A look at our changing environment.
A study at the University of Toronto suggests that on a global scale, we are growing more of the same kinds of crops, and this diminishing diversity presents major challenges for agricultural sustainability. In some places, for example here in North America, crop diversity has actually increased. Back in the 1960s, North Americans grew about […]
Millions of rooftops now contain solar panels and the majority of the solar cells that make up those panels today are made from silicon. Silicon solar cells require expensive, multi-step processing conducted at very high temperatures in special clean room facilities. Despite these complications, the price of solar panels has continued to drop dramatically over […]
Recent news reports noted that 2018 was the fourth hottest year on record. But the changing climate is not just about temperature. 2018 was also the third-wettest year since 1895, when steady record-keeping began. Overall, the U.S. recorded 4.68 inches more precipitation in 2018 than the 20th century average. But all that rain and snow […]
It’s no secret that there is a ton of plastic in the ocean – millions of tons, in fact. Scientists estimate that there is more 165 million tons of plastics swirling about in our oceans today, with an additional 8.8 million tons flowing in every year. As the oceans swell with plastic debris, many marine […]
The glaciers on Baffin Island, located in Canada’s northeastern Arctic, have been shrinking as the climate warms. The melting, receding glaciers have exposed fragments of ancient plants that had frozen in the places where they once grew. New research has shown that these spots have not seen the light of day for at least 40,000 […]
The New York Times recently published an article on how electricity is made in the United States on a state-by-state basis and how it has been changing over the past two decades. Two conclusions to draw are that the mix of energy sources is wildly different from one state to another and that the mix […]
A year-and-a-half ago, we reported on the steep decline in the use of coal in Britain, including the conversion of the giant Drax Power Station from burning coal to running on wood chips. Since then, Britain has been steadily moving away from fossil fuels and towards renewable energy sources. The transformation is being driven by […]
We often hear about how the weather is getting stranger all the time, but do most of us really think so? What kinds of weather do we really find remarkable and has that been changing? A study led by the University of California, Davis used some very modern tools to examine the question of what […]
A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences warns that Greenland’s ice Is melting much faster than previously thought. The ice loss rapidly accelerated around 2002-2003 and by 2012 the annual loss was nearly four times the rate in 2003. Most of the new ice melt is in southwest Greenland, […]
Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere are higher than they have been for hundreds of thousands of years, and they continue to grow. The United Kingdom’s national meteorological service – known as the Met Office – issues annual predictions of global CO2 levels based in part on readings taken at the Mauna Loa observatory in […]
Many of us are all too familiar with the effects of climate change. Our changing climate, as a result of our actions, is leading to rising global temperatures, biodiversity loss, ocean acidification, wildfires, more weather extremes like floods and droughts. But a lesser known effect of climate change could lead to frightening consequences: infertility. According […]
There are research efforts around the world seeking ways to produce hydrogen starting from water and using clean energy. Finding an economical and scalable way to do this is a key to the so-called hydrogen economy. A recent study at Argonne National Laboratory makes use of a chemical reaction pathway central to plant biology to […]
In 2016 and 2017, wildfires in western Canada spawned thunderstorms that ignited additional fires, in some cases tens of miles away from the original fire. These fire-triggered thunderstorms are technically known as pyrocumulonimbus clouds, or “pyroCb’s”. The physics of pyroCb’s is complex. When super-heated updrafts from an intense fire suck smoke, ash, burning materials, and […]
While the Trump administration seeks to prop up and promote use of fossil fuels, the country continues to move in the opposite direction. Last year was actually a pretty positive year for clean energy in the U.S. In terms of public opinion, 70% of Americans surveyed believe the country should produce 100% of its electricity […]
Just when we thought we knew all about the environmental threats caused by plastics, environmentalists have identified yet another problem. It is called a nurdle. Nurdles are tiny pellets of plastic resin no bigger than a pencil eraser that manufacturers transform into packaging, plastic straws, water bottles and all the other things that are wreaking […]
A coalition of global investors is urging some of the largest fast food companies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The group, which has approximately $6.5 trillion under management, wants the fast food chains to reduce the carbon footprint of their meat and dairy supply chains. The global fast food sector is reportedly worth a whopping […]
Deforestation is defined as the intentional destruction of trees and other vegetation without reforesting or allowing the forest to regenerate itself. In Indonesia, industrial agriculture, primarily for the production of palm oil, is a major driver of deforestation. But, according to researchers at Duke University, its impact has diminished proportionately in recent years as other […]
Texas has a Texas-sized appetite for electricity and relies most heavily on natural gas, coal and nuclear power to get it. But in recent times, wind power has grown tremendously in the Lone Star State and it has already leapfrogged past nuclear power. Coal could be the next domino to fall. In the past few […]
Food and beverage packaging in this country has included a Nutrition Facts panel for nearly 25 years. Over 700,000 products have the labels which provide consumers with information like serving sizes, calories per serving, ingredients, and nutritional content. Surveys indicate that 77 percent of all U.S. adults claim to use the labels at least some […]
There is an enzyme known as RuBisCo that is involved in carbon fixation, the process plants use to convert carbon dioxide into sugar molecules. The RuBisCo molecule is inside the leaves of most plants and is probably the most abundant protein in the world. RuBisCo picks up carbon dioxide from the air and uses energy […]