When John Topham first thought about putting solar panels on his roof in north Wales, the numbers didn’t quite make sense. It was November 2021, and although energy bills in…
Tag: Science / Environment
How Prescribed Burns Can Help Restore Eastern US Forests
By mid-afternoon, the team had seemingly painted fire onto the land, burning exactly where and what they wanted. The mature pines’ lower trunks were singed black, and the ground beneath…
Biofuels Are Getting a Second Look—and Some Tough Questions
Since then Plevin’s position has changed completely. “My conclusion at the end of all this is it’s misguided,” he says. The problem, Plevin argues, is that it’s impossible to accurately…
To Resurrect Jordan’s Lost Forests, People Plant Tiny Urban Ones
The team’s test plots also host some of Jordan’s rarest flora. In Marka, that includes saplings of Pistacia lentiscus, the wild pistachio tree—there are only about 50 left in the…
Oceans Aren’t Just Warming—Their Soundscapes Are Transforming
Wander into nature and give a good shout, and only nearby birds, frogs, and squirrels will hear you. Although sensing noise is a critical survival strategy for land animals, it’s…
Some (Kinda) Good Climate News: 2 Degrees Is Doable
For all the less-than-encouraging news about climate change—rapid sea-level rise, the land itself transforming, serious trouble brewing under Antarctic glaciers—we’ve been getting plenty of hope. The price of renewable energy…
A Farmer’s Quest to Beat California’s Waves of Drought and Deluge
Haugen says that he and other Kings River representatives tried to negotiate with the would-be attackers. They met around half a dozen times between late 2016 and early 2017. Haugen…
Want a Battery That Lasts? Play Hot and Cold
Around this time each year, the Pacific Northwest enjoys a temporary bounty of renewable energy. A torrent of melted snow builds behind the region’s abundant dams just as strong gales…
Drought Is Threatening Hydropower in the Southwestern US
News that Lake Powell, a reservoir on the border of Arizona and Utah, is slowly but surely drying up has spread far and wide. Behind the 1,320-megawatt Glen Canyon Dam…
As Climate Fears Mount, Some Are Relocating Within the US
In the Upper Valley region straddling southern Vermont and New Hampshire, the Brazil family has been working with Kasia Butterworth, a realtor with Coldwell Banker, to find a house to…