Rail advocates often make the case that trains are a cleaner mode of transportation, but why is that so? And what would it take to expand rail in the U.S.?
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Environment + Energy – Articles, Analysis, Opinion
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A climatologist who studies precipitation trends explains how climate change is projected to make flooding events in the Midwest more severe and more frequent.
The FDA has given the green light to sell the first genetically engineered animal – farmed salmon –in the US.
What is proof? In both law and science, it’s basically a consensus of experts – but they work at very different speeds. That means juries may reach verdicts on an issue before the science is settled.
Unless it sparks joy, go ahead and scratch this task off your spring-cleaning checklist.
The ‘used water’ that flows from our showers, dishwashers and toilets isn’t a waste to engineers – it contains valuable materials. The challenge is recovering them and turning them into products.
Many nations are restoring degraded tropical forests to slow climate change, protect endangered species and improve rural life. But those forests often are cleared again soon afterward.
Even before the British billionaire invested US$1 billion in making the region ‘climate-smart,’ Jamaica, Barbados and Dominica were pioneering a renewable energy boom in the Caribbean.
Many communities are banning single-use plastic shopping bags to reduce pollution, but a study in California shows that some consumers responded by purchasing more heavy plastic trash bags.
What raises a common winter storm to the level of ‘bomb cyclone’? It’s all about rapid, sharp changes in atmospheric pressure – and the scientists who coined the term meant to highlight their power.
Adding industrial chemicals and natural alkaline minerals could slow climate change, but like other geoengineering proposals, it comes with many complex technical and legal challenges.
China, which once processed much of the world’s scrap, has slashed imports of “foreign garbage.” What can the US do to step up recycling at home?
In 2004 an underwater avalanche destroyed an oil platform off Louisiana, causing a 14-year spill. An expert on oil and gas seeps in the Gulf of Mexico warns that this could happen in other places.
Since 2008, Landsat data has been free for the world to use, spurring new applications and scientific research. But that door could soon slam shut.
Many people associate Henry David Thoreau with solitude in the outdoors. But Thoreau understood in the mid-1800s that there was no such thing as nature separate from humans.
Military veterans have concerns about climate change at about the same level as nonveterans, a recent study suggests. What might this mean for acceptance of climate science?
These youngsters have ample fervor, and they are dramatically photogenic. Dismissing them as being fake or lightweight can spell trouble for members of the establishment.
Washington, California and Florida are mulling a permanent switch to DST. Proponents say that doing so could improve health, save energy and prevent crime.
EPA is moving to regulate two chemicals from a group called PFAS that are contaminating drinking water. A public health expert explains why the agency should take much broader action.
Natural gas supplies are growing, but so are other markets for it besides power generation.
Why do scientists spend so much time and money mapping the DNA of species like white sharks? Single studies may offer insights, but the real payoff comes in comparing many species to each other.
Chemical pollution and hunting pushed Ospreys to the edge of extinction in the mid-20th century. Today, they have rebounded and can be spotted worldwide, often nesting on manmade structures.
Climate justice policies could potentially double as tools of colonialism that harm people outside the US.
Energy storage could prove an inexpensive way for power companies to handle heat waves and other times when consumers use more electricity than usual.
There are precedents regarding power generation and ethanol but no nation has ever achieved as comprehensive and dramatic this fast.