Climate Change

Big News Stories of 2014 That Aren't Going Away

We just have so much to look forward to

Canada’s Outdoor Ice Skating Rinks’ Days Are Numbered Thanks to Climate Change

Skating rinks are already open for fewer days in the year than they were just a decade ago

After the devastating 2011 tsunami, the Japanese government spent billions of zen to build this sea wall along the Sendai Coastline. It's almost 20 miles long.

In an Era of Superstorms, This Exhibit Captures Our Shifting Relationship with the Earth's Rising Seas

"Sink or Swim" shows how we're learning to be smarter and more resilient in our response to increasingly unpredictable oceans and rivers

A surfer rides large waves at Baker Beach in San Francisco during one of the largest storms to hit Northern California in the last five years.

Get Set For Frequent Flooding In Coastal U.S. Cities

Sea level rise is increasing the odds of nuisance flooding

Windswept trees seem to loom over a beach on the remote island of Tarawa in Kiribati. Scientists have found that coral reefs near Tarawa record changes in Pacific trade winds.

Corals Show How Pacific Trade Winds Guide Global Temperatures

The world has been in a global warming hiatus, but that will change when the winds once again weaken

The Claudio Aqueduct was built in the 1st century along the Appian Way in Rome.

Ancient Roman Water Networks Made the Empire Vulnerable

A model of ancient water movement shows how trade practices might affect today's urban centers as the climate changes

Even A/C Can't Keep Our Economies From Slacking Off on Hot Days

As global warming turns up the temperature on the planet, it's going to be tougher to get anything done

The Cutest Climate Change Culprits: Arctic Ground Squirrels

By digging burrows in permafrost, Arctic ground squirrels help destabilize the vast stores of carbon in the soil

Singer and plastic-clothing designer Pharrell Williams at the "Raw For The Oceans" event at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.

The Top 12 Ocean Stories That Made Waves in 2014

The seas served up some compelling headlines this year, from celebrity fashion to solving the mystery of the melting starfish

A fossilized leaf from the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum sits in the Wyoming snow.

Ancient Earth Warmed Dramatically After a One-Two Carbon Punch

A period of intense warming 55 million years ago is an even better case study for modern climate change than previously suspected

G. Wayne Clough

Why Engineering Will Be Vital in a Changing Climate

Smithsonian Secretary G. Wayne Clough offers personal insights on the realities of climate change and the best ways for society to adapt

Port Fourchon, a seaport and hub for the petroleum industry on the marshy coast south of New Orleans

The Plan to Save Louisiana's Coast Is a 'Moon Shot'

The plan involves moving silt from upstream down into the delta—but no one knows if there's actually enough

Typhoons Saved 13th Century Japan From Invasion

Geologic evidence supports historic accounts of the great "Kamikaze" of 1274 and 1281

California's Ongoing Drought Is Its Worst in 1,200 Years

Tree ring records unveil the severity of California's drought

The Shape of Things to Come, Antarctic Sound, February 2010: "As we sailed with the land to our backs, I saw this bright, jagged iceberg with a dark-blue sea," writes Seaman.

These Photos Capture a Decade of Change at Earth's Poles

From courting penguins to moody icebergs, photojournalist Camille Seaman shares her personal journey through polar habitats

A bleached coral reef

Listen to the Sounds of a Dying Coral Reef

Healthy coral reefs produce a medley of sounds that ocean creatures use as homing beacons

As above, so below.

The Hidden Underbelly of West Antarctica Is Melting

Warm currents are flowing under ice shelves, causing coastal losses that may let land-based glaciers slide into the sea

A natural gas storage tank at the Cenex oil refinery in Montana.

The Fracking Boom Could Burn Out Decades Before It's Supposed To

Overenthusiastic shale gas estimates may be setting the world up for a fracking crash

“Hatcher,” a large Triceratops, greets visitors exploring the National Museum of Natural History’s new exhibition, “The Last American Dinosaurs: Discovering a Lost World.”

What Can the Dinosaurs' Final Years Tell Us About the Biodiversity Crisis Today?

Failed ecosystems led to the demise of the dinosaurs. Today, plant and animal species are disappearing at exponential rates.

The world's first large scale offshore wind farm in Denmark. The 80 turbine installation was completed in December 2002.

America's Offshore Wind Production Is About to Go Big

A new federal land lease will open the door to a surge in offshore wind development

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