All Environment
- Charting a global drought – and the world’s quest to respond
Drought has created stress on water supplies and agriculture in numerous parts of the world. This adds urgency to getting better at responding.
- Points of ProgressA boost to wildlife in Bolivia and to child welfare in Nigeria
Progress roundup: From Nigeria’s drop in child marriage to wildlife populating a dangerous Bolivian road; also notes from California, Nepal, Belgium.
- Rise of the climate optimists, pushing back against gloom
Against a backdrop of dark or doom-filled outlooks regarding climate change, a rising movement seeks to emphasize hope without sugarcoating the crisis.
- First LookFirst public carbon database reveals US and Russia as top emitters
The world is getting its first publicly accessible carbon database, which will track 75% of the world’s total gas, oil, and coal production. Called the Global Registry of Fossil Fuels, analysis of its data could sway international climate talks.
- First LookNew interactive atlas is a bird watcher's virtual paradise
The Bird Migration Explorer mapping tool, a new online atlas of bird migration, tracks around 450 bird species in the Americas. The past 20 years have seen a renaissance in tracking technologies by using data from birdwatchers and scientific communities.
- Behind a coal mine strike: Who cares for workers in a fading industry?
Coal miners have been on strike for 18 months in Alabama. Their struggle points to the wider search for a “just transition” for an industry squeezed by energy trends and the fight against climate change.
- Cover StoryTo build for a warming planet, architects look to nature – and the past
Indigenous construction methods from around the world offer ways to beat the heat from a time before air conditioning – and are coming back in vogue.
- FocusYoung Evangelicals seek to save the Earth – and their church
Is it possible to participate fully in two communities often at odds with each other? For Elsa Barron, bridging the differences between Evangelicals and environmentalists takes courage.
- Renewing Old Ironsides, with help from an Indiana forest
When the U.S.S. Constitution needed renovation, a forest in Indiana was undergoing some renewal of its own. Now trees from an inland Navy base are breathing new life into “Old Ironsides.”
- Points of ProgressNew diversity in gaming – and in Oxford dictionaries
Progress roundup: a wave energy first in Australia, a new Oxford Dictionary of Black English, and the female soccer stars of a new video game.
- Taller grasses, deeper roots: Texas ranchers adapt to era of extremes
Drought has imposed a harsh test on Texas cattle ranchers. But some have been adapting, even before this year, in ways that make them more resilient.
- Is nuclear power a green solution? Why world tilts toward ‘yes.’
Nuclear power is getting a rethink from California to Germany, as a way to reduce reliance on fossil fuels in an energy-hungry, yet warming world.
- Cover StoryBear ambassador: Lynn Rogers advocates for human-bear coexistence
Lynn Rogers has done his research on wild black bears a little differently: walking alongside them, feeding them, sleeping next to them.
- Points of ProgressDignity in a home address, and the right to a healthy environment
Progress roundup: The dignity of slum residents in India receiving home addresses, final exoneration in Salem witch trials, environment as a human right, and more.
- The ExplainerHeat. Drought. Fires. Floods. Texas grapples with a new era.
Texas may not be the epicenter of political passion about climate change, but it is increasingly emblematic of America’s climate change experience.
- Postcard from Minnesota: Far from drought, but is it a climate haven?
While climate change may appear most severe in places affected by drought or rising seas, inland and water-rich areas feel their own pressure to adapt.
- Where should reporters draw the line in covering wildfires?
When covering wildfires, reporters juggle a desire to give audiences up-to-the minute information and a need to respect residents’ and first responders’ boundaries. What is the media’s responsibility in such fast-moving situations?
- Five years after Hurricane Harvey, a legacy of perseverance
Long after floods, Texans struggle to rebuild. But rather than losing hope, they are finding patience, resolve, and humor to carry them through.
- Points of ProgressTiger births and Benin Bronzes: Restorations of nature and art
In our progress roundup, a return to the old, plus new ways of making food and fuel: more tigers in Nepal, the Smithsonian on returning artifacts, world’s largest vertical farm, and more.
- Climate action: How values – and disasters – influence progress
Author and sustainability professor Andrew Hoffman finds most people in the United States ready to acknowledge the dangers of climate change – and share the responsibility for mitigating it.