planet already about 1C (1.8F) warmer than before industrialization, the United Nations’ climate panel says that keeping the increase to 1.5C would require “rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society”.

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Activists, journalists, politicians and voters must transcend the cultural, racial and political differences to work together

“You’re a black tree hugger, interesting.” When I told my grandparents that I was moving back to Detroit to work as an environmental justice organizer for the Sierra Club they chuckled and called me a tree hugger. This quip was understandable, their interactions with the environmental movement were not particularly positive; they contended that, in their time, most environmentalists cared more about protecting remote habitats than protecting their black neighbors from discrimination and violence.

Today, to fight our climate crisis effectively, we have to transcend cultural, racial and political differences and build a broader coalition of engaged citizens. We have to engage all citizens, some who may not care about conservation but certainly care about the safety of their drinking water, the cleanliness of their air and the safety of their homes. This requires all of us, from journalists and politicians to activists and voters, to engage with communities in a culturally competent manner. We must bring to the table an understanding that we don’t have to agree on every political issue to work together towards building a better future for all of us.

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Factory farming sucks up money and pollutes rural communities in swing states like Iowa

Not since the Rev Jesse Jackson’s candidacy for the Democratic nomination in 1988 have we seen presidential hopefuls so fiercely and consistently bring the issues facing family farmers into the national conversation. This year, five candidates for the Democratic nomination say they support a ban on factory farms.

Related: Epic floods and trade wars – the US farmers battered by politics and climate

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Trees are one of the best ways to fight deadly urban heat, but U.S. cities lose millions every year. And many low-income areas are starting at a disadvantage.

(Image credit: Sean McMinn/NPR)

NPR's Steve Inskeep talks to atmospheric scientist Jim Kossin of NOAA about why more hurricanes like Dorian are moving at slower speeds, and if that has anything to do with climate change.