Beyond Magical Thinking: Time to Get Real on Climate Change
The UN’s first climate conference took place in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, and in the intervening decades we have had a series of global meetings and countless assessments and…
Long Reviled as ‘Ugly,’ Sea Lampreys Finally Get Some Respect
“Thousands of sea lamprey are passed upstream each year. This is a predator that wiped out the Great Lakes lake-trout fishery. literally suck the life out of their host fish,…
Tracking Illicit Brazilian Beef from the Amazon to Your Burger
Investigative journalism can be a very deep dive. By the end of his probe into the supply chain of JBS, the world’s largest meat processing and packing company, Marcel Gomes…
Unraveling the Causes of the Pandemic, and Preparing for the Next
Author David Quammen was well placed to see the pandemic coming: almost 10 years earlier, he had written a book called Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic. Covid-19,…
In Bolivia, Mercury Pollution Spreads Amid a Surge in Gold Mining
Across Bolivia, even in protected areas recognized by the United Nations for their diversity of wildlife, more than 1,000 artisanal mining operations are razing trees, diverting waterways, and reshaping the…
Could the Global Boom in Greenhouses Help Cool the Planet?
The world is awash with greenhouses growing fresh vegetables year-round for health-conscious urbanites. There are so many of them that in places their plastic and glass roofs are reflecting sufficient…
A Quiet Revolution: Southwest Cities Learn to Thrive Amid Drought
In the rolling hills around San Diego and its suburbs, the rumble of bulldozers and the whine of power saws fill the air as a slew of new homes and…
As Himalayan Glaciers Melt, a Water Crisis Looms in South Asia
Spring came early this year in the high mountains of Gilgit-Baltistan, a remote border region of Pakistan. Record temperatures in March and April hastened melting of the Shisper Glacier, creating…
The Great Salt Lake and Its Web of Life Face an Uncertain Future
Utah’s Great Salt Lake is the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere, stretching some 950 square miles, with its extensive wetlands providing refuge for more than 10 million migratory…
The 30 Percent Goal: Is Bigger Always Better for Biodiversity?
In 2009, the U.S. government turned more than 190,000 square miles of pristine ocean centered on the Mariana Trench in the remote Pacific into one of the world’s largest protected…