EarthScape

Occasionally it’s good to step back from the details of global warming science and offer non-technical visitors a “Global Warming 101” perspective, sort of like The Big Picture, but starting from the very beginning and touching on many aspects of this broad topic.

Emissions from cars, lorries, planes and power stations causes 13,000 premature deaths in the UK each year, according to a new study by MIT researchers. The research team analyzed data from 2005, the most recent year for which information is available. They found that among the various sources of emissions in the country, car and…

Straw bale is a low impact, low carbon building material making strides towards mainstream acceptance. So is it about time we took notice? As designers and homeowners look for imaginative ways to help reduce their carbon footprint in the campaign against climate change, straw bale could become a new tool in the building industry’s armoury.

It’s not easy being green, but the National Park Service (NPS) has decided it’s worth the effort. On Thursday, the agency that oversees 397 units comprising 84 million acres of land across the country unveiled a new plan to integrate sustainable practices into all aspects of its operations.

A new genre of electric power-generating stations could supply electricity for more than a half billion people by tapping just one-tenth of the global potential of a little-known energy source that exists where rivers flow into the ocean, a new analysis has concluded. A report on the process, which requires no fuel, is sustainable and…

Programmes to provide rural Pakistani households with so-called improved cookstoves have had a muted response due to a lack of awareness among target communities — particularly among the women who do the cooking, a study has found. The finding comes as separate research suggests that some improved cookstove models actually cause more pollution than traditional…

New research at Concordia University is bringing the world one step closer to cleaner energy. It is now possible to extend the length of time a battery like enzyme can store energy from seconds to hours, as shown in a study published in the Journal of The American Chemical Society. Concordia Associate Professor László Kálmán…

Recycling plastics have become much more popular around the world, but large amounts are still thrown away. Through the power of wind, gravity, and moving water, much of the globally produced plastics find their way into the oceans. But the plastic bottles we see washing up along the shoreline only tell a small fraction of…

While the Senate attempts to deal with the so called Buffett Rule, which would force rich folks to pay taxes at least at the same rate as their secretaries, the rule’s namesake, the billionaire investor Warren Buffett, has also spoken out on the environment in financial terms.

There is a lot not clear about the weather. In the US Northeast, it is clearly quite warm and almost hot. The average global temperature for March 2012 made it the coolest March since 1999, yet the 16th warmest since record keeping began in 1880. Arctic sea ice extent during the month was below average…