https://news.mongabay.com/list/united-states/ Environmental science and conservation news Fri, 17 Nov 2023 04:37:44 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.3.2 https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/05/16160320/cropped-mongabay_icon-32x32.png https://news.mongabay.com/list/united-states/ 32 32 https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/as-insurers-stop-covering-prescribed-burns-states-and-communities-step-up/ https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/as-insurers-stop-covering-prescribed-burns-states-and-communities-step-up/#respond 15 Nov 2023 01:17:38 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/?p=275428 - U.S. insurance companies are thus charging increasingly unaffordable premiums for coverage of this activity or are dropping the service altogether in the wake of some particularly large recent accidents.
- As a result, many small conservation groups and private businesses are getting out of the habit of using fire to improve grassland health, boost wildlife habitat, and decrease likelihood of catastrophic wildfires.
- California is bridging this gap with a new state program that insures the activity, while prescribed fire associations, where residents and firefighters cooperate to carry out burns on private land, are increasingly popping up in communities.
]]> Mongabay]]> https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/as-insurers-stop-covering-prescribed-burns-states-and-communities-step-up/feed/ 0 https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/fisheries-managers-should-act-to-protect-swordfish-this-month-commentary/ https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/fisheries-managers-should-act-to-protect-swordfish-this-month-commentary/#respond 08 Nov 2023 22:07:28 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/?p=275200 - A campaign led by consumer groups and chefs helped convince regulators like ICCAT to take action, to the point that the fishery is now considered ‘recovered.’
- Top chef and restaurateur Rick Moonen’s new op-ed argues that it’s time for a next step: “Now ICCAT has another opportunity to improve the long-term health of the swordfish population. This November, ICCAT members can adopt a new management approach for the stock and lock in sustainable fishing,” he says.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.
]]> Mongabay]]> https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/fisheries-managers-should-act-to-protect-swordfish-this-month-commentary/feed/ 0 https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/ken-burns-discusses-hope-heartbreak-of-the-american-buffalo-his-new-documentary/ https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/ken-burns-discusses-hope-heartbreak-of-the-american-buffalo-his-new-documentary/#respond 03 Oct 2023 17:30:24 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/?p=273824 - The buffalo was nearly driven to extinction in the late 1800s, with the population declining from more than 30 million to less than 1,000, devastating Native American tribes who depended on the buffalo as their main source of food, shelter, clothing and more.
- The film explores both the tragic near-extinction of the buffalo as well as the story of how conservation efforts brought the species back from the brink.
- Burns sees lessons in the buffalo’s story for current conservation efforts, as we face climate change and a new era of mass extinction.
]]> Mongabay]]> https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/ken-burns-discusses-hope-heartbreak-of-the-american-buffalo-his-new-documentary/feed/ 0 https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/how-hot-are-the-desert-tortoises-getting-ibuttons-help-find-the-answer/ https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/how-hot-are-the-desert-tortoises-getting-ibuttons-help-find-the-answer/#respond 20 Sep 2023 13:09:18 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/?p=273472 - Using iButtons, the researchers are trying to understand how hot the tortoises get, and the temperatures that they prefer in the burrows where they spend most of their time.
- Identifying the critically endangered species’ temperature preferences is an urgent task: the tortoise faces threats to its survival from various quarters such as rising temperatures, habitat loss, and attacks by predators.
- With this research, scientists say they hope to find habitats that are safer and where the thermal conditions are suitable for the long-term survival of the tortoises.
]]> Mongabay]]> https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/how-hot-are-the-desert-tortoises-getting-ibuttons-help-find-the-answer/feed/ 0 https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/nasa-satellites-reveal-restoration-power-of-beavers/ https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/nasa-satellites-reveal-restoration-power-of-beavers/#respond 11 Sep 2023 16:45:17 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/?p=273142 - Beavers are one of the world’s most powerful ecosystem engineers, building new habitats by slowing water flow and reducing flooding, while also boosting biodiversity.
- Beavers are all the more important in an age of rapid climate change, as they produce wetter and more resilient habitats, even in the face of wildfires.
- “NASA is interested in how satellite Earth observations can be used for natural resource management,” a member of the space agency’s Ecological Conservation Program tells Mongabay.
]]> Mongabay]]> https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/nasa-satellites-reveal-restoration-power-of-beavers/feed/ 0 https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/with-fewer-birds-seen-on-farms-scientists-try-listening-for-them/ https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/with-fewer-birds-seen-on-farms-scientists-try-listening-for-them/#respond 08 Sep 2023 09:02:03 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/?p=273043 - While remote-sensing technology helped researchers understand the attributes of the habitat, bioacoustic data aided them in identifying the birds that live there.
- Biodiversity monitoring on working lands often doesn’t get a lot of attention due to the logistical hurdles involved in accessing these often privately owned areas.
- The methods used by the scientists involved engaging with farmers and landowners to put up audio recorders in an effort to be more collaborative.
]]> Mongabay]]> https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/with-fewer-birds-seen-on-farms-scientists-try-listening-for-them/feed/ 0 https://news.mongabay.com/2023/08/first-of-its-kind-legal-ruling-favors-youth-in-montana-climate-case/ https://news.mongabay.com/2023/08/first-of-its-kind-legal-ruling-favors-youth-in-montana-climate-case/#respond 14 Aug 2023 23:08:45 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/?p=272162 - The case, Held vs. State of Montana, involved 16 Montana youths aged 5 to 22 who aimed to protect their rights to a healthy environment, dignity and freedom.
- During the trial, youth plaintiffs and expert witnesses argued that the state violated their constitutional right to a clean environment, including safeguarding air, water, wildlife and public lands from climate-related threats like droughts, wildfires and floods.
- Judge Kathy Seeley of Montana’s First Judicial District Court ruled in favor of the young plaintiffs, stating that laws prohibiting climate change consideration in fossil fuel activities were unconstitutional; the decision highlighted climate impacts, irreversible injuries from greenhouse gas emissions, and the need for science-based climate measures.
]]> Mongabay]]> https://news.mongabay.com/2023/08/first-of-its-kind-legal-ruling-favors-youth-in-montana-climate-case/feed/ 0 https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/virtual-fences-can-benefit-both-ranchers-and-wildlife/ https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/virtual-fences-can-benefit-both-ranchers-and-wildlife/#respond 19 Jul 2023 12:40:16 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/?p=271105 - Coupled with the removal of existing barbed-wire fencing, it could open up whole landscapes for wildlife by removing injurious barriers for migratory herds, reducing mortality from fence strikes for numerous bird species, and protecting sensitive habitats from trampling by cattle.
- Virtual fences are easily moved with a tap on an app, and can be used to improve pasture management through rotational grazing, reduce wildfire risk, and other benefits.
- These systems are cheaper than building and maintaining physical fences, and are already in use in the U.S., U.K., Australia and Norway.
]]> Mongabay]]> https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/virtual-fences-can-benefit-both-ranchers-and-wildlife/feed/ 0 https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/rattlesnakes-can-calm-down-their-friends-study-shows/ https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/rattlesnakes-can-calm-down-their-friends-study-shows/#respond 12 Jul 2023 17:09:25 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/?p=270848 - Stress can lead to hormonal changes, affecting the nervous system, immune response and behavior.
- The study examined 25 wild Southern Pacific rattlesnakes in different scenarios, measuring their heart rate to assess stress levels and social buffering.
- By controlling small mammal populations, rattlesnakes maintain ecosystem balance and also reduce rodent and tick-borne diseases. Yet, they often face threats from humans.
]]> Mongabay]]> https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/rattlesnakes-can-calm-down-their-friends-study-shows/feed/ 0 https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/new-tree-tech-cutting-edge-drones-give-reforestation-a-helping-hand/ https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/new-tree-tech-cutting-edge-drones-give-reforestation-a-helping-hand/#respond 12 Jul 2023 15:07:42 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/?p=270623 - Restoring hundreds of millions of hectares of lost and degraded forest worldwide will require a gigantic effort, a challenge made doubly hard by the fact that many sites are inaccessible by road, stopping manual replanting projects in their tracks.
- Manual planting is labor-intensive and slow. Drone seeding uses the latest in robotic technology to deliver seeds directly to where they’re needed. Drones can drop seeds along a predefined route, working together in a “swarm” to complete the task with a single human supervisor overseeing the process.
- Drone-dropped seed success rates are lower than for manually planted seedlings, but biotech solutions are helping. Specially designed pods encase the seeds in a tailored mix of nutrients to help them thrive. Drones are tech-intensive, and still available mostly in industrialized countries, but could one day help reseed forests worldwide.
]]> Mongabay]]> https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/new-tree-tech-cutting-edge-drones-give-reforestation-a-helping-hand/feed/ 0 https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/breadfruit-a-starchy-delicious-climate-and-biodiversity-solution/ https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/breadfruit-a-starchy-delicious-climate-and-biodiversity-solution/#respond 06 Jul 2023 19:51:47 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/?p=270616 - According to recent research, the increased temperatures of climate change will widen breadfruit’s range, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa.
- A few small organizations have been working to spread breadfruit trees around the world by encouraging farmers to plant breadfruit alongside other food crops in agroforestry plots. NGOs say this style of planting not only increases food security but makes these food systems even more resilient to climate change.
]]> Mongabay]]> https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/breadfruit-a-starchy-delicious-climate-and-biodiversity-solution/feed/ 0 https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/five-ways-to-increase-tree-cover-in-cities-commentary/ https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/five-ways-to-increase-tree-cover-in-cities-commentary/#respond 06 Jul 2023 17:08:50 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/?p=270641 - The solution sounds simple but there are numerous barriers to increasing tree cover in urban areas, from high mortality rates to capacity limitations within municipal forestry, parks, and recreation departments.
- “Trees are as integral to city infrastructure as sidewalks and power lines,” a new op-ed that shares useful resources says: people need improved information and tools to advocate for, plan, and implement urban tree conservation, maintenance, and planting activities to support cities’ future livability, equity, and public health.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.
]]> Mongabay]]> https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/five-ways-to-increase-tree-cover-in-cities-commentary/feed/ 0 https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/at-sea-as-on-land-activists-oppose-industrial-farming-in-u-s-waters/ https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/at-sea-as-on-land-activists-oppose-industrial-farming-in-u-s-waters/#respond 26 Jun 2023 14:28:42 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/?p=270190 - A set of agribusiness giants and other corporate interests are pushing to expand industrial finfish aquaculture into U.S. federal waters — the open seas — where proponents argue that it will help feed a growing global demand for seafood and have less environmental impact. They want Congress to pass legislation establishing a federal aquaculture system.
- Though Congress has not yet acted, in 2020, Donald Trump issued an executive order that gave the industry a boost, and government agencies have begun the permitting process for several projects in which finfish would be raised in open-ocean pens miles out to sea.
- Environmental advocates, including the campaign group Don’t Cage Our Oceans, are fighting against the proposed congressional bills, calling for a reversal of the executive order and a stop to the proposed projects in U.S. federal waters.
]]> Mongabay]]> https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/at-sea-as-on-land-activists-oppose-industrial-farming-in-u-s-waters/feed/ 0 https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/seas-of-grass-may-be-dark-horse-candidate-to-fuel-the-planet-or-not/ https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/seas-of-grass-may-be-dark-horse-candidate-to-fuel-the-planet-or-not/#respond 14 Jun 2023 15:58:09 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/?p=269831 - While these experiments showed promise, the challenges for scaling up production of grass and woody shrub-derived biofuels over the next few decades remain significant. And time is short, as climate change is rapidly accelerating.
- Another roadblock to large-scale production: Millions of acres of land in the U.S. Southeast and Great Plains states would need to be earmarked for grass cultivation to make it economically and commercially viable as a biofuel.
- If many of those millions of acres required conversion of natural lands to agriculture, then deforestation and biodiversity loss due to biofuel monoculture crop expansion could be a major problem. On the plus side, grass biofuel crops likely wouldn’t directly displace food crops, unlike corn to make ethanol, or soy to make biodiesel.
]]> Mongabay]]> https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/seas-of-grass-may-be-dark-horse-candidate-to-fuel-the-planet-or-not/feed/ 0 https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/un-paris-meeting-presses-ahead-with-binding-plastics-treaty-u-s-resists/ https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/un-paris-meeting-presses-ahead-with-binding-plastics-treaty-u-s-resists/#respond 09 Jun 2023 15:47:14 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/?p=269595 - The United States declined to join the 58-nation “High Ambition Coalition” to create a legally-binding cradle-to-grave plan to address plastic production and use. The U.S. continues to hold out for a volunteer agreement that would focus on recycling.
- Delaying tactics by Saudi Arabia and other oil and plastics producing nations used up much time at this second international plastics treaty meeting, but these efforts were beaten back at least temporarily. The next international plastics treaty meeting will be in Kenya this November.
- Some activists pointed to the imbalanced representation at the Paris meeting, where about 190 industry lobbyists were allowed to attend, while communities, waste pickers, Indigenous peoples, youth and other members of civil society most impacted by plastic pollution had very limited opportunities to be heard.
]]> Mongabay]]> https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/un-paris-meeting-presses-ahead-with-binding-plastics-treaty-u-s-resists/feed/ 0 https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/woodpeckers-for-fire-recovery-a-new-online-tool-tells-you-how/ https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/woodpeckers-for-fire-recovery-a-new-online-tool-tells-you-how/#respond 29 May 2023 15:58:24 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/?p=269160 - The tool aims to aid fire managers in incorporating the protection of these birds into their efforts to revive burned forests.
- Black-backed woodpeckers thrive in the diverse ecosystem left behind by wildfires, but fire suppression efforts and salvage logging often disturb their habitats.
- Through the case study of black-backed woodpeckers, the tool aims to illustrate how wildlife conservation and pyrodiversity (the variation in which fires burn landscapes) should be incorporated into fire management efforts around the world.
]]> Mongabay]]> https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/woodpeckers-for-fire-recovery-a-new-online-tool-tells-you-how/feed/ 0 https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/residents-of-southeast-alaskan-town-debate-mine-thats-bound-to-change-region/ https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/residents-of-southeast-alaskan-town-debate-mine-thats-bound-to-change-region/#respond 26 May 2023 15:02:09 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/?p=269090 - The mine has become a divisive topic in the town of Haines, where the Chilkat River sustains the region’s thriving fishing industry.
- Some residents are concerned about how the project could impact salmon in the river and their fishing jobs.
- Others believe the mining companies running the project will be responsible when it comes to protecting the river, while providing jobs in mining.
]]> Mongabay]]> https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/residents-of-southeast-alaskan-town-debate-mine-thats-bound-to-change-region/feed/ 0 https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/financial-downturn-at-enviva-could-mean-trouble-for-biomass-energy/ https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/financial-downturn-at-enviva-could-mean-trouble-for-biomass-energy/#respond 25 May 2023 14:19:15 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/?p=268957 - These concerns (some of which Mongabay has reported on in the past) raise questions as to whether Enviva can double its projected pellet production from 6 million metric tons annually today to 13 million metric tons by 2027 to meet its contract obligations. Enviva says its problems pose only short-term setbacks.
- While it isn’t possible to connect Enviva’s stock decline, or the company’s downgrading by a top credit ratings agency, with any specific cause, some analysts say that investors may be getting educated as to the financial risk they could face if the EU or other large-scale biomass users eliminate their subsidies to the industry.
- “The financial risk is there, maybe not today, but in the future, where countries may say, ‘This massive [biomass carbon accounting] loophole is making the climate crisis worse. Let’s close it.’ When that happens, Enviva and all other pellet manufacturers are out of business,” and investors would suffer, according to one industry expert.
]]> Mongabay]]> https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/financial-downturn-at-enviva-could-mean-trouble-for-biomass-energy/feed/ 0 https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/dont-destroy-earth-on-the-way-to-mars-commentary/ https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/dont-destroy-earth-on-the-way-to-mars-commentary/#respond 23 May 2023 14:19:57 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/?p=268860 - Last month’s “rapid unscheduled disassembly” of a SpaceX rocket rained debris and possibly other toxics on a rich estuary adjacent to the launch pad on the Gulf of Mexico.
- “We cannot destroy our most special places on Earth in our heady rush to Mars,” a new op-ed argues.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.
]]> Mongabay]]> https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/dont-destroy-earth-on-the-way-to-mars-commentary/feed/ 0 https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/ngos-urge-continued-sanctions-against-drc-mining-giant-dan-gertler/ https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/ngos-urge-continued-sanctions-against-drc-mining-giant-dan-gertler/#respond 23 May 2023 13:31:35 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/?p=268901 - Gertler’s operations generated in only two years more than $1.36 billion of loss for the DRC, according to the U.S. Treasury Department.
- In 2017, the United States sanctioned Gertler for corruption, banishing him from the U.S. dollar banking system.
- As a result of a memorandum of understanding between Gertler and the DRC government, Felix Tshisekedi, DRC president, officially requests an end to U.S. sanctions
]]> Mongabay]]> https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/ngos-urge-continued-sanctions-against-drc-mining-giant-dan-gertler/feed/ 0