The elephant is deeply loved and revered in India. It was the choice of Emperors during the princely era and several elephants are still employed for various works in India. It may thus appear surprising to people that elephant-man conflicts are alarmingly becoming a ritual which no one seems to have any solution for. There […] … learn more→

On the 16th of July, Russian delegates blocked proposals to create a marine protected area (MPA) in Antarctica’s Southern Ocean. The area involved, the Ross Sea, is often nicknamed “the last ocean,” as it is one of the largest and least touched areas of biodiversity in the world. Russia’s veto meant that plans to protect […] … learn more→

Increasing global emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), a heat-trapping gas, are pushing the world into dangerous territory, closing the window of time to avert the worst consequences of higher temperatures, such as melting ice and rising seas. Since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, carbon emissions from burning fossil fuels have grown exponentially. Despite wide […] … learn more→

China has become a popular target of environmental ire, drawing criticism for its soaring carbon emissions and perceived intransigence during climate negotiations. Nonetheless, an easy target isn’t always a legitimate one. The charges frequently levelled at China mask the country’s historic, and I would argue instructive, efforts to mitigate climate change. Consider the tenor adopted […] … learn more→

In 1938 Walter Lowdermilk, a senior official in the Soil Conservation Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, traveled abroad to look at lands that had been cultivated for thousands of years, seeking to learn how these older civilizations had coped with soil erosion. He found that some had managed their land well, maintaining its […] … learn more→

If you’ve been wondering what sea level will look like with ongoing climate change, head to the coast during a “king tide,” the highest tide of the year. This weekend extreme high tides are happening in a number of places along the U.S. East Coast, including Florida, New Jersey, and Maryland. Grab your camera and […] … learn more→

In Jesuit schools we were urged to strengthen our faith by spending time in monasteries. We were assigned spiritual exercises to be dutifully written in little notebooks that were supposed to renew the promises made at baptism and to celebrate the virtues of Christian love and succor for the weak. It wasn\’t enough just to […] … learn more→

The world quietly reached a milestone in the evolution of the human diet in 2011. For the first time in modern history, world farmed fish production topped beef production. The gap widened in 2012, with output from fish farming—also called aquaculture—reaching a record 66 million tons, compared with production of beef at 63 million tons. […] … learn more→

Responding to a crisis often brings out the best in people. Certainly it has in the past, when sudden changes in climate during the Middle Stone Age sparked off surges of cultural evolution and innovation in early modern humans, some 100,000 to 40,000 years ago. The earliest stone tool-making had developed by at least 2.6 […] … learn more→

The recession in conjunction with technological advances are making green initiatives more attractive to businesses and municipalities around the America. Destiny USA in Syracuse, renewable energy in Chicago, and wind turbines New York City all have green initiatives in place that consistently improve the environment and efficiency of public facilities in the area. Chicago built […] … learn more→