At least 21 percent of plant species are threatened with extinction, but much remains to be discovered.

The deadly wildfires raging through Portugal have killed more than 60 people and created smoke clouds big enough to be seen from space. Is this the wave of the future? A new study finds that wildfires have tripled over the past 30 years in the Great Plains, putting a strain on local agencies. Meanwhile, California’s wildfires have doubled this year, where drought is over but a wetter season has just produced more grasses to burn. On top of that, another recent study found that the smoke from wildfires can, itself, have an effect on the climate, extending the vicious cycle even further. 

Eggs and hot sand do not mix.

Less than three weeks after crude oil started flowing through the Dakota Access Pipeline, a judge has ruled that the pipeline’s environmental review was inadequate and did not address potential impacts to the  Standing Rock Sioux tribe’s fishing and hunting rights, or on environmental justice. President Trump ordered an expedited approval process for the Dakota and Keystone XL pipelines this past January, following years of protests by environmental groups. 

Who needs zombies when you have global warming and the extinction crisis?

An expedition to study how climate change is affecting Arctic ecosystems has been cancelled — because of climate change. According to the University of Manitoba, warm weather has thinned the ice around the Strait of Belle Isle, where the expedition was to take place. This actually makes traveling in the region — even on an icebreaker — more dangerous because the ice is now more mobile and unpredictable. The university says this revelation “clearly illustrates that Canada is ill-prepared to deal with the realities of climate change.” 

Citizens of the Silver State may soon be able to go solar once again. A bill going to Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval’s desk next week would restore net metering, which the state’s utility regulators phased out in 2015. Net metering allows households to sell their excess solar energy back to utilities, making solar panels more affordable. Several solar companies stopped adding new Nevada customers after net metering was shut down. Now Tesla and Sunrun say they plan to come back if the bill is signed. 

The elimination of the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program could impact millions of people, according to the NAACP.

Audubon: On the Wings of the World presents a complex portrait of a visionary scientist and difficult man.

An Obama-era rule to reduce ground-level ozone has been delayed by one year, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt announced Tuesday. The National Ambient Air Quality Standards were supposed to identify cities that currently have ozone levels above 70 parts per billion. The EPA itself calls ground-level ozone “bad ozone” and says it has been linked to numerous environmental and health effects, including “chest pain, coughing, throat irritation, and airway inflammation,” which can lead the asthma or other problems. The announcement about this delay, however, claims the EPA does not “fully understand the role of background ozone levels.”