"Polly Glover realized her son had asthma when he was nine months old. Now 26, he carries an inhaler in his pocket whenever he’s out and about in Prairieville, Louisiana, part of Ascension Parish."
"The Black Sea Biosphere Reserve, on the southern coast of Ukraine, is a haven for migrating birds. More than 120,000 birds spend the winter flitting about its shores, and a multicolored spectrum of rare species — the white-tailed eagle, red-breasted merganser and black-winged stilt, to name just a few — nest among its protected waters and wetlands."
"Engineers, architects, urban planners and officials around the world are seeking ways to retrofit or reconstruct cities to better deal with water — basically, to act more like sponges."
"A thawing of permafrost in beaver-built wetlands can release vast stores of greenhouse gases to warm the climate, but Native peoples are already feeling the rodent’s impacts." "When the beavers came to streams near the Alaskan village of Venetie, the fish disappeared."
"The U.S. Supreme Court is likely to deal federal wetland and waterway safeguards a near-fatal blow by hearing arguments to limit the scope of the EPA’s power under the Clean Water Act, attorneys say."
"The Biden administration is moving to tighten oversight of projects that benefitted from Trump-era loosened water protections, but some projects including a controversial Georgia mine will likely be able to escape new scrutiny."
"The Biden administration last week quietly and abruptly announced that developers can no longer rely on decisions made under a high-profile Trump-era Clean Water Act rule about which waters are federally protected to obtain new permits."
"Andrew Wheeler, who served as head of EPA during the Trump administration, is returning to government service. Virginia Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin (R) announced today he chose Wheeler as his secretary of natural resources. Wheeler will be the state’s top environmental official and oversee five agencies focusing on the environment, natural resources and recreation."
"The loss of marshes, bogs and swamps is driving a rapid, global decline in dragonflies, researchers say.
Their plight has been highlighted by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's latest Red List of Threatened Species, following its first comprehensive assessment of this colourful group of insects.
Wetlands loss is due to urbanisation and unsustainable agriculture, it says.
And now, 16% of the world's dragonflies are under threat of extinction. "
"Alabama’s largest utility plans to bury a heap of toxic coal waste in one of North America’s most biodiverse river systems. Experts say it will put one of the nation’s most pristine wetlands at risk."
