By Olivia Rosane and Cristen Hemingway Jaynes Quick Key Facts What Is Methane? What has no color or smell and is found in wetlands, cow burps and your basement furnace? The answer is methane — a powerful greenhouse gas that is the second most important contributor to the climate crisis after carbon dioxide (CO2). It […] The post Methane 101: Understanding the Second Most Important Greenhouse Gas appeared first on EcoWatch.| EcoWatch
New York is now the first state in the U.S. to require new buildings to be built entirely electric, without hookups to fossil fuels including gas, the New York State Assembly reported. The rule was initially passed in 2023 as the All-Electric Buildings Act and was finalized with the State Fire Prevention and Building Code […] The post New York Finalizes Rule for New Buildings to Be Electric appeared first on EcoWatch.| EcoWatch
A new peer-reviewed study has linked pesticides as a likely cause to a mass die-off of Western monarch butterflies that occurred in 2024. In January 2024, researchers found hundreds of dead or dying monarch butterflies near the Pacific Grove Monarch Sanctuary in California, where Western monarch butterflies typically overwinter. As The Guardian reported, researchers found […] The post Mass Die-Off of Western Monarch Butterflies Linked to Pesticides, Study Finds appeared first on EcoWatch.| EcoWatch
Thousands of mollusks and worms have been discovered by a Chinese submersible in the Mariana Trench, almost six miles below sea level. The new study revealed it is the deepest colony of animals ever observed. “Hadal trenches, some of the Earth’s least explored and understood environments, have long been proposed to harbour chemosynthesis-based communities. Despite […] The post Deepest-Known Animal Communities Found Almost Six Miles Below Sea Level appeared first on EcoWatch.| EcoWatch
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is home to many species of rare and endangered wildlife, such as mountain gorillas, eastern lowland gorillas and bonobos. But the country has plans to open more than half its land — including 306 million acres of intact tropical forest and vital gorilla habitat — to oil and […] The post Pristine Forest and Endangered Gorilla Habitat at Risk as Half of DRC Opened to Bids for Oil and Gas Drilling: Report appeared first on EcoWatch.| EcoWatch
World hunger fell overall last year, but continued to rise in most of Africa and western Asia, according to a new report — The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) — published by five specialized UN agencies and released Monday by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). […] The post Global Hunger Fell Overall in 2024, but Rose in Africa and Western Asia as Climate and Conflict Threaten Progress: UN Report appeared first on EcoWatch.| EcoWatch
A beneficial bacterial probiotic is restoring hope for mitigating disease spread in corals off the coast of Florida. In a new study, scientists have investigated the effectiveness of a compound produced by the probiotic strain MCH1-7 for combating the deadly stony coral tissue loss disease. MCH1-7 was first uncovered by scientists from the Smithsonian Marine […] The post Probiotic Found to Slow Disease Spread Among Florida Coral appeared first on EcoWatch.| EcoWatch
Earth Overshoot Day is the point in the year when human demand for materials obtained from nature exceeds what the Earth can naturally regenerate in one year. For 2025, Earth Overshoot Day fell on July 24, the earliest it has been since the event was first calculated in 2006. The Earth Overshoot Day was first […] The post Earth Overshoot Day Reaches Record for Earliest Date appeared first on EcoWatch.| EcoWatch
The underground fungi networks that help sustain Earth’s ecosystems are in need of urgent conservation action, according to researchers from the Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN). The scientists found that 90 percent of mycorrhizal fungi biodiversity hotspots were located in unprotected ecosystems, the loss of which could lead to lower carbon emissions […] The post Earth’s Underground Fungi Networks Need Urgent Protection: Study appeared first on EcoWatch.| EcoWatch
In a landmark finding, the UN’s top court stated that a “clean, healthy and sustainable environment” is a human right.| EcoWatch
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China broke its own records for new solar and wind power last year, with installed capacity increasing by 18 and 45 percent, respectively.| EcoWatch
Conservationists in England are releasing hundreds of turtle doves this summer to try to boost the population.| EcoWatch
Center for Biological Diversity A diverse coalition of more than 250 conservation, public-health and sustainable farming groups sent a letter today asking the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to ban atrazine, a toxic pesticide that threatens wildlife and people across the country. The Center for Biological Diversity also submitted comments today from more than 38,000 […]| EcoWatch
Microalgae offers a low-tech, low-cost method of cleaning domestic sewage in place of expensive wastewater treatment facilities.| EcoWatch
Over the last decade, people living in the U.S. have become more aware that the climate crisis is harming their health, a new survey finds.| EcoWatch
The Think Pink recycling company and 11 people in Sweden are being accused of environmental crimes for illegally disposing of toxic waste.| EcoWatch
Thawing Arctic permafrost is releasing mercury-laden sediment that has been sequestered for thousands of years into the environment.| EcoWatch
Unlock the potential of a 10kW solar system—discover costs, savings, and energy production tailored to your home!| EcoWatch
Ocean-bound plastic is plastic waste that is headed toward our oceans. The term "Ocean bound plastic," was popularized by Jenna Jambeck, Ph. D., a professor from the University of Georgia. In 2015, she detailed in an article written in Science that although the majority of everything discarded, plastic or not, is not headed for...| EcoWatch
Deforestation coupled with the rampant destruction of natural resources will soon have devastating effects on the future of society as we know it, according to two theoretical physicists who study complex systems and have concluded that greed has put us on a path to irreversible collapse within the next two to four decades.| EcoWatch