Yale e360

Environmentalist Paul Hawken believes that to motivate action on climate change, the focus needs to be on solutions rather the problem. And, he says, those solutions – from changing the type of refrigerants used to reducing food waste – are already…

The world’s first floating wind farm has begun taking shape off the coast of Scotland. The first of five 575-foot turbines was towed into place last week, according to Statoil, a Norwegian energy company developing the project.Read more on E360 →

Two hundred people were murdered last year for taking a stand against development projects such as dams, logging, and agricultural plantations — nearly four murders a week, according to a new report from the human rights group Global Witness.  …

Researchers are considering ways to use synthetic biology for such conservation goals as eradicating invasive species or strengthening endangered coral. But environmentalists are worried about the ethical questions and unwanted consequences of this new…

A study in the Marcellus Shale region of western Pennsylvania has shown that even after being treated, wastewater from hydraulic fracturing operations left significant contamination in a waterway downstream of treatment plants. Read more on E360 →

The shores of Scotland’s Orkney Islands are dotted with ruins that date to the Stone Age. But after enduring for millennia, these archaeological sites – along with many others from Easter Island to Jamestown – are facing an existential threat from…

President Trump plans to end U.S. contributions to the Green Climate Fund, which helps developing countries finance climate-related projects. But his decision ignores the reality that this cost-effective global initiative protects the strategic interests of…

The Trump administration is taking a second look at one of the most controversial proposed mining projects in recent U.S. history — a massive copper, gold, and molybdenum mine at the headwaters of Bristol Bay, Alaska, the world’s most productive salmon…

The North Pole is breaking records with more winter warming events that are lasting longer, according to a new study. Read more on E360 →

The population of North American monarch butterflies has plummeted from 1 billion to 33 million in just two decades. Now, a project is underway to revive the monarch by making an interstate highway the backbone of efforts to restore its dwindling habitat.Read…

Some popular brands of charcoal sold in Europe and the United States are made from wood felled in one of the world’s most threatened forests, the dry tropical woodlands of Paraguay’s Chaco region, according to an investigation by a U.K.-based environmental…

If it's all in the timing, then climate change may spell problems for bees. Scientists have found that global warming may cause temporal mismatches between bees and the plant species on which they depend for food.Read more on E360 →

Although they have done little to contribute to global warming, Pacific islanders may face some of the most dire consequences of rising seas. In a Yale e360 interview, geologist Chip Fletcher describes the threats confronting Hawaii and other islands and…

The Swedish-based carmaker, Volvo, will build only electric or hybrid-electric cars beginning in 2019, making it the first big auto company to abandon conventional gasoline-powered engines. Read more on E360 →

U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry is expected to issue a report saying renewables pose a threat to the electricity grid. But the truth is that advances in technology and battery storage are making the grid ever-more capable of accommodating wind and solar…

A study of 60 million Americans over the age of 65 estimates that thousands of people are still dying prematurely each year because they are breathing polluted air.Read more on E360 →

The breadbasket regions of India and Pakistan are rapidly depleting their underground aquifers. In a Yale e360 interview, climatologist Sonali McDermid explains why this overexploitation, combined with global warming, is creating an urgent need to change…

Concentrations of a paint-stripping chemical are building in the atmosphere and scientists believe it threatens to significantly delay repair of the damaged ozone layer, which shields the earth from high levels of harmful ultraviolet radiation.Read more on…

Low-cost solar cells produced in China have helped power the recent surge in the U.S. solar industry. But a case now before the federal International Trade Commission could lead to tariffs that would jeopardize U.S. solar’s rapid growth.Read more on E360 →

A new study says that the pace of sea level rise has increased significantly over the past quarter-century, with the thawing of Greenland’s ice sheet playing a major role in the steady rise of the oceans.Read more on E360 →

Seismic air guns commonly used in the search for undersea oil kill off far more zooplankton than once thought, according to a new study that raises questions about the effect of such seismic surveys on the health of ocean ecosystems.Read more on E360 →

Polar bears are consuming less harmful mercury in their diet not because there’s less of the toxin in the environment, but because climate change is altering the way the bears forage for food, new research has found.Read more on E360 →

High-resolution earth imagery has provided ecologists and conservationists with a dynamic new tool that is enabling everything from more accurate counting of wildlife populations to rapid detection of deforestation, illegal mining, and other changes in the…

Two antimicrobial chemicals already banned in antiseptic wash products by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration are still found in more than 2,000 widely used consumer products, despite offering no health benefits and actually causing health and environmental…

Vast amounts of river-borne sediment are trapped behind the world’s large dams, depriving areas downstream of material that is badly needed to build up the marshes and wetlands that act as a buffer against rising seas.Read more on E360 →

Honeybee populations responsible for pollinating a third of the global food crop could be protected from massive die-offs known as colony collapse disorder by easily administered probiotics, according to Canadian researchers.Read more on E360 →

Large-scale melting of snow and ice on Antarctica's massive Ross Ice Shelf, brought about by an unusually warm stretch of weather in the summer of 2016, is one of the first documented cases of widespread surface melting of the Ross Ice Shelf and other…

Steadily rising ocean temperatures are forcing fish to abandon their historic territories and move to cooler waters. The result is that fishermen’s livelihoods are being disrupted, as fisheries regulators scramble to incorporate climate change into their…

Global consumption of coal fell by a record amount last year, driven by a rise in natural gas, increasing deployment of wind and solar power, and a shift in China away from heavy industry, according to BP’s global review of energy trends.Read more on E360 →

The loud love calls of the male corvina, a popular commercial fish in Mexico's Gulf of California, could help save the species from unsustainable harvesting, according to a new study.Read more on E360 →