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As greenhouse gases go, methane gets less attention than carbon dioxide, but it is a key contributor to climate change.

Methane doesn't stay in the atmosphere as long as CO2 and is reabsorbed into terrestrial cycles via chemical reactions within 12 years or so. But while it's up there, it's much more potent, trapping heat at roughly 84 times the rate of CO2. Scientists estimate that around 25 percent of current global warming traces to methane.

When it comes to reducing CO2 emissions, the chain between cause and effect is frustratingly long and diffuse. Reduced emissions today won't show up as reduced climate impacts for decades.

But with methane, the chain of causation is much shorter and simpler. Reduced emissions have an almost immediate climate impact. It's a short-term climate lever, and if the countries of the world are going to hold rising temperatures to the United Nations' target of "well below" 2 degrees Celsius above the preindustrial baseline, they're going to need all the short-term climate levers they can get.

In the real world, though, the news about methane is bad and getting worse. It turns out that a mysterious recent spike in global methane levels that's putting climate targets at risk may be coming from US oil and gas fracking. If that's true, it's bad news, because there's lots more shale gas development in the pipeline and the Trump administration is busy rolling back regulations on the industry.

The mysterious spike in atmospheric methane may lead to America's doorstep

Global methane emissions rose steeply in the last decades of the 20th century and then leveled off. But around 2006, they started heading up again. Why? What was the source? Scientists were baffled. (Jonathan Mingle wrote a great story for Undark on scientists' search for answers.)

There are two broad sources of methane emissions: biogenic (plant and animal-based) and fossil fuel production. The former is mainly about agriculture (cow burps, pig poop, rotting organic waste) and tropical wetlands. As for the latter, methane is leaked or deliberately "flared" (burned off) at virtually every stage of fossil fuel production and transport, a problem that is notoriously bad for fracked shale gas and tight oil.

A few studies, including a major one in the journal Science in 2016, largely traced the recent spike in methane to biogenic sources, mainly because recent atmospheric methane has been "lighter," depleted of its heavier carbon stable isotope (13C). Generally speaking, fossil fuel production produces heavier methane and biogenic sources produce lighter methane, so researchers have taken the trend as an indication that the recent spike is mostly biogenic in origin.

But it was a perplexing finding, one that the Science authors characterized as "unexpected, given the recent boom in unconventional gas production and reported resurgence in coal mining and the Asian economy." If you see a big boom in fossil fuel production happening alongside a big spike in methane, you might expect to find the two connected.

In a new paper released in Biogeosciences, Robert Howarth of Cornell University has proposed a solution to the riddle.

Howarth is a familiar name to those who have followed methane debates over the years. He and colleagues at Cornell have been arguing for years that natural gas methane emissions are much higher than the government estimates or the industry admits, high enough to wipe out its supposed climate advantage over coal. That is a controversial position, to say the least. (Estimates of methane leakage vary widely, but Howarth's is at the very top end.)

In his latest paper, Howarth is making a different point, springing from two facts he says previous studies have overlooked.

First, 63 percent of the total increase in global natural gas production in the 21st century has come from shale gas. And second, shale gas production using modern hydrofracturing techniques tends to produce lighter methane than conventional natural gas drilling.

Howarth finds that if the lighter methane of shale gas production is explicitly accounted for, "shale-gas production in North America over the past decade may have contributed more than half of all of the increased [methane] emissions from fossil fuels globally and approximately one-third of the total increased emissions from all sources globally over the past decade."

Since 89 percent of the shale gas production comes from the US (Canada produced the rest), that's a whole lot of accelerated global warming tracing right back to America's front door.

It is worth emphasizing that this is only one paper in a very active field of research, from a controversial source, and it is sure to be debated and contested in coming years. But if it is right, or even only half right, it is bad news.

All signs point toward increased methane in coming years

If increased methane from shale gas is helping drive the spike in global methane emissions, the climate is in serious trouble, because there is every indication that shale gas emissions are higher than generally estimated and set to keep rising.

First, six years of intensive research from the Environmental Defense Fund has shown that methane emissions from US oil and natural gas production are as much as 60 percent higher than government estimates. This recent paper in Science summarizes: "Methane emissions of this magnitude, per unit of natural gas consumed, produce radiative forcing over a 20-year time horizon comparable to the CO2 from natural gas combustion." Getting natural gas out of the ground and to its final destination releases as much methane as burning it - which, whether or not it makes gas "worse than coal," makes it pretty bad.

Meanwhile, as Jennifer Dlouhy reports for Bloomberg, "the Trump administration is readying a plan to end direct federal regulation of methane leaks from oil and gas facilities, even as some energy companies insist they don't want the relief." The high-profile energy companies, the ones with large operations and lots of exposure to public opinion, rightly see this as a terrible idea. It makes them look like climate villains; it increases their exposure to climate risk and future policy shifts; it makes investors uncertain and hesitant. Oh, and it exacerbates climate change.

But the little companies, with lots of small, leaky wells scattered about, don't want to be forced to clean them up; in many cases, being forced to run clean would destroy the economics and shut down the wells.

And Trump is personally dedicated to reversing everything Obama did, so ... methane-wise, it's back to the Wild West.

Third and most disturbingly, the US appears to be in the early stages of a massive fracking infrastructure buildout. A recent report from Food & Water Watch (FWW) charted this buildout, identifying "more than 700 fracked gas infrastructure projects that have been recently built or proposed for development."

There are liquid natural gas export terminals: "In 2018, there were only three active LNG export facilities in the U.S., but 22 more were either being built or approved for construction, and an additional 22 were pending federal review by the end of the year." There is the plastics industry, with "more than $202 billion slated for investment in ​333 new or expanded facilities." And there is the electricity sector, with "plans to develop ​364 new fracked gas-fired plants​ by 2022."

Despite escalating concerns over the climate impact of natural gas and signs that it is flagging somewhat in the electricity sector, the industry seems poised for enormous expansion. That is wildly irresponsible in the face of the widely agreed upon (by everyone but Republicans) need to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions, in the US and globally, by midcentury.

With jurisdiction over the rapidly metastasizing shale gas industry, the US has direct control over one of the biggest and fastest-growing sources of potent, fast-acting methane. That means it also has, within its reach, the ability to make early and substantial progress on climate change.

Several Democratic candidates have proposed ending fracking on public lands; only a few (Jay Inslee, Bernie Sanders, and Tom Steyer) have explicitly proposed pursuing a national ban. That hasn't been a top-tier policy dispute yet, but as scientists make the grim effects of fracking clearer and clearer, it's going to become one.

Bonus trailer

Next Tuesday, a documentary called Blowout will be released on Amazon Video by Newsy, in partnership with the Associated Press, the Texas Tribune, and the Center for Public Integrity. The producers claim to have some new information about the local health impacts of living near oil and gas infrastructure, including increased incidence of cancers, childhood leukemia, preterm births, and upper respiratory problems. Should be worth checking out.

Bonus company

Remember that post I wrote about a company that will track power plant pollution using satellite imagery and artificial intelligence? There's another startup proposing to do something similar, specifically focused on methane.

Bluefield promises "precise and scalable methane monitoring via microsatellites." It plans to put a bunch of backpack-sized microsatellites into orbit; the sensors they carry will offer continuous data, identifying methane leaks within 20 meters, at roughly 90 percent lower cost than conventional methane monitoring. The company claims its sensors will identify 95 percent of all industrial leaks.

It's early days for the company, obviously - they're still in testing - but something like this seems inevitable. Methane sensing and tracking is going to improve, which will help clear up some of these atmospheric mysteries.

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Fracking may be a bigger climate problem than we thought

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As greenhouse gases go, methane gets less attention than carbon dioxide, but it is a key contributor to climate change. Methane doesn't stay in the atmosphere as long as CO2 and is reabsorbed into terrestrial cycles via chemical reactions within 12 years or so.

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Flying above the Amazon fires, 'all you can see is death' | CNN

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The smoke is so thick, at times the Cessna airplane had to climb to stay out of it. At times your eyes burn and you close the air vents to keep the cabin habitable. Sometimes it is so bad, it is hard to see how bad it actually is on the ground below.

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The Amazon rainforest has been on fire for the past three weeks. The number of fires in Brazil this year is the highest on record since 2013 and is up by 85% from last year alone, CNN reported. Earlier this month, Brazil declared a state of emergency over the rising number of fires in the region. So far this year, more than 80,000 fires in the country have been detected by Brazil's space research center, INPE.

When it came to demanding attention to the situation, social media users led the charge by getting several hashtags trending last week. People around the world took to the streets and protested, demanding action to stop the fires. Eventually, foreign leaders began to speak out on social media as well and develop a plan to help put out the fires.

Here's everything we know about the ongoing fires in the Amazon and multiple ways you can help.

What caused the fires?

While the Amazon rainforest is typically wet and humid, July and August -- the onset of the dry season -- are the region's driest months, with "activity" peaking by early September and stopping by mid-November, according to NASA.

Fire is often used to clear out the land for farming or ranching. For that reason, the vast majority of the fires can be attributed to humans, Christian Poirier, program director of the nonprofit Amazon Watch, told CNN.

Brazil's president, Jair Bolsonaro, has said publicly that he thinks the fires were set by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in retaliation to funding cuts. Bolsonaro didn't provide any evidence for his claims and then later said he never accused any groups, according to the BBC.

What's the connection to climate change?

In a release on Aug. 22, Greenpeace said forest fires and climate change operate in a vicious circle. As the number of fires increase, greenhouse gas emissions do too. This makes the planet's overall temperature rise, the organization said. As the temperature increases, extreme weather events like major droughts happen more often.

"In addition to increasing emissions, deforestation contributes directly to a change in rainfall patterns in the affected region, extending the length of the dry season, further affecting forests, biodiversity, agriculture and human health," Greenpeace said in the release.

What areas are affected?

Satellite images show fires in the Brazilian states of Amazonas, Rondonia, Para and Mato Grosso. The state of Amazonas is most affected, according to Euronews.

Effects of damage to the Amazon go far beyond Brazil and its neighbors. The area's rainforest generates more than 20% of the world's oxygen and is home to 10% of the world's known biodiversity. The Amazon is referred to as the "lungs of the planet" and plays a major role in regulating the climate. The world would drastically change if the rainforest were to disappear, with impacts on everything from farms to drinking water.

The World Meteorological Organization, the United Nation's weather arm, tweeted about the fires Thursday.

"Fires release pollutants including particulate matter & toxic gases such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and non-methane organic compounds into the atmosphere," the organization said.

How many fires are burning?

In a 48-hour period, leading up to Thursday, there were more than 2,500 active fires in the Brazilian rainforest, the BBC reported Friday.

You can see the smoke from space. The European Union Earth Observation Program's Sentinel satellites captured images of "significant amounts of smoke" over Amazonas, Rondonia and other areas. NASA has been monitoring the fires. Over the past week, satellites from the EU and NASA have been tweeting images of the smoke on social media.

On Tuesday, Eric Holthaus, a meteorologist, tweeted data showing smoke from the fires covering about half of Brazil. Later in the week, the BBC tweeted a map showing similar data.

The skies blackened over San Paulo, Brazil, for an hour Aug. 19 after a cold front caused winds to shift and carry smoke from about 1,700 miles away. On Friday, Telesur TV reported that smoke from the fires could be seen in Argentina.

Have the fires been put out?

The fires are still active. On Saturday, Amnesty International captured a photo of the burned forests in the Mato Grosso state. Bolsonaro is mobilizing the Brazilian army to combat the flames, Euronews reported.

This is what Bolsnaro's dismantling environmental + indigenous protections looks like: @amnesty images of fires on indigenous land taken yesterday in Mato Grosso in #Brazil. Before being burned, this forest has been fenced off in preparation for being farmed. pic.twitter.com/L5kJG7WC90
- Richard Pearshouse (@RPearshouse) August 24, 2019

There were reports of scattered rain and thunderstorms on Thursday. It's unclear whether the rains would help extinguish the fires.

Bolivia's president, Evo Morales, contracted a Boeing 747 "Supertanker" on Wednesday to help extinguish the fires, Telesur reported. The Supertanker is capable of flying with 115,000 liters (over 30,000 gallons) and was expected to be operational on Friday.

Was any action taken at the G7 Summit?

At Sunday's G7 Summit, an annual meeting comprised of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US, world leaders agreed on a $20 million aid package to fight the Amazon fires, according to a report from The Hill on Monday. Bolsonaro, who reportedly accepted the aid, tweeted that Brazil is committed to environmental protection.

French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted Thursday with the hashtag #ActForTheAmazon.

"Members of the G7 Summit, let's discuss this emergency first order in two days!" Macron said in his post. German Chancellor Angela Merkel backed Macron's call to put the Amazon fires on this weekend's G7 agenda, the Guardian reported Friday.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau retweeted Macron in agreement about bringing attention to the fires at the G7 weekend.

What else are politicians doing to help?

President Donald Trump tweeted on Friday that he spoke with Bolsonaro.

"I told him if the United States can help with the Amazon Rainforest fires, we stand ready to assist," Trump said in his post.

Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro expressed concern about the fires devastating Brazil and Bolivia and offered aid to help extinguish them. The Venezuelan Chancellery also expressed solidarity with the indigenous communities in Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, Ecuador and Peru.

"Venezuela expresses its deep concern about the gigantic and terrible fires that devastate the Amazon region in the territory of several South American countries, with very serious impacts on the population, ecosystems and biological diversity of the area," Venezuela's Ministry of Popular Power for Foreign Affairs said in a statement to Brasil247 on Friday.

La Pachamama sufre una gran herida con el voraz incendio que consume la Amazonía, además de afectar profundamente a los pueblos originarios que la habitan. Llamo a multiplicar los esfuerzos para preservar la vida en el planeta, solo así, salvaremos a la especie humana. pic.twitter.com/N5oaLOC4hX
- Nicolás Maduro (@NicolasMaduro) August 23, 2019

The Bolivarian Government of Venezuela also proposed a meeting of Foreign Ministers of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO) on Friday, posting a letter Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza.

El Gobierno Bolivariano de Venezuela ha propuesto oficialmente una reunión extraordinaria de Cancilleres de la Organización del Tratado de Cooperación Amazónica (OTCA), para abordar y atender las secuelas ecológicas y sociales de los devastadores incendios en la región amazónica pic.twitter.com/GzQtptOXNh
- Jorge Arreaza M (@jaarreaza) August 23, 2019

Finland's Prime Minister, Antti Rinne, also released a statement saying that the fires in Brazil were "extremely serious" and that he had contacted the European Commission.

"Brazilian rainforests are vital for the world's climate. I am truly worried about the attitude Brazil seems to have adopted right now regarding its own forests. Brazil should do all it takes to end the fires that are a danger to our whole civilization," Rinne said in the statement.

In addition, UK Member of Parliament Rebecca Long-Bailey drafted a letter to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, asking Johnson to tell Bolsonaro that the destruction of the Amazon must stop.

Bolsonaro has faced criticism. People are accusing him of lack of action and of encouraging logging and farming in the Amazon. In early July, an anonymous senior Brazilian official told the BBC that Bolsonaro encouraged deforestation. Ricardo Galvão, the director of the INPE, was fired Aug. 2 after defending data that showed deforestation was 88% higher in June than it was a year ago, CNN reported. In a Facebook video, Galvão announced that he'd been let go by the agency after a meeting with Brazil's minister of science, technology, innovation and communications, Marcos Pontes.

How did the public respond?

#ActForTheAmazon began trending on Twitter and protests began. In Zurich, activists from the Klimastreik Ecological Movement and Brazilians assembled outside of the Brazilian Consulate on Friday morning. In Dublin, the Extinction Rebellion Collective occupied the Brazilian Embassy. Twitter users captured images of a protest in Barcelona as well. Demonstrations have also begun in Paris, London, Madrid and Copenhagen, Denmark.

The hashtags #PrayforAmazonas and #AmazonRainforest were trending earlier this week. Twitter users criticized the media for giving more attention to the fire at Notre Dame and other news than to the rainforest fires. Social media users also called out billionaires for lack of donations.

"The Sierra Club has a comprehensive strategy to protect old-growth forests in the US and elsewhere. Specifically in the Amazon, the Club calls on international lenders and institutions to reconsider their investments in Brazil after President Jair Bolsonaro's reckless exploitation and destruction of a critical resource for the future of humanity," Javier Sierra, the Sierra Club's associate director of communications for Latino media, said in an email.

Sierra pointed out that both Norway and Germany have already said they would cease to provide funds for the Amazon's preservation until Bolsonaro reverses course.

"Those who destroy the Amazon and let deforestation continue unabated are encouraged in doing so by the Bolsonaro government's actions and policies. Since taking office, the current government has been systematically dismantling Brazil's environmental policy," Danicley Aguiar of Greenpeace Brazil said in a release Thursday.

The World Wildlife Fund's European policy office released a statement the same day.

"Faced with this ecological devastation, WWF calls on the countries of the region -- Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela, Guyana and Suriname -- to protect the Amazon, fight deforestation and reduce the causes behind these fires. It also calls on the EU and its Member States to step up its efforts to curb the impact of EU consumption on deforestation and the destruction of other ecosystems around the world, linked to commodities such as soy, palm oil, cocoa or meat."

In addition, actor and environmentalist Leonardo DiCaprio added a donation link to Amazon Watch on his Instagram profile and posted about the fires. Celebrities like Jameela Jamil, Jaden Smith and John Cusack have also taken to social media to speak out about the fiery devastation.

How can you help?

Here are some ways you can aid in protecting the rainforest:

Donate to Rainforest Action Network to protect an acre of the Amazonian rainforest.

Donate to the Rainforest Trust to help buy land in the rainforest. Since 1988, the organization has saved over 23 million acres.

Reduce your paper and wood consumption. Double-check with Rainforest Alliance that what you're buying is considered rainforest-safe. You can also purchase rainforest-safe products from the alliance's site.

Reduce your beef intake. Beef found in processed products and fast-food burgers is often linked to deforestation.

The World Wide Fund for Nature (known as the World Wildlife Fund in the US and Canada) works to protect the species in the Amazon and around the world.

Ecosia.org is a search engine that plants a tree for every 45 searches you run.

Explore Change.org petitions. A lawyer in Rio Branco has accumulated over 3 million signatures to mobilize an investigation into the Amazonian fires.

Donate to Amazon Watch, an organization that protects the rainforest, defends Indigenous rights and works to address climate change.

Donate to the Amazon Conservation Team, which works to fight climate change, protect the Amazon and empower Indigenous peoples.

Amazon Conservation accepts donations and lists exactly what your money goes toward. You can help plant trees, sponsor education, protect habitats, buy a solar panel, preserve Indigenous lands and more.

Contact your elected officials and make your voice heard.

Donate to One Tree Planted, which works to stop deforestation around the world and in the Amazon Rainforest. One Tree Planted will keep you updated on the Peru Project and the impact your trees are having on the community.

Sign Greenpeace's petition telling the Brazilian government to save the Amazon rainforest and protect the lands of indigenous and traditional communities.

Originally published Aug. 21, 2019.
Updates, Aug. 22 and Aug. 23: Adds more background and adds statements from Greenpeace, WWF EU and Sierra Club. Updates Aug. 24: Adds more background. Aug. 25 and Aug. 26 update: Adds background.

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The Amazon rainforest is on fire: What we know and how you can help

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The Amazon rainforest has been on fire for the past three weeks. The number of fires in Brazil this year is the highest on record since 2013 and is up by 85% from last year alone, CNN reported. Earlier this month, Brazil declared a state of emergency over the rising number of fires in the region.

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A giant raft of rock floating in the Pacific could help heal Australia's Great Barrier Reef | CNN

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A pumice "raft" the size of Manhattan is drifting towards Australia, bringing along with it new marine life that could help with the recovery of the Great Barrier Reef's corals that have seen rapid deterioration in recent years due to climate change.

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The Majestic Plastic Bag - A Mockumentary

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scientists find huge meteor crater under greenland's ice - cnn video

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Scientists find huge meteor crater under Greenland's ice - CNN Video

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The crater is about 300 meters deep and 31 kilometers wide, and is the first to be found under any of our planet's ice sheets, according to NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.

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Nearly 90 percent of all sea turtle nesting in the United States occurs on Florida beaches. Every summer, thousands of threatened and endangered sea turtles emerge from the water at night to lay their eggs in the sand. Two months later, hatchlings make their perilous journey to the water. If they survive to adulthood, females continue this ancient tradition and return to the same beach to nest.

The cycle is broken, however, if sea turtles think like their natal beach isn't safe. Female turtles will remain in the water if in jeopardy, which is why it's critically important to protect nesting beaches.

Last week, environmental organizations officially put the Trump administration on notice for violating the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and failing to protect green sea turtles. The Center for Biological Diversity, Sea Turtle Oversight Protection, and Turtle Island Restoration Network filed paperwork outlining their intention to file a lawsuit in 60 days unless the federal government designates critical habitat for the threatened species.

"The Trump administration's moral and legal attacks on our country's greatest achievements extend all the way to the gentle and defenseless sea turtles that are guaranteed protection under the Endangered Species Act," says Todd Steiner, executive director of the Turtle Island Restoration Network. "It is unconscionable."

Five species of sea turtle can be found in Florida: loggerheads, leatherbacks, Kemp's ridleys, hawksbills, and green sea turtles. All are listed and protected under the ESA.

Jaclyn Lopez, the Florida director of the Center for Biological Diversity, says species with federally protected critical habitat are more than twice as likely to recover than those without it. The ESA prohibits federal agencies from authorizing activities that will harm a critical habitat.

The law requires the designation of a new critical habitat whenever an animal's ESA listing is changed, but the federal government failed to appoint Florida's nesting beaches as critical habitat when the green sea turtles had their listing changed in 2016. The one-year grace period to do so ended more than two years ago.

Human activity threatens sea turtles in a number of ways. Real-estate development along the beaches can interrupt nesting season, and city lights can disorient newborns, according to the Sea Turtle Conservancy. Trash and food left behind by beachgoers can attract hatchling predators such as cats and raccoons. Sea turtles are also affected by the threats of algal blooms, an environmental threat that will worsen due to climate change. A total of 1,260 sea turtles were killed last year; 577 of those deaths were attributed to red tide. Sixty-four of them were green sea turtles.

Plastic pollution also threatens the survival of sea turtles. A 2018 study published in Global Change Biology showed plastic particles in the body of every one of the 102 sea turtles studied. Turtles have been found trapped in plastic bags and with plastic straws stuck up their noses. Hatchlings have even been found trapped in discarded plastic cups, impeding their journey to the ocean.

The entire green sea turtle population was first listed as threatened in 1978, and the breeding populations of Florida, the Pacific coast, and the Mexican Gulf were designated as endangered.

Some groups have recovered, while others remain in imminent peril due to overfishing, pollution, and sea-level rise. Though Pacific green sea turtles remain endangered, both north and south Atlantic green sea turtles have seen their numbers recover enough to be promoted from endangered to threatened on the ESA list.

"Atlantic green sea turtles were delisted from endangered to threatened because of a rebound in their numbers," Lopez says. "This is something to celebrate and evidence that, when fully implemented, the Endangered Species Act works and allows species to recover."

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Environmental Groups Blast Trump Administration for Failing Florida's Green Sea Turtles

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Nearly 90 percent of all sea turtle nesting in the United States occurs on Florida beaches. Every summer, thousands of threatened and endangered sea turtles emerge from the water at night to lay their eggs in the sand. Two months later, hatchlings make their perilous journey to the water.

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More than half a billion bees dropped dead in Brazil within just three months, according to Bloomberg. Researchers say the main cause of death is pesticides, which could end up effecting more than the bees.

As some of the most integral pollinators in nature, bees contribute to the reproduction of various plants. About 75% of the world's crops depend on pollination by bees, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reports.

FAO has warned about the importance of protecting bees to ensure food security. With 500 million dead in Brazil, the future of food has come into question.

The mass deaths of bees were reported by beekeepers in four Brazilian states. In Rio Grande do Sul alone, 400 million dead bees were found.

Aldo Machado, vice president of Brazil's Rio Grande do Sul beekeeping association, told Bloomberg his colony was decimated in less than 48 hours after some of the bees first showed signs of illness.

"As soon as the healthy bees began clearing the dying bees out of the hives, they became contaminated. They started dying en masse," Machado said.

Lab research points to pesticides with neonicotinoids and fipronil - products banned in Europe - as the main cause of death for most bees in Brazil. The use of these bee-killing pesticides spiked under former President Michel Temer and current President Jair Bolsonaro, according to Greenpeace's Unearthed.

In just three years, 193 weedkillers and pesticides containing chemicals banned in the European Union were registered in Brazil, the Unearthed investigation revealed. Brazil has become the biggest buyer of pesticides in the world.

While the mass deaths of bees in Brazil occurred this year, the link between pesticides and the decline of bee populations has long been studied. A 2014 studied from Harvard University found pesticides play a key role in killing off the honey bee population in the U.S.

Colony collapse disorder (CCD) has been affecting the U.S. bee population since 2006. The disorder causes bees to disappear from their hives. While the root cause of CCD is a mystery, many experts believe a combination of factors, including pesticides, are the driving force - especially neonicotinoid pesticides.

First published on August 19, 2019 / 2:44 PM

© 2019 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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In an interview with "CBS This Morning" on Tuesday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the terror group ISIS is now more powerful in some places than it has been in years. As the U.S. works on negotiating the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, there are new fears that a peace deal with the Taliban could give ISIS an advantage in the region. National security expert and U.S. Army veteran Asha Castleberry joins CBSN with analysis.

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More than half a billion bees dropped dead in Brazil within 3 months

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More than half a billion bees dropped dead in Brazil within just three months, according to Bloomberg. Researchers say the main cause of death is pesticides, which could end up effecting more than the bees. As some of the most integral pollinators in nature, bees contribute to the reproduction of various plants.

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California's Environmental Principles and Concepts (EP&Cs) highlight the deep relationship between humans and the natural world.

Students and teachers need not memorize the five environmental principles and fifteen supporting concepts. Rather, they are "big ideas" intended to inform standards-based instruction and fuel student inquiry. Teachers can support environmental literacy by helping students to understand and apply the EP&Cs across academic disciplines and in the real world.

By law, the EP&Cs must be addressed in future California textbooks and instructional materials adopted by the state. In 2016, the EP&Cs were integrated into the revised California History-Social Science and the new California Science framework. As a result, subsequent state textbook adoptions will incorporate the EP&Cs.

Principle 1 - People Depend on Natural Systems

The continuation and health of individual human lives and of human communities and societies depend on the health of the natural systems that provide essential goods and ecosystem services.

Concept A. The goods produced by natural systems are essential to human life and to the functioning of our economies and cultures.
Concept B. The ecosystem services provided by natural systems are essential to human life and to the functioning of our economies and cultures.
Concept C. That the quality, quantity, and reliability of the goods and ecosystem services provided by natural systems are directly affected by the health of those systems.

Principle 2 - People Influence Natural Systems

The long-term functioning and health of terrestrial, freshwater, coastal, and marine ecosystems are influenced by their relationships with human societies.

Concept A. Direct and indirect changes to natural systems due to the growth of human populations and their consumption rates influence the geographic extent, composition, biological diversity, and viability of natural systems.
Concept B. Methods used to extract, harvest, transport, and consume natural resources influence the geographic extent, composition, biological diversity, and viability of natural systems.
Concept C. The expansion and operation of human communities influences the geographic extent, composition, biological diversity, and viability of natural systems.
Concept D. The legal, economic, and political systems that govern the use and management of natural systems directly influence the geographic extent, composition, biological diversity, and viability of natural systems.

Principle 3 - Natural Systems Change in Ways that People Benefit From and Can Influence

Natural systems proceed through cycles that humans depend upon, benefit from, and can alter.

Concept A. Natural systems proceed through cycles and processes that are required for their functioning.
Concept B. Human practices depend upon and benefit from the cycles and processes that operate within natural systems.
Concept C. Human practices can alter the cycles and processes that operate within natural systems.

Principle 4 - There are no Permanent or Impermeable Boundaries that Prevent Matter from Flowing Between Systems

The exchange of matter between natural systems and human societies affects the long-term functioning of both.

Concept A. The effects of human activities on natural systems are directly related to the quantities of resources consumed and to the quantity and characteristics of the resulting byproducts.
Concept B. The byproducts of human activity are not readily prevented from entering natural systems and may be beneficial, neutral, or detrimental in their effect.
Concept C. The capacity of natural systems to adjust to human-caused alterations depends on the nature of the system as well as the scope, scale, and duration of the activity and the nature of its byproducts.

Principle 5 - Decisions Affecting Resources and Natural Systems are Complex and Involve Many Factors

Decisions affecting resources and natural systems are based on a wide range of considerations and decision-making processes.

Concept A. There is a spectrum of what is considered in making decisions about resources and natural systems and how those factors influence decisions.
Concept B. The process of making decisions about resources and natural systems, and how the assessment of social, economic, political, and environmental factors has changed over time.

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Environmental Principles & Concepts - California Education and the Environment Initiative (EEI)

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California's Environmental Principles and Concepts (EP&Cs) highlight the deep relationship between humans and the natural world. Students and teachers need not memorize the five environmental principles and fifteen supporting concepts. Rather, they are "big ideas" intended to inform standards-based instruction and fuel student inquiry.

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Air pollution takes a massive toll on our health. The World Health Organization links it to deadly diseases like lung cancer and stroke, and new research suggests that polluted regions see more cases of neurological disorders like depression and bipolar disorder.

In the United States, scientists found counties with the worst air quality, as indicated by the Environmental Protection Agency, had a 27 percent increase in bipolar disorder and 6 percent increase in depression, when compared to the national average.

Study author and University of Chicago geneticist Andrey Rzhetsky is careful to note that the study doesn't definitively prove air pollution causes mental illness, but he says it shows where a person might be slightly more at risk.

Similar studies in London, China, and South Korea have similarly found a link between polluted places and poor mental health.

Rzhetsky says their study shows that where U.S. counties are being polluted, neurological disorders are taking a toll.

The researchers looked at data from the U.S. and Denmark to establish their link.

In the U.S., they first looked at 11 years of health insurance data for 151 million people who filed claims for four psychiatric disorders: bipolar disorder, major depression, personality disorder, and schizophrenia. They also looked at epilepsy and Parkinson's disease.

They then analyzed EPA air, water, and land quality data by county and looked at where insurance claims and rates of intense pollution overlapped. Air pollution and bipolar disorder emerged as the strongest overlap.

To replicate their U.S. findings, the researchers also collaborated with Danish scientists to study the effect of pollution in Denmark. Unlike the U.S., Danish data looked not at regional data but instead at how much an individual is exposed to air pollution during childhood. Similar to the U.S., exposure to air pollution was associated with higher rates of bipolar disorder and depression.

"These findings add to the current evidence from previous studies of a possible link between air pollution and psychiatric disorders," says Ioannis Bakolis, an epidemiologist from King's College London who was not involved with the study.

Yet, he says the study's reliance on countywide data has too many variables to conclusively say air pollution might be causing bipolar disorder and depression.

Effects on the human body

Much of what scientists know about how air pollution affects the brain is from studies performed on dogs and rodents. A study done in 2002 looked at the effect traffic-related pollution had on feral dogs. Lung, nasal, and brain damage was observed.

"What happens in the brain is something resembling inflammation," says Rzhetsky. "It results in symptoms that look like depression [in dogs]."

In research published last year, scientists in Beijing found that inhaling particulate matter robbed people of their smarts, leading to lower verbal and math test scores.

Study author Xin Zhang speculated at the time that the pollution was damaging white matter in the brain.

In England, scientists are currently monitoring how the city's air quality may be affecting 250 children. Children will wear air monitoring backpacks made by Dyson that note when and where they encounter the most pollution.

City officials say this information will help them improve public health.

Rzhetsky too hopes environmental risk factors will be seriously looked at by mental health professionals treating neurological disorders.

Using a clean environment to treat such disorders would be "the holy grail" he says.

While scientists are still trying to firmly establish a link between pollution and mental health issues, the psychological benefit of being in nature is already firmly established: When we spend time in nature-whether it's untouched wilderness or a local park-we do our overstressed brains a favor.

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Air pollution linked to bipolar disorder, depression

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Air pollution takes a massive toll on our health. The World Health Organization links it to deadly diseases like lung cancer and stroke, and new research suggests that polluted regions see more cases of neurological disorders like depression and bipolar disorder.

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Many people have never eaten-or even heard of-red abalone, a species of sea snail that lives suctioned onto boulders and feeds on the lush kelp forests of Northern California. Abalone is a much-sought-after delicacy with a sweet, delicate flavor similar to a sea scallop, say those who've tried it.

"For people who think they don't like fish...it's amazing to see their eyes just sparkle when they take a bite and go 'this is absolutely incredible,'" says Joe Cresalia, a recreational diver who lives just north of San Francisco. "And you know before they took the bite, they were almost afraid to take a bite."

But as marine heat waves, ocean acidification, habitat loss, and overfishing shrink the red abalone fishery, the sweet delicacy is at risk of permanently losing its food source: the kelp forests.

"There's a hole in our lives the size of a really good-sized abalone. We miss that," says Cresalia.

Human influence takes a toll

The abalone was first harvested by the Native Americans, and later popularized when the first abalone fishery was established in the early 20th century. The fishery reached peak popularity during the 1950s and 1960s. Commercial fishers as well as divers from around the world traveled to the California coast to dive into lush kelp forests and pry snails off their rocks.

By 1997, too few snails remained to support commercial catches, and the fishery was closed. Only recreational divers like Cresalia were permitted to catch abalone.

Theoretically, that closure should have allowed the stressed populations to recover. They might have, were California's oceans not quietly changing.

"Abalone are very much an indicator of the health of the kelp forest. They're the canary in the coal mine for us because they're very sensitive to any changes in food abundance," says Laura Rodgers-Bennett of the California Department of Fish and wildlife. "They're not able to switch over and eat meat or other kinds of tissues, so when their numbers go down, we know there's something wrong in the kelp forest."

A disastrous chain of events

Like a line of falling dominoes, a series of events led to intense pressure on abalone populations.

In 2011, a toxic algal bloom off the Sonoma coast killed off many of the local marine invertebrates, including abalone. Then came the sea star wasting disease of 2013, which got rid of many of the predatory sea stars responsible for keeping sea urchin populations under control.

Joe Gaydos, science director at UC Davis, told NPR: "What we think is that the warm water anomalies made these starfish more susceptible to the disease that was already out there."

The sea-star die-off then triggered a purple sea urchin explosion. With no predators in sight, these echinoderms were able to reproduce quickly and with their ravenous appetite, they quickly decimated the kelp forests, leaving the abalone starving in their wake.

Then came the blob.

From 2014 to 2016, a marine heat wave now referred to as the blob formed off the coast of British Columbia and spread as far south as Northern California. (Read more about the blob that cooked the Pacific.) By 2016, the kelp forests were nearly gone.

"No wind means no mixing, and that fall [of 2013] had an incredible period of fair weather. They had no storms," says Nate Mantua, a research scientist at NOAA. "The ocean did not give back any of the heat that it usually gives back to the atmosphere."

The blob, according to a study released by Mantua in January of 2018, was caused by a number of natural drivers, but made worse by climate change.

Along with the other factors, the blob reached California and mixed with El Niño waters. El Niño happens every two to five years when East to West tradewinds weaken and then shift eastward, reducing the upwelling of cold water. This warm, nutrient-poor environment from the blob and El Niño was unlivable for whatever kelp wasn't ravaged by the sea urchins. And as the kelp forests disappeared, the abalone began to die.

In 2017 the California Fish and Game Commission decided to close the recreational fishery for the 2018 season due to " ongoing extreme environmental conditions." After reassessing the population in 2018 and finding deep-water abalone all but gone, the commission decided to keep the fishery closed through 2021.

Katie Sowul, lead diver from the department of fish and wildlife, says after spending over 250 cumulative hours under water they didn't see any improvements in the abalone populations on the coastline. If anything they saw more declines.

"We're finding [empty] shells...at this point actually we're almost not even finding shells anymore. We're just not seeing a lot of abalone," Sowul says.

Tourists, divers, and fishers visiting the red abalone fishery are estimated to have pumped 44 million dollars into the region's economy annually. Without them, locals say the region has changed.

April 1 used to signal the beginning of a busy abalone fishing season.

Now, "April 1 comes and goes, whereas before you could see the influx of the people that were going diving," says Chris Brians, a resident of Mendocino County.

If environmental conditions don't change, it's unclear if the bull kelp will be able to rebound. And if the kelp doesn't come back, the abalone loses its food source.

Rodgers-Bennett cautions, "As the globe warms, we're going to have more marine heat waves. We're going to have longer duration heat waves and they're going to be broader geographic extent. And so I think this is really giving us an inkling of what is to come."

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California's disappearing sea snails carry a grim climate warning

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Many people have never eaten-or even heard of-red abalone, a species of sea snail that lives suctioned onto boulders and feeds on the lush kelp forests of Northern California. Abalone is a much-sought-after delicacy with a sweet, delicate flavor similar to a sea scallop, say those who've tried it.

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Flint, MichiganThe Flint River scribbles 142 miles through mid-Michigan, and a noticeable change occurs as it flows southwest into the city of Flint. Concrete slopes capped with wire fences flank the water. Occasional graffiti or a weedy bush break the monotony of such barren shores. So do decaying bridge piers protruding from the center of the river like the sails of submarines much too large for the modest waterway.

Another stark transformation happens in the few seconds required to paddle beneath the Sunset Drive bridge. Gray stone ceases and a leafy, tree-shrouded corridor unfolds.

Looking back five years, the same magnitude of change happened on April 25, 2014, when smiling city officials raised glasses of water to toast a switch that altered 100,000 lives.

At that time, the city's water servicechanged from nearby Detroit's system to the local Flint River, in an effort to save money. But Flint failed to properly treat the water and dangerous levels of lead leached from old pipes, setting up a public health crisis that has endangered thousands of children and affected every resident, many of whom had to drink bottled water for long periods of time. Some still do. The political fallout was intense, with numerous city and state officials resigning. A city-declared state of emergency remains in effect as remediation continues, and skepticism persists when it comes to the drinking water quality. Many questions also linger about blame and the way the crisis unfolded, as well as about the community's connection to the river. ( See portraits of the people living on bottled water.)

Quantity, not quality

"We just covered it in my class this week," says Noah Hall, a professor of law at Wayne State University in Detroit. He previously served as Michigan's volunteer special assistant attorney general to investigate the drinking water crisis.

"The discussion of Flint with the students was just sort of Family Feud style. How many people heard the Flint River was to blame for the water crisis?"

Most of the people raised a hand to agree.

Various news reports have disparaged the waterway. Polluted. Toxic. Vile. Those references rely on outdated historical narratives.

"The notion that we have a dirty and dangerous river is one that we've been addressing before the drinking water crisis," says Rebecca Fedewa, executive director of the Flint River Watershed Coalition. "I think that's why it was so easy to point the finger at the river."

Large-scale production of lumber, chemicals, and automobiles tainted the waterway during the 19th and 20th centuries. General Motors was founded in Flint in 1908, and the company maintained eight plants by the time a 1966 U.S. Department of Interior report evaluated the watershed.

From spark plugs to engines to assembly, the GM locations dumped 10 million gallons of waste into the river every day, according to the Interior report. This included minimally treated oil and dangerous substances like cyanide and hexavalent chromium.

Flint tapped into Detroit's municipal water system the following year to receive water sourced from Lake Huron and the Detroit River. The decision relied on foresight rather than reaction. Planners considered the quantity of the Flint River as a limiting factor, not quality, with a bustling car industry and projected fivefold growth from the 1960 census population of almost 200,000 people.

Then came the federal environmental legislation of the early 1970s.

"The Clean Water Act was the tool that really did so much across our entire country to help address industrial pollution in our waterways," Fedewa says. "The case was no different here on the Flint River."

However, even the 1966 report had identified a primary element that contributed to the modern drinking water crisis. ( Learn more about drinking water safety in the U.S.)

Chloride, chloride, chloride

The river provides an ever-changing border to the University of Michigan-Flint campus. Surface ripples shatter sunlight into glitter on a clear day and soothe with the sounds of their movement.

"The Flint River was never the problem," says Monique Wilhelm, the laboratory manager for the university's department of chemistry and biochemistry.

Like many residents, Wilhelm noticed the difference streaming from her faucets in the labs after the city siphoned from the Flint River instead of Detroit-a move that was supposed to save the city money. But complaints to city hall about metallic flavors and offensive odors started almost immediately after that change in April 2014, and within weeks, some people were buying bottled water.

Color offered obvious clues that prompted residents to protest at city council meetings. Urine yellow. Cloudy orange. Coffee brown.

Measurements from the 1966 study had shown elevated chloride concentrations in the Flint River, still true in 2014.

"One of the big suspects is all the road salts," says Terese Olson, an associate professor in the department of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

The amount of deicing salt sold in the U.S. in 1940 compared to 2010 has increased by a factor of 60. Heavy rains and snow melts wash those salts into local watersheds.

Flint's treatment process to purify the river water into drinking water then further aggravated the chemistry, Olson says.

Bacteria was detected in the system by August 2014, so city workers boosted the amounts of chlorine disinfectant twice. Plus, similar to most surface waters, the Flint River contains tiny organic bits. Employees at the treatment plant used ferric chloride as a coagulant to capture these dissolved particles.

"They're thinking about each problem separately," Wilhelm says, "instead of thinking of the water as a system."

Corrosion spread unchecked through 580 miles of main pipe distribution, 7,000 main valves, and 28,000 service lines that connect primary conduits to individual buildings.

Tap water turned the colors of corroded pipes as the metals reacted with water coursing with chlorine compounds. Although scientifically accurate, a typical refrain in news pieces-the corrosive river-misleads in terms of human contact. Kayaks and swimmers don't disintegrate.

But the pipes did.

Lead-bearing particles detached from the pipe walls, and 100,000 residents interacted daily with the destructive neurotoxin.

They washed their peppers and carrots with poisoned water in the autumn of 2014. People brushed their teeth and served their pets all winter, and city officials ignored concerned citizens even after the local GM engine plant stopped using the water in December due to corrosion on its machines.

So children drank lead at school fountains by spring 2015, and babies drank lead in formula during the summer and autumn.

Trust in the invisible is a definition of faith. Unlike when the concrete river channel surrenders to native tree trunks, people couldn't see the leaching lead. A straightforward modification might have prevented them from needing to.

"We have no explanation"

Flint passed an ordinance in 1897 that required service lines be made of lead, the prime choice for the era. Plenty of construction happened in the interim centuries, but the information for which type of line connected to which homes existed on 100,000 paper index cards discovered in the water department's basement. Digitization started in late 2015, and the University of Michigan helped design an algorithm to predict clusters with the highest likelihood of dangerous plumbing.

Flint switched back to the Detroit water system in October 2015, but public health effects from lead exposure prompted emergency declarations from the state and federal governments in early 2016. The city then launched an aggressive rehabilitation campaign, and in the past three years, crews have explored 21,298 homes and replaced lead service lines at 8,260. The work should finish in July, according to Jameca Patrick-Singleton, the chief recovery officer in her hometown.

"Born and raised," she says. "I remember as a kid, sitting on the bank and having picnics. Flint River is one of the things that makes Flint beautiful. We love our river. We just don't want to drink from it untreated."

Many cities use orthophosphate, which interacts with lead and iron pipes to create a physical boundary that prevents drinking water from touching the actual metals.

Flint water treatment plant operators never added the crucial ingredient.

"That decision was not a mistake," says Hall, the former legal counsel for the state's investigation. "Not because we forgot to. Not bureaucratic overlap between EPA and DEQ. They simply didn't do it because the state told them don't do it."

Archived emails and subsequent testimonies show the directive from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, but the documents don't illuminate why.

"Five years later," Hall says, "we have no explanation for the most simple, direct causal fact that led to the Flint water crisis."

State and federal funds for repairs and social services combined with grants and charitable contributions-bottled water prominent among them-have already totaled more than a half billion dollars. Anti-corrosion chemicals would have cost about $ 150 a day.

Progress

The most recent testing of Flint's drinking water, sourced again from Detroit, marked lead at four parts per billion, well clear of the 15 that requires action. Those results account for a 90th-percentile rating. In other words, 90 percent of the homes comply with the federal standard.

"And that's when the system works," Hall says. "It's a system that defines success as some people having it and some people not. Flint should just make it brutally apparent to everybody."

Michigan represents the country's closest approximation of an inland island, with coastlines that touch four of the five Great Lakes. A report from the Michigan Civil Rights Commission concluded that the state should "aspire to have the safest drinking water in the nation" instead of aligning its decisions "on a legally possible interpretation" of the rules.

Meanwhile, the state fired Hall in early 2019 from his unpaid position as independent counsel on the grounds that the attorney general's office can represent Michigan on both sides of the water crisis investigation. Plaintiffs in some of the many lawsuits still in progress have challenged the move in court.

As for the river, Fedewa and the watershed group point to positive data demonstrating a healthy ecosystem. Indicators include the team's biodiversity surveys of dragonfly larvae and other benthic macroinvertebrates sensitive to water quality.

A new public kayak and canoe access will also open this summer, around the time crews will excavate the last residential lead service lines. Even with overhaul, lead can still infiltrate homes with old brass fixtures or lead solder on pipes. Tests will continue, and according to Patrick-Singleton, the mayor won't lift the city's emergency declaration until the scientific and medical communities clear the drinking water.

Fedewa says she and her team focus on educational outreach and experiential opportunities that reconnect residents with their river, an always-flowing reminder that there is no safe level of lead and there is no substitute for water.

Dustin Renwick's reporting was supported in part by a fellowship with the Institute for Journalism & Natural Resources. He is a triathlete and a freelance journalist.

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Five years on, the Flint water crisis is nowhere near over

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Flint, MichiganThe Flint River scribbles 142 miles through mid-Michigan, and a noticeable change occurs as it flows southwest into the city of Flint. Concrete slopes capped with wire fences flank the water. Occasional graffiti or a weedy bush break the monotony of such barren shores.

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At the bottom of a glacier in Greenland, climate scientists find troubling signs

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As the plane neared the glacier, scientists spotted an ice-free "lake" at its front. Probes also brought back worrying data -- Helheim glacier was surrounded by warm water along its entire depth, more than 2,000 feet below the surface.

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the water is so hot in alaska it's killing large numbers of salmon - cnn

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The water is so hot in Alaska it's killing large numbers of salmon

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Alaska has been in the throes of an unprecedented heat wave this summer, and the heat stress is killing salmon in large numbers.