Magazine

Joan A. Casey, University of California, Berkeley Peter James, Harvard Medical School Rachel Morello-Frosch, University of California, Berkeley Most Americans think of cities as noisy places – but some parts of U.S. cities are much louder than others. Nationwide, neighborhoods with higher poverty rates and proportions of black, Hispanic and Asian residents have higher noise levels […]

A conversation with Stephen Kendall (left) and John Dale Stephen Kendall, PhD, is Emeritus Professor of Architecture for Ball State University. He has taught architectural design and urban design studios, and courses in building technology and design theory at all levels of professional curricula in several universities in the US, as well as in Taiwan, Italy, Indonesia, South Africa,

By Brendan F.D. Barrett, RMIT University and Andrew DeWit, Rikkyo University A lot of faith is vested in cities to tackle climate change, and with good reason. A day after the June 1 declaration that the US would exit the Paris Agreement, 82 American “climate mayors” committed to upholding the accord. By August 4, when the

By Akshaya Jha, Carnegie Mellon University President Trump and his appointees have pledged to end what they call the “war on coal” – policies designed to reduce the health and environmental impacts from producing and burning coal, such as toxic air pollution and mine waste disposal in streams. But while it is true that coal production

By Eric Daniel Fournier, University of California, Los Angeles and Alex Ricklefs, University of California, Los Angeles Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) recently started the process of shutting down the Diablo Canyon generation facility, the last active nuclear power plant in California. The power plant, located near Avila Beach on the central Californian coast, consists of

By Thomas Fisher, University of Minnesota and Madeline Goldkamp, University of Minnesota Natural assets – “green infrastructure” – can provide communities with invaluable ecosystem services that clean our air, filter our water, mitigate natural disasters and improve our quality of life. The Trump administration has called for a major investment in infrastructure. That includes systems that

By Nicholas Rajkovich, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York In May of this year, a hot spell broiled Boston. In June, extreme temperatures grounded Phoenix’s planes. Last week, Seattle suffered under record temperatures. When a heat wave is forecast, the standard advice is to drink plenty of water, take frequent breaks and wear

By Jennifer Morris, Massachusetts Institute of Technology When utility executives make decisions about building new power plants, a lot rides on their choices. Depending on their size and type, new generating facilities cost hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars. They typically will run for 40 or more years – 10 U.S. presidential terms. Much

Richard B. Rood, University of Michigan Scott Pruitt, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, has called for a “red team-blue team” review to challenge the science behind climate change. “The American people deserve an honest, open, transparent discussion about this supposed threat to this country,” he said on a radio show, adding he hoped

By Gary W. Yohe, Wesleyan University A scientific report done every four years has been thrust into the spotlight because its findings directly contradict statements from the president and various Cabinet officials. If the Trump administration chooses to reject the pending national Climate Science Special Report, it would be more damaging than pulling the United States