When it floods in California, the culprit is usually what’s known as an atmospheric river—a narrow ribbon of ultra-moist air moving in from over the Pacific Ocean. Atmospheric rivers are also essential sources of moisture for western reservoirs and mountain snowpack, but in 1861, a series of particularly intense and prolonged ones led to the […]

The Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to hear a major dispute with potentially far-reaching implications for how the federal government protects waterways from pollution. The case, County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund, challenges an appeals court’s ruling that pollution discharged into groundwater that later flows into a navigable waterway can constitute a violation of the Clean Water Act. […]

The Pacific Ocean is beautiful. However, halfway between California and Hawaii, the ocean is also the site of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. At over 600,000 miles, it is more than twice the size of France. The detritus already weighs around 87,000 tons and is growing by the day. Bottles, bags, fishing nets, and such […]