In April 2025, the Trump administration granted 66 coal-fired power plants across the United States exemptions from the Clean Air Act’s limits on emissions of mercury, arsenic, and other toxic pollutants, allowing them to continue emitting neurotoxins into the atmosphere. The move sparked an outcry from environmental groups, with critics pointing out that the exemption…

In 2025, The Guardian reported that 15% of the world’s arable land is contaminated with heavy metals such as arsenic, cadmium and lead, affecting 1.4 billion people. Cadmium levels in rice in parts of South Asia and Africa are 10 times higher than the limit, leading to the spread of chronic diseases such as “painkillers”.…

A report by the Global Water Monitoring Alliance (GWMA) predicts that southern Africa could experience an “epic drought” in 2025, leading to food shortages and the spread of disease. According to the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), Africa’s water crisis kills 6,000 people a year, and some 300 million people live in poverty due to…

The IUCN Red List update shows that 46,300 species are threatened with extinction globally, representing 28% of the species assessed. Update: Northern white rhinoceros: 2 females left, functionally extinct due to poaching and habitat loss; Gulf of California porpoise: fewer than 10 left in the Gulf of California, Mexico, threatened by illegal gillnetting; leatherback turtles:…

The Copernicus Climate Change Service, the European Union’s climate watchdog, released a report on April 8 that said Arctic sea ice coverage in March 2025 fell to the lowest level in the same period in the 47 years of satellite records, 6 percent below the historical average. Meanwhile, Antarctic sea ice coverage was also the…

China has signed forestry and grassland cooperation agreements with eight African countries to promote sand control technologies under the framework of the “Great Green Wall of Africa” program. For example, it has built a demonstration area for fixing quicksand in Mauritania and developed a model for restoring scrubby grassland in Ethiopia. Mycorrhizal technology has created…

The European Commission has put forward a new proposal that would allow car companies to average their carbon emissions over the period 2025-2027, rather than the original single-year 2025 test. The move, which aims to ease the pressure on European automakers to pay 15 billion euros in fines for lagging behind in the EV transition,…

Tesla founder Elon Musk’s xAI plans to continue using gas turbines to power its Memphis-based “Colossus” supercomputer into the future. In January, xAI affiliate CTC Property applied for a permit from Shelby County, Tennessee, to operate 15 gas turbines, which would allow the combustion turbines to run from June 2025 through June 2030, according to…

According to the Cambodian media, about 100,000 people voluntarily participated in the collection of river garbage to reduce plastic pollution and protect the ecological environment of Cambodia’s major waterways during the “Good Deeds Day” 2025, which was jointly organized by the environmental protection organization “River and Ocean Cleanup” and the provincial government of Kandalay on…

On April 1, the Kathmandu Valley became the world’s most polluted city for the second consecutive day, with PM2.5 concentrations exceeding 200; local flights were forced to hover for nearly an hour before landing due to poor visibility. Sources of pollution include hill fires in neighboring forests, straw burning, brick kiln production and vehicle exhaust.…