Talking about wildlife conservation these days can bring about a certain amount of gloom. Poachers are killing off elephants for their tusks faster than you can say fire back. Habitats are being decimated to meet new demands generated by the spread of consumer culture. Everywhere you look, some of the world’s most majestic creatures are being wiped out by (more…)

A team of international scientists has rejected the idea that the planet could face a sudden and irreversible ecological shift as a result of largely human-driven pressures, suggesting that such global transformations are more likely to occur over a long period of time. (more…)

Climate change is causing plant and animal species across the U.S. to shift their geographic ranges and life events — from flowering to migration — are being transformed at a faster rate than observed even a few years ago, a new analysis by 60 scientists says.

According to the report, “Climate Change on (more…)

A new study says that compensating the world’s poorest communities for helping conserve the planet’s most vital habitats would help solve two major challenges: biodiversity loss and poverty.

In fact, if global leaders were to put an economic value on the preservation of the world’s biodiversity (more…)

I was in a four-hour-long meeting this morning, learning about a new approach to energy storage. I can’t talk about the technology (which, frankly, I think is sketchy) but that’s not the point.

The point is this: I sat at a table with a bunch of smart (more…)

As global agricultural companies turn to Africa, a U.S. firm is planning a massive oil palm plantation in Cameroon that it says will benefit local villagers. But critics argue that the project would destroy some of the key remaining forests in the West African nation and threaten species-rich reserves. (more…)

In the vacuum left by the U.S. Congress’ inability/unwillingness to pass climate change legislation, and in light of a looming budgetary squeeze for all federal agencies, including/especially those researching and developing systems to the environment and natural resources, one might think that any federal money (more…)

A consortium of scientists has compiled a database that categorizes millions of traits for nearly a quarter of the world’s plant species, a resource they say will help researchers more accurately model the effects of climate change in different environments.

The project, known as TRY, has so far compiled (more…)

A ranking of 163 nations based on environmental public health and the vitality of their ecosystems places Iceland, Switzerland, Costa Rica, Sweden, and Norway in the top five, with the U.S. trailing in 61st place and China and India ranking 121st and 123rd respectively.

The Environmental Performance Index, compiled by researchers at Yale and Columbia universities, ranks countries based on 10 main categories such as environmental health, air quality, water management, biodiversity and habitat, forestry, and climate change. Iceland ranked at the top because of its excellent environmental public health and reliance on renewable sources of energy such as geothermal and hydropower.

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