Climate Food and Agriculture
All Stories
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![Surplus corn harvested in 2010 is piled outside a farmer's co-op storage silo December 4, 2010 in Paoli, Colorado]()
![Surplus corn harvested in 2010 is piled outside a farmer's co-op storage silo December 4, 2010 in Paoli, Colorado]()
Biofuels are getting a second look — and some tough questions
Bioethanol has been touted as a green way to cut reliance on Russian oil. But new modeling suggests it isn't the climate solution we'd hoped for.
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![collage of bare apple tree covered in snow with pruning shears, leaves, and abstract red circles]()
![collage of bare apple tree covered in snow with pruning shears, leaves, and abstract red circles]()
What I learned from pruning Milwaukee’s orphaned fruit trees
People are planting more trees. But they're not always prepared to take care of them.
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![A mound of earth with some trees on top rises from a parched desert landscape.]()
![A mound of earth with some trees on top rises from a parched desert landscape.]()
UN report: People have wrecked 40% of all the land on Earth
A warning that the damage done to the land threatens many species, including our own.
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![The Glen Canyon Dam at Lake Powell]()
![The Glen Canyon Dam at Lake Powell]()
As Lake Powell dries up, the US turns to creative accounting for a short-term fix
A new agreement calls for Western states to leave their drinking water in the reservoir — and act as if they didn't.
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![An aerial view of the AltEn facility, surrounded by green fields.]()
![An aerial view of the AltEn facility, surrounded by green fields.]()
How a Nebraska ethanol plant turned seeds into toxic waste
State regulators shuttered the AltEn plant in 2021 after years of environmental violations. Residents are just beginning to grapple with its toxic legacy.
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![A man walks toward a solar panel in Illinois.]()
![A man walks toward a solar panel in Illinois.]()
As utility-scale renewables expand, some Midwest farmers are pushing back
Rural communities are concerned about losing agricultural land in a region long-defined by its farming roots.
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![A tank of produced water used for farming. For decades, Kern County has used oil field wastewater, known as]()
![A tank of produced water used for farming. For decades, Kern County has used oil field wastewater, known as]()
A California water board assured the public that oil wastewater is safe for irrigation. Experts say evidence is flimsy.
Studies in Kern County, performed by oil industry consultants, cannot answer fundamental safety questions about irrigating crops with “produced water,” the board’s own panel of experts conceded.
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![Silhouette of Michigan with mining photo and ocean surface on top]()
![Silhouette of Michigan with mining photo and ocean surface on top]()
The country’s largest potash mine is coming to Michigan. Here’s why locals are worried.
The war in Ukraine has the U.S. looking for fertilizer at home. But at what cost?
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![A field of corn in front of an ethanol plant in Illinois.]()
![A field of corn in front of an ethanol plant in Illinois.]()
Midwestern lawmakers are trying to replace Russian oil with ethanol
Advocates of increased ethanol sales argue that it could lower fuel prices and help the climate. Both counts are hotly contested.
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![Saguaros are seen in the Hummingbird Springs Wilderness Area on Bureau of Land Management land on January 31, 2021 in Quartzsite, Arizona.]()
![Saguaros are seen in the Hummingbird Springs Wilderness Area on Bureau of Land Management land on January 31, 2021 in Quartzsite, Arizona.]()
There are millions of acres of ‘failing’ rangelands, data shows
54 million acres of federal land managed by the Bureau of Land Management aren’t meeting the agency’s own land-health standards.
