Yale Environment 360

The U.S. doesn’t produce enough vegetable oil to meet a new biofuels mandate, so suppliers will have to ramp up imports of vegetable oil, putting pressure on tropical forests overseas.Read more on E360 →

In his latest book, biologist David George Haskell describes flowering plants as “world creators.” In an interview with Yale Environment 360, he explains how they spurred the evolution of new ecosystems and what flowering plants can teach us about survival on a warming planet.Read more on E360 →

For people who came of age in the 1970s, it is especially painful to witness the Trump administration’s relentless rollback of hard-won environmental progress. But as the assaults on clean air and water, endangered species, and more mount, a noted ecologist finds reasons for hope.Read more on E360 →

Scientists have identified more than 110 new species deep underwater beyond the edges of Australia's Great Barrier Reef.Read more on E360 →

Indonesia saw the loss of forest hit its highest level in eight years last year, a jump driven in part by a sprawling effort to turn rainforest into rice and sugarcane plantations.Read more on E360 →

New research finds that even a few scattered trees on farmland can give a big boost to forest wildlife.Read more on E360 →

A drought in Russia led to riots in Egypt. Fires in Canada fueled deadly pollution in Spain. Fires, droughts, storms, and floods can have knock-on effects that are not well understood and rarely accounted for in planning, a new paper warns.Read more on E360 →

Despite being a renewables superpower, China continues to permit and build new coal-fired power plants at a rapid pace. Analysts say the nation’s new five-year plan will ensure further coal plant expansion and jeopardize China’s ability to deliver on its climate promises.Read more on E360 →

Benzene, a compound linked with leukemia and other blood cancers, is leaking from gas stoves in Europe, a new study finds. Read more on E360 →

Over the last half century, populations of fish migrating through the world's rivers have dropped by 81 percent, according to a stark new U.N. report. Read more on E360 →

Gray wolves made an uneasy comeback in the Northern Rockies and are struggling to return to the Southwest. But legislation now working its way through Congress is being spurred by misinformation and myth, rather than science, and threatens to end wolf recovery in the U.S.Read more on E360 →

In the forests of central Mexico, the number of monarch butterflies grew for the second year in a row, suggesting the population has stabilized after years of decline. Read more on E360 →

Zambia is expanding development of its rich deposits of critical minerals, which are needed for the global shift to renewables. But poisoning from past mining and a huge toxic spill at a mine site are raising fears that new wealth will come at a high cost for people and the environment.Read more on E360 →

Five years ago, Tanzanian authorities set out to push the Indigenous Maasai off their ancestral lands in the famed Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Despite global outcry over the forced removals, this month two presidential commissions called for the evictions to continue, citing the need to protect wildlife.Read more on E360 →

Archbald, Pennsylvania, a borough of fewer than 8,000 people, may soon be home to five massive data centers that, when completed, would rank among the largest now in the world. While residents are worried that data centers will strain the electric grid and drive up power bills, officials are clearing the way for these projects, which are a potentially lucrative source of tax revenue.Read more on E360 →

Since President Trump launched the latest bombing campaign against Iran, the price of a gallon of regular gas in the U.S. has climbed by 20 percent. The spike in fuel costs has reportedly driven a surge in interest in electric cars.Read more on E360 →

In parts of Europe, the diversity of plants was greatest in the years before the Black Death, at a time when small farms and pastures existed alongside grasslands and forests, new research reveals. The findings show how, under the right conditions, farms can be a boon to nature.Read more on E360 →

Fungi create soil, sequester vast amounts of carbon, and contribute $55 trillion to the global economy, but knowledge about them is scarce. Now, mycologists are pushing to get the international scientific community to recognize fungi on the same level as plants and animals.Read more on E360 →

Global news coverage of climate change declined for the fourth straight year in 2025, even as emissions hit new highs, according to a new analysis.Read more on E360 →

As U.S. and Israeli forces pummel Iran, oil installations and a desalination plant have come under fire. Experts warn that attacks on key infrastructure threaten the supply of fresh water in a country already coping with a brutal drought.Read more on E360 →