For nearly 20 years, TRAX light rail trains have shuttled riders up and down the Salt Lake Valley, saving countless car trips and sparing Salt Lake’s air tons upon tons of petroleum-powered pollutants.

Since the 1960s, scientists at the University of Vermont have been documenting the decline of red spruce trees, casualties of the damage caused by acid rain on northeastern forests.

But now, surprising new research shows that red spruce are making a comeback—and that a combination of reduced pollution mandated by the 1990 Amendments to the Clean Air Act and changing climate are behind the resurgence.

A pilot whale that died in Thailand last week had more than 17 pounds of plastic waste in its stomach, including more than 80 plastic bags, according to an autopsy performed by Thailand’s Department of Marine and Coastal Resources, Agence France-Presse reported.

What would happen if all petrol and diesel-powered vehicles were removed from a smaller European city? Up to 4% of all premature deaths could be prevented, according to a new study from Lund University in Sweden. The researchers used Malmö, Sweden, as a case study to calculate the health costs of inner city traffic.

Policymakers are being misinformed by the results of economic models that underestimate the future risks of climate change impacts, according to a new journal paper by authors in the United States and the United Kingdom, which is published today (4 June 2018).

The Trump administration is planning to order grid operators to buy electricity from struggling coal and nuclear plants, which face shutdowns due to competition from cheaper natural gas and renewable energy, according to a draft memo obtained by Bloomberg News. The memo argues that the directive, which would be carried out by the U.S. Department of Energy using emergency authority, is justified for national security reasons.

The number of electric vehicles on the road worldwide could reach 125 million by 2030, up from just over 3 million last year, according to a new analysis by the International Energy Agency, an intergovernmental organization that tracks energy trends. The rapid growth isn’t limited to personal vehicles, but will also be seen with electric buses, two-wheelers (such as motorcycles), and trucks.

Published in Energy Efficiency, the study uses Scotland as an example and suggests that radical lifestyle change can show quicker results than the gradual transition to electric vehicles and phasing out of conventional petrol and diesel vehicles.

Plastic nanoparticles - these are tiny pieces of plastic less than 1 micrometre in size - could potentially contaminate food chains, and ultimately affect human health, according to a recent study by scientists from the National University of Singapore (NUS). They discovered that nanoplastics are easily ingested by marine organisms, and they accumulate in the organisms over time, with a risk of being transferred up the food chain, threatening food safety and posing health risks.

The rise of self-driving cars is set to dramatically alter the way we move around cities in the future.