Environment

Amidst exceptionally dangerous wildfire conditions, a blaze broke out late Monday in Malibu, California. Firefighters say difficult conditions are expected through Wednesday.

U.S. officials decided to extend protections to monarch butterflies after warnings from environmentalists that populations are shrinking and the beloved pollinator may not survive climate change.

(Image credit: Sue Ogrocki)

President Biden helped avert a crisis on the Colorado River by paying farmers and cities $28 million in IRA funds to not take water out of the river. States fear a future without those payments.

Arctic tundra is releasing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere as hotter temperatures melt frozen ground and wildfires increase.

(Image credit: Gerald Frost)

If you crossed WALL-E with a floor lamp, it might look a little like the PhytoPatholoBot. These robots aren't roving through space or decorating a living room — they're monitoring the stems, leaves and fruit of Cornell AgriTech's vineyards, rolling down each row and scanning for mildew.

In this episode, host Emily Kwong and producer Hannah Chinn take a trip to Cornell to check out these new robots. How do they work? How effective are they? And what do local grape farmers – and neighbors – think about them?

Interested in more robotics stories? Email us at shortwave@npr.org. We'd love to hear from you!

The Canadian government says a new regulation will make shipping on the Great Lakes more environmentally sound. However American shippers say it puts them at a trade disadvantage.

Hurricane Helene swept through several North Carolina Christmas tree farms, but despite some losses there are plenty of trees left at least for this holiday season.

Scientists have pointed out that extreme heat is particularly dangerous for older people. A new study shows that young, healthy people are also dying too often in extreme weather.

(Image credit: Ulises Ruiz)

For decades we've been told to "reduce, recycle and reuse" to help the environment. But some experts say when it comes to plastic, we might want to hold off reusing plastic food packaging.

NPR's Leila Fadel speaks with Monterey Bay Aquarium chief conservation and science officer Margaret Spring about why negotiators failed to clinch a global treaty on reducing plastic pollution.

Centuries ago, Southwest tribal nations tended vast orchards of peach trees. But in 1863, thousands of those trees were cut down by the United States government when it ordered the Diné to leave their land as part of the Long Walk. Horticulturalist Reagan Wtysalucy wants to bring that those Southwest peaches back.

Want to hear more Indigenous science? Email us at shortwave@npr.org to let us know!

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Chile is poised to create it's 47th national park in the coming year, protecting wilderness at the southern tip of South America. That's thanks in large part to the work of a U.S. conservationist and her organization. We go to the bottom of the world to see the stunning landscape that will make up the park.

Joe Biden's first and last trip to Africa as president wrapped up in a port city in Angola. It's the end of an 800 mile train line connecting the port to massive mineral deposits in Central Africa. The U.S. and other Western countries are raising billions to upgrade the rail line, a move that is seen as an effort to counter China's investments in mining in the region. We go to one of the mining cities along that train route to see how the geopolitics are playing out.

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For almost two years, countries have been trying to negotiate a United Nations treaty to rein in plastic pollution. The talks were supposed to end with an agreement, but that didn't happen.

The negotiations in Busan, South Korea, were supposed to be the fifth and final round to produce the first legally binding treaty on plastics pollution, including in the oceans, by the end of 2024.

(Image credit: Ahn Young-joon)

North Carolina's Fraser fir is a popular Christmas tree, but it's under threat from disease and scientists are racing to try to save it.

The hearings come after years of lobbying by island nations who fear they could simply disappear under rising sea waters,

(Image credit: Peter Dejong)

We look at how one US conservationist's work is helping preserve Chile's wilderness at the southernmost tip of the South American continent.

New York City is home to more than eight million people but NPR's Brian Mann mapped out an urban hike through solitude and parkland wildness.

(Image credit: Brian Mann)

It's time to discuss one of the perennial debates of the holiday season. Are real Christmas trees or their fake counterparts more eco-friendly?

(Image credit: Johannes Eisele)