Scientists long assumed that as trees got older, they grew slower—just like us. But a new study underscores the climate …
forests
Why Some Mushrooms May Be Magic for Climate Change
The soil contains more carbon than all living plants and the atmosphere combined. Now a new study says that a certain type of fungi can help soil hold up to 70% more carbon—with potentially big impacts for the climate
In the Greenhouse: Forests Get More Water Efficient as Carbon Dioxide Levels Rise
Nature may have its own way of adapting to climate change, as a new study shows that forests get more economic with water as greenhouse gases levels increase
How Green Is My Valley? New Satellite Imagery Shows Changes in Earth’s Vegetation
Satellite imagery reveals a green, breathing planet — but one under threat from human activity
Woody Harrelson, Sustainable Paper Salesman
The laid back Hollywood actor is serious about preventing deforestation. A new kind of paper that uses wheat straw rather than wood might be one of the best way to save trees.
Faces of the Lost: Photos from Brazil’s Controversial Belo Monte Dam
Belo Monte will be the world´s third-largest hydroelectric project and will displace up to 20,000 people while diverting the Xingu River and flooding as much as 230 square miles of rainforest. The controversial project is one of …
How Climate Change Is Growing Forests in the Arctic
If there’s a single lesson for early 21st century life on the planet Earth, it’s this: everything connects. That’s true whether we’re looking at the global economic system, in which sickness is now spreading from the euro zone to …
Saving the Ends of the Earth
I could barely make out Steve Sanderson over the winds howling into the satellite phone. Sanderson, the head of the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), was calling from Tierra del Fuego in Chile, an island off the very …
Can Ecuador Trade Oil for Forests?
I’m in Quito, Ecuador tonight, where I’ve flown—by way of a long detour to Panama City, thanks very much Continental Airlines—to report a story about one of the more innovative conservation ideas out there. Ecuador—which you can find nestled in the northwestern corner of South America, between Colombia and Peru—has two major …
Good News and Bad News for the World’s Tropical Forests
Another day, another global report on the world’s land use. This time a wide-ranging survey from the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO)—an intergovernmental body that promotes the sustainable use of forest resources—has revealed that the area of the world’s tropical forests that are under some form of sustainable …