"A new generation of pesticides is making honeybees far more susceptible to disease, even at tiny doses, and may be a clue to the mysterious colony collapse disorder that has devastated bees across the world, the US government's leading bee researcher has found. Yet the discovery has remained unpublished for nearly two years since it was made by the US Department of Agriculture's Bee Research Laboratory."
"After more than three years of war, a lull in fighting raised hopes that a good harvest would ease hunger in Sudan. Instead, El Niño has delivered a damaging drought and, in some areas, led to the lowest rainfall since 1984, the year famine devastated Sudan and Ethiopia."
"A few days before Christmas in 2023, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency received a complaint through its National Response Center: “There has been a horrible smell in the air for almost a week,” the caller said, according to state records. “It’s so bad it’s making people throw up.”"
"Renters in Washington State now have expanded rights to air conditioning under a state law that recently went into effect. Awareness of the law, however, has yet to reach the farmworker community, which could benefit from the new protections."
"Maryland is spending millions in taxpayer dollars on technology designed to protect people and water from animal manure pollution at large-scale livestock farms — but has wasted money on fruitless projects and shown little evidence that the investments are working, according to a new report."
"The reversal comes after environmental and Indigenous rights groups pushed the bank to acknowledge environmental concerns. More watchdogging of development banks is on the horizon, they say."
"Last year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced it was closing its largest research campus and radically reorganizing research at the U.S. Forest Service (USFS). The moves were controversial because they involved long-distance job transfers that threatened to uproot many scientists and derail research programs. This week, a federal judge declared the plans were likely illegal and ordered a halt until at least 11 December, when the current federal budget runs out."
"For years, economists dismissed collusion as crankery and blamed bird flu for high prices. Then the feds found evidence that could prove the cranks right, and almost nobody noticed."
"As efforts to protect people from extreme heat stall, organizers are embracing an approach that targets major brands’ reputations"
