Environment

Environment

Demand for safari holidays is growing, so how can you do it without harming animals, people or the landscape? Last summer, images were shared of a scene in Tanzania's Serengeti National Park - a large group of jeeps and dozens of tourists standing outside taking pictures of 'The Great Migration' and blocking wildebeests' traditional crossing point. Jeep traffic jams have also been widely reported in other parks, including Sri Lanka's Yala, known for its high density of leopards.

But it is Georgia that is quickly becoming ground zero in the fight against untrammelled growth of datacenters which are notorious for using huge amounts of energy and water as they power the emerging industry of artificial intelligence. The Georgia bill seeks to halt all such projects until March of next year to allow state, county and municipal-level officials time to set necessary policies for regulating datacenters which permanently alter the landscape of our state, said bill sponsor state Democratic legislator Ruwa Romman.

A group of ranches and dairies in the Point Reyes National Seashore has about two months left to close down under an agreement with the Nature Conservancy. The federal park announced on Jan. 8, 2025, that six dairies and six beef ranches operating there would cease operations within 15 months following a confidential legal settlement with environmental organizations that had long sought to ban agricultural uses of the park.

I look at weather.gov a lot. It's not that I need to, for any reason. It's kind of like a tic, or perhaps more accurately, a low-stakes dopamine search. So, the past few days have been somewhat amusing, because the home page of that site was particularly colorful - pinks, light blues, dark blues, purples - for much of the continental United States. Most of my family lives in California; it was fun to send them screenshots going "Hey, most of the country has to deal with this" while they stay blissfully unaware of pretty much anything that isn't within a narrow band of temperatures.

Construction has begun on the first Adaptation Fortress in southwest Bangladesh, a climate-resilient shelter designed to protect communities from both cyclones and heatwaves. The Jameel Observatory-Climate Resilience Early Warning System Network announced the initiative, which transforms existing school-based cyclone shelters into multi-purpose structures. The pilot is being built at the Baradal Aftab Uddin collegiate school in Baradal union, Assasuni sub-district, Satkhira district. A second pilot location has been selected at Satbaria high school in Satbaria union, Keshabpur sub-district, Jashore district.

Editor's Note: We received this intriguing question from a Scouting leader, how do you recycle a flag while respecting it appropriately. When an American flag is worn, faded, or tattered, it should be retired with respect. But what happens next? Most modern flags are made from synthetic materials like nylon and polyester, which release toxic fumes if burned. Textile recycling offers a respectful way to honor both the flag and the environment.

Monday's daytime temperatures will be near record highs across the eastern half of South Florida this afternoon. Apparent temperatures could remain in the low 90s for several hours, said forecasters. But the front will hit quickly with north winds from 9 mph to 14 mph, with gusts as high as 28 mph. Coastal South Florida should see temperatures in the upper 40s to low 50s by Tuesday morning while the area around Lake Okeechobee could see temperatures in the upper 30s.

The big story as we begin Monday is this intense snowstorm enveloping New England, and when all is said and done, 2 feet of snow is definitely in play for some areas. Of course, reaching 2 feet is a big deal. As a matter of fact, Boston's Logan Airport would have to reach 19.9 inches to catapult this snowmaker toward a top 10 all-time biggest winter storm.

Established in 2007, the Enduimet WMA lies adjacent to Kilimanjaro National Park and the Kenyan border. It involves 11 Maasai villages in a community-based system that has long been presented as a model of conservation in Tanzania. Under its rules, around 2533% of revenue from tourism and hunting goes directly to village members through an elected representative body, in contrast to the 3% allocated in game reserves.

Nobody wants a landfill in their backyard, which is exactly why the companies that own them print money. The waste management industry is an oligopoly disguised as a utility. Garbage never stops, permits for new landfills are nearly impossible to obtain, and the handful of players controlling North America's disposal infrastructure enjoy pricing power that makes telecom companies jealous. These stocks compound predictably through recessions, inflation cycles, and regulatory shifts.

The City of Milpitas has cleared a path for homeowners to build or legalize accessory dwelling units (ADUs). With funding from the Community Investment Fund and allocation approved by the Milpitas City Council, the Office of Building Safety will cover permit fees for eligible ADU projects. The move is estimated to save homeowners an average of $5,000, depending on ADU size and other factors.

This is a very serious set of weather conditions, said Emergency Management Commissioner Tim Wiebusch on Sunday. We haven't seen heatwave conditions like this in Victoria for almost 20 years. It was 2009, ahead of the [Black Saturday] bushfires where we saw those prevailing conditions.

After four shark attacks in New South Wales in less than 48 hours, authorities on Tuesday urged beachgoers just go to a local pool instead. Sydneysiders have heard similar warnings before in the past, they've been issued for beaches polluted with faecal matter after heavy rains. The city's unique, outdated sewage management system has been linked to debris balls which have been washing up with increased frequency on Sydney beaches, including again last week at Malabar.

Waterways across Contra Costa County are increasingly threatened by invasive plant species that engulf canals and drains, decreasing biodiversity and reducing safe habitats for wildlife. In an effort to address and restore the environment, the Contra Costa County Flood Control and Water Conservation District is working to reverse that trend. The district hosted its recent 12th annual Giving Natives a Chance event at the Clayton Valley Drain near Concord's Hillcrest Community Park, inviting volunteers from across the county to plant native species around waterways and drains.

Polymarket bettors correctly predicted nearly the entire slate of Golden Globe winners last week, prompting a celebration from Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan. "We have a long way to go to educate the public on the value of market-based forecasts, but you can't deny its accuracy," Coplan wrote. "People have more clarity about the world because Polymarket exists."

The site in question is the subject of a legal challenge raised by tech justice non-profit Foxglove in collaboration with environmental charity Global Action Plan, who claimed the government was wrong to grant planning permission for the project without conducting an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) first. The project, known as the West London Technology Park (WLTP) development, is being overseen by developer Greystoke, which wants to transform the former landfill site (located within an area of green belt land) into a hyperscale datacentre.

Within a few minutes of moving down the estuary from Jack London Square, it started looking like something out of Pirates of the Caribbean. Boats, big and small, sank or half-sunk along the length of the estuary. Spicer pointed out a large sailboat listing on its side, which neighbors say has been disabled for months. "It was actually anchored in the center of the channel for quite some time. A lot of our community members reported it," she said.

Carquinez Strait and Delta, Central Sacramento Valley, Southern Sacramento Valley and Northern San Joaquin Valley are under a dense fog advisory which was released by the National Weather Service on Friday at 12:47 a.m. The advisory is in effect until 11 a.m. The NWS Sacramento CA says to anticipate, Visibility one quarter mile or less in dense fog. Low visibility could make driving conditions hazardous, the NWS said. If driving, slow down, use your headlights, and leave plenty of distance ahead of you.