Global warming is to blame for trees dying and not reseeding themselves in the Rocky Mountains. (National Park Service) Climate change – and its resultant wildfires and insect infestations – is killing off large portions of the forests in the Rocky Mountains, according to a new report. A joint report by the Union of Concerned Scientists and the Rocky Mountain Climate Organization, warns that hundreds of millions of acres are projected to die in national parks and national forests alone...

In this Sept. 12, 2013 file photo, a fishing boat cruises on the Milwaukee River near Lake Michigan, an area designated for cleanup because of decades of toxic pollution. (AP Photo/John Flesher, File) A new five-year plan to stop toxic pollution, invasive species and farm runoff in the Great Lakes has been unveiled by the Obama administration in hopes that plant and wildlife habitats can be further bolstered. The plans were released in a new 30-page document called the Great...

Does a colder fall mean a harsh winter is on the way? As weather.com digital meteorologist Ari Sarsarlari explains, it’s never safe to make seasonal assumptions based on daily temperatures. ...

When it comes to sea ice levels, Antarctica and the Arctic are becoming polar opposites. As of September 17, Arctic sea ice reached what is likely its minimum extentfor the year, the National Snow & Ice Data Center reported today. This announcement is in stark contrast to Antarctica which continues to expand at a record pace. Continuing a downward trend for Arctic sea ice, this report marks the sixth-lowest extent record since satellites started measuring the area in 1979. (MORE:...

Nearly two years ago, Superstorm Sandy slammed into the U.S. East Coast with a ferocity that left more than 100 people dead and some 650,000 homes destroyed, and knocked out power to more than 8 million, weaving a path of destruction estimated to cost more than $65 billion. But as damaging as it was, Sandy was far from the worst that nature can deliver, according to a new report from insurance giant Swiss Re which warns that the U.S. needs...

Our waterways are versatile, but the colossal amount of toxins legally dumped on a yearly basis may surprise you. In just one year, American waterways were filled with 206 million pounds of toxic chemicals, according to a report conducted by the Environment America Research and Policy Center. The report, Wasting Our Waterways, cites the mid-Atlantic, Ohio River and South Atlantic-Gulf Coast watershed regions as the most polluted, with more than 20 million pounds of toxicity released into each of those...

Farmers plant palm oil tree seedlings in a farm in Datu Abdullah Sangki in southern Philippines. (Getty Images ) Johnny Appleseed, eat your heart out. Officials in the Philippines say they crushed the world record for most trees planted in a single hour this weekend, putting 3.2 million seedlings in the ground, AFP reports. Government officers are sure they’ve broken India’s record of 1.9 million trees planted in 2011, but concrete certification from Guinness World Records can take up to...

Your favorite fall foliage could come later in the year and last longer, thanks to global warming. According to a report by Princeton University researchers in Global Ecology and Biogeography, climate change might affect when fall foliage appears in different parts of North America. In the study, the researchers explained that trees need low daily temperatures and short daylight hours to churn out their famous autumnal shades. Senior author David Medvigy, an assistant professor of geosciences and associated faculty member...

Scientists announced Monday that human-caused climate change contributed to and/or amplified nine of 2013's most extreme weather events, making one of the most definitive statements yet on the direct link between individual weather extremes and human-induced climate change. In a new report released in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society (BAMS) and organized by the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 20 different groups of scientists studied how 16 extreme weather events came to fruition in 2013. In their analyses,...

In a landmark moment that will go without celebration, the eastern basin of the South Aral Sea has completely dried for the first time in modern history. According to NASA, the Central Asian lake has been shrinking since the 1960s, when the Soviet government began diverting water in the area for agriculture. However, the lake hasn’t dried to such an extent until this summer. "This is the first time the eastern basin has completely dried in modern times," Philip Micklin,...

A greenish alga called Didymo -- short for its scientific name Didymosphenia geminata -- is spreading like a virus in freshwater rivers, lakes and streams throughout the world, leaving river bottoms and rocks coated in thick, tangled mats of gooey slime. Largely unknown until the 1990s, the alga species also known as "rock snot" was discovered on western Canada's Vancouver Island in 1988. By the mid-2000s, it began appearing further south -- popping up in Tennessee in 2005 -- and...

California Gov. Jerry Brown signed the nation's first statewide ban on single-use plastic shopping bags, on Tuesday, following the lead of more than 100 California cities and counties. The plastic bag ban marks a major milestone for environmental activists who have successfully pushed plastic bag bans in cities across the U.S., including Chicago, Austin and Seattle. “This bill is a step in the right direction – it reduces the torrent of plastic polluting our beaches, parks and even the vast...