Environment & Science

This week on Watching the Skies, learn how to spot several stars and bright celestial objects in the sky like Mars and Jupiter.

Almost 100 migrating birds of prey have been recorded since April 1, when this year’s count started. Officials at the sanctuary, as well as volunteers, have monitored the spring raptor migration since the 1960s.

Two Northampton County farms were the latest to be included in Pennsylvania’s Farmland Preservation Program. The program aims to ward off development and protect open spaces.

Crayola officials, along with PennEnvironment Research & Policy Center and local legislators, held an informational session Thursday on the company’s 3.53 megawatt solar farm.

The Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor this month launched the Quest for the Golden Grabber. In its second year, it's an effort to engage community members in a friendly competition while cleaning litter from the trail.

There were 15 Diamond Clover awardees this year, including two from Lehigh County. The award is the highest in Pennsylvania's 4-H program.

Northampton County will use a mix of local money and a federal grant to buy 43 acres of undeveloped land in Stockertown, officials announced. Officials did not identify the parcel they intend to buy.

The African penguin colony, off exhibit since early January because of bird flu, is back at the Lehigh Valley Zoo.

This week, a preview of confirmation hearings scheduled for Wednesday to confirm a new head for NASA. The nominee is well known to the Lehigh Valley.

City officials were ready in February to award a contract for a tree inventory in Allentown, but uncertainties caused by an order from President Donald Trump's administration forced them to pause that plan.

Air quality in the Lehigh Valley is getting mixed reviews in the 22nd annual American Lung Association's State of the Air report released April 21.

Bethlehem has announced a new plan to fight climate change. To kick off the effort, the city is creating its first-ever office of sustainability and city residents are being asked to join to help reduce Bethlehem’s carbon footprint.

The spotted lanternfly continues to kill crops across Pennsylvania. The invasive pest was first discovered in Berks County in 2014, and the state recently expanded its mitigation efforts extending the list of quarantined counties.

The Wolf Administration says it is making the largest government commitment to solar energy in the country by agreeing to buy power from seven new solar projects in the state.

Microplastic contaminants have been found in 53 waterways in Pennsylvania, including in the Lehigh River, according to clean water advocacy group PennEnvironment.

As snowstorms hammer away at the Lehigh Valley, there is a lot of news about massive blackouts following snowstorms in Texas where people are taking drastic measures to stay warm including running cars to heat their homes.

As the Lehigh River draws people from all over the region for whitewater season, the churning of the water depends on a dam controlling the flow.

The post went viral on Facebook, falsely claiming that hunters are required to wear $30 fluorescent orange face masks featuring the state Game Commission's logo.

State environmental regulators are hitting Sunoco’s Mariner East pipeline project with its sixth violation in Lebanon County since mid-August.

A federal appeals court called Pennsylvania’s regulations for coal plant emissions too weak and ordered the state to revise them.

This summer’s combination of record-breaking heat, Black Lives Matter activism, and the pandemic has led to conversations on environmental justice.

As state lawmakers debate how to help Pennsylvania’s economy recover from the coronavirus shutdown, environmental groups see an opening for a cleaner future.