Environment News

Congress passed a massive tax and spending cuts package Thursday that curbs billions of dollars in spending across clean energy.

Inspector Drew Milne of the British Columbia Conservation Officer Service likened it to finding a needle in a haystack — the haystack being a 137-hectare park on Vancouver Island, and the needle being a 1.5-metre-long boa constrictor.

MONTREAL — A recent Quebec government investigation into the climate at two Montreal junior colleges may have had a chilling effect on teachers, according to the director general of one of the schools.

TORONTO — Ontario's financial services regulator should be more active on the issue of rising home insurance rates because of extreme weather, says a complaint filed Thursday.

ESPAÑOLA, N.M. (AP) — Clouds build up in the early afternoon and gusty winds push in every direction. The skies darken and then comes the rain — often a downpour that is gone as quickly as it came.

The Canadian government says it is taking steps this summer to protect a vanishing species of whale from lethal collisions with ships in its waters. The whale is the North Atlantic right whale , which numbers only about 370.

TIRANA, Albania (AP) — The Western Balkans faces a severe drought after a heat wave hit the region, disrupting daily life and creating issues with agriculture and power.

Formed three years ago, Gigablue says it has designed particles that when released in the ocean will trap carbon at the bottom of the sea. Gigablue says its work will do nothing less than save the planet.

The startup Gigablue announced with fanfare this year that it reached a historic milestone: selling 200,000 carbon credits to fund what it describes as a groundbreaking technology in the fight against climate change .

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Hurricane Flossie weakened to a tropical storm Thursday off Mexico’s southwestern Pacific coast with maximum sustained winds of 60 mph (95 kph), the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.