Migratory birds play key ecological roles. and connect us with nature. The 1916 Migratory Bird Treaty curbed overhunting, but birds face other threats today that require international solutions.
Olympic rowers train in waters near Rio. The lack of sufficient treatment has raised health concerns for athletes.
Carlos Barria/Reuters
Sarah Cusser, The University of Texas at Austin and Shalene Jha, The University of Texas at Austin
Bees and other pollinating insects are under stress worldwide. Research in South Texas shows that simple steps like planting wildflowers near fields can help pollinators and boost farmers’ profits.
The EPA has issued rules to regulate methane emission from new oil and gas wells in the face of industry and political pushback.
gas storage via www.shutterstock.com
Wastewater treatment systems around the world are hamstrung by outdated tests that don’t identify a growing array of pathogens or identify the sources of pollutants.
FEMA photograph by John Fleck taken in Mississippi.
Wikimedia Commons
T. Reed Miller, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
In response to disasters like Superstorm Sandy, engineers are developing new building codes and tools to calculate the value of upgrades. National policy should encourage builders to use these tools.
No nukes: a 1979 rally against the construction of the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant, which is slated to shut down by 2025.
Jessica Collett/Shaping San Francisco Digital Archive
Animals and plants will need escape hatches to move to cooler climes as the planet warms, but few parts of the U.S. have the natural habitat available for these migrations.
A mountaintop removal site in Kentucky photographed in 2012.
docsearls/flickr
Climate disaster films are an emerging genre that reflect people’s desire to cope with a changing planet through art. How will they affect public attitudes on climate change?
Ancestral Pueblo carving at Petroglyph National Monument, New Mexico.
Steven C. Price/Wikipedia
When we think of national parks, many people picture geysers or mountain peaks. But the park system also protects historic sites and objects that show how the U.S. has evolved into a diverse society.
Residents near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in Minnesota and many others are concerned of the impact of mining in its headwaters.
atbaker/flickr
Almost 100 years ago, the foundations to preserve the Boundary Waters in Minnesota for recreation were put in place. Now residents are debating whether to allow a mine in its headwaters.
Piccadilly Circus in smog, 1952.
Unknown photographer/Wikipedia
Data from London’s Great Smog of 1952 show that air pollution exposure in early life leads to striking increases in asthma rates. Millions in the developing world face similar risks today.
A housing complex in Thailand with air conditioners.
Chaiwat Subprasom/Reuters
Global temperatures are poised for another record-breaking year. As incomes rise around the world and global temperatures go up, the use of air conditioning is poised to increase dramatically.
Higher carbon dioxide levels will not result in faster-growing forests – just the opposite in many places, study finds.
rosskevin756/flickr
Study using tree ring data and climate projections shows that buildup of CO2 will not benefit most northern forests and that growth rates will actually fall.
The Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant in California is closing and the state has committed to replacing it with greenhouse-free sources of electricity.
Doc Searls
Can nuclear power plants like California Diablo Canyon be replaced without greatly raising emissions? It’s an open question.
Detail from a satellite photo of Lake Okeechobee’s algae bloom and the St. Lucie canal into which water was released. Rising water levels from heavy winter rains had water managers worried that water would breach the dike.
NASA
As more states legalize marijuana, growing pot indoors is consuming massive quantities of energy. Rules for this new industry should include requirements to use clean power or pay carbon fees.
Do we need a new word for the feeling of guilt one gets from watering plants during a drought?
ana_carrington/flickr
Faith Kearns, University of California, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources
A scientist dips her toe into a new form of group-based performance art: devising new words to describe new feelings and phenomena of a rapidly changing world.
Women are making inroads in the solar industry, but still represent only about 25 percent of the U.S. solar work force.
www.shutterstock.com
Women are underrepresented in the energy sector at a time of rapid change and demand for new talent. Hiring more women could make energy companies more innovative and speed the shift to clean fuels.
Viewing wildlife in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming.
National Park Service/Flickr
A study estimates that Americans would pay $92 billion yearly in extra taxes to protect national parks. But the Trump Administration’s budget calls for cuts.
An airtanker in the Chelan Butte wildfire in August 2015.
benagain_photo/flickr
In a part of Washington state hit hard by extreme fire, a fire ecologist explains how prescribed burns and thinning can make the land more fire-resilient.
Harmful algal bloom caused by nutrient pollution, Assateague island National Seashore, MD.
Eric Vance, U.S. EPA/Flickr
Excess nutrients from farm fields cause widespread water pollution across the U.S. Bioreactors – essentially, ditches filled with wood chips – are emerging as a way to reduce nutrient pollution.
Gravel bed rivers and their floodplains are vital to local ecosystems and their ability to adapt to climate change.
sandybrownjensen/flickr
Conservation methods for gravel-bed rivers – which are ecological hotspots in the western U.S. – need to improve in order to deal with the effects of climate change.