The Great Lakes contain reservoirs of legacy contaminants, mostly in their sediments, that are vulnerable to resuspension.
Millions of youth have participated in climate strikes, negotiations, press conferences and events, demanding urgent climate action this year.
(Shutterstock)
Activists wanted nations to make bigger climate commitments at the Madrid COP-25 meeting, but the meeting’s real goal was agreeing on rules for pricing carbon pollution.
A survey of San ostrich eggshell beads - a common find at archaeological sites - paints a bigger picture of hunter-gatherers, herders and shifting cultural tradition.
We really screwed this one up didn’t we.
Mazhar Zandsalimi/Unsplash
There is nothing funny about the prospect of environmental collapse. But comedy can highlight the errors that led us to the crisis, and encourage us to act in the face of hopelessness.
The Yearbook is a collection of 50 standout articles from Australia’s top thinkers.
The Conversation
Grattan and Martin on the year that was, in politics and economics
The Conversation, CC BY59,2 Mo(download)
Michelle Grattan sits down with The Conversation's economic editor Peter Martin for a chat about the year that was, and to answer readers' questions.
The Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences farmpredict model finds that changes in climate conditions since 2000 have cut farm profits by 22% overall, and by 35% for cropping farms..
ABARES/Shutterstock
Neal Hughes, Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) et Steve Hatfield-Dodds, Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES)
For crop farmers, the risk of low profit years has doubled.
To keep temperatures from rising above 1.5°C requires reducing fossil fuel burning by half by 2032.
from www.shutterstock.com
Under the Paris Agreement, countries have registered plans to meet emissions reductions, but the current pledges, if fully realised, would take us to 2°C by the 2050s.
Water tower of the Andes.
Lynn Johnson/National Geographic
New research is uncovering that whales have their own distinct microbiomes that may play important roles in animal health. But how do scientists study whale microbiomes?
Mangroves can store large amounts of carbon, but by themselves they’re not a solution to climate change.
alexmerwin13/Flickr
Blue carbon stored in coastal ecosystems is important, but it’s a poor fig leaf for Australia’s abysmal record on emissions.
Front row: Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez (C), Chilean Environment Minister and COP25 President Carolina Schmidt (3-L), UN General-Secretary Antonio Guterres (2-R), Argentine President Mauricio Macri (L), Spanish Minister for Ecological Transition Teresa Ribera (2-L) and Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Patricia Espinosa (R) pose with other world leaders for a photo during the opening ceremony of the UN Climate Change Conference COP25 in Madrid, Spain.
EPA/Chema Moya