metazine

For years, baboons have roamed Cape Town suburbs, entering houses and yards in search of food. Now officials have a conservation plan aimed at reducing conflicts between the big primates and people — but like most things baboon-related here, it is sparking heated controversy.

Russia continues to bomb Ukraine’s fossil-fueled power plants, leaving much of the nation shivering during a brutal winter. But Ukraine’s new emphasis on developing decentralized power — from solar panels to wind turbines — is advancing an unexpected green energy transition.

President Trump has made access to Greenland’s vast reserves of critical minerals a focus of ongoing negotiations. But experts say the U. S. is underestimating the difficulties of mining in a rapidly changing Arctic region that is warming faster than anywhere else on Earth.

With warming set to pass the critical 1.5-degree goal, scientists are warning that the world is on course to trigger tipping points that would lead to cascading consequences — from the melting of ice sheets to the death of the Amazon rainforest — that could not be reversed.

Tailings and acid mine drainage from mines contain critical minerals needed for clean energy technologies. Now, researchers are developing new techniques for retrieving these key metals, which could reduce the need for new mines and help clean up pollution at old mining sites.

Billions of sea stars, victims of a deadly wasting illness, have perished over the last decade, imperiling marine ecosystems and spurring a global hunt for a biological or environmental culprit. Recently, researchers identified a likely suspect, but the case is far from closed.

As climate change and urbanization intensify flooding in Rwanda, the hilly capital of Kigali has embraced nature-based solutions. The city is restoring and reshaping 18,000 acres of degraded wetlands, planting native species to filter and slow runoff and enhancing biodiversity.

Iran is looking to relocate the nation’s capital because of severe water shortages that make Tehran unsustainable. Experts say the crisis was caused by years of ill-conceived dam projects and overpumping that destroyed a centuries-old system for tapping underground reserves.

A rash of data centers planned for western Pennsylvania has residents and environmentalists on edge. The sprawling complexes will be powered by plants that burn fracked natural gas, whose production has caused air and water pollution in the region and has known health risks.

With hundreds of satellites launched each year and tens of thousands more planned, scientists are increasingly concerned about an emerging problem: emissions from the fuels burned in launches and from the pollutants released when satellites and rocket stages flame out on reentry.

Researchers are finding a disturbing uptick in the trade of African hornbills and their body parts in West African voodoo markets and globally on the internet. Conservationists want international protections for these birds, which play a key role in Africa’s forest ecosystems.

As China has cut back on domestic extraction of rare earth minerals, uncontrolled mining in Myanmar has boomed in areas ruled by powerful ethnic armies. New reporting reveals how this activity is damaging water supplies, forests, and the health of workers and communities.

Tech companies are turning to natural gas to help power the growing number of A. I. data centers in the U. S. Jigar Shah, a former Energy Department official, explains how installing batteries instead can help balance the grid, lower electricity bills, and support renewable energy.

As U. N. talks get underway, China is emerging as a key leader in international climate efforts. It is empowering the global energy transition, and along with India and Brazil, is becoming the driving force in climate diplomacy and filling a vacuum left by the world’s rich nations.