North America

Written by: Kimberly White The United States has pledged to double its international climate finance contribution.  The U.S. initially committed to a contribution of $5.7 billion annually at President Biden's Leaders Summit on Climate in April. Environmentalists criticized the contribution as...

Written by: Jessica Heiges and Kate O'Neill Most consumers don’t pay much attention to the packaging that their purchases come in, unless it’s hard to open or the item is really over-wrapped. But packaging accounts for about 28 percent of U.S. municipal solid waste....

Written by: Kimberly White The Government of Canada has announced a substantial new investment to support Indigenous-led conservation.  The Canadian government will provide up to $340 million in new funding over the next five years to support Indigenous leadership in conservation....

Written by: Kimberly White Environmental groups have joined together to challenge a controversial decision to lease out millions of acres of public waters for oil leasing.  The Biden administration announced plans to open up millions of acres for oil and gas...

Written by: Alastair Lee Bitsóí With drought a persistent problem in the Southwest, Hopi/Tewa seed keeper Valerie Nuvayestewa has eagerly joined the effort to bring back an Indigenous superfood that her ancestors cultivated for 11,000 years. The Four Corners Potato...

Written by: Max Graham When Eva Dawn Burk first saw Calypso Farm and Ecology Center in 2019, she felt enchanted. Calypso is an educational farm tucked away in a boreal forest in Ester, Alaska, near Fairbanks. To Burk, it looked...

Written by: Rachel Buxton, Andrea Reid, Joseph Bennett, and Paul A. Smith The past year has taught us important lessons about the consequences of the harm humans are inflicting on the natural world. We’re confronting a global biodiversity crisis, losing species and...

Written by: Kimberly White Scientists suggest that it may be time to begin reintroducing jaguars into the United States.  Once ranging from southern Argentina to the southwestern United States, the iconic species has lost more than 50 percent of its territory...

Written by: Kimberly White The state of Hawaii has made history as the first U.S. state to declare a climate emergency. The state Legislature has passed Senate Resolution SCR44, which declares that the climate emergency is a threat to humanity...

Written by: Kimberly White This story was originally published on May 11, 2019 and has been updated and republished in honor of Wildfire Awareness Month. The Smokey Bear wildfire prevention campaign was launched in 1944 and is the longest-running public service...