Environment
Atmospheric rivers are shifting poleward, reshaping global weather patterns
Atmospheric rivers – those long, narrow bands of water vapor in the sky that bring heavy rain and storms to the U.S. West Coast and many other regions – are shifting toward higher latitudes, and that’s changing weather patterns around the world. The shift is worsening droughts in some regions,… Read
Whales recovering from near extinction, but industrial fishing around Antarctica competes for their sole food source
The Southern Ocean encircling Antarctica is the world’s largest feeding ground for baleen whales – species like humpbacks that filter tiny organisms from seawater for food. In the 20th century, whalers killed roughly 2 million large whales in the Southern Ocean. Some populations, like the Antarctic blue whale, were reduced… Read
Oil and gas communities are a blind spot in America’s climate and economic policies
On a recent visit to Rangely, a small town in northwest Colorado, my colleagues and I met with the administrators of a highly regarded community college to discuss the town’s economy. Leaving the scenic campus, we saw families driving into the mountains in off-road vehicles, a favorite activity for this… Read
5 lessons from ancient civilizations for keeping homes cool in hot, dry climates
Modern buildings tend to take electricity and air conditioning for granted. They often have glass facades and windows that can’t be opened. And when the power goes out for days in the middle of a heat wave, as the Houston area experienced in July 2024 after Hurricane Beryl, these buildings… Read
U.S. has its first national strategy to reduce plastic pollution
Plastic waste is piling up at a daunting pace around the world. The World Bank estimates that every person on the planet generates an average of 0.74 kilograms of plastic waste daily. To curb this flow, 175 nations are negotiating a binding international treaty on plastic pollution, with a completion… Read
Trees compete for space, light and resources, and those clashes can leave battle scars
When you walk through a forest, it may feel like a static setting where very little is happening. But trees are constantly interacting and reacting to each other as they grow. There’s intense competition for light and space. Every shift affects the overall makeup of the forest in some way.… Read
Oceans without sharks would be far less healthy
There are more than 500 species of sharks in the world’s oceans, from the 7-inch dwarf lantern shark to whale sharks that can grow to over 35 feet long. They’re found from polar waters to the equator, at the water’s surface and miles deep, in the open ocean, along coasts… Read
Wildfires can create their own weather, further spreading the flames
Wildfire blowups, fire whirls, towering thunderstorms: When fires get large and hot enough, they can actually create their own weather. In these extreme fire situations, firefighters’ ordinary methods to directly control the fire don’t work, and wildfires burn out of control. Firefighters have seen many of these risks in the… Read
Extreme heat waves broiling the planet in 2024 aren’t normal
More than a month into summer 2024, the vast majority of the U.S. population has experienced an extreme heat wave. Millions of people were under heat warnings across the western U.S. in early July or sweating through humid heat in the East. Death Valley hit a dangerous 129 degrees Fahrenheit… Read
Flirting with disaster: When endangered wild animals try to mate with domestic relatives, both wildlife and people lose
Fatal attractions are a standard movie plotline, but they also occur in nature, with much more serious consequences. As a conservation biologist, I’ve seen them play out in some of Earth’s most remote locations, from the Gobi Desert to the Himalayan Highlands. In these locales, pastoralist communities graze camels, yaks… Read
