Menu Close

Environment + Energy – Articles, Analysis, Opinion

Displaying 1251 - 1275 of 2393 articles

A farmer carries firewood during the dry season in Nicaragua, one of the Central American countries affected by a recent drought. Neil Palmer for CIAT/flickr

How climate change is driving emigration from Central America

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.
High surf in Vero Beach, Fla. in advance of Hurricane Dorian. AP Photo/Gerald Herbert

Good communication is a key part of disaster response

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.
Warning signs in the Newark Health Department after the city learned that lead service lines to houses still were contaminating water. Seth Wenig/AP

How to address America’s lead crisis and provide safe drinking water for all

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.
Wild boar in a swamp in Slidell, Louisiana. AP Photo/Rebecca Santana

Feral pigs harm wildlife and biodiversity as well as crops

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.
The movement to ban miniature toiletries isn’t likely to make a dent in the global plastic crisis. vaidehi shah/Flickr

Removing mini-shampoos from hotel rooms won’t save the environment

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.
A fire in the Amazon rainforest near Humaita, in Amazonas state, Brazil, Aug. 17, 2019. Reuters/Ueslei Marcelino

The Amazon is burning: 4 essential reads on Brazil’s vanishing rainforest

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.
An all-renewable grid will mean more electricity and more transmission lines. Russ Allison Loar/flickr

How to have an all-renewable electric grid

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?
An Atlantic cod on ice. Cod fisheries in the North Sea and Irish Sea are declining due to overfishing and climate change. Robert F. Bukaty/AP

Ocean warming has fisheries on the move, helping some but hurting more

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.
Smoke from wildfires in Siberia drifts east toward Canada and the U.S. on July 30, 2019. NASA

Huge wildfires in the Arctic and far North send a planetary warning

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.
Visualization of the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite in space over a tropical cyclone. NASA

We use satellites to measure water scarcity

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?
No-till farming conserves soil by greatly reducing erosion. USDA NRCS South Dakota/Eric Barsness

Restoring soil can help address climate change

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.
Steller sea lions in the eastern Pacific are an Endangered Species Act success story. David B. Ledig/USFWS

Saving endangered species: 5 essential reads

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.
Middlebury Assistant Professor David Allen prepares to inspect a piece of canvas dragged through the forest to collect ticks. Todd Balfour/Middlebury College

A tick detective wants to understand what drives tick abundance

A tick expert explains his work trying to understand why the abundance of the parasites vary so much from location to location and year to year.
Micha Berry of the city of Fresno, Calif., which relies heavily on groundwater for its drinking water supply, repairs a groundwater well pump in 2013. AP Photo/Gosia Wozniacka

Drilling deeper wells is a band-aid solution to US groundwater woes

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.