Water in the West: Preparing for an Uncertain Future
Water authorities in the Western U.S. don’t know what the future will bring, but they are working collaboratively and with scientific rigor to make sure they’re prepared for anything.
Ensia
Scientists Are Working Globally to Make Useful Products from Agricultural Waste
As concern about waste grows, researchers and commercial partners around the world are working to turn what’s now being left behind or burned into new, useful products. By doing so, they hope to not only reduce the adverse environmental impacts of agriculture but also provide a new source of income for farmers.
Can We Improve Carbon Sequestration in Plants?
And here …The planet’s plants pull CO2 out of the atmosphere and store it in their leaves, stems and roots. Some of that carbon makes its way into the soil, and some of that soil carbon is ultimately mothballed for millennia.
These days, though, “we as humans are putting up so much CO2 that the Earth is not able to compensate,” says Wolfgang Busch, a plant biologist with the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California. Busch is working on a new project: to design plants that can suck even more CO2 out of the atmosphere and lock it away for centuries.
When Genetic Engineering is the Environmentally Friendly Choice
Three examples of genetic engineering of crops show that extremely modest engineered changes in plant genetics can result in very important benefits. These three examples involve engineered changes that trigger the natural defenses of the plant without introducing novel defense mechanisms.
What We Can Do About Nitrogen Emissions and Air Pollution
Nitrogen emissions from agriculture can exacerbate particulate pollution, endangering human health. There has been a lot of progress in addressing that, but much still needs to be done.
In the Depths of the Oceans, Mining, Overfishing Takes a Toll
Once seen as too remote to harm, the deep sea is facing new pressures from mining, pollution, overfishing and more.
Facing up to Phosphorus
Farmers around the world have come to depend on manufactured inorganic fertilizers containing key plant nutrients phosphorus, nitrogen and potassium to enhance soil fertility, especially in the otherwise poor soils of most tropical settings. But while all three are relatively abundant in nature, commercially viable sources of phosphorus to make these fertilizers could be exhausted just a few decades from now. That prospect, which remains a source of heated debate, has spurred a drive to recover the significant quantities of this element that disappear in the waste streams of cities and farms.
In the Fishing Industry, Gear Recycling is Finally Catching On
Some 705,000 tons of fishing gear are lost or discarded in the ocean every year, and each year this gear captures and kills, among other things, an estimated 136,000 seals, sea lions and whales. A few companies and harbor masters are taking steps to address that.
Here’s What We Can Do About the Huge Greenhouse Gas Problems of Landfills and Food Waste
Guest author: Erica Gies | Twitter:@egies This article previously appeared in Ensia. It appears here by permission under a Creative Commons license. Food and yard […]
Can Upscale Chocolate Turn the Tide on Haiti’s Devastating Deforestation?
With 98 percent of their trees gone, Haitians eye cocoa-based agroforestry as a way to combat poverty and renew the land. Guest Author: Meg Wilcox […]
These East African Countries Show How Teamwork and Technology Can Thwart Illegal Fishing
Innovation sparks success as nations collaborate to identify and take action against suspect vessels Guest author: Emma Bryce @EmmaSAanne This piece originally appeared in Ensia. […]
How Technology Is Making It Easier to Track Fish From Hook to Fork
A combination of new tracing technologies and business models are making it easier to figure out how and where a fish was caught. Guest Author: […]
What Is It About This Soil That Protects Plants From Devastating Disease?
Guest author: Kayleigh O’Keeffe This story previously appeared in Ensia on September 21,2016 Figuring out why certain soils keep plant parasites at bay could be […]
We’ve Changed a Life-Giving Nutrient into a Deadly Pollutant. How Can We Change it Back?
[This piece originally appeared in Ensia on March 25, 2016. It is republished here under a Creative Commons license.] By Elizabeth Grossman Coastal dead zones, […]
If Everybody Hates Wasting Food, Why Do We Do It (and how can we stop)?
[This piece originally appeared in Ensia on October 29, 2015. It is republished here under a Creative Commons license.] By Mary Hoff It was bound […]
Agroecology Can Help Fix Our Broken Food System. Here’s How.
Guest author: Maywa Montenegro @MaywaMontenegro Food systems researcher, UC Berkeley This story was previously published by Ensia on 17 June 2015. It was co-published with […]
Urban Farming Is Booming, But What Does It Really Yield?
This story was originally published in Ensia on 27 April 2015. It is republished here under a Creative Commons license. Guest author: Elizabeth Royte – […]
Crop Gene Banks are Preserving the Future of Agriculture. But Who’s Preserving Them?
This article was originally published in Ensia on 21 May 2015. It is republished here under a Creative Commons license. GUEST AUTHOR: Virginia Gewin (@VirginiaGewin) […]
The Future of Oceans
GUEST AUTHOR: Mary Hoff This piece originally appeared in Ensia. It is republished under a Creative Commons license. Oceans cover more than two thirds of […]
The Biggest Source of Plastic Trash You’ve Never Heard Of
From acres of sheeting to miles of twine, farms use billions of pounds of plastic each year. What can we do to reduce the impact?