In the Blink of an Eye, a Hunt for Oil Threatens Pristine Alaska — New York Times
For decades, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge has been off limits to drilling. Belief that the largest untapped onshore cache of oil lies beneath the federally protected land, however, has the federal administration looking to remove those protections in order to kick start oil exploration in the area.
Vast forests of dead or stressed trees prompt new federal approach to restoration out West — Washington Post
For years, millions of trees across the West have been dying due to invasive species, disease and wildfires. Now the U.S. Forest Service is pushing a new approach: a controversial 15-year plan that would involve logging, thinning and prescribed burning across 850,000 acres of land.
The Democratic Party Wants to Make Climate Policy Exciting — The Atlantic
The Green New Deal is structured to cut U.S carbon emissions drastically in order to meet the terms of the Paris Agreement and keeping the world from warming nearly three degrees by 2100. Democrats are working to make climate change policy like the Green New Deal compelling in the hopes of garnering enough support to pass policy addressing climate change.
Though the amount of global carbon emissions had mostly plateaued between 2014 and 2016, new data shows that in 2017 global carbon emissions rose by 1.6 percent. By the end of 2018, it is projected that carbon emissions will have increased by another 2.7 percent, confirming that the world is not on track to stop the planet from warming nearly three degrees by 2100.
Coral reefs have been suffering the consequences of climate change for years, with warming ocean waters killing off the extremely sensitive, slow-growing organisms. But in unexpectedly positive news, a committee of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine has released a report detailing more than 20 techniques that could be implemented to help give coral a fighting chance.