Thousands of dams across the US are aging and overdue for maintenance. Taking them down can revive rivers, restore fish runs and create new opportunities for tourism and outdoor activities.
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Environment + Energy – Articles, Analysis, Opinion
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Small-scale gold mining operations in developing countries are major sources of toxic mercury pollution, using techniques that haven’t changed much since the California Gold Rush 150 years ago.
Net zero energy buildings produce at least as much energy as they use. Designing whole net zero campuses and communities takes the energy and climate benefits to a higher level.
Extreme weather events prompt people to move, a trend that could accelerate in a warming climate. But the ability to migrate internally in the US depends largely on economic status.
Microscopic ocean phytoplankton feed a “biological pump” that carries carbon from the surface to deep waters. Scientists have found that this process stores much more carbon than previously thought.
The COVID-19 pandemic is interrupting scientific field work across North America, leaving blank spots in important data sets and making it harder to track ecological change.
Frederick Law Olmsted, the designer of many great North American city parks, understood that ready access to nature made cities healthier places to live.
Are facilities that produce necessities like energy and clean water doomed to be ugly? Not when artists and landscape architects help design them.
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, some critics say livestock farms promote diseases that spread from animals to humans. An animal scientist explains how well-run farms work to keep that from happening.
Are ‘murder hornets’ from Asia invading North America? A Japanese entomologist who’s been stung by one and lived to tell the tale explains what’s true about these predatory insects.
From Nairobi to Los Angeles, pandemic lockdowns have cleared pollution from the skies. But those blue vistas may be temporary, and shutdowns aren’t slowing climate change.
COVID-19 outbreaks have occurred at more than 100 US meatpacking plants. Geography, workforce demographics and economic concentration make it hard for workers to fight for better conditions.
The US faces a high risk of hurricanes and other disasters this year that could leave thousands of people in need of shelter. COVID-19 will make those disasters more dangerous to manage.
How should the United States power its economy in 2050? A recent survey finds surprising agreement from Americans of all political stripes.
After a 5-year review, the EPA is leaving US standards for fine particle air pollution unchanged, even though recent studies suggest that tightening them could save thousands of lives yearly.
If the forecasts are right, the US could be facing more natural disasters this year – on top of the coronavirus pandemic. Local governments aren’t prepared.
A new study forecasts that thousands of miles of new road construction will cut through tiger habitat across Asia by 2050. Planning can make these projects more tiger-friendly.
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.
Researchers are using a newly developed satellite tag to study previously unknown aspects of tiger shark reproduction. This approach could be used on other difficult-to-study shark species.
One way that farms can handle shortages of protective gear for workers is by switching to less-toxic pest control methods.
Tomanowos, aka the Willamette Meteorite, may be the world’s most interesting rock. Its story includes catastrophic ice age floods, theft of Native American cultural heritage and plenty of human folly.
The Deepwater Horizon disaster set new records for holding polluters to account. But it had much less impact on laws regulating offshore drilling or US oil dependence.
Climate change is making extreme weather events, both hot and cold, more frequent across the Great Lakes region. Weatherizing low-income residents’ homes is an important way to prepare.
Office buildings have been left mostly empty for weeks amid the coronavirus pandemic, leaving standing water in pipes where harmful organisms can grow. What happens when those buildings reopen?
We spend 90% of our lives indoors, and every building has its own indoor microbiome. Can we learn to manage them in ways that support helpful microbes and suppress harmful ones?