A look at our changing environment.
The Arctic permafrost contains a massive amount of carbon in the form of frozen soil, which contains remnants of plants and animals that died millennia ago. Estimates are that there is 2 ½ times as much carbon trapped in this Arctic soil than there is in total in the atmosphere today. As the Arctic warms, […]
The redwoods of the California coast are the tallest trees in the world. They are typically a couple of hundred feet tall and the tallest rise to a height of as much as 380 feet. Scientists have been studying the unique world of the redwood forest canopy for years. There are multiple animals that actually […]
The effort to reduce and ultimately eliminate the use of fossil fuels has largely been driven by the potentially catastrophic consequences of global climate change. The need to stop dumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere has become increasingly urgent. But there is an equally compelling reason to stop burning fossil fuels. According to a study […]
Nearly all automobile manufacturers are in a global race to build electric cars and trucks. There is a rapidly growing need for the battery packs that power those vehicles and therefore manufacturers are in a race to build battery factories to address that need. The latest battery plant announcement comes from Stellantis – the new […]
Coral reefs around the world face multiple threats from climate change, pollution, and other impacts of human activity. Reef conservation and restoration projects must be able to monitor the health of reefs and that is not such a simple matter. Surveying reefs generally is labor-intensive and time consuming. But in a new study, scientists at […]
It’s no secret that our planet is heating up. According to scientists, the warming is primarily the result of increased anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. In fact, human activities are responsible for nearly all of the increase in atmospheric greenhouse gas emissions over the last 150 years. Climate change has already left observable effects on the […]
Plastic packaging waste is a global problem. It collects in the oceans, breaks down into microplastics, which are consumed by fish and in turn by people who eat the fish. Only 14.5% of U.S. plastic waste is recycled. Most of it ends up in landfills, where is remains undegraded for hundreds of years. A new […]
Hotter and drier conditions are leading to an increasing number of wildfires in North America and elsewhere around the globe. Scientists have linked the severe heat and drought that fuel these wildfires to climate change. As the climate continues to change, wildfires are projected to become more prevalent, more severe, and longer in duration. According […]
In 2021, the world added a record amount of 295 gigawatts of renewable power. According to the International Energy Agency, it is on pace to surpass that amount in 2022. Almost half of the renewable buildout in the world is taking place in China. In 2021, China accounted for 46% of worldwide renewable energy additions. […]
A study by scientists from multiple institutions around the world including Cornell University has found that significant declines in bird populations are taking place across the planet. Loss and degradation of natural habitats, direct overexploitation of many species, and climate change are driving the bird population declines. According to the study, approximately 48% of existing […]
We hear a great deal about the environmental services provided by forests. Deforestation is one of the major factors contributing to increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. And, of course, forests – most notably rainforests – are major contributors to biodiversity. A new study by the U.S. Forest Service looked at the role […]
The world’s oceans contain five gyres, which are large systems of circular currents created by global wind patterns and the Earth’s rotation. Gyres act like gigantic whirlpools. Anything that floats into one of them eventually ends up in the center. Ever since floating plastic waste started entering the ocean, it has poured into these gyres […]
A recent report from several environmental organizations shows that plastic recycling rates in the U.S. have actually declined in the last several years from about 8.7% of discarded plastic to less than 6%. Meanwhile, since 1980, per capita plastic waste generation has increased 263%, totaling 218 pounds of plastic waste per person as of 2018. […]
Rising seas are increasing saltwater intrusion on land and rising temperatures are causing greater evaporation. The result is mounting levels of salt in waters and in soils. Rising sea levels cause salty ocean water to push further into river deltas. There is already a surge in saltiness across all inhabited continents. Seawater works its way […]
Whale sharks are the largest fish in the world. While they measure up to 60 feet long and weigh up to 15 tons – larger and heavier than a school bus – whale sharks are actually harmless. They are a graceful, slow-moving, filter-feeding carpet shark. They are found in marine environments around the world and […]
According to estimates, by 2040 there will likely be nearly 90 million tons of plastic pollution entering the environment each year. Particles of plastic have been found in virtually all parts of our planet including the land, the water, and even the air. Tiny plastic particles have been found in the Arctic, the Antarctic, and […]
The largest floating solar array in Europe, 12,000 panels sitting on top of the Alqueva Reservoir in Portugal – will come online in July. Installing floating solar arrays, which are sometimes called “floatovoltaics”, produce renewable energy while shielding significant expanses of water from the sun’s heat. These dual benefits have led to floatovoltaic projects in […]
The vaquita porpoise, the world’s smallest marine mammal, is on the brink of extinction. Scientists estimate that just 10 or fewer vaquitas are left despite international conservation efforts. Found only in Mexico’s Upper Gulf of California, the vaquita is the most endangered marine mammal on the planet. According to the International Committee for the Recovery […]
Microbiologists at Radboud University in the Netherlands have demonstrated in the laboratory that methane-consuming bacteria can generate electrical power. Their study was recently published in the journal Frontiers in Microbiology. The bacteria studied is called Candidatus Methanoperedens and in the natural environment it consumes methane in water sources that are contaminated with nitrogen including places […]
We recently talked about California producing 97% of its electricity from renewables on one sunny afternoon in April. On May 8th, the state produced enough renewable electricity to meet 103% of consumer demand. These sorts of records are likely to be increasingly commonplace in the spring when the weather is still fairly mild. But even […]