RI just endured a record-setting stretch of wildfires driven by weather extremes. Here's why burning forests might be the best way to save them.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Republican-controlled Senate on Wednesday confirmed Lee Zeldin to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, a key role to help President Donald Trump fulfill his pledge to roll back major environmental regulations, including those aimed at slowing climate change and encouraging use of electric vehicles.

T​he largest iceberg in the world is headed toward an island with a massive population of penguins and seals, according to satellite tracking from NOAA. T​he trillion-ton slab of ice that scientists call a "megaberg" broke off from the Antarctic’s Filchner Ice Shelf in 1986.

If it gets stuck near South Georgia Island, that could make it hard for penguin parents to feed their babies and some young could starve.

The trillion-ton slab of ice, called a megaberg, could slam into South Georgia Island and get stuck or be guided around it by currents.

Rhode Island was the site of two major wildfires in 2023, and the state saw over 40 forest fires this past fall alone. According to Brett Still, director of the Master of Environmental Science and Management program at the University of Rhode Island,

This is taking us in an exact wrong direction from a climate change perspective, from a school attendance perspective, and from an economic perspective,” one advocate said.

Researchers are pouring over old whaling-ship logs at the Providence Public Library to see if the records can help us understand our changing climate.