Environment

Written by: Johan Oldekop, Bowy den Braber, and Marina Schmoeller Although deforestation rates in the Brazilian Amazon have halved, it is still losing more than 5,000km² every year. That’s an area three times larger than Greater London. By combining satellite imagery for...

Written by: Kimberly White  The United Nations General Assembly has recognized the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment as a universal human right in a historic vote.  The landmark resolution passed with overwhelming support by the UN General Assembly...

Written by: Rachel Killean In November, the world’s first global citizens’ assembly – made up of 100 people chosen by lottery from around the world – declared its recommended responses to the climate crisis at the UN climate conference COP26. Among these recommendations...

Written by: Charles Masquelier, Carolyn Petersen, and Matt Lobley The Burren region of County Clare, Ireland, is famous for its distinctive limestone habitat, coastal landscape, rich wildlife and unusual archaeology. Several hundred farmers also manage livestock on this land. As social scientists, we’ve been...

Written by: Geoffrey Holland ‘The challenge of feeding humanity is vast, maybe greater even than the challenge of stabilizing the climate, or population, and its importance is far less widely acknowledged by governments, policymakers, and consumers. It is literally...

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: Pearl Marvell One hundred years ago, the Colorado River Delta in northwestern Mexico was an area rich in wildlife and vegetation. But for decades, U.S. states have consumed most of the river’s water, leaving little to reach the...

Written by: Kimberly White  Organizations across the U.S. have joined together in support of nature-based solutions. The World Economic Forum and American Forests have launched the U.S. chapter of 1t.org, an initiative to “conserve, restore, and grow” one trillion trees...

Written by: Kimberly White Last week, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) released their new study, Reforesting for the climate of tomorrow. Researchers identified key tree and plant species that are resilient to climate change. The study analyzed 250 species...

Written by: Kimberly White  Ethiopia planted a record-breaking 353,633,660 trees in 12 hours on July 29th. Initially setting out to plant 200 million trees, the nation exceeded the goal by more than 153 million.  India had previously held the World Record....