EarthScape

Marine biologist Enric Sala relays some of the surprising science of pristine coral reefs. Sala also explores the economics of marine preserves, finding that the gains made from ecotourism and fisheries productivity far outweigh any losses related to rezoning.

Shifting rivers in India’s largest tea producing state and abnormally high rainfall this year is destroying hundreds of acres of tea gardens and could cut output in the world’s second-largest tea grower. More than a tenth of the 18,000 hectares of plantations, or tea gardens, in India’s northeast state of Assam could be washed away…

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has just added more than 6,300 chemicals and 3,800 chemical facilities regulated under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) to a public database called Envirofacts. The Envirofacts database is EPA’s single point of access on the Internet for information about environmental activities that may affect air, water and land…

WASHINGTON (May 17, 2010) — Roughly 1.2 million acres, including 500 mountains, have been flattened by mountaintop removal coal mining in the central Appalachian region, and only a fraction of that land has been reclaimed for so-called beneficial economic uses, according to new research by environmental groups. A study by Appalachian Voices, which analyzed recent…

The U.S. could miss out on 100,000 clean energy manufacturing jobs by 2015 and 250,000 by 2030 if current industry trends continue, according to a new report by the Apollo Alliance and Good Jobs First. The report, Winning the Race: How America Can Lead the Global Clean Energy Economy, estimates that 70 percent of the…

A group of British explorers just back from a 60-day trip to the North Pole said Monday they had encountered unusual conditions, including ice sheets that drifted far faster than they had expected. The three-member team walked across the frozen Arctic Ocean to study the impact of increased carbon dioxide absorption by the sea, which…

Lake Tanganyika is an African Great Lake. It is estimated to be the second or third largest freshwater lake in the world by volume, and the second deepest, after Lake Baikal in Siberia. It is situated in the Great Rift Valley. Geologists led by Brown University have determined the east African rift lake has experienced…

With more than 16,000 retail locations around the world, Starbucks continues to innovate and evolve the customer experience with a new store design approach inspired by Starbucks™ Shared Planet™, their commitment to ethical sourcing, environmental stewardship and community involvement. With each new or renovated store, Starbucks strives to reflect the character of the surrounding neighborhood,…

With more than 16,000 retail locations around the world, Starbucks continues to innovate and evolve the customer experience with a new store design approach inspired by Starbucks™ Shared Planet™, their commitment to ethical sourcing, environmental stewardship and community involvement. With each new or renovated store, Starbucks strives to reflect the character of the surrounding neighborhood,…

Portrayed throughout history as a villainous critter that wastefully kills, the wolf’s reputation precedes it. The traditional image, however, is unwarranted and incorrect. Wolves are highly intelligent social animals. They are a critically important predator in the Western food chain. When wolves eat, so too do a host of other animals including wolverines, lynx, bobcats,…