Magazine

Jennifer Weeks, The Conversation A year after China upended global materials markets by banning imports of much solid waste, the effects are still rippling around the globe. Many U.S. recyclers are awash in materials they formerly sent to China for processing. Some cities with few options are burning recyclables in incinerators. What would it take […]

Yalin Li, Colorado School of Mines Most people think as little as possible about the wastewater that is produced daily from their showers, bathtubs, sinks, dishwashers and toilets. But with the right techniques, it can become a valuable resource. On average, every Americans uses about 60 gallons of water per day for purposes that include

Rebecca Taylor, University of Sydney Governments are increasingly banning the use of plastic products, such as carryout bags, straws, utensils and microbeads. The goal is to reduce the amount of plastic going into landfills and waterways. And the logic is that banning something should make it less abundant. However, this logic falls short if people

Noel Healy, Salem State University; Jennie C. Stephens, Northeastern University, and Stephanie Malin, Colorado State University Many Democratic lawmakers aim to pass a Green New Deal, a package of policies that would mobilize vast amounts of money to create new jobs and address inequality while fighting climate change. Led by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen.

Jeremiah Johnson, North Carolina State University and Joseph F. DeCarolis, North Carolina State University Due to their decreasing costs, lithium-ion batteries now dominate a range of applications including electric vehicles, computers and consumer electronics. You might only think about energy storage when your laptop or cellphone are running out of juice, but utilities can plug

David Cash, University of Massachusetts Boston The Green New Deal, a bundle of proposed policies that would combat climate change, create green jobs and address economic inequities, is eliciting the usual partisan debate over what to do about global warming. But one humble and noncontroversial way to reduce carbon pollution has been gathering steam in

Miguel Altieri, University of California, Berkeley During the partial federal shutdown in December 2018 and January 2019, news reports showed furloughed government workers standing in line for donated meals. These images were reminders that for an estimated one out of eight Americans, food insecurity is a near-term risk. In California, where I teach, 80 percent

Anastasia Telesetsky, University of Idaho Single-use plastics are a blessing and a curse. They have fueled a revolution in commercial and consumer convenience and improved hygiene standards, but also have saturated the world’s coastlines and clogged landfills. By one estimate 79 percent of all plastic ever produced is now in a dump, a landfill or the

Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò, Georgetown University and Holly Jean Buck, University of California, Los Angeles Environmental activists are teaming up with fresh faces in Congress to advocate for a Green New Deal, a bundle of policies that would fight climate change while creating new jobs and reducing inequality. Not all of the activists agree on what

Scott Denning, Colorado State University Editor’s note: A new study by scientists in the United States, China, France and Germany estimates that the world’s oceans have absorbed much more excess heat from human-induced climate change than researchers had estimated up to now. This finding suggests that global warming may be even more advanced than previously