Pico Bolívar

The Last Glacier of Venezuela

Glaciers are retreating around the world. The Andes are no exception: in Venezuela, the ice has mostly already disappeared.
American middle school

The Invention of Middle School

In the 1960s, one scholar writes, there was no grand vision behind the idea of a middle school. The problem that the model sought to solve was segregation.
Restoration of an American mastodon herd by Charles R. Knight

This Week in Sustainability: From Ice Age to Internet Age, Scientists Look for Clues to Species’ Extinctions

Scientists explore the causes--climate change, habitat destruction, and more--that decimated animals and humans alike, from Ice Age to Internet Age.
Refugee Dress

Is “Political” the New Black?

Clothing as a tool in social change isn't anything new, but is a for-profit industry that thrives on exclusivity too removed to comment on politics?
Orangutan

What Does it Mean to Be on the Endangered Species List?

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List is a global list of species and their conservation status.
Jefferson Davis

What Is the Jefferson Davis Highway?

The Jefferson Davis Highway was project of the United Daughters of the Confederacy intended to portray Davis as an American hero.
Tree in desert

The Environmental Impact of Nuclear War

Even a limited nuclear war would throw enough soot into the atmosphere to block sunlight and lower global temperatures by more than one degree Celsius.
Drinking at the cafe

When is Public Drinking Cool?

The Wall Street Journal reports that property developers are pushing to allow public drinking on city streets, hoping to encourage a “lively atmosphere.”
enslaved women illustration

Two Women of the African Slave Resistance

African women, always a minority in the slave trade, often had to find their own ways of rebellion against slavery if they could.
tiny fur tree growing after forest fire

It’s the End of the World as We Know It. Is there Any Room for Optimism?

Climate scientists tend to be optimistic and have faith that humanity can engineer our way out of the climate change we’ve created.