Should lakes, rivers and other resources have legal rights? New Zealand, Ecuador and other countries have taken this step. Now Toledo, Ohio is a US test case.
As deforestation rates in Brazil rise, it’s worth asking whether the country can repeat the successes of the last decade. Current trends don’t bode well.
Poverty and violence are often cited as the reasons people emigrate from Central America, but factors such as drought, exacerbated by climate change, are driving people to leave too.
A recent survey in Indiana finds broad concern about climate change and support for addressing it in this red state, with one catch: Many Hoosiers don’t realize their neighbors agree with them.
Social media make it easier to push information out quickly during disasters, but also create challenges for public information officers, who have to judge which reports are credible enough to share.
Two energy scholars who have studied the extent of methane leaks in the oil and gas industry explain what rescinding methane emissions regulations will mean to the climate and industry.
Qi Bing, University of California, Irvine and Maura C. Allaire, University of California, Irvine
Newark is the latest US city to struggle with high lead levels in drinking water. Ending this public health crisis will require more money and enforcement, plus stricter water testing standards.
If the Amazon rainforest functions as our planet’s lungs, what do raging wildfires threaten? An atmospheric scientist explains why the fires, though devastating, won’t suffocate life on Earth.
Feral pigs are a destructive invasive species across much of North America. In a recent study, forest patches where feral pigs were present had fewer mammal and bird species than swine-free zones.
Yossi Sheffi, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
InterContinental Hotels Group plans to switch miniature toiletries for bulk products, but it isn’t likely to do as much for the environment as activists might think.
Don’t blame climate change for the 39,000 forest fires now incinerating huge tracts of the Brazilian Amazon. This environmental catastrophe is human-made and highly political.
We have all the technologies needed to make the electric grid run on renewables and lower pollution. What are they and what are the barriers to adopting them widely?
Chris Free, University of California, Santa Barbara
As the oceans warm, fish are moving to stay in temperature zones where they have evolved to live. This is helping some species, hurting others and causing a net reduction in potential catch.
A researcher based in Fairbanks, Alaska, links 2019’s record-breaking wildfires in far northern regions of the world to climate change, and describes what it’s like as zones near her city burn.
Emad Hasan, Binghamton University, State University of New York and Aondover Tarhule, Binghamton University, State University of New York
Climate change threatens the water supply of nations around the world. But it’s difficult to measure whether a region has sufficient water to satisfy the people who live there. Could satellites help?
More than one-fifth of global warming emissions come from land use. Sustainable farming can make soil healthier and better able to soak up carbon, while saving energy and boosting food production.
The Trump administration is changing implementation of the Endangered Species Act in ways that conservationists say would reduce protection for some of America’s most threatened wildlife.
A new report calls land key to solving climate change. The good news is that there are strategies for reducing carbon emissions from land use that can also produce economic and social benefits.
New research forecasts that climate change will make multiyear stretches with low snow levels more common across western North America – bad news for water managers, farmers, foresters and skiers.
Debra Perrone, University of California, Santa Barbara and Scott Jasechko, University of California, Santa Barbara
Millions of Americans rely on groundwater for their lives and livelihoods, but regulation is piecemeal. A new study maps groundwater wells nationwide and finds that they are drilling steadily deeper.
Many practicing U.S. Christians do not believe that human activities are warming the Earth, but they hold diverse views about the environment. Effective climate conversations recognize those nuances.