Climate Climate & Energy

Answers about thermal depolymerization

Dear Umbra, What is thermal depolymerization? AnnFreehold, N.J. Dearest Ann, A polymer is a large group of linked molecules. We’re made of polymers such as protein, eat polymers such as starch, and wear polymers such as leather and nylon. Thermal depolymerization is a heat-driven process that breaks down or transforms polymers into the shorter chains […]

A paddler travels one of India’s great rivers before a dam changes it for good

Except for the occasional palm or banana tree, the Himalayan canyon walls look like those carved by the Salmon River in Idaho: The hillsides are brown and dotted with pine groves, and the boulder-strewn banks of the river give way to stretches of white sand. But this is the Bhagirathi River, half a world away […]

Elizabeth Grossman reviews The Whale and the Supercomputer by Charles Wohlforth

Out on the ice that forms the shores of the Arctic Ocean, the Iñupiaq whalers of Barrow, Alaska, hauled in their catch, a bowhead whale that weighed more than 100,000 pounds. The entire village turned out to pull the enormous mammal ashore and butcher it. Sleds and snowmobiles were piled with maktak (energy-laden slabs of whale blubber and skin) and fresh bloody meat.

Manana Kochladze strives to protect Georgia from a BP oil pipeline

The Republic of Georgia, which gained its independence after the breakup of the Soviet Union, may be best known to Westerners as the birthplace of Josef Stalin. But this new democracy, bordered by the formidable Caucasus mountains, is also known for its alpine forests, stunning mountain gorges, and clear-running mineral springs. Kochladze. Photo: Goldman Environmental […]

What Are We Gonna Do, Walk?

Rising Gas Prices Don’t Keep Americans Out of Their Cars Enviros hoping that rising gas prices would change Americans’ driving behavior have been bitterly disappointed. Although gas prices have reached a national average of $1.80 per gallon, American drivers are buying more gas than ever, and big, gas-guzzling SUVs are flying off showroom floors like […]

Liquefied Natural Gas Boom Sparks Safety Worries

The surging popularity of liquefied natural gas (LNG) has local communities where LNG terminals are planned worried about safety. Ships carrying five LNG tanks contain as much energy as a nuclear weapon. If even one of the tanks spilled and the gas ignited, it could cause a fire up to half a mile wide, and […]

Seas the Day

Enviros Push California to Buy Ocean Areas and Fishing Boats Environmental groups, buoyed by their success in channeling government money to buy large swaths of California coast to protect it from development, have set their sights on the Pacific Ocean. They hope to secure funding to buy boats, fishing permits, and even plots of ocean […]

Drilling on a Texas barrier island could mess with sea turtles and other critters

Life’s a beach — and then you die. Photo: NPS. This time of year, a slim strip of Texas beach known as South Padre Island is hopping with bikini-wearing, hard-drinking college students on spring break. On neighboring North Padre Island, however, the scene tends to be quite a bit calmer. Nearly 70 miles of this […]

School of Continuing Fish Education

Crystallized Meth

Methane Hydrates Could Be Next Big Energy Source; Enviros Concerned Methane hydrates deep under the ocean floor and the Alaskan permafrost may represent the world’s next big energy source, if they can be extracted safely. Some 10 trillion tons of carbon are trapped in the strange ice-like compounds, which form when flammable methane gas is […]