Common thresher shark

Why It’s So Difficult to Save Sharks

Will a ban on shark fins help shark populations? Since sharks are slow-growing and long-lived, once shark stocks are depleted, they take a while to rebound.
Illustration of an insect between brackets and a pair of hands

Why We Need to Start Listening to Insects

The study of wingbeat has come an incredibly long way and could lead to breakthroughs crucial for human populations facing insect-borne disease and pests.
Rats are killing kiwis and other birds in New Zealand

Rat Wars, Radiation Leaks, and Other Dirty Secrets

This week in sustainability news: rats v. kiwis, radiation links in midcentury Soviet Union, and an American town with no running water.
Red Sea Coral Reef

Ecolabels, Plastic-Eating Corals, and Vanishing Cars

Are corals digesting plastic? Are gasoline cars about to disappear from our roads? Does the ecolabel on your frozen salmon mean your dinner is sustainable?
A Loowatt worker replaces the biodegradable waste-collection bag in a waterless toilet in Madagascar

A Toast to Toilets!

Waterless toilets battle the global sanitation crisis.
Close-up a lemur on a branch

Are Lemurs Going to the Dogs?

Neutering feral dogs in Madagascar means saving the native species.
Sad lovers couple after pregnancy test result

Are Our Environmental Policies Making Us Broke, Hungry, and Infertile?

Forestry wages fall, hunger is increases, and infertility may be growing because pesticide residue clings to food. Time to overhaul environmental policy?
urban bees

The Rise of the City Bee—How Urbanites Built the 21st-Century Apiculture

Urban apiculture is a booming trend. But many metropolitan beekeepers also believe that bees fare better in cities than they do in the countryside.
Oil spill clean up worker

Epic Cleanups: Hurricane Sandy, Nuclear Waste, and Oil Spills

From oil spills to nuclear waste, humans are good at making epic messes. Sometimes we come up with clean up ideas and sometimes we neglect repairs entirely.
sediment piles

Sand? Mine!

Orca Quarry in British Columbia is one of a handful of mines feeding the nearly insatiable desire for sand and gravel in major West Coast cities.