As 2025 draws to a close, environmental advocates across the U.S. find themselves weighing a year marked by both setbacks and successes.
Despite major environmental reversals taken by the Donald Trump administration, including loosening fossil fuel rules and weakening endangered-species safeguards, conservationists, lawmakers, and researchers still notched key wins at local and state levels.
Here are some environmental triumphs across the country amid a year of political turbulence.
1. California launches methane-tracking satelliteCalifornia turned to space technology this year to curb methane pollution, launching a new program that uses satellite-mounted sensors to spot major leaks in near real time.
The $100 million effort, funded through the state’s cap-and-trade program, sends data to the California Air Resources Board as the satellite passes over the state roughly five times a week. One satellite is already in orbit, with seven more expected to launch in the coming years.<... Read more
