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"ExxonMobil has sealed a $59.5 billion (€56 billion) deal to acquire shale oil giant Pioneer Natural Resources, the companies announced on Wednesday, marking the oil giant's biggest acquisition since the late 1990s buyout of Mobil by Exxon. ... It also demonstrates ExxonMobil's commitment to fossil fuels even as climate concerns become ever more pressing."
"Dozens of island nations signed a declaration in Indonesia on Wednesday to boost solidarity and cooperation on fighting climate threats, including rising sea levels."
"The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew’s “State of the World’s Plants and Fungi” report assesses our current knowledge of plants and fungal diversity, the threats they face and how to protect them. The report warns that many plant and fungal species, 45% of documented flowering plants and half of all analyzed fungi risk extinction (though less than 0.4% of identified fungi have been assessed for extinction to date)."
"Two newly created national wildlife refuges in Tennessee and Wyoming will help protect habitats for threatened and endangered species such as toads, bats, shrimp and salamanders, federal officials say."
"Natural disasters now cost the U.S. insurance industry $100 billion a year. What happens when no one wants to pick up the tab?"
"This story is the first in a four-part Grist series examining how climate change is destabilizing the global insurance market. It is published in partnership with the Economic Hardship Reporting Project.
"The night sky lit up so bright that some people thought it was morning. Gold miners in the Rocky Mountains woke up at 1 a.m. to make breakfast and start their day. Birds began singing as if the sun had already risen."
"Climate change is making it harder to grow hops, a key ingredient in beer".
"Environmental groups have asked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to intervene in a south Alabama water system they said has been plagued by leaks, contamination and financial mismanagement, endangering residents in the low-income community."
"Scientists in Britain have found they can partially protect chickens from bird flu infections by editing their genes, signaling a new potential strategy to reduce the spread of the deadly virus."
"In 2020, rebellious Mexican farmers occupied a dam in parched Chihuahua state to prevent the federal government from sending its reservoir water to Texas under a 1944 treaty. With the clock ticking toward another treaty deadline, the two sides are struggling for a solution."
"Attorneys representing Plum Borough and an environmental group opposed to fracking said in arguments on Tuesday before Commonwealth Court in Pittsburgh that a proposed second “injection” well for disposing of toxic fracking wastewater would violate the borough’s zoning code."
"Rising ocean temperatures and marine heat waves are pushing whales closer to busy shipping lanes. Flexible speed reduction areas could help prevent ship collisions, scientists say."
"Findings by the Environmental Investigation Agency point to a perceived loophole in the Montreal Protocol".
"A team of scientists loaded into a gray minivan in this capital city earlier this year and drove for hundreds of miles west through the Kazakh steppe — a vast region marked by endless open plains of grass, abandoned farms and flower-filled meadows."
"OMAHA, Neb. — Navigator CO2 Ventures announced Tuesday that it is putting on hold one of the two biggest proposed carbon dioxide pipeline projects in the Midwest so it can reassess the project.
The company withdrew its application for a key permit in Illinois and said it it was putting all its permit applications on hold. The decision comes after South Dakota regulators last month denied a permit.
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