October 8, 2026

 

Michigan Governor Whitmer unveiled the state’s Reclaim the River initiative to clean up and restore Detroit and Kalamazoo rivers, committing $89 million in environmental settlement funds. (Kyle Davidson/Michigan Advance)

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A new poll finds the majority of Americans are “extremely” concerned about the environmental impacts of AI - including local impacts of data center development - up 41 percent from last year. (Adithi Ramakrishnan, Linley Sanders/The Associated Press)

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California will become the first state to ban production and installation of man-made quartz after the industry has been connected to deadly lung disease in workers. (Rebecca Davis O’Brien/The New York Times)

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The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) paid millions of dollars in promised wildfire disaster relief funds for a California aid program after withholding for months. (Brianna Sacks/The Washington Post)

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For the first time in recorded history, a tropical sea turtle nested and laid eggs on the west coast in a California beach, scientists warn it's the latest sign of warming ocean waters. (Soumya Karlamangla/The New York Times)

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The Supreme Court is weighing arguments in a landmark climate change case of Boulder, Colorado against oil companies to hold them accountable for effects of global climate change. (Carrie Johnson/NPR)

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Universities across the U.S. are receiving a new surge of open record requests related to climate change from conservative organizations, which some say is part of a campaign to undermine the role climate research is playing in litigation against U.S. fossil fuel companies. (Chelsea Harvey, Lesley Clark, and Corbin Hiar/Politico)

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Major League Baseball dropped a proposal to host a baseball game at Grand Teton National Park after strong opposition from local leaders. (Stephanie Apstein, Jake Spring/The Washington Post)

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A new report investigates how tech company Meta is using A.I. data centers to avoid billions in federal taxes by exploiting a lucrative tax break. (Kashmir Hill, Jesse Drucker, Eli Tan, Mike Isaac/The New York Times)

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The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved two new genetic technologies from University of Florida to help the state’s orange production crisis after it plunged nearly 90 percent due to disease. (Julie Wernau/The Wall Street Journal)

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Michigan joined 25 states in a lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for repealing the 2024 Carbon Pollution Standards that limit greenhouse gas emissions for power plants. (Valeria Volcovici/Reuters)

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And then there’s this...

 

Believe it or not - for the first time in more than a century, scientists have identified a new species of penguin after a new DNA analysis. (Violet Jira/The Washington Post)