October 22, 2020 | Nina Sparling
In 2014, California took its first step to regulate how it uses groundwater. But now advocates are now warning that those rules might be leaving out disadvantaged communities in the San Joaquin Valley who depend on groundwater to drink.
October 15, 2020
An unknown number of Californians haven’t been able to pay their water bills since the pandemic began. Advocates say that has pushed smaller systems that serve some of the state’s most vulnerable residents to the brink of survival.
October 13, 2020 | Ezra David Romero
Meteorologists say the hot, dry, windy weather in California right now is similar to what the state saw in 2018 before the Camp Fire devastated Butte County. These conditions are predicted to get worse as the climate crisis grows.
October 9, 2020 | Ezra David Romero
Yolo and Sacramento counties are neighbors but approach the climate crisis differently. Yolo recently declared a climate emergency, but Sacramento County has not. Now, youth climate activists are demanding more.
October 9, 2020
Scientists know that tiny particles from smoke can be inhaled deep into a person's lungs and even enter the bloodstream. But the long-term health effects of this are not fully understood.
October 8, 2020
Wildfires in California have set a new record, but some fire scientists say focusing on that number is doing more harm than good.
October 7, 2020 | Ezra David Romero
In an executive order signed Wednesday, California is set to protect 30% of California’s land and oceans by 2030, and store greenhouse gases in farmlands and other landscapes.
October 5, 2020 | Ezra David Romero
At more than 1 million acres, the August Complex wildfire in the coastal range near Mendocino is the largest fire in California’s history. But how did it get so big, and will it have any ecological benefits?
October 2, 2020 | Ezra David Romero
Because of the scale of wildfires this year there’s so much talk of returning prescribed burns to the landscape. A new federal bill aims to support pre-fire season controlled burns as an essential, science-based strategy for reducing wildfire risk.
October 2, 2020 | Andrew Nixon
Despite a new red flag warning in effect for the Glass Fire Thursday, both civilian and inmate fire crews made progress on containing the blaze into the night.
Environment NEWS
October 22, 2020
Despite the cascade of other crises this year, climate change has emerged as a key election issue. The two major-party presidential candidates' positions on it could not be more different.
October 22, 2020
Most landlords are not required to disclose if a property is in a flood plain or has flooded before. That's a big problem in cities where climate change is driving more frequent and severe floods.
October 21, 2020
Catherine Flowers, founder of the Alabama Center for Rural Enterprise, won a 2020 MacArthur "Genius Grant" for bringing attention to the sanitation crisis facing both her hometown and across the U.S.
October 21, 2020
Many homeowners who lost everything in a wildfire had no idea they were at risk. Only two states require disclosing wildfire risk to buyers in the house hunting process.
October 20, 2020
The former mining town has watched its name transform from an asset in the late 1800s to a liability in recent decades. Residents voted to change the name to Val-des-Sources, or valley of the springs.
