Mountain View
Ensia
Wanted: healthier healthcare products
November 11, 2022 — What’s in that IV bag besides saline and medication? As we become more aware of the harms of chemicals embedded in plastics and other materials, consumers — including patients — are demanding a higher standard. Research suggests that the presence of certain...
Lakes are more sensitive to salt than we thought
November 1, 2022 — Long known for its crystal-clear water, Lake George in New York experienced its first confirmed harmful algal bloom in 2020, turning the lake pea-soup green. Runoff, especially from extreme rainfall events, dumps pollutants such as road salt into the lake, says Eric Siy, president of the nonprofit Lake George Association. Road salt can lurk in soil and streams and on roadsides until it washes into lakes. And it doesn’t just provoke algal blooms.
What does forest restoration in the U.S. Southwest look like in the age of climate change?
October 19, 2022 — On April 6, 2022, a prescribed fire driven by unusually strong spring winds jumped a control line northwest of Las Vegas, New Mexico. About two weeks later, the same dry winds rekindled embers from another nearby prescribed burn. Driven by 60-mile-per-hour (27-meter-per-second) winds with gusts reaching upwards of 80 miles per hour (36 meters per second), the two fires merged, and the Calf Canyon/Hermits Peak complex became the largest in New Mexico history. By the time the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) declared the fire contained in late August, almost 350,000 acres (141,600 hectares), an area greater than the size of Los Angeles, had burned. Nearly 1,000 structures were destroyed and thousands of people were displaced. Post-fire flooding killed multiple area residents and caused extensive damage.
How could positive “tipping points” accelerate climate action?
Editor’s note: This story is part of the SoJo Exchange from the Solutions Journalism Network, a nonprofit organization dedicated to rigorous reporting about responses to social problems. It is republished from Context courtesy of the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters that covers the lives of people around the world who struggle to live freely or fairly.
Ensia
139+
Posts
72K+
Views
Ensia is a solutions-focused nonprofit media outlet reporting on our changing planet.
It’s essential to note our commitment to transparency:
Our Terms of Use acknowledge that our services may not always be error-free, and our Community Standards emphasize our discretion in enforcing policies. As a platform hosting over 100,000 pieces of content published daily, we cannot pre-vet content, but we strive to foster a dynamic environment for free expression and robust discourse through safety guardrails of human and AI moderation.