Whichever side of the subjective city-versus-rural debate you’re on, the objective laws of thermodynamics dictate that cities lose on at least one front: They tend to get insufferably hotter, more so than surrounding rural areas. 

El Niño events have long been perceived as a driver for low rainfall in the winter and spring in Hawai‘i, creating a six-month wet-season drought. 

Anyone who has ever hesitated in front of a trash bin knows the problem: It’s hard to determine what can be recycled. Consider the average potato chip bag.

For more than seven years, a mysterious wasting disease has nearly killed off sea star populations around the world. Some of these species stand at the brink of extinction.

Fishermen contend with regulations, natural disasters, and the ups and downs of the stocks they fish, along with many other changes. 

In the future, the Antarctic could become a greener place and be colonised by new species. 

The westerlies—or westerly winds—play an important role in weather and climate both locally and on a global scale, by influencing precipitation patterns, impacting ocean circulation and steering tropical cyclones. 

Atmospheric aerosols can exert effects on climate, environment and health. 

There’s no doubt the Earth’s temperatures are going up. 

The transition from the Medieval Warm Period to the Little Ice Age was apparently accompanied by severe droughts between 1302 and 1307 in Europe; this preceded the wet and cold phase of the 1310s and the resulting great famine of 1315–21.