Over the course of a decade, farmers growing corn and soybeans in the U.S. Midwest increased their adoption of cover cropping—a tenet of so-called conservation agriculture—by fourfold. Agriculture is hard on the planet, at least in the stereotypical caricature of “big ag”: Crops are propelled to maturity with a plethora of fertilizers, herbicides,
Out of $3.4 billion spent by trade associations over 10 years, nearly $2.2 billion went towards advertising and promotion, with the oil and gas industry the biggest spender. Industry trade associations in the United States that work on climate and energy issues spent more than $3 billion over 10 years on political activities,
Researchers found evidence for a strengthening El Niño in living and fossilized Galápagos corals. In 1983, a heat wave struck the waters of the eastern Pacific Ocean, resulting in a die-off that killed 95% of the corals in the Galápagos Islands. Fifteen years later, intense rains drenched Kenya, washing away roads and railways
November 30, 2022 by Saima May Sidik When Roswell Schaeffer Sr. was 8 years old, his father decided it was about time he started learning to hunt beluga whales. Schaeffer was an Iñupiaq kid growing up in Kotzebue, a small city in northwest Alaska, where a healthy store of beluga meat was part
By Alejandra Martinez, The Texas Tribune “GOP lawmakers accuse investment firms of breaking a law that prohibits divesting from oil and gas” was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues. Sign up
A research team led by the University of Tokyo won a €5 million European Union prize this month for coming up with a novel way to make abundant and cheap fuel from sunlight. In the scramble to find alternatives to fossil fuels, the EU competition aimed to accelerate development of one of the
Seemingly miraculous varieties that can withstand drought, flood, and saltwater intrusion are the result of centuries of selective breeding by ancient farmers. Until as recently as 1970, India was a land with more than 100,000 distinct varieties of rice. Across a diversity of landscapes, soils, and climates, native rice varieties, also called “landraces,”
China can help ASEAN countries reconfigure their electricity systems around renewable energy by sharing its own experiences Southeast Asia is today one of the world’s most economically dynamic regions, maintaining annual per capita GDP growth of over 3.5% in the decade up to the pandemic, higher than the US, Japan and Europe. Rapid
Cover crops have gained elite status as a way for farmers to fight climate change. But a closer look at the growing body of research raises questions about their ability to lower greenhouse gas emissions. It’s one thing the Biden administration, agribusiness leaders, soil scientists and environmentalists all agree on: farmers across the
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau urged global consensus on conserving 30% of Earth’s land and waters by 2030 as the United Nations biodiversity conference, COP 15, opened in Montreal, presenting Canada as nature’s champion—despite its sizeable oil and gas investments. Trudeau’s appeal was underscored by a searing speech from UN Secretary-General António Guterres, who