Environmental Preservation

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

The opposing voices in America's first great debate about global warming was between Thomas Jefferson and Noah Webster in 1799.

America’s First Great Global Warming Debate

Thomas Jefferson and Noah Webster argue over conventional wisdom that lasted thousands of years

The dam, to be built at the confluence of the Inambari and Araza rivers, is one of dozens expected to power South America's economic ascent.

A Mega-Dam Dilemma in the Amazon

A huge dam on Peru's Inambari River will bring much-needed development to the region. But at what cost?

Bulldozed ash at a Louisiana coal-fired power plant.

Devastation From Above

J. Henry Fair's aerial photographs of industrial sites provoke a strange mix of admiration and concern

Reservoirs along the river may never rise to previous levels. Utah's Lake Powell has a "bathtub ring" that rises at least 70 feet above the water.

The Colorado River Runs Dry

Dams, irrigation and now climate change have drastically reduced the once-mighty river. Is it a sign of things to come?

The wrinkled Blackstone Glacier absorbs every color of the spectrum except blue, so the crevasses are a brilliant, Gatorade-like aquamarine.

Kayaking Alaska in the Exxon Valdez’ Shadow

The massive oil spill devastated the Prince William Sound shore 21 years ago; now the wildlife and vistas are making a comeback

The Gulf catastrophe will have far-reaching effects, which scientists have only begun to study.

A Crude Awakening in the Gulf of Mexico

Scientists are just beginning to grasp how profoundly oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill has devastated the region

A long-anonymous college student in New York City reflected both the gravity and zaniness of that first Earth Day protest.

An Earth Day Icon, Unmasked

The 1970 photograph became an instant environmental classic, but its subject has remained nameless until now

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