Climate & environment

Black residents of the Deal Island peninsula endure hardships to cling to the land where their enslaved ancestors once lived, says Rona Kobell, a Banner contributor and co-founder of the Environmental Justice Journalism Initiative, which produced the film “Eroding History.”

Woodberry residents raised alarms over possible lead paint chips falling from the red television tower that stands high above their neighborhood nearly a year ago.

Environmentalists hail a new law as a major step toward reducing harmful emissions in historically underserved communities. But some worry that a caveat in the legislation could delay the mandate.

Victims of alleged sexual abuse by clergy and others in the Archdiocese of Baltimore are finally being heard, says Gemma Hoskins, an alumna of Archbishop Keough High School who was featured in “The Keepers.”

The decision opens the door for Baltimore and other cities, states and counties to pursue their claims for damages from climate-related extreme weather events, flooding and sea-level rise in state courts.

Pinsky said he has already told the agency staff to get ready for taking bold steps in order to achieve state renewable energy targets and, where necessary, agreeing to disagree with external partners such as the utilities or Maryland Public Service Commission, which, he said, “has been very friendly with the utilities.”

A strong geomagnetic storm is taking place right now.

Let’s take a walk to the water for Earth Day.

The volume of twigs, leaves and weeds collected has dropped since the county required them to be in paper bags. But the move away from plastic bags had other benefits, officials say.

A Pepco pilot project to build the 1-megawatt unit poses fire and explosion risks, residents say.

A combination of strong winds, low relative humidity, and warm temperatures can contribute to extreme fire behavior, the National Weather Service says

For 25 years, Lisa Lewenz and a small army of “toad ferries” have helped to gather the toads on one side of the busy road and carry them to the other side, where they can then reach their spawning grounds.

Mayor Brandon Scott should remove Baltimore homeowner properties from the tax sale auction, as he did last year, Allison Harris, director of the Home Preservation Project at the Pro Bono Resource Center of Maryland, says. Campuses of historically Black colleges in Maryland are among those urgently in need of modernization, Paul Clary, co-founder of MD Energy Advisors, says; the work of the state Attorney General's Office in the Baltimore Archdiocese sex abuse investigation merits praise, a city resident says.

Amir Sapkota has researched the impact of air pollution on the heart and the lungs, and how climate disruptions can increase health risks for kidney patients needing dialysis or exacerbate health burdens for low-income groups.

Skies overnight tonight are expected to become mostly cloudy across the area, with scattered thunderstorms in Western Maryland weakening as they approach the region late tonight.

Ready to dig in the dirt this spring? Make sure you’re planning ahead for warming summers with this climate-conscious resource and tip sheet informed by some of the mid-Atlantic’s best gardeners and educators.

If you have the right equipment, you’ll be able to see five planets in the night sky today. Without equipment, you could see four. And if you’re willing to wake up before sunrise, you could see Saturn, too. This is a relatively rare astronomical phenomenon, getting to see so many planets over the course of one evening — but it doesn't “mean” anything, it’s just a neat occurrence.

The Environmental Protection Agency needs a stronger rule to reduce particle air pollution and to protect people with chronic lung disease and the broader community in places like Baltimore, says Dr. Panagis Galiatsatos, a physician with the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center and community engagement co-director of the Baltimore Breathe Center.

Southerly winds are bringing smoke northward from a forest fire in Eastern North Carolina, according to the National Weather Service.