Latest Environment and nature News
Nerves, joy, and modest waves at surfing's Olympic debut
ICHINOMIYA, Japan (AP) — It was surf’s up Sunday for the sport’s century-in-the-making Olympic debut as competitors were consumed emotionally by the momentous occasion and exuded the pure joy of finally making it. For many spectators, this was the first glimpse of a...
Australia avoids UNESCO downgrade of Great Barrier Reef
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia on Friday garnered enough international support to defer an attempt by the United Nations’ cultural organization to downgrade the Great Barrier Reef’s World Heritage status because of damage caused by climate change. UNESCO had...
In French Polynesia, Macron tackles virus, China's ambitions
PAPEETE, French Polynesia (AP) — President Emmanuel Macron is visiting French Polynesia to showcase France’s commitment to the region amid concerns about the impact of climate change on the Pacific island territory, the legacy of French nuclear testing on its atolls — and most of all,...
California's largest fire torches homes as blazes lash West
INDIAN FALLS, Calif. (AP) — Flames racing through rugged terrain in Northern California destroyed multiple homes Saturday as the state's largest wildfire intensified and numerous other blazes battered the U.S. West. The Dixie fire, which started July 14, had already...
Disabled man says rat-infested camper is only housing option
LAKE CHARLES, La. (AP) — Stewart Buller, 54, has spent the last two months at a Lake Charles RV park, living in a rundown camper that has power, but no running water. Disabled for the last two years, he has to retrieve water from a nearby faucet, urinate in cups and defecate in buckets. ...
Wildfires blasting through West draw states to lend support
BLY, Ore. (AP) — Out-of-state crews headed to Montana Saturday to battle a blaze that injured five firefighters as the U.S. West struggled with a series of fires that have ravaged rural lands and destroyed homes. Progress was being made on the nation's largest blaze,...
Unvaccinated snow leopard at San Diego Zoo catches COVID-19
SAN DIEGO (AP) — An unvaccinated snow leopard at the San Diego Zoo has contracted COVID-19. Caretakers noticed that Ramil, a 9-year-old male snow leopard, had a cough and runny nose on Thursday. Later, two separate tests of his stool confirmed the presence of the...
Residents say flood-hit German towns got little warning
AHRWEILER, Germany (AP) — Like other residents of his town in Germany, Wolfgang Huste knew a flood was coming. What nobody told him, he says, was how bad it would be. The 66-year-old antiquarian bookseller from Ahrweiler said the first serious warning to evacuate or...
Cannabis industry in New Mexico faces big challenge of water
MADRID, N.M. (AP) — Where some see desert, Cid and Medina Isbell see opportunity. Standing on a plot on their 30-acre property just north of Madrid, they envision a greenhouse full of cannabis plants where brush, sunflowers and cactuses now grow. ...
Low oxygen levels off coast raise fears of marine dead zones
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Low oxygen levels measured off the coast of Oregon and Washington are raising concerns of large “dead zones” that could decimate crabs and bottom-dwelling fish within them. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said this week that...
