NSA scandal goes environmental: Details are still emerging about the extent to which the National Security Agency has been spying on everyone for the last half dozen years, but government documents show that at least some of the justification for snooping has been to prepare for security threats in the wake of environmental disasters like tsunamis, hurricanes, and earthquakes. These documents state that “climate change, energy security, and economic stability are inextricably linked,” and the U.S. government is worried that as climate change makes natural disasters worse, political unrest will follow, at home and around...

When the levee breaks: According to a report released this week by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the floods are a-comin’. The study -- 257 pages long and five years in the making -- estimates a 45 percent increase in the areas at risk of flooding by 2100, thanks to rising seas and increasingly newsworthy weather. Beyond the general awfulness of FEMA's forecast, flooding of this sort will likely “hammer” the National Flood Insurance Program. To compensate for the projected losses, the average price of polices would have to rise by as much as 70 percent. Translation: The price for individual policyholders will...

Chimpin’ at the bit: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service continues to garner headlines this month as it announces the plan to list all chimpanzees as “endangered.” Previously, wild chimps were given this designation while captive chimps were categorized only as “threatened.” This may seem pedantic to some, but the confusing “split-listing” has allowed the animals to continue to be used in scientific research while most of the rest of the world has banned the practice. Jane Goodall was of course among those who petitioned for the change -- for if ...

Cry wolf: On Friday, the United States Fish & Wildlife Service officially proposed removing the gray wolf from protection under the Endangered Species Act. For his part, USFWS Director Dan Ashe views the gray wolf’s recovery as “one of the most remarkable success stories in the history of conservation.” Conservationists, including NRDC (which publishes OnEarth), tend to...