Environment
Ecological disruptions are a risk to national security
When the natural environment is stretched beyond its ability to meet basic human needs for food, clean air, drinkable water and shelter, it is not just a humanitarian concern for the world community. Research shows that these crises are a matter of national security for the U.S. and other countries.… Read
Rising seas test defenses of South American ports
When waves come crashing over the sea wall in Chile's biggest port of San Antonio, dockers run for cover. The state-run port, which handles 1.7 million containers annually, is frequently lashed by swells several meters high as rising ocean levels linked to climate change cause more frequent storm surges. Some… Read
Role models. Peer pressure. Rewards. What really gets people to act more sustainably?
Lauren Click founded a nonprofit a few years ago offering free composting education to schools around the country. Today, 112 schools participate, yet she can't get her boyfriend to properly separate his trash at home in Scottsdale, Arizona. “Adults have more set behaviors than young kids. I try to model… Read
Arctic sea ice hits lowest peak in satellite record, says U.S. agency
This year's Arctic sea ice peak is the lowest in the 47-year satellite record, according to data released by the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), as the planet continues to swelter under the mounting effects of human-driven climate change. Arctic sea ice forms and expands during the… Read
Ocean dumping – or a climate solution? A growing industry bets on the ocean to capture carbon
From the grounds of a gas-fired power plant on the eastern shores of Canada, a little-known company is pumping a slurry of minerals into the ocean in the name of stopping climate change. Whether it’s pollution or a silver bullet that will save the planet may depend on whom you… Read
'Unprecedented' mass bleaching drains life from Australian reef
An "unprecedented" mass bleaching event has been recorded off Australia's western coast, scientists said Wednesday, turning huge chunks of a celebrated reef system a sickly dull white. A months-long marine heatwave had "cooked" the sprawling Ningaloo Reef, ocean scientist Kate Quigley said, part of a world heritage-listed marine park renowned… Read
Indigenous leaders end world voyage with prayer for nature
The leaders of 22 Indigenous peoples from five continents held prayers for nature in Chile last Sunday at the end of a 46-day pilgrimage around the world. The "Indigenous sages" carried out an ancestral ceremony of the Anasazi people, who lived in the Chaco Canyon before European settlement in what… Read
Race to name creatures of the deep as mining interest grows
In the cold, lightless Pacific Ocean deep, the seabed is scattered with metal-rich rocks coveted by miners -- and huge numbers of strange and rare animals almost entirely unknown to science. Researchers are scrambling to name thousands of these newly discovered species. The mining industry is pushing regulators to finalize… Read
Report highlights how communities hardest hit by climate change can build resilient water systems
Malynndra Tome was helping to map livestock ponds in the Navajo Nation when she saw something that inspired her to act. An elderly woman was filling milk jugs with water at the back of a gas station in the Native American reservation, where about 30% of people live without running… Read
Mount Kenya's glaciers melting away
Charles Kibaki Muchiri traced the water trickling across the surface of the Lewis Glacier with his fingers, illustrating how quickly climate change is melting the huge ice blocks off of Africa's second-highest mountain. For nearly 25 years, the affable 50-year-old guide has been taking hikers to the peaks of Mount… Read
