Breathing the polluted air in the Indian capital of New Delhi, population 20 million, is currently the equivalent of smoking 50 cigarettes a day. 

More than 70 “catastrophic” wildfires sweep Australia’s densely populated New South Wales.

Japan plans to build 11 solar farms and 10 wind farms, with a total output of 600 megawatts, on land contaminated by radiation from the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear meltdown.

Floodwaters in Venice, Italy, peak at 1.87 meters above sea level, the second-highest level in recorded history. Two people die and St. Mark’s Cathedral suffers “irreparable damage.”

In Venice, California, hypodermic needles and medical waste are washing up on the beach.

Wild boars in a Tuscan forest sniff out and scatter a stash of cocaine worth $22,000 that had been hidden by drug dealers. 

In the calm Hawaiian waters known as “slicks” that serve as aquatic nurseries, pieces of plastic outnumber baby fish by 7-to-1.

Israelis are posting pictures of Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg next to single-use plastic utensils to deter people from using them.

After more than 200 elephants die from lack of food and water, Zimbabwe plans to move more than 600 elephants—as well as giraffes, lions, antelopes, and other creatures—hundreds of miles to other parks not so badly stricken by drought. 

A Vietnamese biologist confirms the continued existence of the mouse-deer or chevrotain, the world’s smallest hooved mammal, with the first-ever photograph of the species. 

Three cows that vanished from the North Carolina shore during Hurricane Dorian turn up on a Cape Lookout island, several miles offshore. 

Yellowstone National Park considers greatly expanding wi-fi throughout the park. Should the project be deemed successful, it will likely be repeated in other national parks.

Melting Arctic sea ice is spreading deadly phocine distemper virus, threatening seals and other marine mammals.

The last 11 orcas and belugas in Russia’s “whale jail” near Vladivostok are freed. 

Iran announces the discovery of a new, “supergiant” oilfield with reserves of more than 50 billion barrels. 

The European Investment Bank, the world’s largest public bank, will no longer lend money to most fossil fuel projects.

SUVs now account for 40 percent of the world's motor-vehicle sales and are the second-largest contributor to the increase in global carbon emissions since 2010.  

A national survey conducted by the Sierra Club finds that only one in four auto dealerships sells electric vehicles.

The Department of Transportation announces $900 million in infrastructure grants, 70 percent of which goes to roads and bridges. Grants for mass transit decline from 27.8 percent under Obama to 8.5 percent. Funding for pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure: 0.0 percent. 

A week after President Trump threatened to strip California of its ability to set its own auto-emission standards, New Mexico and Minnesota join the 13 other states that have adopted those strict standards. 

Trump’s Scottish golf company agrees to pay Scotland $289,000 in legal fees after the failure of his lengthy legal battle against an offshore wind farm that would be visible from his golf resort in Aberdeen. 

Trump proclaims himself to be “very much into climate” and “in many ways to be an environmentalist.”