Climate Change

The dense metropolis of Tokyo sparkles like an urban playground at night.

Are Megacities Friend or Foe in the Fight Against Climate Change?

Like the people who call them home, cities have the potential for good and bad when it comes to adapting to a warming world

How Small Volcanoes May Have Helped Slow Global Warming

Ash reflects heat back into space

A bed bug surrounded by potentially parasite-laden feces.

Bed Bugs Can Transmit the Chagas Disease Parasite

The parasite is usually associated with Latin and South America, but was recently found throughout Louisiana, too

Chinese President Xi Jinping in a meeting with President Obama a few years ago

China's Climate Promises: Necessary, But Not Sufficient

The new U.S. and Chinese climate goals are important, but they're not enough to stop the problem

An algae bloom off the coast of Maryland. Such blooms help create low-oxygen areas called dead zones as the algae respire or decompose.

Ocean Dead Zones Are Getting Worse Globally Due to Climate Change

Warmer waters and other factors will cause nearly all areas of low oxygen to grow by the end of the century

Even Climate Scientists Are Getting Depressed by Our Lack of Progress

Anxiety about the changing environment isn’t just affecting you and professionals are working to understand it

A worker installs filters on an experimental carbon capture and storage project in Spremberg, Germany, July 19, 2010.

It’s Still Possible to Stop the Worst of Climate Change

Say so long to fossil fuels

Crop irrigation in arid regions, such as California’s San Joaquin Valley, can lead to overly salty soils.

Earth’s Soil Is Getting Too Salty for Crops to Grow

Buildup of salts on irrigated land has already degraded an area the size of France and is causing $27.3 billion annually in lost crops

A group of great tit birds (Parus major) perch on a dead tree stump during a snowfall in Poland.

Ten Species That Are Evolving Due to the Changing Climate

From tropical corals to tawny owls, some species are already being pushed to evolve—but adaptation doesn’t guarantee survival

Lose Ice in Alaska, See Temperatures Spike By 7°C

This puts the goal of keeping temperature rises below 2°C to shame

Deforestation in Brazil

The Amazon Rainforest Disappeared Way More Quickly This Year

Widespread deforestation is even worse than you think

Skaftafell National Park

This Glacier in Iceland Is Fighting to Stay Alive

The Falljökull glacier has cut off its lower reaches but the upper portion is advancing once again

A pair of fuzzy alpaca.

Why the Alpaca Has No Humps

The camel cousin evolved fluff instead of fat because it was able to linger in an evolutionary slow lane, suggest newly sequenced genomes

Some argue that the recent civil war in Syria was caused, at least in part, by droughts in the area, which led to greater social instability.

Five Conflicts and Collapses That May Have Been Spurred by Climate Change

Earth's changing climate has been a spectre in centuries of civil conflict and, at times, the collapse of whole civilizations

Wind Power is Actually Cheaper Than Coal, Nuclear and Gas

Once you consider the downstream consequences, coal becomes a lot more expensive

Universal Studios in Hollywood has a stunt show and set inspired by the 1995 film Waterworld.

10 Architectural Schemes That Could Help Us Adapt To Rising Seas

From a floating house to a mobile city shaped like a giant lilypad, designers offer up some wild solutions for a wetter future

John Kress takes the stage at the Smithsonian symposium "Living in the Anthropocene".

From Pandemics to Pandas, Get the Scoop on Hot Topics Discussed at the Smithsonian's Anthropocene Event

At the National Museum of Natural History, leading minds met to discuss the impact of climate change on, well, everything

From left to right, panelists Eric Hollinger, Rachel Kyte, Cori Wegener and Melissa Songer discuss ideas for living in the Anthropocene.

To Live in the Anthropocene, People Need Grounded Hope

A Smithsonian symposium about human impacts on Earth looked past warnings of global doom to discuss the necessary balance of achievable solutions

Why Is Antarctic Sea Ice at a 35-Year High?

Nobody really knows, but they have some thoughts

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See How Humans Have Reshaped the Globe With This Interactive Atlas

Zoomable maps reveal the scope of humanity’s influence on Earth—and the innovations aiming to create a more sustainable future

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