Environment

Written by: Gianluca Gygax and Lluvy Liu Forests are critical to the health of the planet. They sequester carbon, regulate global temperatures and freshwater flows, recharge groundwater, anchor fertile soil and act as flood barriers. They harbour 80 percent of...

Written by: David R. Boyd Industrially produced food appears to be cheap but is actually very expensive. Recent estimates of the hidden costs of today’s food systems range from US$12 trillion to US$20 trillion annually. These mind-boggling figures include food’s devastating...

Written by: Mike Gaworecki Restoring forests in areas where they once stood is an important step toward halting climate change. It helps to ensure a host of other environmental services, too, like provision of clean air and water. But without...

Written by: Liz Kimbrough A California court has ruled that state legislation on endangered species can apply to invertebrates. The decision this week by the Third District Court of Appeal means insects, including four endangered native Californian bumblebee species and the monarch...

Written by: Juan Mayorga In Tepejillo, on one of the many hills in the southern Mexican municipality of San Juan Bautista Coixtlahuaca, extreme erosion has transformed the earth into bare rock, making it difficult to imagine that the area used...

Courtesy of Written by: Steve Carver and Lex Comber There aren’t many corners of the world left untouched by humanity. Recent research has highlighted that just 23% of the planet’s land surface(excluding Antarctica) and 13% of the ocean can now be classified as wilderness, representing nearly a 10% decline over...

Written by: Malaka Rodrigo Kelanimulla is one of the last remaining wetlands in Sri Lanka’s western district of Colombo, and is a refuge for urban wildlife, including the elusive fishing cat. The wetland absorbs runoff from the Kelani River, playing a key role...

Written by: Dilrukshi Handunnetti Sri Lanka’s southern coastline is dotted with popular resorts and beaches, but this once pristine landscape hasn’t been spared by the global plastic waste crisis, a study finds. The authors of the paper, published in the Marine Pollution Bulletin,...

Written by: Jessica Heiges and Kate O'Neill Most consumers don’t pay much attention to the packaging that their purchases come in, unless it’s hard to open or the item is really over-wrapped. But packaging accounts for about 28 percent of U.S. municipal solid waste....

Written by: Jewel S. Cabrera Seaweed, a common name for thousands of marine plants and algae found in different water bodies, not only provides food and shelter for marine animals, but it can also help solve the plastic pollution problem....