Workers remove more than 700 pounds of acorns that a pair of woodpeckers had stashed in the chimney of a California vacation rental.

A powerful earthquake kills more than 20,000 people in Turkey and Syria.

The Brazilian government has launched a huge operation to eject 25,000 illegal gold miners from Yanomami Indigenous Land in the Amazon jungle.

Stratospheric winds of more than 100 miles per hour drive the wind chill at New Hampshire’s Mt. Washington to minus 108°F, the lowest wind chill ever recorded in the United States. 

An entire summer’s worth of rain—more than 10 inches—falls on Auckland, New Zealand, in a single day.

Natural disasters displaced 3 million Americans in 2022. Twelve percent were out of their homes for more than six months, and 16 percent never returned.

A demonstration project in California captures carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and uses it to make concrete. 

A freight train derails in northeastern Ohio. At least five cars contain the highly flammable chemical vinyl chloride, which is used to make PVC pipe. To alleviate the risk of a deadly explosion, the carcinogenic chemical is released and burned. 

Seven state attorneys general petition the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to issue emergency standards on heat exposure, both indoors and out, in time to protect workers this summer. 

As of June, Eugene, Oregon will ban new gas hookups in single-family homes and apartments of three stories or less.

The world’s top five oil and gas companies collectively earned more than $200 billion in profits in 2022.

Methane emissions from offshore platforms in the Gulf of Mexico are so large that they can cause helicopters to crash.

Testing of canned tuna by Consumer Reports finds that albacore tuna tends to have up to three times more mercury than the light or skipjack varieties. The organization suggests that pregnant people avoid canned tuna altogether. 

A survey finds that 36.3 million trees in California were killed by drought, insects, and disease in 2020. The same survey in 2021 found 9.5 million dead trees. 

The Twitter account of Montana senator Steve Daines (R) is temporarily suspended for “graphic violence” after he posts a photo of himself and his wife with an antelope they had hunted. 

For the fifth year in a row, the price to graze a cow and calf on federal public lands in the West for a month remains at $1.35. Six years ago, the comparable cost on private lands was $23.40. 

Under Republican leadership, the House Energy and Commerce Committee has removed the phrase “environmental justice” from committee documents.

The Georgia State Election Board rules that volunteers with Black Voters Matter broke no laws when they passed out snacks and water at a multihour line at an early voting site in October 2020—but the woman who filed the complaint against them may face charges for bringing a gun to a polling place.

European storks that used to winter in Africa now migrate no farther than Spain, where they dine on garbage at landfills.