a bit tangential here but something i deeply love about people born in la is that we WILL tell you about the chaparral biome

I had a great time talking with @zialyle.bsky.social & @costasamaras.com about their new study on how climate change poses risks to U.S. drinking water. Water utilities for roughly a fifth of the U.S. population are at high risk from climate hazards. abcnews.com/US/climate-c...

A new proposal from the EPA would significantly reduce protections for wetlands and streams abcnews.go.com/US/epa-propo...

I spoke with Dr. Daeyeon Lee about an accidental breakthrough in water vapor harvesting research and its potential future uses. abcnews.go.com/Internationa...

There’s so much happening right now, I thought I’d put together a running thread on the dismantling of #climate and research and knowledge infrastructure in the United States 🧵

More fallout from the indiscriminate NWS firings: "Effective immediately, and until further notice, the [NWS] is temporarily suspending some weather balloon launches in Albany, New York, and Gray, Maine, due to a lack of Weather Forecast Office (WFO) staffing." www.weather.gov/media/notifi...

Clearing land for cattle and cows is the single biggest driver of rainforest loss in the Amazon. This "hotel for cows" in Colombia offers a solution.

The Trump administration has ordered firings and buyouts at the federal agency that operates water infrastructure in California. Managers of water agencies in the Central Valley warn this could jeopardize the agency’s ability to manage dams and deliver water. www.latimes.com/environment/...

Big court win: judge rules Exxon, Shell, Chevron, BP and others must face claims by Puerto Rican towns in a RICO case alleging the companies engaged in a coordinated, decades-long deception campaign to conceal the true dangers of fossil fuel consumption. www.reuters.com/legal/litiga...

New on my Substack: I talked with UNM's @jfleck.bsky.social about why Colorado River negotiations are at an impasse and what happens when the federal government becomes an unreliable partner. www.westernwaternotes.com/p/q-and-a-th...

Update: Told by sources that direct hire USAID staff are now being locked out of their accounts. Some told they’ve *maybe* been placed on administrative leave. Direct hires were some of the last remaining staff in USAID not locked out. The agency has been entirely dismantled.

Newsom suspends environmental laws to ease rebuilding of homes and businesses in zones destroyed by the fires www.latimes.com/california/s...

This is not a forest. You can't just rake the leaves. It's a shrubland that used to be a lot more grassland when it was burned by the original Indigenous people and grazed during the ranching era. With climate change, increasing drought that intersects with Santa Ana winds is the recipe for fire.

No agreement was reached at U.N. plastics treaty talks last week despite nearly 100 countries supporting limits to plastic production. abcnews.go.com/Internationa...

"It doesn’t take a lot of climate change to put the system into a very vulnerable future." My latest for the ABC News Climate and Environment blog on the Colorado River possibly reaching a point of no return. abcnews.go.com/Internationa...

If you thought October was unusually warm, it isn't your imagination. It was the 2nd warmest month on record. abcnews.go.com/Internationa...

Each year, world leaders and climate advocates gather at COP, but who is not at the Conference this year? abcnews.go.com/Internationa...

Biden's investment in the CTF locks in climate funding that Trump won't be able to touch abcnews.go.com/Internationa...

Week 2 of #COP29 began with a strong reminder of what is at stake for the planet abcnews.go.com/Internationa...

I've been covering #COP29 for the last week -- catch up on the Conference at the ABC News Climate and Environment blog: abcnews.go.com/Internationa...