Green Science

During the summer I am always hearing about ozone warnings in my city. This ozone is bad. But then I hear about the ozone layer, which is good. How can ozone be both good and bad?

Green roofs, long popular in Europe, are making their way into the United States. Find out what a green roof is and how it can solve some problems conventional roofs have.

By Sarah Dowdey

Clean coal -- isn't that an oxymoron? Not anymore. See how energy companies are using coal in cleaner ways to generate massive amounts of electricity. Alternative fuels may be making headway, but coal isn't used up yet. Find out why.

By Sarah Dowdey

Global warming has become a common term, but it's not commonly understood. Learn about global warming and the greenhouse effect.

By Jonathan Strickland & Ed Grabianowski

We'd be up a creek without Earth's atmosphere and the greenhouse effect it provides, but it turns out that an overactive greenhouse effect can result in a similarly devastating outcome.

By Julia Layton, Ed Grabianowski & Sascha Bos

Organic food promises freedom from synthetic ingredients. Find out what organic food is, how organic farming works, what the pros and cons are, and why you should care.

By Robin Brett Parnes

When you're camping, it's nice to have a light in your tent. But lanterns can catch fire and flashlights eventually run out of batteries. Does the sun offer a better solution?

By Julia Layton

It's evident the debate over climate change is a heated one. Are skeptics clouding the public judgment for money? Are climate-change believers merely alarmists who risk the present for the future?

By Josh Clark

Crews have to race to contain the damage from major oil spills to prevent damage to beaches, death to marine life and birds, and devastation to local wetlands. So how do they clean them up?

By Josh Clark & Sarah Gleim

Consumers are becoming more and more knowledgeable about food safety and their health. As a result, organic farming has entered the agriculture mainstream. But what methods must be used, and how is organic farming certified?

By Maria Trimarchi

Recycling is a pretty simple concept: take something that isn't useful anymore and make it into something new. Learn about the process and the good and bad of recycling.

By Ed Grabianowski

While actual footprints measure size, weight and speed, carbon footprints measure how much carbon dioxide (CO2) we produce in our daily lives. Do you know how big your carbon footprint is?

By Sarah Dowdey

Eco-conscious people purchase carbon offsets to help reduce worldwide greenhouse gas emissions. But do offsets actually help, and what does Pink Floyd have to do with them?

By Sarah Dowdey

How do we reduce greenhouse gas emissions? A carbon tax is one answer. A simpler alternative to cap-and-trade schemes, a carbon tax encourages energy efficiency and reduced consumption.

By Sarah Dowdey

Wind energy is great, but what happens when there's no breeze? The Iowa Stored Energy Park will store compressed air underground. Can it replace traditional energy sources?

By William Harris

Experts expect more than 1 billion climate refugees by the year 2050. Where will they go and how will the world feed, clothe and shelter them?

By Maria Trimarchi & Sarah Gleim

While it's good to be environmentally accountable, too much eco-angst can spiral into an actual anxiety disorder. What makes people lose sleep thinking about their big, muddy carbon footprints?

By Stephanie Watson

What if the land you relied upon simply blew away? In the 1930s, poor stewardship and crushing drought created black blizzards and an internal American exodus known as the Dust Bowl.

By Maria Trimarchi

Right now, landfills are all over the place. Yet, no one wants to live near one. So, what if we combined all of those landfills into one? How much space would it take up?

By Marshall Brain

It's not really green. It's "green." Unlike asphalt, green pavement is permeable, which means it lets rain soak through to the ground rather than roll off. How does this help our environment?

By Debra Ronca

No one likes paying bills. But you wouldn't have quite so many if you lived off the grid. How do you create enough energy to ditch public utilities?

By Charles W. Bryant

Thousands of women around the world choose to combat ecological problems -- they're known as ecofeminists. But what would you do if you found out your house sat atop a toxic waste dump?

By Winifred Fordham Metz

Polar bears are facing a grim future as global warming melts their Arctic home. What problems are they up against and what's being done to save them?

By Julia Layton

The word "ozone" gets tossed around conversation as casually as a softball, but how many of us could really describe what the ozone layer is? The "hole" in it isn't exactly a hole.

By Jane McGrath

If you've ever walked the New York City streets in July, you've experienced the misery of this phenomenon. Why do cities heat up like furnaces while surrounding rural areas remain cooler?

By Jane McGrath