The Guardian

• Gray whales, once rare in San Francisco Bay, dying there at alarming rates

  Researchers find increase in whale deaths in the bay, largely because of collisions with vessels on busy shipping route

  Gray whales have historically been a rare sight in the San Francisco Bay. They trek from the warm lagoons of Mexico’s Baja California more than 10,000 miles (16,000km) north to the Arctic region to feast on shrimp-like animals during the summers, seldom stopping in the busy shipping corridor for prolonged periods.

  But in recent years, that story has changed in a dire way. A new study, published this week in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science, has found that gray whales in the bay have been dying at alarming rates, largely due to collisions with vessels.

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• NAACP lawsuit accuses Elon Musk’s xAI of polluting Black neighborhoods near Memphis

  Suit alleges the billionaire’s AI company is illegally spewing toxic pollutants from its datacenter in the Memphis area

  A new lawsuit accuses Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company of illegally spewing toxic pollutants into residential neighborhoods on the border of Tennessee and Mississippi.

  The suit, filed on Tuesday in Mississippi federal court, alleges xAI is violating the Clean Air Act due to emissions from itsmakeshift power plant in Southaven, Mississippi, which powers its datacenter there. The NAACP, represented by environmental groups Southern Environmental Law Center and Earthjustice, says xAI has been polluting areas with homes, schools and churches, including in historically Black communities, by using dozens of methane gas generators without permits.

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• Are we heading for ‘super El Niño’ – and what could we expect?

  Experts say climate pattern could supercharge extreme weather events and push temperatures to record highs

  There is a high likelihood that the phenomenon known as “El Niño” will emerge this summer – and it could be exceptionally strong. A so-called “super El Niño” could supercharge extreme weather events and push global temperatures to record heights next year if it develops, according to experts.

  Meteorologists are keeping a close eye on the climate patterns developing in the Pacific Ocean that will enable stronger predictions about what’s to come in the year ahead.

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• Inside a jubilant DC conference where ‘the climate deniers are in charge now’

  Trump’s EPA chief Lee Zeldin’s presence shows how much influence climate deniers now have, experts say

  As scientists confirmed that March was the United States’ most abnormally hot month in recorded history, dozens of climate deniers gathered to promote misinformation and tout their newfound influence on federal policy.

  At a conference hosted by the prominent science-denying thinktank the Heartland Institute last week, a crowd of mostly middle-aged men in suits claimed the world is finally waking up to the idea that the climate crisis does not exist.

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• America’s hiking culture is built on ego

  From peak-bagging to thru-hiking, Americans have turned traversing land into personal milestones. This wilderness ranger and Indigenous writer has witnessed it firsthand

  Këmituxwe Éhènta Wehikiyànkw

  You are walking in our old homeland

  After spending 12 years backpacking some of America’s wildest trails as a wilderness ranger for the US Forest Service – and then losing that job to politics – last spring I set out for the Appalachian Trail (AT), the longest hiking-only footpath in the world.

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