Nature & Wildlife
I like to think of biodiversity as a symphony orchestra, where each note, each instrument—every single part—is needed to make the whole. In the concert called “biodiversity,” then, every species, from microscopic life to towering trees and vast oceans, plays a vital role.
Conservation
Here, in the United States, 80% of us live in cities. If you’re in that majority, how do you feel about your wild neighbors, the animals who also live in our urban areas? It’s an important question to ask because your answer has major implications for biodiversity protections, nature conservation and urban planning.
Conservation
During this time of year, a lot of us are thinking about trees. For those who celebrate Christmas, a tree is usually the centerpiece for a family gathering around December 25. But that’s not the only time when we honor trees.
Conservation
Yellowstone National Park is famous for its beautiful but harsh winters. Blanketed in snow, it exudes an almost mythical aura—even in the season’s common subzero temperatures there.
Conservation
The history of life on Earth has been marked five times by events of mass biodiversity loss caused by extreme natural phenomena. Today, a sixth mass extinction crisis is underway, this time almost entirely caused by human activities. In fact, one recent survey revealed that more species are threatened with extinction than we previously thought.
Nature & Wildlife
Ever since the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone National Park in 1995, there has been controversy and debate about the benefits and ecosystem services that the predators have actually provided; whether it was a good idea to bring the wolves back to their ancestral home or not.
Nature & Wildlife
Even if you don’t know much about the science regarding COVID-19, you probably can’t escape the fact that the disease has caused major changes in your everyday life and livelihood.
Nature & Wildlife
Tomorrow, March 3, we’ll recognize the eighth World Wildlife Day, which was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly (U.N.G.A.) at its 68th session on December 20, 2013.
Conservation
True wilderness areas—where human impacts are minimal or entirely absent—are dwindling. That probably comes as no surprise to you.
Conservation
In prepandemic times, those of us who cherish wildlife and wild places tried to quantify them in economic terms, hoping to convince those who didn’t care about protecting nature that not doing so would impact their bottom lines. Now, 10 months after the coronavirus outbreak, that strategy seems naive to me.
Conservation
For almost 24 million years, say scientists, coral reefs have functioned relatively unchanged. That is, until the 1980s. Starting in that decade, tropical coral reef coverage around the world has declined by about 30 to 50 percent.
Nature & Wildlife
There are two astonishing facts about how we live that I think are closely related. The first is that by 2050, two of every three people on Earth will reside in a city. The second is that almost one in five adults globally is dealing with a mental illness.
