environment

The 2025 United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Emissions Gap report found that the latest nationally determined climate plans reduced projected future global warming by about 0.3 degrees Celsius compared with projections one year earlier.

Factors that contribute to increased human–bear encounters in Japan include rural population decline and aging—which can allow abandoned agricultural land to revert to forest and enable bears to expand their range—and climate change, which can shift bear hibernation schedules and affect the availability of natural food sources.

A 2025 report by the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium estimated the North Atlantic right whale population at 384 individuals.

Emissions from burning coal are a leading driver of climate change and contribute to sea level rise and more extreme weather.

Trichloroethylene (TCE) has been reported to spread in air, water, and soil in the United States and research has found that TCE, when inhaled or ingested, can cross the blood–brain barrier and damage neurons.

A 2025 University of Pennsylvania study found that higher exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in the year before death was associated with 19% higher odds of having more severe Alzheimer's-type brain changes.

A 2025 University of Pennsylvania study estimated that approximately 63% of the association between PM2.5 exposure and dementia severity was explained (mediated) by Alzheimer's-related brain pathology.

A 2025 University of Pennsylvania study reported that among 287 individuals who had dementia assessments before death, higher PM2.5 exposure was associated with greater cognitive and functional decline, including memory loss, impaired judgment, and difficulty with personal care and speech.

A study analyzing the 2023 Florida reef heat wave (co-authored by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the University of South Florida, and nonprofit organizations) estimated that between 97.8% and 100% of staghorn and elkhorn corals in the affected area died, leading researchers to characterize those species as functionally extinct in the Caribbean region.

The North Atlantic right whale population declined by about 25% between 2010 and 2020.

Rare earth elements commonly occur in low concentrations and are chemically difficult to separate from ore, requiring complex refining processes that can take years to develop and that can cause environmental degradation if not managed properly.

Coral bleaching occurs when corals expel their symbiotic algae, causing corals to appear white, reducing their nutrition and increasing their susceptibility to disease.

The U.S. Department of the Interior is a federal agency that includes bureaus such as the National Park Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Oversight and management of national parks is a primary responsibility of the U.S. Department of the Interior.

California's clean air and climate law has been regarded as a national standard on climate policy.