Green Science

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

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

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

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

We know that paper comes from trees, but just how much does it take? Let's do the math and figure out how much paper your average tree can be made into.

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?

Farming technologies have allowed the world to be fed, even though most people no longer farm. Only 2 percent of Americans are farmers, versus 90 percent in the 1700s. Which tools and technologies have had the most impact on farming and why?

By Laurie L. Dove

Introducing a new species into an ecosystem can have unforeseen and disastrous consequences for the species that already live there.

By Karen Kirkpatrick

Forest-fire prevention has been a touchstone of American consciousness since the creation of Smokey the Bear in the 1940s. But now, environmental experts believe that some amount of fire is good for the forest too.

By Laurie L. Dove

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

Are wind farms and other renewable energy sources the closest we can come to free energy? Isn't there some crackpot invention out there that you can set up in your backyard?

By Jessika Toothman

What if you could scrub out carbon dioxide emissions before they ever dirtied the atmosphere? This exciting technology could do just that, but will the benefits outweigh the costs?

By Jennifer Horton

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

Only 25 percent of glass containers used by U.S. consumers were recycled in 2018, the most recent year for statistics. So, why aren't Americans doing better?

By Patrick J. Kiger

Global warming and climate change are terms often treated like synonyms, but they have different meanings. We'll explain the difference and why both are so important to know.

By Mark Mancini

Satellite data shows just how much air quality has improved during the coronavirus crisis, from China, India, Italy and beyond.

By Marco Hernandez

Will Amazon's age of home delivery bury the environment in extra boxes? You might be surprised by the answer.

By Laurie L. Dove

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

Popeye used the iron from spinach to morph into a formidable sailor. We know that iron is an essential component of the human body. But could it also be the answer to global warming?

By Jennifer Horton

A sustainable community might not be as radical as you think. What's so crazy about minimizing waste, reducing consumption and preserving green space?

By Jennifer Horton