The ocean moderates climate change by absorbing CO₂ emissions, hosts valuable biodiversity and provides food to millions, but all of these services are threatened by pollution and human activities.
Nicolas Pirsoul, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau e Maria Armoudian, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau
New Zealanders pay the costs of poor environmental and infrastructural governance, but have little opportunity to influence policy in the first place. Here’s how that could change.
Deicing salts keep winter roads passable but do a lot of harm in the process.
Gregory Rec/Portland Portland Press Herald via Getty Images
De-icing salts help us get around in winter, but they corrode cars, crack roads and contaminate rivers and lakes. Scientists are working to develop better options by imitating natural antifreezes.
Col de Port, in the French Pyrenees.
Author provided
We think of mountains as remote and little affected by human activity. Unfortunately, the negative impacts of what we do has important implications for nature, wildlife and human society.
Fluorescence images of Crocosphaera.
Mar Benavides
Mar Benavides, Institut de recherche pour le développement (IRD)
In the ocean, phytoplankton helped by diazotrophs play an outstanding role in withdrawing CO₂ from the atmosphere. But climate change is disturbing this delicate balance.
Salmon crowd a river in Washington State in the US as they swim upstream to spawn.
Danita Delimont/Shutterstock
A new study shows how toxic chemicals like benzene are leaching into water systems after nearby fires. The pipes don’t have to burn – they just have to heat up.
Farmed red tilapia, Thai Mueang, Thailand.
Kittichai Boonpong / EyeEm via Getty Images
Fish farms feed millions of people around the world, but they also consume a lot of fish that are dried or ground up to make aquafeed. Researchers are developing more sustainable alternatives.
Fast fashion is far from green. But the rapid expansion of online clothing resale platforms could help shrink the garment industry’s negative impact on the environment.
President-elect Joe Biden opposes proposals to allow uranium mining around the Grand Canyon, which the Trump administration supports.
Michael Quinn, NPS/Flickr
The Trump administration has used executive orders, deregulation and delays to reduce environmental regulation. Biden administration officials will use many of the same tools to undo their work.
Eelgrasses covered with small snails, which keep the leaves clean by feeding on algae that live on them.
Jonathan Lefcheck
Healthy seagrasses form underwater meadows teeming with fish and shellfish. A successful large-scale restoration project in Virginia could become a model for reseeding damaged seagrass beds worldwide.
Plastic pollution remains a topmost environmental concern
Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP via Getty Images
Microplastics could pose a threat to the sustenance of aquatic biodiversity when ingested by animals.
Firefighting foam left after a fire in Pennsylvania. These foams often contain PFAS chemicals that can contaminate water supplies.
Bastiaan Slabbers/NurPhoto via Getty Images
PFAS chemicals are toxic, widespread and persistent in the environment, and the federal government has been slow to regulate them. A scientist explains why evaluating them one by one isn’t working.
The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness draws thousands of visitors yearly.
Andy Witchger/Flickr
Mike Joy, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington
A long-awaited NZ$700 million package to clean up New Zealand’s rivers and lakes has disappointed some of the government’s expert advisers – especially a delay on setting clear pollution limits.
Harmful algal bloom in Lake Erie, Sept. 4, 2009.
NOAA/Flickr
Warmer waters, heavier storms and nutrient pollution are a triple threat to Great Lakes cities’ drinking water. The solution: Cutting nutrient releases and installing systems to filter runoff.
The eastern tributary in the Woronora drinking water catchment
Ian Wright