Dan Arthur, the president and chief engineer of ALL Consulting, stands beside a defunct oil well in the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve in Oklahoma on March 20, 2024. The well has not been used for years — there's no pump attached to it. But it hasn't been properly plugged, either. September Dawn Bottoms for NPR hide caption
Iceberg A23a is seen during a British Royal Air Force flight on Nov. 24, 2024, in the South Atlantic Ocean near South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. UK MOD Crown Copyright/via Getty Images hide caption
Energy Secretary Chris Wright spearheaded a recent DOE report about climate science. A new rebuttal from more than 85 scientists finds the report is full of errors and misrepresents climate science. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images hide caption
Ports around the country are vying to become hubs for offshore wind farms, like the State Pier in New London, Conn., which is supplying the South Fork Wind farm offshore. Ted Shaffrey/AP hide caption
Young performers rehearse a dance sequence for 504 NOLA, a youth-led play about Hurricane Katrina, at the Anthony Bean Community Theater in Uptown New Orleans on Aug. 25, 2025. The production, created by director Anthony Bean, premiered Aug. 30 at the Orpheum Theater. Camille Farrah Lenain for NPR hide caption
This photo provided by the U.S. Coast Guard shows the aftermath of a landslide in Wrangell, Alaska, in November 2023. U.S. Coast Guard via AP hide caption
Las Vegas Valley Water District Water Waste Investigator Devyn Choltko puts a water waste violation into the computer system outside a home in north Las Vegas, Nevada, on June 25, 2024. Choltko is one of more than a dozen investigators who patrol Las Vegas neighborhoods looking for water being wasted during irrigation times. RJ Sangosti/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images hide caption
Florence Times drinks water and cools off at the CT Harm Reduction Alliance cooling center in Hartford, Conn. on July 16, 2025. "This place saved my life," she said. Ayannah Brown/Connecticut Public hide caption
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) became a symbol of the government's failure to prevent damage and save lives after Hurricane Katrina. Here, a plea spray-painted on plywood sits in front of an apartment complex on Sept. 4, 2005, in Biloxi, Miss., which was hit hard by the storm. Win McNamee/Getty Images hide caption
Kevin Potter poses for a portrait in his home in Chalmette, St. Bernard Parish, on Aug. 20. He returned home after Hurricane Katrina. The neighborhood was flooded due to the nearby Mississippi River–Gulf Outlet Canal shipping channel, which did not have a storm surge barrier at the time. Camille Lenain for NPR hide caption
Then-U.S. President George W. Bush talks with then-U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Russel Honoré on the flight deck of the USS Iwo Jima on Sept. 20, 2005, in New Orleans, La. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images hide caption
Offshore wind blades and other equipment in New London, Conn. President Trump is a longtime critic of the wind industry. Seth Wenig/AP hide caption
A plea for help appears on the roof of a home flooded in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, LA. Stringer/AFP hide caption
Floodwaters from Hurricane Katrina fill the streets near downtown New Orleans in August 2005. The storm caused enormous damage, displaced thousands of people and inspired a new era of hurricane science. David J. Phillip/AP hide caption
Children cool off in a mist fountain in central Paris amid a heatwave, on Aug. 13. Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
A resident runs past the flames Monday as they try to put out the fire near Rebordondo village, close to Ourense, in northwestern Spain. Pablo Garcia/AP hide caption
An exhaust pipe atop a truck in Austin, Texas. Under the Trump administration, the Environmental Protection Agency is seeking to repeal past findings that greenhouse gas emissions pose a threat to public health. Brandon Bell/Getty Images hide caption
An aerial view of the Columbia River is shown on Friday, July 18, 2025, near Crescent Bar, Washington. KUOW Photo/Megan Farmer Megan Farmer/KUOW hide caption
A Volkswagen ID.4 electric vehicle charges via a fast charger in Torrance, Calif., on February 23, 2024. A federal program to fund fast chargers across the U.S. has been on pause for six months, but the Trump administration is now restarting it. Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
An Energy Star label is shown in 2010 on a dryer at an appliance store in Mountain View, Calif. Paul Sakuma/AP hide caption
In California, the Mojave Desert tortoise was recently reclassified as endangered under the state's Endangered Species Act. Climate change, development, and habitat destruction are just some of the many threats tortoises face. Michael Faist/NPS hide caption
Firefighting operations on Colorado's Highway 13, responding to the Lee Fire. John Hecker/InciWeb hide caption
GRID Alternatives employees install no-cost solar panels on the rooftop of a low-income household on October 19, 2023 in Pomona, California. Mario Tama/Getty Images North America hide caption
President Donald Trump signs executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House on January 20. Evan Vucci/AP hide caption