The Arctic plays a critical role in maintaining a safe and stable global climate, with its reflective sea ice that sends significant incoming solar radiation safely back to space and its permanently frozen tundra that secures ancient stores of carbon dioxide and methane. But the Arctic is warming at twice the global average, threatening to […]

Bonus points for not leaving a toxic mess. Devices can pile up over the years — just look in your drawers, the garage or a dark corner of your closet. Unless you’re a self-disciplined cleaning guru, chances are you’ve held onto batteries, cables and older devices for nostalgic reasons, or because you thought you might […]

This week, Greenpeace activists protested against single-use plastic in front of Nestlé’s headquarters in Vevey, according to the newspaper Le Matin. One group of protesters, carrying a plastic monster made from plastic waste that has been touring Europe after arriving in Rotterdam from the Philippines, demanded that Nestlé take back its plastic monster. Others carried […]

Kenya has the strictest penalties for bag use, but the consumer alternatives to plastic have come with growing pains. In the open-air Wakulima Market thin plastic shopping bags have disappeared, banished by Kenya’s national bag ban. Produce sellers in this busy agricultural hub 95 miles northwest of Nairobi now pack perishables in thicker bags made […]

In a major breakthrough, instruments known as continuous plankton recorders (CPRs) — used to survey plankton population since 1931 — have accidentally recorded the history of plastic in oceans. CPRs are torpedo-like devices that have been in use since 1931 to survey plankton populations. In recent years CPRs have been constantly tormented by large fishing […]

We debate the obstacles and solutions to climate change and speak with Bangladeshi photojournalist Shahidul Alam. In this week’s UpFront, we debate on the best strategy against climate change and highlight the role capitalism has played in the crisis. In the Reality Check, we shed light on the United States’s military operations in Africa. In […]

The degree to which climate change threatens the ecosystems of the Earth and societies around the world has been an ongoing subject of debate – and sometimes protest. As Earth Day nears, we take stock of U.S. public opinion about climate change, based on recent Pew Research Center surveys. For more on how people globally […]

A new bill proposed in California could make a hotel room staple disappear. Co-authored by Ash Kalra of San Jose, Assembly Bill 1162 could ban single-use mini bottles of shampoo, conditioner and lotion found in many hotels. They could be replaced with bulk dispensers, KCBS reported. The bill, if passed, would try to cut down on […]

While the diesel landscape is in flux, the U.S.’s abundance of propane means price stability for autogas. When you grocery shop, you plainly see the price of items. And you feel certain those prices won’t change before you get to the register. What if that wasn’t the case? What if you went to the store […]

In 2011, after an earthquake and tsunami caused a meltdown at Japan’s Fukushima-Daiichi power plant, Gregory Jaczko, then the chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, had to worry about two things: whether radioactive fallout would harm the U.S. and whether a similar accident could befall an American plant. The answer to the first question […]