Arizona health officials are warning that hantavirus, a virus transmitted to humans by rodents, is causing a surge in a potentially deadly lung syndrome. There have been seven confirmed cases and three deaths in the past six months, according to a recent health alert. Most cases of hantavirus are reported in the western and southwestern … Read more
To save the endangered spotted owl from extinction, U.S. conservationists are embracing a controversial plan to deploy trained marksmen into dense West Coast forests to kill nearly half a million spotted owls that are crowding out their own kind. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s strategy released Wednesday aims to bolster declining spotted owl populations … Read more
To save the endangered spotted owl from extinction, U.S. conservationists are embracing a controversial plan to deploy trained marksmen into dense West Coast forests to kill nearly half a million spotted owls that are crowding out their own kind. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s strategy released Wednesday aims to bolster declining spotted owl populations … Read more
After a year of dominance, El Niño’s wrath has ended, but its climate-changing counterpart, La Niña, is nipping at its heels and could signal a return to drought for California. El Niño is the warm phase of the El Niño Southern Oscillation, also called ENSO. The tropical Pacific climate pattern is the biggest driver of … Read more
California’s earthquake early warning system is getting a seismic upgrade, allowing residents to receive faster warnings about tremors from an upcoming megaquake. The upgrade, also available in Oregon and Washington, will provide features important for Big One alerts. The improvements could mean that, depending on where they are and where the earthquake starts, Californians would … Read more
Known for its glowing swaths of yellow, orange and red, the U.S. Drought Monitor has warned farmers, residents and officials across the country every week since 1999 of impending water shortages. Backed by data on soil moisture, temperature, snow cover, meltwater runoff, reservoir levels and more, the map has become an essential tool for determining … Read more
For more than a century, the Great Flood of 1862 has ranked among California’s worst natural disasters: a megastorm used as a benchmark for state emergency planners and officials to better prepare for the future. A feared repeat of the flood — which killed at least 4,000 people and turned the Central Valley into a … Read more
Climate change is changing the character of the hottest periods in the West, making them more frequent, persistent and deadly. For almost all of human history, heat waves have been caused by natural variability – or the tendency of weather patterns to occasionally deviate from their typical patterns. Now, however, the accumulation of greenhouse gases … Read more
Editor’s Note: Call to Earth is a CNN editorial series reporting on the environmental challenges facing our planet, along with the solutions. Rolex’s Perpetual Planet initiative partners with CNN to raise awareness and education around important sustainability issues and inspire positive action. In a Mojave aster flower, a small bee sleeps deeply. At night, the … Read more
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Several dozen young people wearing light blue T-shirts emblazoned with #teachclimate filled a hearing room at the Minnesota Capitol in St. Paul in late February. It was a cold and windy day, in contrast to the state’s nearly snowless, warm winter. The high school and college students and other advocates, … Read more