Restoring Rainforests
Forests play a major role in the Earth’s carbon cycle. Trees pull carbon dioxide out of the air and lock the carbon away in their wood and in the soil beneath them. Over time, we have cut down or damaged at least three-quarters of the world’s forests and that destruction has been an important contributor to climate change.
Algal Biofuel
At the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and at dozens of other labs nationwide, scientists are trying to develop biofuels made from algae. Right now, a gallon of fuel made from algae costs four times as much as a gallon of conventional diesel, but researchers believe that the costs will come down dramatically over time.
Global Warming And Wine
It has often been argued that global climate change is affecting the less fortunate more than the wealthy. Having money can insulate people from such problems as rising food prices and flooding in coastal areas. Apart from that, much wealth is generated by industries that contribute to global warming as opposed to combating it.
Cleaning Up Carbon Pollution And Improving Air Quality
States have a chance to safeguard more than the climate when they adopt the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed Clean Power Plan. That’s because many of the strategies used to reduce carbon dioxide emissions have the added benefit of improving air quality.
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Hidden Water Usage
Water is essential for life and we use lots of it. What few of us think about is how much of our water use is hidden. This is the water used to produce the food we eat and the things we use in our daily lives. When this is added in, each person consumes between 500 and 1,300 gallons per day, or as much as 480,000 gallons a year, enough to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool.
Ensuring The World’s Parks Protect Biodiversity
Every ten years, the International Union for Conservation of Nature hosts the World Parks Congress. In November, more than 6,000 people from 170 countries descended on Sydney, Australia to assess the state of the world’s protected areas at the sixth Congress.
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The European Union Can Ban GMO Crops
The widespread use of genetically modified organisms or GMOs in crops is an increasingly controversial practice. Here in the US, there are battles over labeling laws and disclosures about which foods contain GMOs and which ones don’t.
Keeping The Air Clean While Getting Warm
Fireplaces and stoves are coveted features in many homes, providing warmth and ambiance. But managed improperly, these heat sources can be inefficient and unhealthy.
Massachusetts and Solar Power
Massachusetts is not known for its sunny climate and can’t compete with California where huge solar-power farms in the desert can produce hundreds of megawatts of electricity. Nevertheless, the state is enthusiastically embracing solar energy wherever it can.
Recycling Christmas Trees
Were you among the 20 million Americans that put up a real Christmas tree? Most of the Fraser firs and blue spruces so lovingly decorated last Christmas ended up in the same place: the curb.
Flying On Green Energy
If you’ve ever used an online carbon footprint calculator, you may have been surprised by how much of your energy usage comes from air travel. A few flights a year and you’ve produced as much carbon as you have from driving your car all year.
Reducing Phosphorus Pollution In Lake Erie
Toxic algal blooms have been spreading throughout Lake Erie. In August, contamination left 400,000 residents in Ohio and Michigan without water for 72 hours. Now, legislators are taking steps to prevent future catastrophes by regulating farming practices.
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Enhanced Geothermal Systems
Geothermal electricity is a clean, around-the-clock source of power, but has been limited to those few sites where the earth’s heat has created sources of hot water under the ground. Enhanced Geothermal Systems or EGS generate geothermal electricity without the need for natural hot springs or similar hydrothermal resources.
Curbing Curbside E-Waste
These days, technology seems to grow old overnight. In the rush to get the latest gadget, computers, cell phones, and TVs are routinely cast aside. But as of January 1, residents of New York State can no longer put their discarded technology out for curbside pickup. This includes printers, DVD players, video game consoles, electronic keyboards, and older tube TVs.
The Hunters Are Now The Hunted
The world has lost more than half of its wildlife over the past 40 years. And a very visible part of that loss is a result of poaching. As we’ve previously reported, poachers killed 23,000 African elephants in 2013 for their ivory. In that same year, poachers slaughtered more than 1,000 rhinos in South Africa alone, including more than 600 in the famous Kruger National Park. It should not be surprising that three of INTERPOL’s nine most wanted environmental crime fugitives are accused of ivory-related crimes.
Microgrids And Energy Resilience
Power outages as a result of extreme weather, excess demand and accidents of various types are on the rise. For many customers, losing electricity is simply not an option. Hospitals, biotechnology research centers that have to maintain cold samples, fire and emergency service centers, and military bases are all examples of facilities that need uninterrupted power. But the conventional power grid simply cannot deliver always-on power.
A Bad Year For Eels
The American eel has become one of the latest species to be deemed ‘at risk of extinction in the wild’ by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
A New Carbon Sponge
One way to mitigate the effects of burning fossil fuels is to capture the carbon emitted in the process and to prevent it from entering the atmosphere. The most common method in use today at natural gas and coal-burning plants is called amine scrubbing.
Getting Tough On Illegal Fishing
