The Connection Is Growing Between Climate Change and Big Storms
The connection between climate change, hurricanes and tornadoes is not so clear. But data is beginning to show some relationship. Read more.
Environment
Meet the Alabama Scientists Connecting Soaring Global Temperatures to Carbon Dioxide
Two Alabama researchers study ice cores and fossil records from Antarctica, helping connect an alarming increase in the earth’s temperature to rising levels of carbon dioxide. Read more.
Proposal Would Create 36-Mile Trail Loop Around Birmingham
The loop would connect Ruffner Mountain, Railroad Park and Red Mountain Park. Read more.
North Birmingham’s Bluestone Coke Plant Issued Warning for Clean Water Act Violations
The industrial plant has 60 days to clean up contaminated water in Five Mile Creek before it faces a federal lawsuit, local environmental groups warn. Read more.
Alabama’s Hemlocks Face Threat From a Deadly Insect
In the Bankhead National Forest, Eastern Hemlock trees foster unique habitat for a wide range of species. But a deadly insect is moving closer and closer. Read more.
An Alabama program helps residents stormproof their homes. Louisiana wants to copy it.
Strengthen Alabama Homes gives residents up to $10,000 to retrofit homes to the Fortified standard. Other states see it as a model for their own insurance woes. Read more.
Cahaba Lily Season Draws Crowds, Inspires Conservation Efforts
Alabama is thought to be home to the world's largest population of the rare flower, which is only in bloom a few more weeks. Read more.
Field of Streams: Reconnecting the Alabama and Cahaba Rivers Would Restore Ecosystem Lost to Dams
Dams were built across the United States from the 1920s to the 1960s with the hope they would change economies and do great things for people all over the U.S. But there was an unintended consequence in many places, including Alabama. “Looking back with hindsight, if they were going to build a dam below the Cahaba River, they should have accounted for maintaining the connection of the ecosystem, but they didn't,” said Mitch Reid, director of The Nature Conservancy in Alabama. “We're trying to make it right now.” The plan from the U.S. Corps of Engineers that would build a system of canals to reconnect the Cahaba and Alabama rivers and allow fish to make their way along the river system down to the Mobile area. Read more.
Lead keeps poisoning children. It doesn’t have to.
SANTA ANA, California — The news came as a shock: Lead, lurking somewhere in Nalleli Garrido's home, was poisoning her 1-year-old son. His pediatrician instructed her to clean all the toys of her toddler, Ruben, keep the home dust-free and prevent him from playing in the bare soil outside her rented bungalow in Santa Ana’s Logan neighborhood. She did all she could. But the dust kept sneaking in. No one offered an alternative. The only solution she and her husband could find was to get out. In 2019, after two years of constant worry, they moved north to the city of Buena Park, buying a home with a grassy yard — not an exposed patch of soil like her Santa Ana front yard, where the toxic metal could be found in concentrations as high as 148 parts of lead per million parts of soil. California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment considers 80 parts per million and above dangerous for children. “I was terrified to take my son out,” said Garrido, a psychiatric nurse. “Even walking through the yard, I would tell my kids to hold their breath. ‘Don’t breathe that in, don’t breathe in the dust.’” Read more.
Legal Complaint Claims Alabama Discriminates When Distributing Sewage Infrastructure Funds
Alabama only allows state funds for sewage infrastructure to go to public bodies. A civil rights complaint argues the policy hurts communities of color. Read more.