Environment

Variety reports: Robbie Coltrane, who played the lovable half-giant Rubeus Hagrid in the “Harry Potter” franchise, has died, his agency WME confirmed on Friday. He was 72. Coltrane featured in every “Harry Potter” movie, from “Sorcerer’s Stone” in 2001 to “Death Hallows -Part 2” in 2011, and was much beloved for bringing the character from J.K. Rowling’s book series to …

The Washington Post reports: Joseph Hazelwood, captain of the tanker Exxon Valdez when it ran aground in Alaska’s Prince William Sound in March 1989, leaking 10.8 million gallons of crude oil in a massive environmental catastrophe that ravaged maritime habitats and brought sweeping inquests into who was to blame, died on July 21. He was 75. The toll to the …

The Associated Press reports: Zombie ice from the massive Greenland ice sheet will eventually raise global sea level by at least 10 inches (27 centimeters) on its own, according to a study released Monday. Zombie or doomed ice is ice that is still attached to thicker areas of ice, but is no longer getting fed by those larger glaciers. That’s …

Reuters reports: Cineworld Group, the world’s second largest cinema chain operator, is preparing to file for bankruptcy, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, just days after warning that a lack of blockbusters would hit its liquidity in the near term. Shares in the London-listed company slumped more than 81% to a record low of 1.8 pence after the WSJ …

Bloomberg News reports: So you think it’s hot out there now? Consider the summer of 2053. That’s what researchers at First Street Foundation, a New York nonprofit that studies climate risk, have done in a report published today. They predict that in three decades, more than 100 million Americans will live in an “extreme heat belt” where at least one …

Science News reports: The Arctic is heating up at a breakneck speed compared with the rest of Earth. And new analyses show that the region is warming even faster than scientists thought. Over the last four decades, the average Arctic temperature increased nearly four times as fast as the global average, researchers report August 11 in Communications Earth & Environment. …

Brooklyn Paper reports: The group gathering in the water between piers 2 and 3 at Brooklyn Bridge Park were taking part in a .8-mile open water swim to Pebble Beach Cove organized by the group Urban Swim. The group hosts several open water swims around New York Harbor to raise awareness of water accessibility and water health in the city. …

Changing America reports: As record-breaking heat waves continue to grip the country, a new Economist/YouGov poll finds 53 percent of U.S. adults report personally having felt the effects of climate change. Findings were based on responses from 1,500 individuals between July 23 and 26. Of those surveyed, 23 percent said they have not felt the effects of climate change, 18 …

Salt Lake City’s Fox affiliate reports: The Great Salt Lake has dropped to a new historic low, FOX 13 News has confirmed. The imperiled lake has dropped to 4,190.1, below last year’s record low of 4,190.2 feet. The Great Salt Lake has already dropped 11 feet since it was first measured in the 1800s as a result of water diversion, …

USA Today reports: The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled against an Environmental Protection Agency effort to regulate power plant emissions, dealing a blow to the Biden administration in one of the most significant climate cases decided by the high court in more than a decade. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the opinion for a 6-3 majority. The court’s three liberal …

Bloomberg News reports: New Jersey became the first state to ban both plastic and paper bags on Wednesday, leaving companies and shoppers to find creative workarounds to get their groceries home. ShopRite, with more than 100 New Jersey stores, will charge a flat $1.50 per order for reusable bags. Instacart Inc., which fulfills shoppers’ lists for Aldi Inc., Lidl Ltd., …

The Washington Post reports: The White House on Tuesday announced it has restored key protections to a landmark environmental law governing the construction of pipelines, highways and other projects that President Donald Trump had swept away as part of an effort to cut red tape. The new rule will require federal agencies to scrutinize the climate impacts of major infrastructure …

The Washington Post reports: The coldest location on the planet has experienced an episode of warm weather this week unlike any ever observed, with temperatures over the eastern Antarctic ice sheet soaring 50 to 90 degrees above normal. The warmth has smashed records and shocked scientists. “This event is completely unprecedented and upended our expectations about the Antarctic climate system,” …

The Washington Post reports: The extreme heat and dry conditions of the past few years pushed what was already an epic, decades-long drought in the American West into a historic disaster that bears the unmistakable fingerprints of climate change. The long-running drought, which has persisted since 2000, can now be considered the driest 22-year period of the past 1,200 years, …

Los Angeles’s ABC News affiliate reports: Southern California beaches soiled by a sewage spill will remain closed until testing of water samples shows bacteria levels are within state standards, officials said. A sewer main line failed in the city of Carson and millions of gallons of untreated sewage was discharged into the Dominguez Channel, a waterway that empties into Los …

The Verge reports: The California attorney general and 12 state officials filed a lawsuit against Walmart, saying it allegedly illegally disposed of electronic and hazardous waste, compromising local landfills. California Attorney General Rob Bonta alleges in a statement the company violated state environmental laws with their practices, and the waste included materials like lithium and alkaline batteries, insect killer sprays, …

Billboard Magazine reports: Olivia Rodrigo and FINNEAS are each nominated in each of the Big Four categories at the 64th annual Grammy Awards – album, record and song of the year plus best new artist. Rodrigo was honored for her debut album, Sour, and its smash single “drivers license.” FINNEAS is up for producing and co-writing work with his sister, …

The New York Times reports: With the bang of a gavel, diplomats from nearly 200 countries on Saturday struck a major agreement aimed at intensifying efforts to fight climate change, by calling on governments to return next year with stronger plans to curb their planet-warming emissions and urging wealthy nations to “at least double” funding by 2025 to protect the …

Michigan Live reports: A federal court judge has given final approval to a historic partial settlement of lawsuits related to the Flint water crisis. U.S. District Court Judge Judith E. Levy filed her approval order Wednesday, Nov. 10, calling the $626-million settlement fair, reasonable and adequate. Nearly 80 percent of the settlement, which state officials have said is likely the …

Reuters reports: Greenhouse gas concentrations hit a record last year and the world is “way off track” on climate goals, the U.N. weather agency said on Monday, showing the scale of the task facing governments scrambling to avert dangerous levels of warming. A report by the World Meteorological Organization showed that carbon dioxide levels surged to 413.2 parts per million …