Teal Helms, the interim executive director of the Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center, intubates a brown pelican while Medical Director, Dr. Lizzie Wood, prepare to clean out a wound from a fishing hook in Huntington Beach on Wednesday, June 17, 2026. Wood said that one of the results of the current marine heatwave off the California coast is more birds with hook injuries because they look for food closer to people. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Pelicans, grebes, loons, murres and ‘tremendous numbers’ of Brandt’s cormorants have been found sick or dead By Rachel Fobar | rfobar@scng.com PUBLISHED: June 26, 2026  UPDATED: June 28, 2026 Between disease, pesticide contamination and starvation, seabirds are fighting multiple battles along the California coastline this year. Since March, beachgoers have discovered dozens of sick or dead seabirds along the coastal stretch […]

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Lake Success, CA, USA, Photo by Donna Elliot on Unsplash

Building on lessons learned from prior droughts, a new statewide regulation and the resolve of Californians, the state is deploying conservation — even in non-drought years — as a key strategy to ensure long-term water security. For more information, contact Nick Cahill With nearly 40 million residents, farms that produce half of all U.S. produce and […]

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Snowpack in California and West, 4/2026

The latest flurries that dusted parts of the Sierra Nevada this week are unlikely to do much to ease California’s snow drought.  Since April 1 — when the state measured its second-lowest snowpack on record — the Sierra Nevada has seen a few rounds of storms. This week’s system triggered winter storm warnings in the […]

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Warm Storms and High‑Elevation Rain Accelerate Melt Months Ahead of Schedule, Impacting Water Supply for the Remainder of the Year SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The Department of Water Resources (DWR) today conducted the critical April snow survey at Phillips Station and found no measurable snow, a stark indicator of how record‑hot March temperatures and high‑elevation rain have […]

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A skier surveys the view of South Lake Tahoe from Heavenly ski resort. An early spring California heat wave is feasting on what’s left of the Sierra Nevada snowpack, raising wildfire and drought concerns.  (Olivia Allen-Price/KQED) The snowpack is melting so fast across the Sierra Nevada that ski resorts in the Tahoe area are farming snow to deepen […]

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On April 13, 2026, youth from across the country will stand before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Lighthiser v. Trump, challenging President Trump’s pro-fossil fuel executive orders that “unleash” fossil fuels, block renewable energy development, suppress critical climate science, and worsen the climate crisis.  The appeal follows a historic September evidentiary hearing — the […]

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Upcoming events in youth-led climate litigation

Youth across the country are getting the opportunity to argue their cases in court!  The next generation is making history by launching bold climate lawsuits and stepping into the courtroom to demand protection of their constitutional rights. Don’t just watch from the sidelines. Join them in court and online as they make their voices heard!   […]

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DWR staff conducting the first snow survey of the season at Phillips Station. Photo taken Dec. 30, 2025

Published: Dec 30, 2025 Series of atmospheric rivers provided significant snowpack gains, boosted water supply statewide SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The Department of Water Resources (DWR) today conducted the first snow survey of the season at Phillips Station. The manual survey recorded 24 inches of snow depth and a snow water equivalent of 5 inches, which is 50 […]

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Montana Youth Return to Supreme Court to Enforce Their Win

Today, on International Human Rights Day, 13 courageous young Montanans are taking a historic step to protect their rights and uphold the rule of law. These youth, all plaintiffs in Held v. State of Montana, are returning to the Montana Supreme Court because their state is openly defying the Constitution and their landmark win. On a day dedicated […]

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generated image of beach

The foundation said erosion of sandy beaches is a normal coastal process, but climate change is intensifying and compounding its impacts, leading to sea levels rising more quickly and more frequent extreme weather events. By City News Service • Published October 7, 2025 More than half of America’s sandy beaches will be lost by 2100 due to climate-driven […]

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created with gemini

University of California, Berkeley, study found that those who experience severe effects will see upto a $1m in costs Dani AnguianoThu 25 Sep 2025  The climate emergency is significantly increasing costs for California households in the form of rising utility bills, lost wages and growing healthcare expenses, worsening the state’s affordability crisis, according to a sweeping new report. The […]

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History was made in Missoula last week.  For the first time ever, a federal court heard live testimony in a constitutional climate case led by young people. Over two powerful days, the youth plaintiffs in Lighthiser v. Trump stood before a judge and told their truth — about wildfire evacuations, asthma attacks, heat stroke, mental […]

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Juliana v. U.S. -Ten Years of Impact

Friends, Partners and Colleagues,   Today, the United States Supreme Court denied the Juliana 21’s petition for certiorari, after a nearly decade-long legal battle.   At Our Children’s Trust, we’re celebrating ten years of impact and the 21 young people who catalyzed a global movement.  Ten Years of Impact  Juliana v. United States was filed in […]

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openart image of dolphins swimming with sardines

In the sea as on land, climate change is driving shifts in the abundance and distribution of species. Scientists are just beginning to focus on why some fish predators and prey — like striped bass and menhaden on the U.S. East Coast — are changing their behavior as waters warm. By Andrew S. Lewis • January 21, 2025 For decades on the […]

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Montana Supreme Court affirms decision in historic youth climate case

16 Montana youth held their government accountable for harming their fundamental rights to health, safety, liberty, dignity, equal protection of the law, and a clean and healthful environment. Our youth clients’ voices were heard. The Montana Supreme Court has upheld science-based protections for a safe and healthy climate, affirming that fossil fuel pollution is incompatible with […]

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Swing set in ocean

Great news! The Commission unanimously adopted the updated Sea Level Rise (SLR) Policy Guidance during its November 2024 hearing. The updates focus on three main areas: This update incorporated input from eight environmental justice (EJ) and SLR experts from the start to ensure community voices and EJ principles were central throughout the Guidance. For more details, […]

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Scotia lumber yard, credit Juan Mejia. From Protect Homes and Forests Say NO to Biomass Energy

● The most effective way to protect homes from fire:    – Home hardening     – Creation of defensible space up to 100 feet● Our forests are being targeted for extraction in the name of fire resilience    – Clearing trees beyond 100 feet can exacerbate the spread of wind-driven fires    – Causes immense damage to forest ecosystems, […]

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Toxic Algal Blooms can harm people and pets. They can ruin vacations and wreck recreation and tourist economies. They can happen anywhere. And they’re entirely preventable.  We were fortunate. Though he waded and drank some of the contaminated water, our dog Wooly escaped with a few days of severe vomiting and diarrhea. He’s now fully […]

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By Li Cohen Updated on: June 6, 2024 / 10:10 AM EDT / CBS News               One of the major drivers of the exceptional heat building within Earth’s atmosphere has reached levels beyond anything humans have ever experienced, officials announced on Thursday. Carbon dioxide, the gas that accounts for the majority of global warming caused by human activities, […]

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Youth v Gov Alaska youth file case to protect their rights

Today, eight young people from across the state of Alaska filed their constitutional climate lawsuit, Sagoonick v. State of Alaska II, against the State of Alaska, the Alaska Gasline Development Corporation (AGDC), and AGDC president Frank Richards.  The youth plaintiffs filed their case to protect their rights to a safe, healthy climate and stop the Alaska LNG […]

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United Nations logo at the UN headquarter in New York City

By Cristen Hemingway Jaynes, EcoWatch.April 12, 2024 We are running out of time to take action on climate change, says Simon Stiell, executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. In a speech titled “Two Years to Save the World,” Stiell emphasized that governments, development banks and business leaders must take steps to avert much more […]

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held vs montana

by Sam Bookman, S.J.D. Candidate  8/30/2023 Young people across the United States have been asking courts to compel actions to address climate change. In the past, many federal and state courts have been reluctant to interfere in complex policy decisions that often raise concerns about causation, plaintiff standing, separation of powers, and the lack of […]

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The sun shines through the mist of Running Eagle Falls in the Two Medicine portion of Glacier National Park.

By Dana DrugmandAugust 15, 2023 “Game-changer ruling” has implications for future climate change lawsuits in the US and around the world. A Montana court ruled in favor of 16 young people who put their state government on trial in June in the first constitutional climate trial in U.S. history. In an order issued Monday, Judge Kathy Seeley […]

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Logging

The wood products industry is massively undercounting its impact on the climate, a new study has found. Through its production of paper, pulp, pellets and lumber, the industry releases at least 3.5 billion tons of carbon dioxide every year, according to a study published last week in Nature. That is a large number in its own right: more than […]

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Lumber, cut and stacked

Because concrete and steel used to construct buildings are a major source of global greenhouse gas emissions, there is growing interest in “mass timber” — a supposedly lower-carbon option — to replace them. New ways of gluing pieces of wood together to form strong beams and structural panels provide opportunities to use wood even in tall buildings. But new research finds that using wood in construction is likely to increase emissions for many decades, […]

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wood pellet production

California’s Forests Targeted As Feedstock for Global Wood Bioenergy Industry – Civil Society Responds With United Force to Oppose Massive Wood Pellet Export Project The opening of the environmental review of the Golden State Natural Resources wood pellet manufacture and export scheme in California received a robust response from civil society environmental and environmental justice organizations from […]

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The project area for the Carmel River restoration project as seen from the air. (Courtesy Big Sur Land Trust)

Funding Will Help Communities Implement Groundwater Recharge, Flood Management, Water Conservation and Water Supply Reliability Projects May 17, 2023 “California’s changing climate presents unique challenges to our regions across the state,” said DWR Director Karla Nemeth. “These projects meet multiple needs including constructing new water infrastructure, improving water quality, protecting wildlife and preparing for a […]

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