Earth Wise

The average American driver travels about 13,400 miles a year. The top 10% of drivers average about 40,200 miles a year and account for 35% of the nation’s gasoline use from private light-duty vehicles, meaning cars, SUVs, pickup trucks, vans, and minivans.  Those 21 million Americans alone burn more gasoline than is burned each year […]

Billions of sea stars off the Pacific coast of North America from Mexico to Alaska have died from a wasting disease since 2013.  This die-off is considered to be the largest ever marine epidemic.  Over 90% of the population of sunflower sea stars has succumbed to the disease. The result has been an explosion in […]

A major crisis is unfolding beneath our feet: Earth’s continents are losing freshwater at unprecedented rates.  Recent satellite data has uncovered a hidden global water crisis, suggesting the problem is more urgent than previously thought.  The study, which was led by researchers from Arizona State University, found that since 2002, climate change, unsustainable groundwater use, […]

With new ways of doing things, there are always new problems.  Our energy systems are increasingly dependent upon solar and wind power.  These energy sources are free to take and aren’t going to run out, but they also depend on natural processes that are out of our control.  In particular, the sun doesn’t always shine, […]

Paris is associated with climate change by virtue of the 2015 international agreement seeking to limit the amount of warming taking place on the planet.  But Paris is well aware that the world is not making much progress in meeting the goals of that agreement and the French capital is already suffering from the impact […]

An algal bloom is a rapid increase in the density of algae in an aquatic system.  Harmful algal blooms occur when bodies of water get overloaded with nitrogen and phosphorus runoff from agriculture and other human activities. These excess nutrients can facilitate the out-of-control growth of cyanobacteria, also known as blue-green algae.  Some species of […]

Abandoned farmland has been increasing dramatically in recent decades.  Estimates are that a billion acres – an area half the size of Australia – have been relinquished from cultivation globally.  While more and more of the tropics have been cultivated in recent times, the global amount of land used for agriculture has been in decline […]

Food waste is a major global problem.  The UN estimates that one third of all food goes to waste.  Apart from the fact that this is happening in a world where many people don’t have enough to eat, food waste is both an economic and a climate problem. Researchers from the University of Copenhagen and […]

The use of solar energy has been growing by leaps and bounds in recent years. It is the fastest growing source of energy in the U.S.   Solar panels have a useful life of about 25 to 30 years and there are growing numbers that have been around that long.  They contain valuable materials, including silver, […]

Climate change is making air quality worse in many parts of the world. Rising temperatures increase ground-level ozone, and more frequent wildfires release harmful smoke and particulates into the air. These changes, combined with ongoing pollution from sources like vehicle exhaust and industrial emissions, lead to longer and more intense episodes of unhealthy air. A […]