Forests Forever

New Analysis Warns Trump Offshore Drilling Plan Could Trigger Thousands of Oil Spills - Inside Climate News A sweeping proposal by the Trump administration to expand offshore oil and gas drilling could result in more than 4,000 oil spills in U.S. waters, according to a new analysis by the Center for…

"If the plan is enacted, it could lead to the release of more than 12 million gallons of crude into some of the nation’s most ecologically important marine areas—some of which have never been drilled before, researchers report."

Pacific Crest Trail Hikers Banned from Border Wall Under New Rules Under a new federal policy, hikers will be prohibited from venturing south of the PCT's southern terminus monument, the trail's main organization said this week.

"[T]he PCTA said that the organization’s federal agency partners had informed them that as a military installation, the wall and the few dozen feet between it and a barbed wire fence just south of the monument would be off-limits to hikers."

Oregon, Washington and tribes head back to court after Trump pulls out of deal to recover salmon Lawyers for conservation groups, Native American tribes, and the states of Oregon and Washington have returned to court to seek changes to dam operations on the Snake and Columbia Rivers.

“'We are looking at fish that are on the cusp of extinction,' Amanda Goodin, an attorney with Earthjustice, a nonprofit law firm representing conservation, clean energy and fishing groups in the litigation, said during the hearing. 'This is not a situation that can wait.'”

We can move beyond the capitalist model and save the climate – here are the first three steps | Jason Hickel and Yanis Varoufakis Capitalism cares about our species’ prospects as much as a wolf cares about a lamb’s. But democratise our economy and a better world is within our grasp, say Jason Hickel and Yanis Varoufakis

"Capitalists are the ones who determine what to produce, how to use our labour and who gets to benefit. The rest of us – the people who are actually doing the production – do not get a say."

Under Trump, EPA’s Enforcement of Environmental Laws Collapses, Report Finds - Inside Climate News Analysis of federal data by a nonprofit watchdog group found that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has drastically pulled back on holding polluters accountable.

"By analyzing a range of federal court and administrative data, the nonprofit Environmental Integrity Project found that civil lawsuits filed by the U.S. Department of Justice in cases referred by the Environmental Protection Agency dropped to just 16..." buff.ly/9Z2KSZy

Trump ends Obama-era restrictions on commercial fishing in protected area off New England President Donald Trump issued a proclamation reopening a huge swath of the Atlantic to commercial fishing.

"Trump’s proclamation is his latest move to try to strengthen U.S. fishing while rolling back existing conservation measures. He signed a broader order earlier this year that calls on the federal government to reduce the regulatory burden on fishermen in the coming weeks."

Trump nominates hospitality executive to lead National Park Service President Trump is nominating a food service and hospitality executive to lead the National Park Service (NPS). Trump’s pick to lead the U.S.’s national parks, Scott Socha, is Delaware North’…

"According to Delaware North’s website, its parks and resorts subsidiary provides services in seven national parks and operates lodging in five communities near parks, including Yosemite."

EV Charging Program Faces the Axe in Budget Bill - Inside Climate News Legislation that could end the partial government shutdown would slash funding for the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program.

"The gutting of NEVI would not be surprising given the Trump administration’s other actions to cut EV consumer subsidies, but it would be short-sighted in a world moving toward electrified transportation, according to states and organizations that want to preserve funding." buff.ly/JvGL7R1

It’s older than the Roman Empire, taller than the Statue of Liberty and as heavy as 7 blue whales | Discover Wildlife Meet the General Sherman tree – the largest tree on the planet.

"This colossus of the arboreal world, found in California’s Sequoia National Park, stands almost 84 metres tall, is estimated to be around 2,200 years old and weighs well over a million kilograms."

Bureau of Land Management revokes American Prairie bison leases The U.S. Department of the Interior announced on Friday that it is revoking grazing permits in Phillips County that American Prairie had been using to sustain its herd of bison.

“'When federal agencies begin changing how the rules are applied after the process is complete, it undermines confidence in the system for everyone who relies on public lands.'"

Trump's exit from global climate treaty leaves U.S. without a voice in negotiations In an executive order, Trump put an end to more than three decades of U.S. support for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the world's long-standing climate treaty.

"The move is yet another sign that the Trump administration is abandoning all efforts to fight climate change, rolling back these policies at a time when global warming is making weather disasters more frequent and intense across the country."

From ‘extinct’ to growing, a rare snail returns to the wild in Australia Rarely do species presumed extinct reappear with renewed hope for a better future. But researchers in Australia not only discovered a wild population of Campbell’s keeled glass-snail on Australia’s…

"[R]esearchers in Australia not only discovered a wild population of Campbell’s keeled glass-snail on Australia’s Norfolk Island in 2020 — they’ve now bred the snail in captivity and recently released more than 300 individuals back into the wild, where they’re multiplying."

Now in its 25th Year, a Historic Effort to Save the Everglades Evolves as the Climate Warms - Inside Climate News Everglades restoration was designed to replenish the drinking water supply in one of the fast-growing parts of the nation. The same effort may help save South Florida from climate change.

"The focal point for all this hope—and work—is the Florida Everglades, where a $27 billion restoration effort is among the most ambitious of its kind in human history."

‘Just an unbelievable amount of pollution’: how big a threat is AI to the climate? Defenders say AI can do good to fight the climate crisis. But spiralling energy and water costs leave experts worried

"In the US, where natural gas is expected to generate most of the electricity in datacentres over the next decade, the Trump administration used them to justify burning more coal."

The Year in Climate: Attacks on Science, the Start of Trump’s Second Term and Surging Electricity Demand Foreshadow a Future Filled with Uncertainty - Inside Climate News Global inaction on fossil fuel and plastic treaties, the dismantling of federal agencies and regulations and the rapid rise of data centers were just a few of the consequential stories that Inside…

"The Trump administration’s dismantling of environmental protection rules was more far-reaching than even some of the most pessimistic expectations."

"The embattled reserve has lost around half of its primary forest cover since it was created in 2006, according to satellite data from the University of Maryland’s Global Land Analysis and Discovery (GLAD) lab and visualized on monitoring platform Global Forest Watch."

It is not the Earth’s future at stake in the climate crisis – it is ours | Letters Letters: As we edge towards an irreversible point, the climate becomes less a challenge to manage and more a hostile environment in which many will struggle to live, writes Keith Nicholls. Plus…

"The world is divided into three groups: those in need, who are already suffering and losing homes and livelihoods; those driven by greed, who profit from delay and denial; and those who claim to care, but hide behind endless excuses for inaction. Meanwhile, the clock keeps ticking."

In the race for DRC’s critical minerals, community forests stand on the frontline LIKASI, Democratic Republic of Congo — North of the limits of the Lukutwe community forest concession, two armed soldiers stepped in front of Valery Kyembo and his visitors. Wearing a bright orange…

"Community forest concessions offer communities land titles in perpetuity and have environmental management plans led by Indigenous and local communities with the support of environmental NGOs and donors."

Peaceful Protest Against Whaling in Iceland Lands Two Activists in Court - Inside Climate News Iceland is one of three countries that still permits commercial whaling. The activists headed to trial this week are calling on Icelandic officials to ban the practice permanently.

“'We had to take even more direct action and do what we could to put our bodies in the way of the harpoons,' Phillips said."

With every extinction, we lose not just a species but a treasure trove of knowledge Every new extinction ripples out beyond the affected species, from ecosystems to human knowledge across culture, spirituality and science.

"Biodiversity holds immense potential for breakthroughs in medicine, agriculture, materials and even climate change. As species vanish, the library of life shrinks, and with it, the vault of future human discoveries."

After Living Alongside Humans for Millennia, These Italian Brown Bears Have Evolved to Become Less Aggressive Researchers found genetic differences that likely resulted from humans killing aggressive bears, leaving docile individuals to breed and pass along their genes to offspring

"Researchers have noticed that Italian bears have smaller bodies, unique head and facial features and more docile attitudes compared with their counterparts living elsewhere in Europe, as well as in North America and Asia."

Daines reintroduces effort to rollback Montana Wilderness Study Areas • Daily Montanan Montana delegation seeks to return three areas to general land management, opponents say bill flawed, removes local voices

"The Montana Sportsmen Conservation Act, which Daines originally introduced in 2022, would remove WSA designations from three areas in Montana — the Middle Fork Judith, Hoodoo Mountain, and Wales Creek Wilderness Study Areas."

Indonesia Revokes Permit for Chinese-Built Dam Threatening Ape Species - Inside Climate News The Indonesian government said it has revoked the licenses of 28 companies for violating forestry regulations in provinces hit by devastating flooding in November. A rare equatorial cyclone, which…

"The Tapanuli orangutan’s habitat, which covers an area about the size of Los Angeles, [has] already been under assault in recent years by the construction of a hydroelectric dam the expansion of a gold mine and other commercial activity." buff.ly/ELwME0i

Visualized: Where Do Microplastics Come From Anyway? - Visual Capitalist Discover the top sources of microplastics in the environment, from textiles to tires, in this data-driven visual breakdown.

"Scientists estimate that roughly 21 million tonnes of primary microplastics have accumulated across land and sea environments, with millions of tonnes found in both agricultural soils and ocean waters"

The year in rainforests 2025: Deforestation fell; the risks did not The story of the world’s tropical forests in 2025 was not one of dramatic reversal, but one shaped by accumulated pressure. In several regions, deforestation slowed. In others, loss continued in less…

"Taken together, the year showed that forest outcomes now hinge less on single interventions than on whether governments and institutions can sustain continuity—of funding, governance, science, and oversight—under mounting environmental and political strain."

Could Rescinding The Roadless Rule Make It Harder To Delist Yellowstone Grizzlies? - Inside Climate News The rule banning new roads in some forests protects prime bear habitat and was part of the Fish and Wildlife Service’s justification for its failed attempt to delist grizzlies in 2017.

"Roads in the wilderness can often function like syringes, injecting humans and their ecological impacts—mining, clear-cutting, fossil fuel development, motorized vehicles, invasive species and litter, to name a few—into otherwise difficult-to-reach ecosystems."

5th Annual Threatened And Endangered Parks | A Rundown National Park Service The long-held notion that working in the National Park Service was a promising, even noble, career has been shaken to its core.

"President Donald Trump’s determination to shrink the federal workforce and the determination by Russell Vought — head of the federal Office of Management and Budget — to ensure that federal employees are 'traumatically affected' by workplace hardships have impacted employees..."

EU legislation intended to fight deforestation has been effectively ‘dismantled’ Law’s original author points to removal of obligations for downstream traders to verify origin of commodities

"It is a far cry from the hopes of the 1.2 million EU citizens who signed the petition kickstarting the process to ban deforestation-linked products from Europe’s market in 2020."

'After 200 years, we're seeing this species again': The lost birds making a comeback in the Galapagos Islands Freed from the threat of invasive predators, Galapagos birds are performing astonishing feats of return and innovation – 200 years after Charles Darwin visited the archipelago.

"This year, after the removal of rats and feral cats from Floreana, the bird stunned conservationists by making a surprise re-appearance on the island. How the lost bird returned is a mystery. Other threatened birds have also recovered, and some are even singing new tunes..."

Economic Interests Drive Chinese Climate Leadership Amid U.S. Retreat - Inside Climate News As the United States retreats from climate policy, China signaled its rising intent to lead a transition away from fossil fuels and toward Chinese-made renewable energy technologies in remarks to…

"A global shift to low-carbon power also poses substantial economic benefits to China, the world’s top manufacturer of batteries, solar panels and electric cars."  buff.ly/F1H8Y1P