Evidence over alarm. Research over anecdote.
The intersection of environment and human health — air, water, soil, chemicals, and climate.
1,229 articles
WHITTED, Fla.—When Ann Jones runs her kitchen faucet, the water flows clear only some of the time. Sometimes the water is brown. Fill a pitcher, and the water is the color of iced tea. Jones, 81, is a gentle woman who has lived most of her life in this unincorporated historically Black community of 52 […]
From our collaborating partner “Living on Earth,” public radio’s environmental news magazine, an interview by host Steve Curwood with veteran Maine journalist Kevin Miller. The closely watched race for U.S. Senate in Maine is pitting two environmentally concerned candidates against each other. Not only do they both have fairly similar green and climate views, they […]
MARTINEZ, Calif.—Scores of people tired of living near accident-prone refineries packed an elementary school auditorium to hear what their government officials were doing to protect them. Two local refineries, Marathon Martinez Renewables and Martinez Refining Co., have racked up hundreds of air quality violations over the past five years. MRC agreed in February to pay […]
Env. HealthLawmakers in Suriname are calling for a formal investigation into mining activity that allegedly uses heavily restricted chemicals like cyanide, and risks creating runoff and pollution in the surrounding ecosystem. On Sept. 19, two members of the National Assembly, Rabindre Parmessar and Michael Marengo, visited an area in Pelin Bergi, near Kwakoegron, in northern Suriname, […]
Researchers have recorded a new species of giant waterlily after first spotting the plant in an Instagram photo. Read more on E360 →
Env. HealthThis article is from Food for Feed, a series investigating the global fishmeal industry. It is produced by the Outlaw Ocean Project, a news organization based in Washington, D.C., and excerpted by Mongabay. On Jan. 8, 1966, a South African ship caught fire at sea. At port in Bristol, in the U.K., firefighters pried open […]
Env. HealthThis article is from Food for Feed, a series investigating the global fishmeal industry. It is produced by the Outlaw Ocean Project, a news organization based in Washington, D.C., and excerpted by Mongabay. In late August 2025, a company named Marine Impex Pvt. Ltd. contacted the city council of Cuncolim, a city in southern India, […]
Env. HealthA chance sighting of photos on Instagram, then a five-day expedition, including a last-minute, late-night detour in a Colombian rainforest — that’s what it took for researchers to confirm a new-to-science species of giant water lily. The plant has such large leaves the researchers could also spot it from space, according to a new study. […]
Around 100 Baltimore residents packed a community hall in the Curtis Bay neighborhood on the evening of Oct. 1. One after another, they implored the Maryland Department of the Environment not to renew the air permit for the city’s largest trash incinerator. The speakers—young residents and retirees, longtime neighbors, doctors, students and environmental advocates—described the […]
Env. HealthConstruction of a power plant that will burn waste to generate electricity at a landfill near Bangladesh’s capital faces strong opposition from nearby communities, who say they fear severe health risks posed by toxic air pollution, reports contributor Eyamin Sajid for Mongabay. The $467 million project is being overseen by the municipal authority Dhaka North […]
Env. HealthWildfires in West Kalimantan, Indonesia, are leaving wildlife without fresh water as ponds turn brackish and forest pools dry up, driving animals into villages and toward the coast. Residents and conservation groups are responding by providing water, rescuing affected animals and treating them as smoke and fires continue to affect their habitat. Preliminary findings by […]
Env. HealthExclusive: Firms made more than £340m last year from processing industrial and commercial wastewater at sewage works that are unable to remove many chemical pollutants Water companies in the UK made more than £340m in revenue last year by pouring billions of litres of industrial and commercial wastewater into sewage treatment works that experts say are not designed to remove most chemicals, leaving pollutants to pass into rivers, seas and farmland. Water companies are required by law to take ind
Env. HealthIn a remote community in Malaysian Borneo, fishermen are facing an existential threat: their water source is being polluted. The fish they depend on is dying. Long Jawe village sits on the banks of the vast Bakun Reservoir. It is so remote that most residents only make the five-hour journey to the nearest town once […]
Environmental groups and citizens are urging Pennsylvania regulators to increase the minimum amount of protective buffer space between gas wells and homes, schools and water sources. The issue has taken on new urgency as the AI data center buildout spurs more demand for natural gas.  On Wednesday, a coalition of environmental and community groups held […]
Federal agencies have long been required to seek public comment when writing new regulations or approving large projects, from highways to data centers. The Trump administration is systematically undercutting that process, stifling public input while skirting federal laws. Read more on E360 →
Env. HealthThe Zambian government is investigating a chemical spill in its Copperbelt Province allegedly linked to Konkola Copper Mines (KCM), owned by U.K.-based multinational Vedanta Resources. Residents in Chingola district told Mongabay they observed discoloration of the Kafue River and fish die-off on Sept. 28, raising fresh concerns about the environmental and social impacts of mining […]
Env. HealthThe Norwegian government has given a permit to a mining company to release waste into Førde fjord despite a 17-year battle by campaigners and a supreme court ruling against it Shortly after the Norwegian stock market closed on 17 June 2026, a few dozen local people from the small west coast town of Vevring crowded around a laptop in a school. Surrounded by children’s drawings and windows looking out over Førde fjord, they listened as news arrived from Oslo. Norway’s supreme court had ruled again
Ozone pollution from fires, along with extreme heat and drought, is further weakening the Amazon rainforest’s ability to absorb carbon dioxide, new research shows.  The Amazon and other forests absorb more than a quarter of human-caused CO2 emissions each year, more than 11 billion metric tons. But in recent decades, increasingly larger areas of forests […]
Env. HealthBIAŁOWIEŻA, Poland — Michal Żmihorski, deputy director of the Institute of Environmental Protection, will never forget the morning of Aug. 1, 2023. Two Belarusian helicopters entered Polish airspace, hovering above the village of Białowieża in eastern Poland, three kilometers (1.9 miles) from the Polish-Belarusian border. The panic was palpable. “We didn’t know if the invasion […]
Env. HealthMIAMI (AP) — Tropical Storm Isaias formed Wednesday in the warm waters off eastern Mexico and forecasters said it was expected to strengthen into the first hurricane of the Atlantic season before hitting the U.S. Gulf Coast later in the week. The rapidly strengthening storm was on track to tie or break a 121-year-old record […]
At 192 years old, Jonathan the giant tortoise is the oldest known living land animal. A new study offers clues as to his incredible longevity. Read more on E360 →
Env. HealthLike a dark cloud of pestilence spreading across the globe in a science fiction movie, a highly contagious, fatal strain of avian influenza is continuing its death march across the globe, infecting wild birds, poultry, dairy cattle and mammals from pole-to-pole, sometimes with massive mortalities. In mid-June, it invaded the last bird flu-free continent, Australia, when […]
As Mainers prepare to choose a new governor in November, climate and energy issues may not be top of mind for every voter—but they are having big effects on residents’ lives. The average cost of heating oil recently soared to a record high of more than $6 per gallon, promising an expensive winter ahead for […]
Env. HealthPUERTO WILCHES, Santander – On the banks of Colombia’s largest river, the town and the wider municipality of Puerto Wilches sit amid a maze of wetlands and floodplain lakes in the Middle Magdalena Valley. Residents spend weekends at riverside swimming spots known as balnearios and nearby waterfalls, while local fishermen still cast their nets each […]
If there was a year the world began waking up to climate change, it might have been 1988. That June, the NASA climatologist James Hansen testified to Congress that the climate was warming and would continue to do so as long as humans pumped fossil fuel pollution into the atmosphere. Months later, the United Nations […]
Env. HealthSANTAREM, Brazil (AP) — Off-grid solar power is spreading across Brazil’s Amazon, helping remote communities prepare for severe drought while replacing costly, polluting diesel generators. In Nova Sociedade, where residents walked up to 20 kilometers for water during the historic 2024 drought, solar panels now power pumps supplying clean water to 36 families. Household systems […]
Five case studies show how state policies, championed by NRDC and partners, are reducing exposure to PFAS and other harmful chemicals far beyond state borders.
Env. HealthEmily Fulton spends a lot of time in a small boat cruising the waters of Clayoquot Sound off the west coast of Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. As the marine program manager for the nonprofit Redd Fish Restoration Society, she regularly checks on a newly created kelp nursery growing within the traditional territory of […]
Env. HealthIn October 2006, I was supposed to be starting my dissertation research on tropical reforestation in Indonesia. Instead, I found myself in the forests of Tanjung Puting National Park in Central Kalimantan helping locals to fight fires with brooms, backpack pumps, and hoses connected to hand-dug water wells. It was an ‘all hands-on deck’ moment […]
Indonesia is obstructing access to government data on the state of its forests. The new restrictions come as the country witnesses a surge in deforestation. Read more on E360 →