The critically endangered Eastern Pacific leatherback's future looks "dire," say conservationists.

As more and more people stay at home during the pandemic, millions of vehicles are no longer on the roads and the skies are comparatively free of airplanes. Many other human activities that cause air pollution also have been scaled back. But will this lull in activity make a difference in the air we breathe or the future of climate change? NewsHour Weekend's Christopher Booker reports.

Airlines’ carbon emissions could drop by more than one-third this year as travel demand sinks, a trend that could continue as businesses reassess their need to fly, according to the Australia Institute.

“This pandemic isn’t an excuse for polluters to ignore the law and for EPA to let them get away with it,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren said.

Researchers say there are good reasons to be optimistic about the future of our oceans.

Lawns have proliferated since the rise of the suburbs in the mid-20th century. But their maintenance produces greenhouses gases and they are biodiversity deserts. Shifting attitudes to lawn care offers a giant eco opportunity. The question is, how?

A bacterium that feeds on toxic plastic has been discovered by scientists. The bug not only breaks the plastic down but uses it as food to power the process. The bacterium, which was found at a waste site where plastic had been dumped, is the first that is known to attack polyurethane. Millions of tonnes of the plastic is produced every year to use in items such as sports shoes, nappies, kitchen sponges and as foam insulation, but it is mostly sent to landfill because it it too tough to recycle.

Carbon dioxide emissions could fall by the largest amount since World War Two this year as the coronavirus outbreak brings economies to a virtual standstill, according to the chair of a network of scientists providing benchmark emissions data.

2020 has a new motto: "Cancelled due to the coronavirus." Businesses, schools, sports, travel, film, and TV production, conferences, meetings, and basically any and all business as usual has been suspended in the US as individuals and institutions try to slow the spread of COVID-19. We have, at least, had outdoor space to go to—staying at least six feet away from others as we do—when we need a break from the four walls of our homes.

After a seven-year battle, Grant Township fought off a permit for an injection well. “Fights like ours should mushroom all around Pennsylvania,” says town supervisor

The coronavirus pandemic is shutting down industrial activity and temporarily slashing air pollution levels around the world, satellite imagery from the European Space Agency shows. One expert said the sudden shift represented the “largest scale experiment ever” in terms of the reduction of industrial emissions.

The study sheds light on just how long certain types of plastic can live on in the marine environment.

Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) have been found to contain up to 81 drugs from the contaminated Puget Sound, along the coast of Washington state. During research, drugs including Prozac, Advil, Lipitor and even cocaine were discovered within the salmon’s flesh. Supposedly, these substance levels have rocketed due to high drug use within the local area.

Antarctica and Greenland are losing ice six times faster than in the 1990s, a pair of studies in the journal Nature show. According to the international team of climatologists behind the research, the unprecedented rate of melt has already contributed 0.7 inches (1.78 centimeters) to global sea level rise in the last three decades, putting the planet on track for the worst-case climate warming scenario laid out in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) latest report.

Look down into the waters of the Venice canals today and there is a surprising sight – not just a clear view of the sandy bed, but shoals of tiny fish, scuttling crabs and multicoloured plant-life. “The water is blue and clear,” said Gloria Beggiato, who owns the celebrated Metropole Hotel a few steps from St Mark’s square and has a view over the Venice lagoon. “It is calm like a pond, because there are no more waves caused by motorised boats transporting day-tripper tourists. And of course, the giant cruise ships have disappeared.”

“At this rate, plastic is set to outweigh fish in the ocean by 2050,” the complaint reads.

There are now more than 50 known species of ‘plastivores,’ or plastic-eating organisms. One of these, the greater wax moth, is offering scientists hope in the fight against plastic pollution.

Automated bins, rooftop farms, and underground mushroom-growing help clean up the mess.

A look at what would happen if humans disappeared from Earth. How would ecology adapt and change to cope with the lack of human beings, and what will the earth look like into a future without humans.

2020 was supposed to be pivotal for the environment. The end date of a raft of corporate sustainability goals, the year the Paris Agreement kicks into gear. “But now we’re here, it’s clear business and governments are falling short of what needs to be achieved," say risk analysts Maplecroft.