(Pixabay / Peggychoucair)

The scariest thing this Halloween is the weather forecast for trick-or-treaters.

Organic material is demonstrated being loaded into a digester at a GreenWaste Zanker Resource Recovery Facility in San Jose, Calif., Friday, Oct. 27, 2023. (AP Photo / Jeff Chiu)

Tackling food waste is a daunting challenge that the U.S. has taken on before. In 2015, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the EPA set a goal of cutting food waste in half by 2030, but the country has made little progress.

Barn owl. (Lubos Houska / Pixabay)

From carnivorous plants to blood-sucking sea creatures, nature serves up plenty of frights, lots of them found right here in Illinois.

McCormick Place Lakeside Center's walls of glass and location on the lakefront are a deadly combination for birds. (Patty Wetli / WTTW News)

Monday’s meeting of the McPier board was dominated by discussion of the mass death of 1,000 birds in a single day, killed after colliding with McCormick Place. Bird conservationists want a solution in place by spring migration.

A cut lead pipe is pulled from a dig site for testing at a home in Royal Oak, Mich., on Nov. 16, 2021. The Environmental Protection Agency will soon strengthen lead in drinking water regulations. (AP Photo / Carlos Osorio, File)

Decades after officials banned lead in gasoline for new cars and stopped the sale of lead paint there are still an estimated 500,000 U.S. children with levels of lead in their blood that are considered high, and experts say lead in drinking water is an important source.

(Ana Krach / Pixabay)

The National Weather Service isn’t even trying to sugarcoat the forecast for Halloween. It’s all downhill from here.

Cars cross a flood-damaged avenue after Hurricane Otis ripped through Acapulco, Mexico, Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023. (Marco Ugarte / AP Photo)

Survivors of a Category 5 storm that killed at least 27 people as it devastated Mexico’s resort city of Acapulco spent Thursday searching for acquaintances and necessities and hoping that aid would come quickly in the wake of Hurricane Otis.

(WTTW News)

A new report from the Brushwood Center found Lake County residents face significant race-based disparities in health outcomes, environmental quality and access to nature.

River Park, Chicago. (Patty Wetli / WTTW News)

The fall foliage season got off to a slow start in the Chicago region but is making up for lost time. We’ve rounded up some resources to help you make the most of Mother Nature’s spectacular, but short-lived, autumnal display.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony for the completed restoration project was held on Oct. 23, 2023. (Nicole Cardos / WTTW News)

A major effort to restore nearly 200 acres of wetland habitat at Powderhorn Prairie and Marsh Nature Preserve on the Chicago’s Southeast Side is now complete after more than three years.

The proposed map shows the Illinois portion of the now-canceled Navigator Heartland Greenway pipeline. (Published by Navigator CO2 at heartlandgreenway.com)
,

The plan included several hundred miles of pipeline in Illinois which terminated at sequestration sites designed to store carbon dioxide underground. The project was met with significant pushback from environmentalists and landowners.

(Courtesy of the Field Museum)

The Chicago organization is joined by chapters in Detroit and Wisconsin in dropping “Audubon” and adopting the more inclusive, collaborative “Alliance.”

Shedd Aquarium’s newest rockhopper penguin, hatched in June, took its first swim with the entire colony.

Shedd Aquarium’s newest rockhopper penguin, hatched in June, just took its first swim with the entire colony and the results were mixed. 

Banana, a 4-year-old pygmy hippopotamus at Brookfield Zoo, takes a bite out of her Halloween treat. (Jim Schulz / CZS-Brookfield Zoo)

Caretakers will pass out more pumpkins to animals during Brookfield's “Boo! at the Zoo” event Saturday and Sunday.

Pond at Sand Ridge Nature Center, a Cook County Forest Preserve in the Calumet region. (Patty Wetli / WTTW News)
,

"For the first time in a long time, it is not the budget of an agency in a holding pattern, keeping long-term, pressing needs at bay," Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said. "For Fiscal Year 2024, we are moving forward."

Chicagoans can bring their food waste to one of 15 locations across the city and dispose of it in a green bin, officials said. (Credit: City of Chicago)
,

Less than 9% of the trash produced every year by Chicago residents is kept out of landfills — a rate that has been essentially unchanged for five years, despite repeated calls for the city to do a better job at recycling.