The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a nine-state carbon cap-and-trade program, continues to help lower emissionsof carbon dioxide and benefit local economies, according to a new study by the Analysis Group. The study estimates that RGGI states gained $1.4 billion in net economic value from program during 2015–2017. “I think this provides evidence of the fact that you can...
Scott Pruitt, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Monday announced that greenhouse gas emissions standards for cars and light duty trucks should be revised. “The Obama Administration’s determination was wrong,” said Pruitt. “Obama’s EPA cut the Midterm Evaluation process short with politically charged expediency, made assumptions about the standards that didn’t comport with reality, and set...
President Donald Trump’s $4.4 trillion 2019 budget proposal, released Monday, echoed themes from the previous year’s budget priorities: steep cuts to domestic programs with large increases for defense. It outlines leaner budgets across federal agencies, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Trump’s proposed budget, which was assembled before the...
Sometimes California gets it right. When it comes to protecting its coast and ocean, the state’s citizens guarantee that. March 24 will mark the 7th annual Ocean Day in Sacramento with dozens of marine conservation activists from Environment California, Heal the Bay, Surfrider, Coastkeeper Alliance and others descending on the Statehouse from up and down...
Welcome back to Ask Your Weird Animal Questions, where we answer your wildest questions about anything animal. Today’s post is all avian, starting with one bird’s topsy-turvy table manners. Why Does a Flamingo Eat Upside Down? Brittney from the U.S. sent in this question about the flamingo dining experience, which, it turns out, actually starts with...
Every week, embark with host Boyd Matson on an exploration of the latest discoveries and interviews with some of the most fascinating people on the planet, on National Geographic Weekend. Please check listings near you to find the best way to listen to National Geographic Weekend on radio, or listen below! Hour 1 – Inspired by Wilfred Thesiger, long distance...
The plight of some of the world’s most magnificent marine mammals, and the largest animals on Earth, has not been more recognized or better publicized than in the last five years with the television broadcast premier of Animal Planet’s Whale Wars. The award-winning docudrama follows Captain Paul Watson and the activities and operations of the...
Every week, embark with host Boyd Matson on an exploration of the latest discoveries and interviews with some of the most fascinating people on the planet, on National Geographic Weekend. Please check listings near you to find the best way to listen to National Geographic Weekend on radio, or listen below! Hour 1 Professional climbers and skiiers maintain a certain amount...
By Peyton Fleming and Brooke Barton DIXON, CA – California and tomatoes are synonymous. Drive along Interstate 80 near Sacramento these days and you’ll see an endless parade of trucks, each filled to the brim with 26 tons of glistening succulent red tomatoes. It’s so many trucks, one after another, that you begin to understand...
Four new species of legless lizard have been hiding in plain sight in gritty parts of southern California, including a railroad track, vacant city lots, oilfields, and even an airport runway, a new study says. Researchers don’t know much about the unusual reptiles—which can grow up to 8 inches (20 centimeters) long—mostly because they live...
Four new species of legless lizard have been hiding in plain sight in gritty parts of southern California, including a railroad track, vacant city lots, oilfields, and even an airport runway, a new study says. Researchers don’t know much about the unusual reptiles—which can grow up to 8 inches (20 centimeters) long—mostly because they live...
Across the nation thousands of college students have joined a campaign, inspired by author and climate activist Bill McKibben, to get their universities to divest from fossil fuel companies just as they once got them to purge their portfolios of companies doing business with apartheid-era South Africa. Yet even many of today’s climate activists are...
Scientists have finally found where Waldo was hiding—well, the clam version, that is. Researchers have discovered a new species of “alien” clam living on the Pacific coast of North America in sea urchin spines. The clam, Waldo arthuri, is in the genus Waldo, which was named for Waldo Schmitt, a famous researcher at the Smithsonian Institution. Finding it...
Scientists have finally found where Waldo was hiding—well, the clam version, that is. Researchers have discovered a new species of “alien” clam living on the Pacific coast of North America in sea urchin spines. The clam, Waldo arthuri, is in the genus Waldo, which was named for Waldo Schmitt, a famous researcher at the Smithsonian Institution. Finding it...
By Allie Wilkinson There’s a new type of surfer on California‘s beaches: Mallard ducks are catching waves to get crabs, a new study says. Rather than avoiding water that washes up the beach like other foraging shorebirds, the mallards allow themselves to be lifted by the water and deposited down the beach. (Also see “Inside the Curl:...