Today's Top 5 Trending: Antiquated Water Systems, Zika Affects Brain, Endangered Penguins, Food Waste, Cameroon Food Insecurity

Our Drinking Water Systems Are a Disaster. What Can We Do? 

Every year, more than 32 billion cubic meters (41 billion cubic yards) of treated water are lost to leaks around the world — enough water to serve almost 400 million people, according to the World Bank. And although drinking water in the United States remains quite safe overall, contamination with bacteria or viruses regularly makes people sick. - Ensia

There's More Evidence That Zika Goes Straight to the Brain

Two studies published this week show that the Zika virus seems to prefer brain cells — and that it can cause many different types of damage to those cells. One of the studies shows that Zika — but not its close cousin, the dengue virus — destroys developing nerve cells. Another describes the cases of two Zika patients who developed nerve damage similar to that caused by multiple sclerosis. - NBC News

A New Zealand Penguin, Hard to Spot, Is Harder to Preserve

Incredibly shy, the yellow-eyed penguin is truly odd. Measuring about 65 centimeters, or just over two feet tall, with striking yellow eyes and a yellow band across its head, it is the rarest species of penguin, nesting in the forest and returning to it. It is also severely endangered. Despite various measures deployed in recent years to protect this penguin’s flocks, the outlook remains bleak. - New York Times

Wasted Food's Heavy Burden on Climate

As obesity levels soar, cutting the vast amount of food we waste could have a major impact on reducing the effects of climate change, as well as alleviating world hunger. - Climate News Network

Boko Haram Violence, Climate Change Drive Hunger in North Cameroon

Armed conflict between Boko Haram militants and Cameroon's armed forces in the region has made it difficult for some farmers to access their fields, deepening food security. At the same time, the region is hosting 75,000 Nigerians who have fled that country's Boko Haram insurgency and 82,000 internally displaced people affected by the spillover of the conflict to Cameroon since 2013, officials say. Just as problematic, climate change is gradually rendering the traditional agricultural calendar unreliable, making just getting in a crop hard work, farmers in the region say. - Thomson Reuters

Today's Top 5 Trending:

Brazil Should Address Zika as STD, Researchers Say

My piece today on why the Brazilian government is mum on sexual transmission of Zika - The Guardian

Common Chemicals Linked to Endometriosis, Fibroids -- And Healthcare Costs

Hormone-disrupting chemicals are everywhere -- in plastics, pesticides and makeup -- and two of them, phthalates and DDE, have been particularly strongly linked with common female reproductive conditions, such as fibroids. - CNN

A Burgeoning Effort to Restore Native Foods in an Unlikely Food Desert

The salmon and berries that once nourished a network of tribes in California’s Klamath Basin are now scarce. This effort hopes to reverse the trend. - Civil Eats

How To Talk Global Warming in Plain English

Everyone is looking for something different from the next National Climate Assessment, including the scientists and decision makers who put together the current guiding document for climate policy in this country. And as they discuss how to put together the next blueprint, they worry about how to best get their message to the people who need most to hear and heed it. - ClimateWire

Scientists Urge Feds to Continue Fracking Moratorium Off California Coast

The opposition to environmentally destructive fracking in California’s marine waters is building rapidly. On March 22, over 30 prominent scientists urged the federal government to continue the moratorium on fracking in federal waters off the California coast and to prepare a comprehensive environmental impact statement for the controversial oil-industry technique. - San Diego Free Press

Today's Top 5 Trending: Latin American Environmentalists, Schools and Lead, Climate Politics, Scotland Closes Last Coal-Fired Power Plant

For Latin American Environmentalists, Death is a Constant Companion

Two-thirds of environmentalists who died violently around the world since 2002 lost their lives in that region. For the five years ending in 2014, more than 450 were killed, according to an international network of conservationist groups. Over half were in Honduras and Brazil. - Washington post

Schools Nationwide Still Grapple With Lead in Water 

This winter’s crisis in Flint, Mich., has cast new attention on lead in water supplies. But problems with lead in school water supplies have dragged on for years — aggravated by ancient buildings and plumbing, prolonged by official neglect and tight budgets, and enabled by a gaping loophole in federal rules that largely exempts schools from responsibility for the purity of their water. - New York Times

Where Do The Remaining Presidential Candidates Stand On Climate Change?

We are now officially through half of the United States Presidential election primary and caucus season, and there are currently 5 contenders left in the Republican and Democratic parties vying for their party’s respective nomination. Delegate math shows that Governor John Kasich has no chance to become the Republican nominee, so we’re left with four real candidates to examine. - De Smog Blog

Climate Change May Be a Burning Issue, But Election Campaign Tells a Different Story

While Alaska is clearly on the melting edge of climate change, this fundamental shift barely registered in the Republican caucus held earlier in March and won by Ted Cruz. Even though Democratic candidates have been more willing to discuss climate change, the topic wasn't front and centre ahead of Saturday’s caucus. - The Guardian

Scotland Closes Last Coal-Fired Power Plant

Scotland may be home to golf, haggis, and Sean Connery — but it’s no longer hospitable to coal. On March 24, Scottish Power shut down Longanett power station, its last standing coal-fired power plant. - Grist

Today's Top 5 Trending: Australia Clean Energy, Environment and Conflict, Trump Denies Climate, Environmental Justice, Africa's Drought

Australia Announces $1 Bn Clean Energy Fund, In Break With Past

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Wednesday said the country would establish a A$1 billion ($761.60 million) clean-energy innovation fund, in a major departure from his predecessor's much maligned approach to combating climate change. - Reuters

How Exploiting the Earth Can Fuel Violent Conflict

At the end of May, the U.N. Environment Assembly will convene for the second time ever in Nairobi, Kenya, to discuss the United Nations’ sustainable development goals and the environmental challenges facing today’s world. And it looks like one major theme to be addressed — one that’s a growing concern among world leaders and activists — is the link between violent conflict and an increasingly over-exploited natural world. - Washington Post

Trump Denies Climate Change Poses Serious Threat

Republican presidential candidates haven't exactly set a high bar for their understanding of climate science during the 2016 race so far. However, front-runner Donald Trump wins the prize for the most confounding denial of global warming expressed by a major party's presidential candidate to date. - Mashable

North Carolina Groups Say People of Color Bear Brunt of Hog Factory Farms

All eyes have been on the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, but it is by no means the only city where the poorest residents face environmental damage and lax government oversight. Further to the South, in rural North Carolina, another, less-known battle is taking shape. This crisis involves the lasting impact of pollution from large concentrated animal feeding operations housing pigs. Now a group of citizens is claiming that the state’s $3 billion pork industry is disposing of its waste in a manner that disproportionately and negatively affects residents of color, and that the negotiating efforts are being stalled by the pork industry. - Civil Eats

Why Is Nobody Talking About Africa's Drought? 

Millions in parts of eastern and southern Africa are facing the worst drought in three decades. Only 15 percent of the $155 million needed for relief aid has been funded to date. - Christian Science Monitor