NPR News - Environment


Can anything stop the toxic smog of New Delhi?
It's, considered the world's most polluted megacity. The air is so bad that a new report estimates that on average each resident loses 12 years of life. Here's what they're doing about it.
(Image credit: Money Sharma/AFP via Getty Images)
What the fossil fuel industry is saying in this year's climate talks
The fossil fuel industry has a huge voice in this year's climate talks. But what are oil companies actually saying? And why does it matter? We break down their statements into plain English.
New rules on tourist flights seek to return some serenity to national parks
One of the strictest plans was announced at Mount Rushmore and Badlands National Park, where tour flights will be banned from getting within a half mile of the South Dakota sites starting in April.
(Image credit: David Zalubowski/AP file photo)
Companies say they're closing in on nuclear fusion as an energy source. Will it work?
For decades, government scientists have toiled away trying to make nuclear fusion work. Will commercial companies sprint to the finish?
(Image credit: Geoff Brumfiel/NPR)
Health is on the agenda at UN climate negotiations. Here's why that's a big deal
Advocates say human-driven climate change is hurting people's health worldwide–but taking action like reducing reliance on fossil fuels lowers risks immediately.
(Image credit: AFP via Getty Images/LUIS TATO)
Wolves are returning to Colorado. But is it too crowded for them to thrive?
Colorado's booming urban population flipped the state from red to blue, allowing a referendum on reintroducing wolves to pass. But that growing population now may be too big for them to thrive.
(Image credit: Kirk Siegler/NPR)
In Ecuador's Amazon rainforest, solar-powered boats are a boon for the trees
The Indigenous Achuar people in Ecuador's Amazon rainforest sail in six solar-powered canoes. And it's not just to save money on fuel — the trees of the rainforest will benefit too.
(Image credit: Peter Yeung for NPR)
EPA aims to slash the oil industry's climate-warming methane pollution
New EPA rules require oil and gas companies to slash climate-changing methane from their operations.
(Image credit: David Goldman/AP)
The iceberg cometh: It's the size of Oahu, and it's moving into the open ocean
"It's a trillion tons of ice," as one expert told NPR. Now the largest iceberg in the world, A23a, is on the move after decades of being grounded on the seafloor.
(Image credit: European Union/Copernicus Sentinel-3/via Reuters)
A proposed new rule from the EPA says U.S. cities need to replace lead water pipes
NPR's Leila Fadel talks to Flint resident Melissa Mays, a clean water activist, about the EPA's proposed rule that most U.S. cities will have to replace lead water pipes within the next 10 years.
Countries promise millions for damages from climate change. So how would that work?
A historic agreement at the international climate talks will provide hundreds of millions of dollars for developing countries. It's nowhere near enough.
(Image credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
At climate summit, nations want more from the U.S.: 'There's just a trust deficit'
The United States looms large at the COP28 climate summit in Dubai. Historically, it's responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions than any other nation. But it's also key for major breakthroughs.
(Image credit: William Vasta/The Annenberg Foundation Trust at Sunnylands)
EPA proposes new rule to require nationwide replacement of lead pipes
Under the Biden Administration's new guidance, most U.S. cities would have to replace lead pipes within the next 10 years. About 9 million lead pipes are still bringing water into American buildings.
Biden administration proposes strictest lead pipe rules in more than three decades
Most cities would have to replace lead water pipes within 10 years under new rules proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency aimed to prevent like the ones in Flint, Mich. and Washington, D.C.
(Image credit: Seth Wenig/AP)
Widespread flooding has already killed hundreds in East Africa
Many countries in East Africa have gone from drought to deluge, and the rains aren't over yet.
Oil spills increase in Venezuela as it revs up output after the U.S. lifted sanctions
After the U.S. lifted its sanctions, Venezuela is trying to revive its beleaguered oil industry. But ramping up production is causing more oil spills.
(Image credit: John Otis for NPR)
U.S. moves to protect wolverines as climate change melts their mountain refuges
The North American wolverine would receive threatened species protections under a Biden administration proposal. Warming temperatures are expected to shrink the mountain snowpack wolverines rely on.
(Image credit: Chris Stermer/California Department of Fish and Wildlife via AP, File)
3 climate impacts the U.S. will see if warming goes beyond 1.5 degrees
Climate science shows that beyond 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming, impacts in the U.S. get substantially worse. The world is on track for almost double that level of warming by the end of the century.
(Image credit: Brent Jones/NPR)
Armed with barriers made of human hair, Venezuelans take on massive oil slicks
Venezuelans attempt to tackle the massive oil slicks that are clogging up one of South America's largest bodies of inland water — by using human hair.
Climate funding is in short supply. So some want to rework the financial system
Efforts to boost climate financing have moved beyond national pledges. Now the focus is on overhauling organizations like the World Bank and providing countries debt relief.
(Image credit: Jerome Delay/AP)