Environment

Imagine a New York autumn with almost no red or orange -- just brown, brown, brown. Experts say that could be the scene 50 years from now if people don’t start paying more attention to what’s going on with the shrubs, bushes and saplings in the forest. 

As they await Gov. Andrew Cuomo's decision on whether fracking will go forward in New York, dueling pro- and anti-fracking filmmakers held screenings and promotions for their films in Albany. At one point in their visit, the two sides confronted each other in the halls of the Capitol.

New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Joe Martens suggested Monday that the state may miss a February 27 deadline to complete its proposed fracking regulations. And that could stall a decision on gas drilling for months.

If you’ve ever been in a big city during the summer, you may have felt the "urban heat island" effect. It's caused when heat gets re-radiated by pavement and buildings.

The groundhog predicted an early spring this year -- and he isn't the only one.  Scientists now say that thanks to climate climate change, spring may arrive up to 17 days earlier in U.S. forests during the next century and that, could have an unexpected silver lining.

The state budget proposed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo calls for new efforts to boost sales of New York produce, a change from previous administrations, says a pro-farming group.

Madison County hopes to become a hub for the recycling of agricultural plastics.  It's a waste that's created on farms that's been a problem for years.

Anti-fracking activists, including Yoko Ono and Sean Lennon, attempted to present the state’s environmental agency with over 200,000 comments, on the last day of a public comment period on the gas drilling process.  They and other anti-fracking activists also tried to deliver a letter to Governor Andrew Cuomo.

It's only a matter of time before the ash tree population in central New York is decimated by the Emerald Ash Borer. A task force is at work getting ready for the invasion of the deadly insects, that are now in massive numbers only two counties away from Onondaga County.

If you're putting away Christmas decorations and taking ornaments off the tree, Onondaga County's recycling agency wants to make sure that old tree gets re-purposed.

In recent years both the federal and New York state governments have been studying how best to re-introduce – salmon -- to New York’s Salmon River.  That might come as a surprise to anyone who’s ever fished the river, known for its salmon of eye-popping size.