Demand for rhino horn, used in traditional Chinese medicine, is fueling a slaughter of the animals in Africa. In Vietnam, the sought-after commodity is fetching prices as high as $1,400 an ounce, or about the price of gold. There, some believe ground horn can cure everything from hangovers to cancer.
Since 1958, researchers have been measuring the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere at the Mauna Loa Observatory. The remote outpost has just reported a carbon dioxide level of 400 parts per million — the highest it has climbed in the modern age.
Treated human waste has been used on farmland for decades, but the ick factor has not entirely faded. Some environmentalists think the treatment process may not get rid of all the harmful contaminants that could be in the waste.
The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has crossed the "psychological threshold" of 400 parts per million. That number is one of the clearest measures of how humans are changing the planet by burning fossil fuels.
Taking a page from the playbook of decades past, college students are once again pressuring schools to pull investment funding from specific sectors. This time it's big oil and coal companies. But these campaigns have effects beyond the university — they're launching a new generation of activists.
Farmers say they are ready to compromise with some environmental groups on the issue of conservation compliance. But critics say the price tag for the taxpayer may be too high.
Climate change is already creating new winners among Europe's winemaking regions. (Great bubbly from Britain — who knew?) But those changes have also put in doubt the rules and traditions that have defined the continent's top winemakers for centuries.
Assistant U.S. Attorney General Ignacia Moreno's tenure spanned one of the worst disasters in U.S. history, the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico after the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded in April 2010. She oversaw a record civil penalty in the case.
The number of honeybees has now dwindled to the point where there may not be enough to pollinate some major U.S. crops, including almonds, blueberries and apples. And this year brought farmers closer than ever to a true pollination crisis.
Science education standards, issued in April, recommend teaching climate change for the first time. But one nonprofit says kids aren't learning enough, soon enough, about how their world will change in the coming decades. The group aims to remedy this with presentations in schools nationwide.
More drivers are turning to natural gas vehicles because the fuel is half as expensive as gasoline is at the pumps right now. What are these cars like to drive and own?
BOSTON — For many environmental advocates, the most pressing issue is the fate of the Keystone XL oil pipeline, which Democratic Rep. Ed Markey opposes but Republican candidate Gabriel Gomez supports.
WASHINGTON — If approved, the resulting export boom could lead to further increases the drilling technique known as fracking.
BOSTON — Massachusetts is part of a coalition of states considering massive bids for renewables that could reshape the New England energy market.
To mark the coming arrival of the cicadas, we speak with David Rothenberg, who makes music out of the cicada buzz.
STOUGHTON, Mass. — The weak tornado, with wind gusts from 65 to 85 mph, touched down in the area of Washington Street in Stoughton at about 4:30 p.m. on Thursday.
BOSTON — The Solid Waste Master Plan modifies a decades-old ban on new facilities that burn waste.
The EPA says the drilling process known as fracking releases less methane into the atmosphere than previously thought. But uses up vast quantities of water and researchers say it has caused earthquakes.
BOSTON — As of May 1, fishermen who chase bottom-dwelling groundfish face cuts that fishermen say will destroy the industry.
Much of the Midwest has been experiencing severe flooding in recent weeks, including Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Indiana, North Dakota, Mississippi and Michigan.
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