A recent article on The National Geographic website titled Los Angeles River: Concrete Ditch to Urban Oasis tells us that a restoration plan has been made for the practically empty 51 miles that was once a river. Success for the city of angels, indeed! Make sure to read up on the plans, it is really...
This past weekend, Pope Francis did something that was quietly revolutionary. In a talk at the Italian university of Molise, Francis characterized concerns about the environment as “one of the greatest challenges of our time”—a challenge that is theological, as well as political, in nature...
The tiny plastic particles polluting our seas are not only orally ingested by marine creatures, but also enter their systems through their gills, according to a new study led by the University of Exeter.
Scientists also discovered that when microplastics are drawn in through this ...
The prospects of Australia having a carbon tax are now virtually zero following the Victorian state election according to John Roskam, the executive director of the free market think tank, Institute of Public Affairs.
'Rising electricity prices were a huge factor in the campaign, and a major reason...
While developed countries and regions have long been culprits for Earth's rising greenhouse gas emissions, Cornell researchers – balancing the role of aerosols along with carbons in the equation – now predict a time when developing countries will contribute more to climate change than advanced socie...
Two NASA aircraft are participating in field campaigns beginning this month in Colorado that will probe the factors leading to unhealthy air quality conditions and improve the ability to diagnose air quality conditions from space.
The NASA aircraft will be joined by a research aircraft from...
Astrobiologists from the United States and Germany recorded the highest known level of solar UV radiation to reach Earth’s surface. This was around 10 years ago. On December 29, 2003, the UV Index (UVI) peaked, reaching the blistering number of 43.3 over the Andes Mountains in Bolivia. To put this i...
Here's a list of things that could now get you fined up to $500 a day in California, where a multi-year drought is sucking reservoirs and snowpacks dry:
Spraying so much water on your lawn or garden that excess water flows onto non-planted areas, walkways, parking lots, or neighboring proper...
Scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and partner organizations are launching a major field project across the northern Front Range of Colorado this month to track the origins of summertime ozone, an invisible but harmful pollutant.
The researchers will use specially equ...
Removal of river water for irrigation and habitat fragmentation by irrigation dams were shown to be the principal factors contributing to the decline of the Indus river dolphin, according to a study published July 16, 2014 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Gill Braulik from the Wildli...
The world's grasslands are being destabilized by fertilization, according to a paper recently published in the journal Nature. In a study of 41 grassland communities on five continents, researchers found that the presence of fertilizer weakened grassland species diversity. The researchers surveyed g...
New University of Alaska Fairbanks research indicates that arctic thermokarst lakes stabilize climate change by storing more greenhouse gases than they emit into the atmosphere.
Countering a widely-held view that thawing permafrost accelerates atmospheric warming, a study published this wee...
Researchers at the University of California, Riverside's Bourns College of Engineering have created a lithium ion battery that outperforms the current industry standard by three times. The key material: sand. Yes, sand.
"This is the holy grail – a low cost, non-toxic, environmentally friend...
Thailand has until next March to take measures to shut down domestic trade in illegal elephant ivory or it will face trade sanctions, an international meeting on wildlife trade announced today. Governments at a meeting of the Convention on the International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES) r...
Late last month, a federal judge in Colorado stopped a coal-mining lease expansion from going forward, claiming that the agencies involved had not worked hard enough to account for climate impacts, either in the mine’s operations or in the amount of emissions that could come from the burning of the ...
Long term exposure to a neonicotinoid pesticide damages bees' ability to forage for pollen – and may be changing their choices of which flowers to visit – according to new research published today.
The research, conducted at Royal Holloway University of London, monitored bee activity using Rad...
Last winter, when Rick Schreiber saw the photos of two abandoned flatbed trailers heaped with thousands of pounds of low-level radioactive garbage, some spilling onto the ground, he’d had enough. A landfill director in western North Dakota’s Bakken oil field, near where the waste was left, Schreiber...
Without aggressive management, most of the Caribbean coral reefs will disappear in the next 20 years, according to a recent UNEP press release.
“Status and Trends of Caribbean Coral Reefs: 1970-2012,” a recent report compiled by Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN), the International Union ...
Apple released its full 2014 Environmental Responsibility report this afternoon with new climate change data and information on the company’s promise to reduce its carbon footprint.
The new report highlights some of the good decisions Apple made to reduce its environmental impact in 2013, by doing ...
A team of researchers from Arizona State University has found that releasing excess heat from air conditioners running during the night resulted in higher outside temperatures, worsening the urban heat island effect and increasing cooling demands.
"We found that waste heat f...
