Archive for December 2022

Homes that survived the Marshall Fire didn’t come through unscathed. Matthew Jonas/MediaNews Group/Boulder Daily Camera via Getty Images This article is part of a collaboration with Boulder Reporting Lab, The Center for Environmental Journalism at the University of Colorado Boulder, KUNC public radio and The Conversation U.S. to explore the impacts of the devastating Marshall…

Workers install solar panels for a floating photovoltaic solar plant in Germany in April 2022. Photo by Ina Fassbender/AFP via Getty Images The year 2022 was a tough one for the growing number of people living in food insecurity and energy poverty around the world, and the beginning of 2023 is looking bleak. Russia’s war…

Students rally for fossil fuel-free energy at the University of California, San Diego. Erik Jepsen/UCSD Global warming has increased the number of extreme weather events around the world by 400% since the 1980s. Countries know how to stop the damage from worsening: stop burning fossil fuels and shift to renewable energy, electrify transportation and industry,…

Workers flood a Vietnamese-flagged boat caught operating illegally off West Kalimantan, Indonesia on May 4, 2019 in order to sink it. AP Photos/William Pasaribu In January 2019, the Korean-flagged fishing vessel Oyang 77 sailed south toward international waters off Argentina. The vessel had a known history of nefarious activities, including underreporting its catch and illegally…

Sorting collected _Dendrobium_ flowers in Guizhou province, China, June 28, 2020. Photo Costfoto/Future Publishing via Getty Images China is well known for its medicinal use of wild plants, a tradition that dates back thousands of years. These traditional Chinese medicines include many wild orchids, some quite showy. Typically, orchids are consumed alone or mixed with…

Rain and fast snowmelt sent the Yellowstone River and nearby streams raging beyond their banks in June 2022. AP Photo/David Goldman The year 2022 will be remembered across the U.S. for its devastating flooding and storms – and also for its extreme heat waves and droughts. By October, the U.S. had already seen 15 disasters…

When fish like this netted cod are exposed to mercury, it accumulates in certain organs, including the lenses of their eyes. Yvette Heimbrand, CC BY-ND Mercury pollution is a global threat to human health, especially to unborn babies and young children. Exposure to methylmercury, a type that forms when mercury washes into lakes and streams,…

When the COVID-19 pandemic first emerged, many wildlife disease researchers like me were not too surprised. Some were intrigued it hadn’t happened sooner; after all, it is our job to observe, describe and study pandemic dynamics in animals. Amphibians, for example, have been undergoing a global panzootic – the animal version of a pandemic –…

A barge maneuvers its way down the drought-narrowed Mississippi River at Tiptonville, Tenn., Oct. 20, 2022. AP Photo/Jeff Roberson Rivers are critical corridors that connect cities and ecosystems alike. When drought develops, water levels fall, making river navigation harder and more expensive. In 2022, water levels in some of the world’s largest rivers, including the…

Rainier winters make life more difficult for Arctic wildlife and the humans who rely on them. Scott Wallace/Getty Image In the Arctic, the freedom to travel, hunt and make day-to-day decisions is profoundly tied to cold and frozen conditions for much of the year. These conditions are rapidly changing as the Arctic warms. The Arctic…