Maya Lin, the designer of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C., created a “Ghost Forest” art exhibit to bring awareness to the dangers of climate change and its impact on trees. The exhibit, located in downtown Manhattan, features 49 lifeless Atlantic Cedar trees that have been replanted into the ground. The trees were sourced […]
Conservation efforts often focus on a particular animal or ecosystem, organizing to save the whales or the rainforests, for example. But, as the climate crisis and coronavirus pandemic have made all too clear, every creature and biome on this Earth is intimately connected. That is why Plastic Oceans International and ÜÑÜ are organizing the first […]
By Mojtaba Sadegh, Amir AghaKouchak and John Abatzoglou Just about every indicator of drought is flashing red across the western U.S. after a dry winter and warm early spring. The snowpack is at less than half of normal in much of the region. Reservoirs are being drawn down, river levels are dropping and soils are […]
By Anne Petermann On August 18, 2020, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) published a petition by researchers at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) seeking federal approval to release their genetically engineered (GE) Darling 58 (D58) American chestnut tree into U.S. forests. Researchers claim the transgenic D58 […]
By Karen D. Holl and Pedro Brancalion For 149 years, Americans have marked Arbor Day on the last Friday in April by planting trees. Now business leaders, politicians, YouTubers and celebrities are calling for the planting of millions, billions or even trillions of trees to slow climate change. As ecologists who study forest restoration, we […]
About 66 million years ago, a 12-km asteroid struck Earth. The massive heat and impact likely triggered tidal waves and clouded the skies with ash, The Washington Post reported. Scientists estimate that up to 75 percent of all life on land went extinct, including the dinosaurs. The space rock that triggered that mass extinction event […]
By Emily Ury Trekking out to my research sites near North Carolina’s Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge, I slog through knee-deep water on a section of trail that is completely submerged. Permanent flooding has become commonplace on this low-lying peninsula, nestled behind North Carolina’s Outer Banks. The trees growing in the water are small and […]
A new study published Wednesday found that the destruction of primary forest increased by 12% in 2020, impacting ecosystems that store vast amounts of carbon and shelter abundant biodiversity. Brazil saw the worst losses, three times higher than the next highest country, the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to the report from Global Forest Watch […]
By Hans Nicholas Jong An Indonesian forestry company with possible links to pulpwood and palm oil powerhouse Royal Golden Eagle has cleared forests the size of 500,000 basketball courts since 2016, some of them home to critically endangered orangutans, according to a new report. Nusantara Fiber controls 242,000 hectares (598,000 acres) of industrial tree plantations […]