A person walks through a forest in France. Forest management practices in France and across Europe might have a surprising impact, according to a new analysis. (JEFF PACHOUD/AFP/Getty Images) Human influence on the earth's climate extends deep into our forests — impacting the carbon cycle in ways we might not expect, a new paper recently noted. Trees take in carbon dioxide, trapping the harmful gas in their trunks, leaves and roots until decay, thereby offsetting greenhouse gas emission from human...

Some of your favorite foods could be threaten, if climate change continues at its current pace. Coffee and beer, peanut butter, even bacon could be at risk. “Climate change poses a major challenge to U.S. agriculture,” states a draft of the 2013from the U.S. Global Change Research Program. A warmer planet could affect productivity of crops and livestock, the report continues, and create food-security challenges like we’ve never seen. (Weareheaded for a worldwide population of 9 billion by 2050.) More...

President Barack Obama speaks about his administration's Clean Air Act to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the nation's coal-burning power plants in August. On Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled to halt enforcement of the plan until legal challenges have been resolved. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images) The administration of President Barack Obama is vowing to press ahead with efforts to curtail greenhouse gas emissions after a divided Supreme Court put his signature plan to address climate...

U.S. Capitol – Before This is how the U.S. Capitol looks today. (Thinkstock/iStock) Glorious as they may be, many of our world's landmarks are made even more beautiful by the landscapes that surround them. There's the green grass that surrounds Stonehenge. The perfectly manicured trees in front of the Eiffel Tower. The pristine blue waters of Canada's Banff National Park. But what if drought took all of that vegetation and water away from our planet's most striking landmarks? Graphic designer...

Workers install Wattway panels to a street. (COLAS/Joachim Bertrand) To generate clean energy, France will soon be covering parts of its historic cobblestone roads with solar panels. The French government is planning to , which has the capacity to provide for up to 8 percent of the country’s population, reports Co.Exist. Construction is to take place over the next five years, using Wattway panels from construction and transport infrastructure maintenance company Colas. The photo above shows a truck on top...

North Carolina environmental regulators said this week that Duke Energy, the nation's largest electric company, will be fined $6.6 million for a 2014spill of liquefied coal ash that polluted the state's Dan River. Duke Energy admitted to violations of federal pollution crimes at hearings nine months ago. The large fine will cover those violations, and the company has also agreed to pay $102 million in fines and restitution, North Carolina's Department of Environmental Quality said. There could be additional civil...

The amount of radioactive tritium oozing from the Indian Point nuclear power plant in New York is increasing, officials say, and has spurred Governor Andrew Cuomo to launch a multi-agency probe into the plant’s operations. Samples from the plant’s groundwater monitoring wells show Saturday, according to New York Daily News. Entergy Corporation, which operates the plant, said that the recent samples collected from the monitoring wells, reports the Associated Press. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has established a limit of...

While on the One-Year Mission, astronaut Scott Kelly captured this photo of the Earth as Winter Storm Jonas was occurring. After documenting his year in space, NASA astronaut Scott Kelly will soon return home. His message for those of us on the ground: The damage we've caused is visible in Earth's atmosphere from space, and something needs to be done. "When you look at the ... atmosphere on the limb of the Earth, I wouldn't say it looks unhealthy, but...

An artist's rendition of the Thousand Trees project's "floating village." What is now a parking lot on Paris’ edge will become the home of the city’s new skyline, featuring a “floating” village in the middle of a forest. Two architectural firms, SouFujimotoArchitects and Oxo Architects, joined forces to create , aptly named for the 1,000 trees that will be planted on the structure, according to one of the firms' website. The structure will be a multi-layered, with one serving as...

Boreal forest in Denali National Park. (Library of Congress) Every year, plants inhale and exhale carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. It’s a natural seasonal cycle that has played out over millennia. But as humans emit more carbon dioxide (CO2) by burning fossil fuels, the steady rhythm is being replaced by a more erratic cycle as plants race to keep pace with all the . New research shows just how much that extra CO2 is changing our planet’s natural cycles. Since...

Recology in San Fransico accumulates an additional 100 tons of cardboard every day. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) Despite common logic, the unseen impacts of e-commerce are hurting the environment more than they're helping, a new study suggests. Although shopping from home keeps shoppers from jumping in their cars, one-by-one, to drive to local stores, online shopping has a greater impact on transportation and greenhouse emissions, according to a multi-year study by the University of Delaware. “Our simulation results showed that network,...

Wildlife workers clean a Canada goose that was covered in oil during the spill. (Tri-State Bird Rescue) Dominion Power has accepted responsibility for spilling 13,500 gallons of mineral oil into the Potomac River last month and will pay for the cleanup, the company recently announced. The spill in one area of the river near Reagan National Airport, according to WTOP.com. Officials performed days of tests and determined the Jan. 24 spill , the Washington Post reported. “Now that we’ve had...

January Arctic sea ice extent. The orange line shows the 1981-2010 average. (NASA Earth Observatory) The winter of discontent in the northern latitudes continues. has baked the region, making snow a no show and, perhaps more importantly, slowing the growth of . Though it’s still likely a month before the Arctic sea ice reaches its maximum, the current trajectory is not a good one. Slow and at times non-existent growth has already led to a record low January extent and...