Environmental Preservation

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Nine Different Households, Surrounded by a Week's Worth Garbage

Photographer Gregg Segal wanted to highlight the problems of waste, pollution and overconsumption

This Project Wants to Compost People After They Die

A Seattle-based designer aims to introduce a sustainable way of disposing of bodies

Seen in 2012, an excavator works on a road near an Indonesian oil palm plantation built on disputed lands once home to a rainforest.

The Best and Worst Places to Build More Roads

Road works today are “basically chaos”—but a new global road map could be key to protecting agriculture and nature

Scientists Are Actually Talking About Building Giant Space Lasers to Control the Weather

This is what happens when you refuse to do things the easy way

Randy Schademann (R), an on scene coordinator with the US Environmental Protection Agency, and contractor Erik Hadwin collect water samples from the Gulf of Mexico off the beach at Grand Isle, Louisiana, USA, 21 June 2010.

Can We Clean Up the Next Oil Spill With Magnets?

A new technique may help during the next oil spill

An image from NASA of algae blooms along the Gulf coast, seen here in teal. This image was taken by MODIS at an unspecified date.

The Gulf of Mexico's Dead Zone Is the Size of a Small State

The Gulf of Mexico's dead zone actually shrunk this year—but it's still the size of Connecticut

Harry Rossoll, who drew a popular "Smokey Says" newspaper cartoon in the mid-1940s, modeled his sketches after the campaign hat he wore as a member of the United States Forest Service.

Before Pharrell, Smokey Bear Donned This Now-Trendy Hat As a Symbol of Fire Safety

This is the story of Smokey Bear's hat, and how it was lost—twice—before finally joining the collections at the Smithsonian

When Trees Are Cut Down, Angkor’s Temples Begin to Crumble

People usually think of trees' destructive impacts on Angkor, but they also protect those iconic temples

President Obama Could Create the World's Largest Marine Sanctuary

The protected zone would make a large area in the Pacific Ocean off limits to fishing and other environmentally harmful human activities

It's critical we cut carbon emissions, says UCLA study

Here Are the Five Best Ways to Fight Climate Change, Ranked by Scientists

Given their "feasibility, cost-effectiveness, risk, public acceptance, governability and ethics," these are the best ways to fight global warming

Lent by Department of Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries. (L.4.122.2013_YOS.19_CDP-pub.tif)

These 1861 Photos Helped Convince Abraham Lincoln to Preserve Yosemite for the Public

Stanford University celebrates the National Park's 150th anniversary with some retro photos

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Decades of Political Strife Have Left Myanmar's Jungles Unexplored and Unchartered

Now as the country opens up, what will happen to its endangered species? A new three-part series on the Smithsonian Channel explores the issue

The Mississippi River Carries More Than Enough Sand to Rebuild Its Sinking Delta

The mighty Mississippi carries enough sand and silt to rebuild Louisiana's disappearing marshes for the next 600 years

Exxon Valdez

25 Years Ago, The Exxon Valdez Ran Aground

On March 24, 1989 the Exxon Valdez ran aground on Bligh Reef, spilling 11 million gallons of crude oil into Prince William Sound

Tar sands are mined in Western Canada's Athabasca fields.

Mining Tar Sands Produces Much More Air Pollution Than We Thought

Research shows that emissions of a class of air pollutants are two to three orders of magnitude higher than previously calculated

The deadly conflict between the advocates and ranchers was over virgin forestland near Nova Ipixuna, Brazil.

Why Do Environmentalists Keep Getting Killed Around the World?

The brutal 2011 slayings of two local rainforest defenders in the Amazon underscore the risks of activism in Brazil and the rest of the world

Author David Sibley writes in our 101 Objects Special Issue: As a young man John James Audubon was obsessed with birds, and he had a vision for a completely different kind of book. He would paint birds as he saw them in the wild "alive and moving," and paint every species actual size. He travelled the U.S Frontier on foot and horseback seeking birds of every species known to science. He wrote of his time in Kentucky, around 1810, "I shot, I drew, I looked on nature only; my days were happy beyond human conception, and beyond this I really cared not." As Jonathan Rosen points out in The Life of the Skies, these paintings promoted a romantic vision of the wilderness of the New World, to be viewed by people who would never see these birds in real life. Perhaps that is one reason Audubon found more success in England than in the young United States, and why his work still holds its appeal today, as the wilderness he knew and loved recedes further into the past. Read more of Sibley's essay.

How James Audubon Captured the Romance of the New World

An amateur naturalist’s unparalleled artworks still inspire conservationists and collectors alike

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Saving the World's Largest Old Growth Red Pine Forest

Located in Ontario, Canada, Wolf Lake faces the threat of mining for the next 21 years

Water and sediment flowing from Malibu Creek and Lagoon impact the waves at Surfrider, especially after winter rains.

Malibu’s Epic Battle of Surfers Vs. Environmentalists

Local politics take a dramatic turn in southern California over a plan to clean up an iconic American playground

“We want them to think, ‘maybe science is something I could do,’” coastal geoscientist Rob Young said of tribal youths, who took part in a camp focusing on the area’s spiritual heritage.

Preparing for a New River

Klallam tribal members make plans for holy ancestral sites to resurface after the unparalleled removal of nearby dams

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