• Land

Miami Condo Collapse Raises Concerns of Flooding, Sea-Level Rise

• climate change
• coastal communities
• sea level rise
• sinking ground

by Amy Lupica, ODP Staff Writer A condo collapse in Miami is prompting new conversations about the threats rising sea levels and flooding present to the nation’s infrastructure. Experts say that it’s too early to determine whether or not climate change contributed to the partial collapse of the Champlain Towers. But they also warn that as sea levels rise […]

• Land

Build Up Wetlands, Save The Hot Sauce

• Louisiana
• marshes
• sealevel rise
• wetlands

by Ashira Morris, ODP Staff Writer Louisiana loses almost a football field of land each day, caused by a combination of climate change-fueled sea level rise, reduced sediment flow from the Mississippi River, and the land gradually sinking. One area that’s not slipping underwater: Avery Island, the birthplace of Tabasco hot sauce that’s still the […]

• Land

Florida Governor Backs Highway Extension Through Everglades Region

• Everglades
• Florida
• Ron DeSantis

by Amy Lupica, ODP Staff Writer Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and part of the state Cabinet have approved a highway extension spanning a portion of the Everglades. The move rejects a 2020 recommended order from Administrative Law Judge Suzanne Van Wyk, claiming that the project was incompatible with continued efforts to establish protections in the region. Legal challenges are […]

• Land

Nevada Activists Fight For Federal Protections for Native Lands

• Bears Ears
• conservation
• indigenous communities
• protected areas

by Natasha Lasky, ODP Staff Writer Activists in Nevada are fighting to permanently protect a stretch of Mojave Desert with ecological and Native American cultural importance. The proposed site would be called Avi Kwa Ama National Monument and would encompass 594 square miles, including a Spanish Colonial Revival house that belonged to 1920s stars Clara […]

• Land

Alaska Indigenous Community Gives Fatal Blow to Proposed Mine Project

• #30x30
• Alaska
• Bristol Bay
• mine
• Pebble Mine
• Salmon

By Amy Lupica, ODP Staff Writer Pedro Bay Corp., an Alaska Native group, has struck a blow to the controversial Pebble Mine project, which had promised to be the largest gold mine in North America. Located near Alaska’s famed Bristol Bay,  development on the site threatened to damage the largest sockeye salmon fishery in the world, […]

• Land

Endangered Flower at Crossroads of U.S.’s Lithium Future

• batteries
• electric vehicles
• endangered species
• Endangered Species Act
• lithium
• mining

A battle is raging in Nevada as the U.S. Fish, and Wildlife Service announces it will be listing Tiehm’s buckwheat flower as an endangered species, striking a blow to a lithium mining project in the region. Lithium is required for the batteries that power electric vehicles, which the government is making significant investments in to reduce the nation’s carbon footprint. But environmentalists argue that the Rhyolite Ridge lithium mine in Nevada will do more harm than good. 

Why This Matters: The world is facing two major crises: global temperature rise and biodiversity loss. In the U.S., investing in renewable energy and electric power has been identified by experts as the quickest path to net-zero emissions and preventing catastrophic temperature rise.