Homes that survived the Boulder County fire hid another disaster inside – we turned them into labs to study this urban wildfire health risk

Homes that survived the Marshall Fire didn’t come through unscathed. Matthew Jonas/MediaNews Group/Boulder Daily Camera via Getty Images This article is part of a collaboration with Boulder Reporting Lab, The Center for Environmental Journalism at the University of Colorado Boulder, KUNC public radio and The Conversation U.S. to explore the impacts of the devastating Marshall…

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3 reasons local climate activism is more powerful than people realize

Students rally for fossil fuel-free energy at the University of California, San Diego. Erik Jepsen/UCSD Global warming has increased the number of extreme weather events around the world by 400% since the 1980s. Countries know how to stop the damage from worsening: stop burning fossil fuels and shift to renewable energy, electrify transportation and industry,…

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When fishing boats go dark at sea, they’re often committing crimes – we mapped where it happens

Workers flood a Vietnamese-flagged boat caught operating illegally off West Kalimantan, Indonesia on May 4, 2019 in order to sink it. AP Photos/William Pasaribu In January 2019, the Korean-flagged fishing vessel Oyang 77 sailed south toward international waters off Argentina. The vessel had a known history of nefarious activities, including underreporting its catch and illegally…

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China’s lucrative orchid industry is a test for the nation’s commitment to conservation

Sorting collected _Dendrobium_ flowers in Guizhou province, China, June 28, 2020. Photo Costfoto/Future Publishing via Getty Images China is well known for its medicinal use of wild plants, a tradition that dates back thousands of years. These traditional Chinese medicines include many wild orchids, some quite showy. Typically, orchids are consumed alone or mixed with…

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‘Vaccinating’ frogs may or may not protect them against a pandemic – but it does provide another option for conservation

When the COVID-19 pandemic first emerged, many wildlife disease researchers like me were not too surprised. Some were intrigued it hadn’t happened sooner; after all, it is our job to observe, describe and study pandemic dynamics in animals. Amphibians, for example, have been undergoing a global panzootic – the animal version of a pandemic –…

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Record low water levels on the Mississippi River in 2022 show how climate change is altering large rivers

A barge maneuvers its way down the drought-narrowed Mississippi River at Tiptonville, Tenn., Oct. 20, 2022. AP Photo/Jeff Roberson Rivers are critical corridors that connect cities and ecosystems alike. When drought develops, water levels fall, making river navigation harder and more expensive. In 2022, water levels in some of the world’s largest rivers, including the…

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Arctic Report Card 2022: The Arctic is getting rainier and seasons are shifting, with broad disturbances for people, ecosystems and wildlife

Rainier winters make life more difficult for Arctic wildlife and the humans who rely on them. Scott Wallace/Getty Image In the Arctic, the freedom to travel, hunt and make day-to-day decisions is profoundly tied to cold and frozen conditions for much of the year. These conditions are rapidly changing as the Arctic warms. The Arctic…

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