The abandonment of villages in Japan is changing ecosystems. Studies are finding that biodiversity has declined in places that people have left behind.Credit: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg/Getty The idea that humanity is separate from the rest of the planet is deep-rooted, but wrong. Indeed, for most of human history, this has not been the case1. Many landscapes
LOS ANGELES — Millions of dollars of settlement money from the largest known methane leak in the United States are now available to affected residents to replace gas-powered appliances with electric ones. Organizations involved in distributing the money say it will help create safer and cleaner homes. The announcement makes available the first $20 million
On 26 August, an avalanche and massive flood swept through Nepal’s Rasuwa district. Thousands of lives were lost, homes were destroyed, roads and energy infrastructure were washed away, and trade and tourism were disrupted. Disaster early-warning systems can succeed — but collective action is needed This catastrophe should not be treated as just another disaster.
GREEN RIVER, Wyo. — On Jackson Ramsay’s family ranch late in the summer, there were few signs it had just weathered the worst-ever winter snowpack and record-setting heat. Water twisted unhurriedly through the land, splayed into various branches that rejoined to form pools behind mounds of piled sticks. Young willows stretched from the bank across
On 29 August 2005, Hurricane Katrina made landfall in southeast Louisiana as a Category 3 storm, with sustained winds of 205 kilometres per hour and a storm surge reaching between 4.6 and 5.8 metres in eastern New Orleans. The storm remains one of the deadliest ever to hit the United States, with millions of people
The climate just got its annual checkup, and the results aren’t looking so hot. “If Earth were a patient coming in for an annual physical, I would say its condition is serious and getting worse,” Oregon State University researcher Bill Ripple says. Ripple is the lead author of a new paper chronicling the state of
