A look at our changing environment.
As is the case for virtually all sectors of the global economy, the short-term prospects for wind and solar power look pretty grim. Lockdowns, social distancing requirements, and financial upheavals have put many new projects on ice and have halted production at factories making solar panels and wind turbines. Sales of home solar have struggled […]
Forests are among the most important natural carbon sinks. Trees remove carbon from the air and store it in their trunks, branches, and leaves, and transfer part of it into the soil. But in some regions, these natural carbon sinks are starting to weaken due to deforestation, forest degradation, and the impacts of climate change. […]
Cities and towns across the United States continue to wrestle with the devastating impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and none have been hit harder than low-income and minority communities. Places like Detroit, Chicago, and St. James Parish in Louisiana have suffered from decades of economic inequality and pollution in their poorest neighborhoods and many of […]
The largest solar project to date in the U.S. has received final approval from the Department of the Interior. A $1 billion, 690-megawatt solar array will be built on federal land in the Mojave Desert in Nevada. The project includes battery energy storage and is expected to produce enough electricity to power more than a […]
Marine life has faced challenges for a long time. There have been centuries of overfishing in many places and pollution of various types has been especially harmful in recent decades. But despite all of this, a new scientific review published in the journal Nature contends that marine life in the world’s oceans could be fully […]
Fresh fruits and vegetables can sometimes become contaminated by microorganisms during their long journey from fields to restaurants and grocery stores. Contaminated produce can spoil other produce, which increases the number of fruits and vegetables in the supply chain that can cause illnesses. In order to prevent this cross-contamination between produce, researchers from Texas A&M […]
Many countries, states, and cities around the world have set goals to become carbon neutral, typically by the year 2050. These goals are based on the desire to mitigate the effects of climate change that are steadily increasing as a result of the buildup of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. But reducing emissions is not […]
The need to mitigate the effects of climate change has been a global focus for about 40 years and has seen ever-changing views on what actions are needed. The historical record has been defined by over-reliance on promises of new technology to solve climate change. Looking to future technology to save the environment has been […]
A new study by the Wildlife Conservation Society, the US Forest Service, and UC Berkeley has shown that mountain-dwelling species trying to escape warming temperatures may also be finding refuge from human pressure. The study shows that nearly 60% of the world’s mountainous areas are under intense human pressure. Most of that pressure occurs at […]
One of the great concerns about the warming Arctic temperatures is that thawing permafrost will release alarming amounts of methane into the atmosphere. Organic material in the permafrost begins to decompose when temperatures rise, and methane is released in the process. Methane is a far more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. Methane’s lifetime in […]
Many of the nation’s environmental laws are under siege from the current administration, but a recent decision by the U.S. Supreme Court has solidified the Clean Water Act’s place as one of the country’s most effective environmental laws. The case in question was about whether a wastewater treatment plant in Maui has been violating the […]
In order to meet international climate targets, we need to cut greenhouse gas emissions in half over the next decade and reach net-zero by mid-century. Achieving this will require unprecedented and rapid changes in how energy is supplied, distributed and used. Researchers at several European universities collected data on a wide variety of energy technologies […]
Our stories often discuss how human activities change the natural environment. With most of us confined to our homes, the lack of human activities is having profound effects on the environment. We are talking about some of these this week. With about a third of the world’s population sheltering in place, our planet is much […]
Our stories often discuss how human activities change the natural environment. With most of us confined to our homes, the lack of human activities is having profound effects on the environment. We are talking about some of these this week. Seven different species of sea turtles are found in the world’s oceans and play important […]
Our stories often discuss how human activities change the natural environment. With most of us confined to our homes, the lack of human activities is having profound effects on the environment. We are talking about some of these this week. India suffers from some of the worst air pollution in the world. Of the most […]
Our stories often discuss how human activities change the natural environment. With most of us confined to our homes, the lack of human activities is having profound effects on the environment. We are talking about some of these this week. Yosemite National park is normally awash in humanity – there were over 300,000 visitors in […]
Our stories often discuss how human activities change the natural environment. With most of us confined to our homes, the lack of human activities is having profound effects on the environment. We are talking about some of these this week. The COVID-19 pandemic is a global catastrophe, but it has ironically been a boon for […]
The population of large herbivores in Yellowstone National Park has undergone many dramatic changes over the course of time. The numbers of both the iconic Rocky Mountain elk and bison have gone up and down as a result of human interactions. Bison, of course, once were a dominant species from east of the Appalachians to […]
Biofuels are an important element in broader strategies to replace petroleum in transportation fuels like gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel. The idea is that biofuels recycle carbon by getting it from growing plants rather than from fossil sources. The biggest problem with biofuels is that they cost more than conventional petroleum fuels, so there is […]
In recent times, Vermont and neighboring states have been losing forest land to development at a rate of almost 1,500 acres per year. With forest fragmentation gaining ground across New England, conserving land for future generations of people, wildlife, and plants has become both increasingly important and increasingly difficult. According to a new study published […]