Anthropocene

Holiday feasts can be celebratory but also sustainable with a few simple tweaks.

How to Have the Most Sustainable Thanksgiving Ever

Traditions and turkey don't have to be incompatible with Earth-friendly practices

It's getting too hot in here

Could Climate Change Mean Less Sex and Fewer Babies?

Even if it does, perhaps that's not a bad thing

A bird watcher walks through a dried-up riverbed in the Netherlands in 2007.

A New "Drought Atlas" Tracks Europe's Extreme Weather Through History

The data, based on tree rings, fills in details about past events and could help improve climate modeling for the future

This Incredible Street Art Is Also An Evolution Lesson

In Rome, a giant mural illustrates how life began and evolved

Iceberg, Amundsen Sea, Antarctica

What is Happening to Antarctica's Ice Sheets

While parts of Antarctica get icier, others are on the verge of collapse

Samples of cultured meat grown in a laboratory are seen at the University of Maastricht on November 9, 2011. Scientists are cooking up new ways of sustainably feeding the world's hunger for resource-intensive foods like meat products.

Strange Foods of the Future: The Planet Can Stomach Them, But Can You?

These unusual delicacies could become the staple foods of the future

A fisher in New England empties cod from a drag net.

Why Smarter Fishing Practices Aren't Saving Maine Cod From Collapse

Warming waters are undermining the recovery of the already troubled Gulf of Maine fishery

Shoppers flock to a stall to purchase organically grown produce, a rarity on the island of Mauritius. As incomes rise here, so does the demand for organic, but only a handful of farmers have figured out how to balance organic growing with the special demands of a tropical climate.

Against All Odds, This Indian Ocean Island Is Trying to Go Organic

Mauritius is one of many places suddenly seeking organic produce. But as local farmers are finding, it's not that easy

Mary Seton Corboy, founder of Greensgrow Farm in Philadelphia, took a Superfund site 20 years ago and turned it into a thriving urban oasis.

Inner-City Farmers May Have Toxic Soil on Their Hands

Lead is a particular risk as people try to turn potentially contaminated urban sites into productive and sustainable farms

Dubai in the United Arab Emirates is one of the cities that could pass a heat and humidity threshold that would make outdoor conditions unlivable for humans.

Killer Heat Is Expected in the Persian Gulf by the End of This Century

If no efforts are made to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the Middle East may experience heat that is intolerable to humans

Eco-tourists snorkeling with fish in a Brazilian river

Does Ecotourism Hurt or Help?

When critters get used to tourists, they may be less aware of both predators and poachers

The black-footed ferret's tale of near-extinction is just one of many stories of endangered animals.

How We Decide Which Animals Become Endangered

It wasn't too long ago that the idea of "endangered animals" didn't even exist.

By the time the Salt River reaches downtown Phoenix, it is a river in name only. Some scientists think that is why a non-native plant, the salt cedar, is thriving while native flora are suffering.

How We Created a Monster In the American Southwest

The salt cedar is often seen as an un-killable invader. But are humans the real reason this unwanted plant is thriving?

Soldiers pose with bison heads captured from poacher Ed Howell. In the early days of Yellowstone, poaching, setting the park on fire and defacing its hot springs were rampant.

How the U.S. Army Saved Our National Parks

Before the National Park Service, Yellowstone was guarded by the cavalry. Without them, we might not have national parks today

See the Two Ship Graveyards That May Become New Marine Sanctuaries

The first marine sanctuaries approved by NOAA in 15 years are home to a plethora of shipwrecks

The wings of the Arctic fritillary butterfly have decreased in size since 1996.

Greenland's Butterflies Are Shrinking as Temperatures Rise

In the high Arctic, hotter summer weather may be taxing insect metabolism

Baby tree saplings, cloned from giant redwoods in California, chill out in the Archangel Ancient Tree Archive's propagation area.

The Race to Save the World's Great Trees By Cloning Them

A nonprofit dedicated to preserving old, iconic trees is cloning them in hopes of preserving them for the future

The Kirtland's warbler needs humans to cut and replant the trees it nests in. Without this work, the species' painstaking recovery from less than 1,000 males to over 2,000 could be erased.

This Bird Didn’t Start the Fires, But It May Need Them to Survive

An endangered bird once threatened by humans now relies on us for its survival

The flat-tail horned lizard's desert habitats in the American West are changing rapidly, thanks to us humans.

Even Desert Lizards Are Feeling the Heat Due to Climate Change

But Smithsonian scientists are probing the flat-tail horned lizard's DNA to save the rare species

Edward Burtynsky, Oil Spill #10 Oil Slick at Rip Tide, Gulf of Mexico, June 24, 2010, chromogenic print

This Stunning Contemporary Art Captures Terror, Wonder and Wit in the Anthropocene

Smithsonian art historian Joanna Marsh selects nine works that tell stories about life in the age of humans

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