Magazine

Garth Paine, Arizona State University Our hearing tells us of a car approaching from behind, unseen, or a bird in a distant forest. Everything vibrates, and sound passes through and around us all the time. Sound is a critical environmental signifier. Increasingly, we are learning that humans and animals are not the only organisms that […]

Ann Scarborough Bull, University of California, Santa Barbara and Milton Love, University of California, Santa Barbara Offshore oil and gas drilling has been a contentious issue in California for 50 years, ever since a rig ruptured and spilled 80,000 to 100,000 barrels of crude oil off Santa Barbara in 1969. Today it’s spurring a new

Kate O’Neill, University of California, Berkeley Less than two years after China banned most imports of scrap material from abroad, many of its neighbors are following suit. On May 28, 2019, Malaysia’s environment minister announced that the country was sending 3,000 metric tons of contaminated plastic wastes back to their countries of origin, including the

Greg Asner, Arizona State University Earth’s cornucopia of life has evolved over 550 million years. Along the way, five mass extinction events have caused serious setbacks to life on our planet. The fifth, which was caused by a gargantuan meteorite impact along Mexico’s Yucatan coast, changed Earth’s climate, took out the dinosaurs and altered the

David Keith, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Christopher R. Knittel, MIT Sloan School of Management A growing number of cities, states and countries aim to dramatically reduce or even eliminate carbon emissions to avert catastrophic levels of climate change. Ideas about how to get this done as soon as possible, including those Democratic lawmakers like

Neil Seldman, Director, Waste to Wealth Initiative, Institute for Local Self-Reliance If you read accounts of recycling in the mass media you may be convinced that recycling is on its deathbed after a 45 year run. Reality is more complex and more encouraging. Recycling is not dying. The recycling movement born in the late 1960’s and joined

Brian Lovett, University of Maryland Insects scuttle, chew and fly through the world around us. Humans rely on them to pollinate plants, prey on insects that we don’t get along with, and to be movers and shakers for Earth’s ecosystems. It’s hard to imagine a world without insects. That’s why news reports in recent months

Heidi Pearson, University of Alaska Southeast As the prospect of catastrophic effects from climate change becomes increasingly likely, a search is on for innovative ways to reduce the risks. One potentially powerful and low-cost strategy is to recognize and protect natural carbon sinks – places and processes that store carbon, keeping it out of Earth’s

Maria Saxton, Virginia Tech Interest is surging in tiny homes – livable dwelling units that typically measure under 400 square feet. Much of this interest is driven by media coverage that claims that living in tiny homes is good for the planet. It may seem intuitively obvious that downsizing to a tiny home would reduce

David S. Meyer, University of California, Irvine A gaggle of young activists recently paid Dianne Feinstein a visit at the senator’s San Francisco office, imploring her to support the Green New Deal framework for confronting climate change. She responded by explaining the complicated legislative process, emphasizing her decades of experience and promising to pursue a