Earth Wise

There is growing interest in innovative and more environmentally friendly ways to provide protein in our diets.  We’ve heard a great deal about lab-grown or cultured meats and about protein derived from insects. Whether either of these things achieves mainstream acceptance remains to be seen. Scientists at Yonsei University in South Korea have developed a […]

Golf courses are a significant burden on the environment.  The US has 16,000 golf courses which use 1.5 billion gallons of water a day and are treated with 100,000 tons of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium each year.  In recent years, the golf industry has taken steps to lighten its environmental toll by using less water, […]

Iceland burns very little fossil fuel to power its economy and heat its homes.  About 85% of its energy comes from geothermal power and hydropower.  Its unique geology provides it with the highest percentage of renewable energy in the world.  The fossil fuel that Iceland does burn is primarily used to power cars and trucks […]

Death Valley in California is the driest place in North America, averaging only 2 inches of rain each year.  Badwater Basin in Death Valley is the lowest point in North America with a depth of 282 feet below sea level.  Currently, Badwater Basin is the site of an ephemeral lake called Lake Manley. The lake […]

Artificial intelligence is everywhere these days.  Some say it is the biggest development since the discovery of fire.  There is a lot of hype regarding AI, and it will be a while before the hype is sorted out from the reality.  But one thing that is certain is that AI is resource-intensive and has a […]

The Amazon rainforest is the largest rainforest in the world, covering more than 2.5 million square miles.  More than three million species live in the rainforest, which constitutes approximately 10% of the world’s known biodiversity.  The Amazon rainforest’s biodiversity is so rich that scientists are still discovering new species all the time.  The Amazon rainforest […]

Most of the world’s largest cities are located in coastal regions and coastal regions are on the front lines of the climate crisis.  Human populations continue to migrate towards low-elevation coastal areas at the same time that sea level rise is accelerating.  Coastal communities worldwide are increasingly vulnerable to the dangers of flooding and erosion.  […]

In an average year, the Great Lakes end up about 40% covered in ice.  But this is not an average year.  2023 was the warmest year on record and, in fact, the global temperature was more than 1.5 degrees above the pre-industrial average for the full year.  That hasn’t happened before.  As a result of […]

The changing climate poses a major threat to polar bear survival.  Polar bears, whose native range lies largely within the Arctic Circle, depend on sea ice for nearly all of their lifecycle functions.  Rising global temperatures are causing this sea ice to disappear. With less sea ice, polar bears are forced to stay longer on […]

For the first time in a while, the monthly report on the US climate did not feature record-setting heat.  The average January temperature across the contiguous U.S. was 1.6 degrees above the average, but that only ranked it in the middle third of the climate record.  The diminishing El Niño probably helped.  On the other […]