California Gov. Jerry Brown has signed the nation's first statewide ban on single-use plastic bags. Here, mixed plastic items are seen at a recycling plant in Vernon, Calif., earlier this year. Reed Saxon/AP hide caption
Environment Breaking news on the environment, climate change, pollution, and endangered species. Also featuring Climate Connections, a special series on climate change co-produced by NPR and National Geographic.
Environment
Images from August 2000 (left) and August 2014 (right) show the drop in water levels in the Aral Sea. NASA hide caption
The rendering industry likes to call itself the world's oldest recycling system. Nearly 100 percent of processed pigs will eventually get used — as meat and in uses as varied as medicine and pet food. iStockphoto hide caption
How did that genetically modified wheat end up in a field in Oregon? Investigators still don't know, but now they've found GMO wheat in Montana, too. iStockphoto hide caption
Artists' renderings of New Meadowland show how the wetland would be designed for human recreational use as well as flood control. The berm shown would be a path through the park when water was low (left). When storms came in, the wetlands would flood, and the berm would protect local development. Courtesy of New Meadowlands hide caption
N.J. Braces For Future Disasters By Fleeing, And Fortifying, The Coast
A manatee swims underwater in the springs of Crystal River, Fla. — home to a group of residents who have sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, demanding that the agency consider removing the animals from the endangered species list. Amanda Cotton/iStockphoto hide caption
Ready-to-eat meals found in the prepared food aisle are a growing source of waste, as it is difficult to reuse meals that aren't sold but are fully cooked. Kristofor Husted/Harvest Public Media hide caption
Vera Cole is president of the Mid-Atlantic Renewable Energy Association, a group arguing against proposed rules in Pennsylvania that would put stricter limits on how much grid-connected solar power homeowners can produce on their property. Jeff Brady /NPR hide caption
The French enjoy horse meat — here's a horse meat butcher in Paris. But even the French were angry that they had been paying beef prices for it last year. Thomas Coex/AFP/Getty Images hide caption
Can Climate Legislation Pass In Washington's Political Environment?
This grocery store packet of porcini mushrooms contained a surprise: three species of fungi never before named or described. Bryn Dentinger/Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew hide caption
President Obama speaks at the U.N. Climate Summit on Tuesday. Discussing America's past, Obama told the group, "We recognize our role in creating this problem." Andrew Burton/Getty Images hide caption