Today's Top 5

Trump Moves Decisively to Wipe Out Obama's Climate Legacy

President Trump will take the most significant step yet in obliterating his predecessor’s environmental record Tuesday, instructing federal regulators to rewrite key rules curbing U.S. carbon emissions. The sweeping executive order also seeks to lift a moratorium on federal coal leasing and remove the requirement that federal officials consider the impact of climate change when making decisions. The order sends an unmistakable signal that just as President Barack Obama sought to weave climate considerations into every aspect of the federal government, Trump is hoping to rip that approach out by its roots. - Washington Post

When Is It Time To Retreat From Climate Change?

While managed retreat is not always the right choice for communities threatened by climate change,  it may be the right choice more often than we’re willing to admit. Well more than a hundred million people are expected to face displacement by rising seas before the end of the century. - The New Yorker

Lamar Smith, Unbound, Lays Out Political Strategy at Climate Doubters Conference

Representative Lamar Smith (R–TX) rarely expresses his true feelings in public. But speaking yesterday to a like-minded crowd of climate change doubters and skeptics, the chairman of the science committee in the U.S. House of Representatives acknowledged that the committee is now a tool to advance his political agenda rather than a forum to examine important issues facing the U.S. research community. - Science

Villagers Vote To Ban Massive Gold Mining Project in Colombia

 Residents of a town in central Colombia sent a clear message on Sunday to the powers that be that they don’t want a large-scale mining operation in their backyard. In an almost unanimous vote of 6,165 of 6,296 voters (about 98 percent), inhabitants of the Colombian municipality of Cajamarca voted against one of the world’s largest planned gold mines. Dubbed La Colosa, the open-pit mine is a project of world’s third largest gold producer, AngloGold Ashanti. - Mongabay

Deal Ups Flow of Funding For Flint Water Fallout

Michigan will spend an additional $47 million to help ensure safe drinking water in Flint by replacing lead pipes and providing free bottled water under a proposed settlement announced Monday. The money is in addition to $40 million previously budgeted to address Flint’s widespread lead-contamination crisis. The state also will set aside $10 million to cover unexpected costs, bringing the total to $97 million. - The Detroit News

Today's Top 5

Scott Pruitt Doesn't Know Power of the EPA

The President-elect’s pick to head the E.P.A., the Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, has argued before Congress that the agency “was never intended to be our nation’s frontline environmental regulator,” and that the states should have primary authority. That argument is now a favorite among conservatives. But according to Philip Angell, who became an E.P.A. special assistant in 1970, Pruitt’s interpretation ignores the history and intent of the laws that define the agency’s mission. The statutes give the E.P.A. “the primary authority to set standards and enforce them if the states won’t do it,” he told me. “The whole point was to set a federal baseline.”  - The New Yorker

Civil Rights Panel: Flint Water Crisis Linked to 'Systemic Racism'

The Flint drinking water crisis has its root causes in historical and systemic racism, the Michigan Civil Rights Commission said Friday in a hard-hitting report that calls the public health catastrophe " a complete failure of government" and recommends a rewrite of the state's emergency manager law and bias training for state officials. The report, unanimously adopted at a meeting of the commission at the Northbank Center in downtown Flint, also calls for the creation of a "Truth and Reconciliation Commission" — a model that was used in South Africa after apartheid — as a way of rebuilding government trust and credibility by listening to and addressing specific concerns raised by Flint residents. - Detroit Free Press

Climate Change Is Transforming The World's Food Supply

Climate change is poised to affect the world's food supply in three key ways, experts say. "There will be impacts on the quantity, quality and location of the food we produce," said Dr. Sam Myers, a medical doctor and senior research scientist studying environmental health at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. "We've never needed to increase food production more rapidly than we do today to keep up with global demand." - Live Science.

Murray Energy CEO Claims Global Warming Is A Hoax

Murray Energy is the country's largest coal miner. Many of its mines are in Appalachia, a region that would suffer some of the biggest impacts of the rule. Murray also successfully sued to delay implementation of the Clean Power Plan, which would regulate planet-warming carbon emissions from power plants. Asked about the economic analysis behind President Barack Obama's energy regulations, Murray said, "There's no scientific analysis either. I have 4,000 scientists that tell me global warming is a hoax. The Earth has cooled for 20 years." It was not immediately clear who the 4,000 scientists Murray referenced are. - CNBC

Majority of Science Teachers Are Teaching Climate Change, But Not Always Correctly

Most public middle and high school science teachers in the United States are devoting two hours or less per course to the topic of climate change —and they are often getting the facts wrong, according to a new study published Thursday in the journal Science. While three out of four teachers are teaching the issue, only half of those instructors are correctly explaining that humans are driving climate change. An even smaller number of teachers are aware of how overwhelming the scientific consensus on the issue is. - InsideClimate News

Today's Top 5 Trending: Honduras Activists, Coal Exec Sentenced, Antarctic Ice Sheet Predictions, Coral Die-Offs, Flint Lawsuit

Why Is Honduras the World's Deadliest Country for Environmental Activists? 

My story today on the environmental as an important battleground for human rights, and why Honduras has become so dangerous for indigenous and environmental activists. - The Guardian

Coal Exec Gets Maximum Sentence in West Virginia Mining Disaster

Former Massey Energy Co. CEO Don Blankenship, who rose from humble beginnings in Mingo County to become the wealthy and powerful chief executive of one of the region’s largest coal producers, will serve one year in prison and pay a $250,000 fine for a mine safety criminal conspiracy, a judge decided Wednesday. - Charleston Gazette

Antarctica in the Year 2500

A new scientific study predicts varying scenarios in which climate change could cause the West Antarctic ice sheet to melt in the coming decades and centuries. If greenhouse gas emissions are not reduced significantly, seas around the world could rise to potentially catastrophic levels before 2100. This graphic shows what could happen by 2500. - Los Angeles Times

Scientists Blame El Nino, Warming for 'Gruesome' Coral Death

Kiritimati is where El Nino, along with global warming, has done the most damage to corals in the past two years, experts said. While dramatic images of unprecedented total bleaching on Australia's Great Barrier Reef are stunning the world, thousands of miles to the east conditions are somehow even worse. - Associated Press

Michigan Claims Immunity in Flint Class Action Lawsuit

Attorneys for the state and Gov. Rick Snyder are asking a judge to dismiss one of several class action lawsuits filed on behalf of Flint residents over the city’s ongoing water contamination crisis, claiming immunity in federal court. A motion filed Monday with U.S. District Judge John Corbett O’Meara argues the federal court does not have jurisdiction to hear the case and that plaintiff claims against Snyder are “not viable.” - Detroit News

Today's Top 5 Trending: Canadian Mining Abuses, Ocean Garbage, Idaho Lead Woes, Melting Ice Caps, Clinton and Greenpeace

Guatemalan Woman's Claim Puts Focus On Canadian Firms' Conduct Abroad

For a long time, Margarita Caal did not talk about what happened that afternoon. None of the women in this tiny village high in the hills of eastern Guatemala did, not even to each other. But that day, Caal said, the men who had come to evict her from land they said belonged to a Canadian mining company also took turns raping her. After that, they dragged her from her home and set it ablaze. - New York Times

How Bad Is Ocean Garbage, Really? 

Plenty of studies have sounded alarm bells about the state of marine debris; in a paper published in February in the journal Ecology, researchers set out to determine how many of those perceived risks are real. In 83 percent of cases, the perceived dangers of ocean trash were proven true.  - The Atlantic

Like Flint, Idaho Knows Lead Poisoning

The lead poisoning in Flint, Mich., has Idaho environmental authorities taking extra steps to ensure such an event can’t happen here. Jerri Henry, who runs the drinking water program for the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, saw what happened in Flint and asked herself: “Are we doing enough?” Idaho Statesman

These Ice Cap Images Show Arctic's Rapid Change

 NASA’s Earth Observatory gathered satellite imagery of two well-studied ice caps on Canada’s Ellesmere Island located north of the Arctic Circle to illustrate the ice’s disappearing act. The imagery captured in 2004 and 2015 shows a major decline in ice cover. When you add an outline of where the ice caps once stretched during a 1959 survey, the decline becomes even more notable. Freakishly warm temperatures in the Arctic this winter — which were up to 20°F above normal in some areas — will likely to hasten their decline and eventual demise. - Climate Central

Usually Calm, Clinton Loses Cool Over Greenpeace Fossil Fuel Question

A question about Clinton's record on accepting donations from the fossil fuel industry tipped the front-runner for the Democratic nomination in this year’s election over the edge. - Reuters

Today's Top 5 Trending: Australia Clean Energy, Environment and Conflict, Trump Denies Climate, Environmental Justice, Africa's Drought

Australia Announces $1 Bn Clean Energy Fund, In Break With Past

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Wednesday said the country would establish a A$1 billion ($761.60 million) clean-energy innovation fund, in a major departure from his predecessor's much maligned approach to combating climate change. - Reuters

How Exploiting the Earth Can Fuel Violent Conflict

At the end of May, the U.N. Environment Assembly will convene for the second time ever in Nairobi, Kenya, to discuss the United Nations’ sustainable development goals and the environmental challenges facing today’s world. And it looks like one major theme to be addressed — one that’s a growing concern among world leaders and activists — is the link between violent conflict and an increasingly over-exploited natural world. - Washington Post

Trump Denies Climate Change Poses Serious Threat

Republican presidential candidates haven't exactly set a high bar for their understanding of climate science during the 2016 race so far. However, front-runner Donald Trump wins the prize for the most confounding denial of global warming expressed by a major party's presidential candidate to date. - Mashable

North Carolina Groups Say People of Color Bear Brunt of Hog Factory Farms

All eyes have been on the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, but it is by no means the only city where the poorest residents face environmental damage and lax government oversight. Further to the South, in rural North Carolina, another, less-known battle is taking shape. This crisis involves the lasting impact of pollution from large concentrated animal feeding operations housing pigs. Now a group of citizens is claiming that the state’s $3 billion pork industry is disposing of its waste in a manner that disproportionately and negatively affects residents of color, and that the negotiating efforts are being stalled by the pork industry. - Civil Eats

Why Is Nobody Talking About Africa's Drought? 

Millions in parts of eastern and southern Africa are facing the worst drought in three decades. Only 15 percent of the $155 million needed for relief aid has been funded to date. - Christian Science Monitor

Today's Top 5 Trending: EU Greenhouse Gases, Michigan v. EPA, Mosquito Dangers, Fertility and Plastics, Artificial Sweeteners

EU Transport Target 'May Have Increased Greenhouse Gas Emissions' 

Renewable transport goal has encouraged biofuels including those from palm oil and soybean, which are found to be worse than diesel oil for emissions - The Guardian

Michigan Group Says Flint Crisis Shows Need to Stop Fighting EPA Pollution Rules

In the context of Flint, Michigan’s ongoing lead-tainted water crisis, regional environmental groups are calling on Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette to stop his fight against federal rules for mercury emissions from power plants. - Midwest Energy News

Undergoing Fertility Treatment? Watch Your Plastics

For women trying fertility treatments, research indicates that exposure to one ubiquitous chemical, bisphenol-A, might greatly impair their chances of having a baby. But federal agencies remain steadfast in the safety of the chemical, known as "BPA" and found in some canned foods and beverages, paper receipts and dental sealants. - Environmental Health News

Could Artificial Sweeteners Like Splenda Trigger Cancer?

An artificial sweetener promoted as a healthier alternative to sugar may raise the risk of leukaemia, a study has found. Italian researchers found Splenda, a sweetener which containing sucralose, was linked with an increased risk of this type of blood cancer as well as other cancers. - London Daily Mail

Mosquitos' Rapid Spread Poses Threat Beyond Zika

As the world focuses on Zika's rapid advance in the Americas, experts warn the virus that originated in Africa is just one of a growing number of continent-jumping diseases carried by mosquitoes threatening swathes of humanity. - Reuters

Today's Top 5 Trending: Flint Lawsuit, Christie Lead Veto, Utah Land Battle, High-Speed Rail Fight, Bird Deaths

Flint Families File Lawsuit Over Water Contamination

A group of Flint families with children has filed new lawsuits in the Michigan city's water crisis, accusing private companies of professional negligence and government employees of misconduct that led to the contamination of the water supply. - Reuters

NJ Governor Defends Veto of Lead Poisoning Bill, Calls Problem 'Over-dramatized'

 Gov. Chris Christie is pushing back against measures by Democratic lawmakers to protect thousands of New Jersey children already exposed to dangerous levels of lead. Christie is defending his veto of a previous effort to increase funding for lead abatement on financial terms and stressing that the state already spends tens of millions each year to help keep children from getting sick. In a press conference last week, Christie said the issue has been “over dramatized” and blamed Democratic-led requests for extra funding for driving the state’s budget problems. - Montclair NJ Spotlight

Remote Utah Enclave Becomes Latest Battleground Over Reach of US Control

At a moment when much of President Obama’s environmental agenda has been blocked by Congress and stalled in the courts, the president still has the power under the Antiquities Act of 1906 to create national monuments on federal lands with the stroke of a pen. A coalition of tribes, with support from conservation groups, is pushing for a new monument here in the red-rock deserts, arguing it would protect 1.9 million acres of culturally significant land from new mining and drilling and become a final major act of conservation for the administrations - New York Times

Controversy Over California Ballot Measure To Kill High-Speed Rail and Use Money for Reservoirs

The campaign, bankrolled by San Joaquin Valley farmers, is already drawing fire from environmentalists and fellow farmers, who call it a "Trojan horse." - San Jose Mercury News

Alaska Scientists Continue Researching Sea Bird Mystery Deaths

Common murres are one of the northern hemisphere's most common seabirds. Die-offs have occurred before but not on this magnitude. Common murres routinely live 20-25 years but have a metabolism rate so high that they can use up fat reserves and drop to a critical threshold for starvation, 65 percent of normal body rate, in three days of not eating. - Associated Press