Researchers show that shale gas extraction in Denton, Texas bombards local residents with health issues, contaminated water, and nuisance problems while profits, jobs, and other benefits leave with non-local corporations.
The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change has increasingly emphasized the 2 degree C global warming target as a benchmark for future policies and strategies. Through modeling of future scenarios, researchers justify the physical need for negative emissions if this temperature target goal is to be remotely achievable.
It has been widely thought that money wields power, and that corporate funding fuels climate change deniers. A recent study finds who these corporate funders are and just how much power they have.
Financial institutions like banks historically have played a critical role in the face of global challenges, from restructuring industry after World War II to the financing of the industrial revolutions. A new study argues that banks can play a similar role in helping society transition to a low-carbon footprint model.
As city planners seek to foster green economies, environmental justice advocates worry that its gentrifying effects and disproportionate benefits to the consumer class. Through case studies in Chicago and Seattle, a recent study explores how community efforts have the potential to incorporate social equity into the vision of the green economy.
Tropical forests are being lost due to timber harvest and cultivation, and ecosystems are being threatened by the spread of exotic and invasive species that outcompetes native ones. A recent study shows how an exotic plant species can be beneficial in connecting forest fragments, which promotes healthy wildlife populations.
As species shift out of their historic habitats in response to climate change, the role of protected areas is in question. Can the current global system of stationary bubbles of biodiversity protection help fauna on the move?
Agriculture and preserving habitat are constantly at odds. A new study assesses how farming can benefit farmers and small mammal species, and help preserve habitat.
Is it possible to delay clothing disposal through better design? A recent study uses user-centered design methods and quantitative consumer research to suggest four strategies to delay clothing disposal.
Different messaging techniques on the reuse of towels in hotels are found to have a significant impact on guest behavior — and can save significant amounts of energy and water. This low-cost method may be of interest to businesses, who can save money on utility costs while furthering their environmental reputation as well.
New research reveals the political potential of neighborhood greening in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans, shedding light on the long-term benefits of community-led urban agriculture.
Every year, 25 million tons of electronic waste are produced around the world and China is receiving most of it. Chinese scientists are exploring the burdens of electronic waste treatment, an increasingly pressing national issue.
A great fire that devastated San Francisco following the 1906 earthquake had both short-term and long-term impacts on urban land use in the city, a recent study finds. Specifically, the disaster helped remove various barriers to redevelopment, leading to higher density of residential buildings in razed areas relative to unburned areas in prominent neighborhoods.
From 2007 to 2013 more than 130 environmental courts were established in China. A recent paper examines the political context underlying the establishment of the courts — and exposes their limited role in addressing environmental issues.
The American diet was under debate last fall as part of the run-up to the 2015 release of the new Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Historically, the American diet is harmful to the environment and the people who consume it. With a shift toward a more sustainable food system, this was a promising strategy to heal the planet and ourselves.
Epidemiologists have proposed using environmental policy as a model for combatting the obesity epidemic. Based on the carbon offset aspect of many cap and trade programs, the authors explain how similar offsets could be used to create change in the food and beverage industry.
The consequences of a rise in extreme weather events worldwide due to climate change can be particularly catastrophic in politically unstable countries. A recent study analyzes the role that index-based insurance can play in the highly volatile Syrian market and its potential to increase the adaptive confidence of farmers in a changing climate.
Although much research shows there are significant differences in public opinion on climate change beliefs, national scale statistics conceal this heterogeneity. Using an approach known as multilevel regression and poststratification, a team of researchers finds significant variability in opinion on important climate-related issues and behaviors at all levels of comparison.
One way to mitigate the effect of overheating in cities is to construct reflective or green roofs. A recent study reveals the potential and limits of reflective and green roof technologies.
New research shows that approaches to building resilience are often over-simplified when put to practice. Trade offs are inherent to decision-making, yet the implications to the long-term resilience of urban areas are often overlooked.
A transnational network in the Colorado River Delta successfully shifted governance toward environmental restoration. Through information sharing, capacity building, and rule setting, this network paved the way for science-based solutions and public participation.
Environmental science guides the design of environmental policies and regulations. But what happens when science does not align with law and policy? A recent study shows that a mismatch between the science of ecological "restoration" and the policy mechanism of environmental interventions has unintended consequences.
A recent study suggests that it is possible — and worthwhile — to tackle greenhouse gases emissions using CO2 from power plants to produce algae biofuels.
Greenhouse gas removal technologies provide a valuable option to decrease emissions beyond mitigation. While climate policy to this point has not included these important technologies, researchers in the United Kingdom have developed four pillars upon which to reframe the policy approach.
Shocks from climate change are felt by all, but it's the poorer communities that are more sensitive to these disturbances. A recent study looks critically at the lens through which we view climate adaptation and asks: Are we building a resilience that accounts for the livelihoods of all, including the most vulnerable populations?
Environmental management is an interdisciplinary art. One important topic is the relationship between science and policy. A recent article identifies the barriers of integrating ecology and law in environmental management, and proposes "resilience-based adaptive governance" as a way to facilitate integration.
Through an in-depth economic analysis of coal mining in Cesar, Colombia, a researcher concludes that the environmental and social costs of coal mining outweighs the coal's market price — even when the global cost of carbon is not taken into account.
It is widely accepted that environmental change can influence human migration, but often these effects are most understood at the local scale, leaving the global picture obscure. A recent study uses spatial tools and global data to draw a clearer picture of what environmental conditions motivate human migration at the global scale.
