As we approach Earth Day this Tuesday, it’s tempting to believe that the world is on the brink of environmental collapse. We are constantly inundated by dire predictions of climate catastrophe and warnings about the planet’s imminent destruction.

But this is misleading. Rather than spiraling into panic, we should take a moment to appreciate the remarkable progress we’ve made in improving the environment, and acknowledge that a key factor is prosperity.

When Earth Day was first marked 55 years ago, the world faced some grim environmental challenges.

More than 37 million Americans are consuming drinking water contaminated with toxic "forever chemicals" that exceed federal safety limits, according to a recent USA Today report. The report analyzed the first Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) update since President Donald Trump returned to office.

While carbon dioxide is a small part of the atmosphere, it has a large impact on climate as a greenhouse gas. AllSides highlights content from Gigafact, a network of newsrooms that respond to online claims. View the full fact brief on Skeptical Science.

Although US coal consumption has fallen dramatically since 2005, the country still consumes millions of tons a year, and exports tons more—much of it transported by train. Now, new research shows that these trains can affect the health of people living near where they pass.

The Supreme Court rejected a settlement with OxyContin manufacturer Purdue Pharma that would have shielded the Sackler family from legal liability for the company’s role in exacerbating the disastrous opioid crisis.

The U.S. Supreme Court rejected on Thursday the Securities and Exchange Commission's in-house enforcement of laws protecting investors against securities fraud, dealing a blow to the agency's powers in a ruling that could reverberate through other federal regulators.

The decision - a setback for President Joe Biden's administration - upheld a lower court's decision siding with George Jarkesy, a Texas-based hedge fund manager who contested the legality of the SEC's actions against him after the agency determined he had committed securities fraud.

The Supreme Court temporarily put on hold on Thursday an Environmental Protection Agency plan to curtail air pollution that drifts across state lines, dealing another blow to the Biden administration’s efforts to protect the environment.

The ruling followed recent decisions chipping away at the agency’s authority to address climate change and water pollution.

Chemical pollution emitting from the East Palestine, Ohio, train crash in 2023 rained down on 16 different states, according to a study released Wednesday.

A Norfolk Southern train carrying toxic chemicals derailed and crashed in East Palestine in February 2023, sending plumes of black smoke rising over Ohio and Pennsylvania. The smoke carried the chemicals and polluted 16 states, spreading over roughly 540,000 square miles of land, according to a new study published in Environmental Research Letters.

The EPA finalized a rule to mandate coal ash cleanup at inactive power plants, part of a group of related rules announced Thursday by the administration.

The rule seeks to close a loophole created when the Environmental Protection Agency issued a coal ash cleanup rule in 2015. That rule set criteria for existing and new coal ash landfills, but didn’t address inactive facilities.

Coal ash is the residue from coal burnt to generate power. The ash is typically stored in specially-built landfills.

On this 54th Anniversary of America's first Earth Day celebration, it is a time to reflect on how we moved from a consensus on the urgent need for environmental protection across the country to woefully underestimating the need for action about climate change.