Climate

With the push of a red button, a milky-colored liquid sprayed onto a load of corn seed at a warehouse in central Missouri. It was a hint of a revolution underway in American agriculture, driven by a desire to combat climate change while still feeding and fueling the world. Inside …

Wildfires aren’t just tearing through larger swaths of the American West. They’re spreading more quickly, too. A team of researchers looked at NASA satellite data on 60,000 wildfires in the contiguous United States between 2001 and 2020. After classifying each blaze by the most it grew in a single day, …

One year after world leaders made a landmark promise to move away from fossil fuels, countries have essentially made no progress in cutting emissions and tackling global warming, according to a United Nations report issued on Thursday. Global greenhouse gas emissions soared to a record 57 gigatons last year and …

Science is always focused on breakthroughs and the next big thing. And, too often, there is loads of hype about what benefits to society a particular breakthrough might bring. But when I saw the image of Albert Einstein peering out of a petri dish in the office of Christopher Voigt, …

The Biden administration said Thursday that it was strengthening requirements for homes and child-care facilities to remove lead-based paint dust, a move that could better protect more than 300,000 children a year from the toxic metal. Under the new rules, any detectable level of lead dust in the building would …

Cleaning up the technology industry was supposed to be easy. Powering server racks and personal computers isn’t nearly as energy-intensive as making concrete or steel. So until recently, eliminating planet-warming emissions in the tech sector was expected to be relatively straightforward. Tech companies positioned themselves as climate leaders and boasted …

James and Bill Montivér had just finished boxing up their home on a steep road in Ketchikan, a fishing community turned cruise ship stop in southeast Alaska, when they heard a screech like a jet engine over the sounds of pouring rain. Bill, who was scrubbing the kitchen cabinets, screamed …

Is Ireland really all that green? Ecologically speaking, the answer is no, says Eoghan Daltun, a sculptor who restored a patch of native rainforest in the Beara Peninsula, on the country’s rugged southwestern coast. “Ireland really coasts on its reputation as the Emerald Isle,” Mr. Daltun said in a recent …

The conservative-majority Supreme Court has taken an aggressive stance against many environmental rules in recent years, but three small victories for regulators this month have left some analysts wondering whether a shift is underway. The latest sign came on Wednesday, when the justices declined to block the Environmental Protection Agency …

Last month, I shared my story of switching to a heat pump and of how doing the right thing for the planet turned out, at least in my case, to be a frustrating experience as a consumer. Almost immediately, I was inundated with emails from readers eager to share their …