Kymberly Escobar

On a planet beset by environmental challenges—from melting glaciers and disappearing forests to warming oceans and dying coral reefs—Canada this week provided a ray of hope by committing substantial new funds to protect a significant portion of the country’s natural areas. Specifically, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government announced funding to accelerate protections encompassing at least 17 percent of terrestrial ecosystems by 2020, and to do so in partnership with Indigenous peoples.

More than 7 in 10 registered voters across the U.S. support policies that will enable communities and the nation to better prepare for and respond to floods, according to a survey released Feb. 1. The poll, conducted by the research firm Public Opinion Strategies for The Pew Charitable Trusts, found that a vast majority of voters across the political spectrum support policies aimed at reducing the risk posed by flood-related disasters, including requirements that have a potential cost impact.

Earlier this month, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke released the largest proposed offshore drilling program in our nation’s history, negating the exhaustive, multiyear public process that was completed in January 2017. The 2019-24 Outer Continental Shelf draft program lays out plans for offshore oil and gas drilling for nearly all U.S. coastal waters.